2017

First off, hello! It's been a little while hasn't it? 

I think my every other year curse is finally broken. It seems like for the past few years I've been on a cycle of good year followed by bad year followed by good year and so on. Dare I say it, 2016 and 2017 were absolutely incredible!

A lot of pretty amazing things happened this year. From seeing what seemed like a thousand music shows, to climbing trips, to traveling domestically and abroad, 2017 was incredible. 

After getting back from Australia (technically that was at the end of 2016), I started working at Planet Granite again and got a semi "real person" job as PG Portland's Marketing and Events Coordinator as well as becoming a supervisor and a few other "upgrades." I absolutely love my new job and it's been going very well. Plus, the earliest I normally go to work is 11am and I set a lot of my own hours. It's pretty hard to beat that.

In March, my buddies Brandon, Logan, and I drove roughly 12.5 hours down to Bishop, California for a week long bouldering trip which ended up being probably my favorite climbing trip I've ever been on. I also got to see/climb with one of my favorite people, Kyle, who had moved to California in January but was able to meet up with us for the week.

Bishop

Bouldering is hard

A few weeks after getting back from California, I had a quite the crazy time. I went to Las Vegas and played around for a few days, including a day trip to the Grand Canyon. After that, I headed to Fort Collins and ate/drank my way through the old college town. I also made it down to Denver for a day to see a bunch of old college friends which was great. I flew back to Portland to work for a few days and then went up to Seattle with my buddy Mitch to see Deadmau5 which was hands down the best show I've ever been to. Cross that one off the bucket list. After being back in Portland, a few days later I drove back up to Seattle then bussed it to Vancouver, BC followed by flying to Los Angeles after that. Phew! Good times.

Deadmau5!

Grand Canyon

Some months later in July, I somehow ended back down in Australia! Yet again, massive thanks to Aunt Cindi for the flight hookup! It was a pretty mellow trip but great to catch up with people I hadn't seen in almost a year. As corny as it sounds, I had a bit of a realization regarding certain people after getting back which, although a bit disheartening, was needed. Hopefully I can make it back in 2018 at some point.

Fast forward to October, I achieved full on adult status by moving out of the parent's place. I'm now living in NE Portland with 2 awesome roommates and a dog and am absolutely loving it.

Also in October, Brandon, Logan, and I did a Smith trip and met up with Kyle again which, although too short, was great as always. 

At the end of October, I went up to Canada for the second time in 2017 with my friend Kara to see Deadmau5 yet again. Twice in one year? I'm perfectly okay with that. 

Come December, Kyle, Brandon, Brandon's friend Tommy, and I went down to Red Rocks just outside of Vegas for a week to climb and have all the fun. And have all the fun we did. We even got to seem some old friends that had moved to Florida earlier in the year. I love those guys so much and appreciate them like none other. Can't wait for our next trip which will hopefully happen sooner rather than later.

Love these guys

So although the world turned into a bit of a pit this past year, on a personal level, I'm doing very very well. I hope everyone learned from and enjoyed 2017 as much as I did. 

Here's to 2018! Already excited for the first few months as some of my favorite Aussies are coming to visit in January and February.

Happy New Year!

Good times with great friends

Good times with great friends

Good times with great friends

Good times with great friends

That's all for now. Bye.

Common Tourist Scams

One of my favorite stories about being abroad is the time I got pick pocketed in Prague. Basically this girl was trying to talk to me in Czech and next thing I knew, my phone was no longer in my pocket.  Now I may have been a few adult beverages in at that point but I quickly knew something wasn't right and was able to get my phone back.  

Unfortunately one of the things you will likely have to deal with whilst travelling is avoiding scams.  I've come up with a combination of personal experience and things I've read online of common tourist scams around the world.  A lot of the European ones happen in multiple countries, pick pocketing being the main thing to look out for. Of course you should always be aware whilst travelling but still try and enjoy yourself and don't be overly paranoid.

Paris, France

The Petition: This one can happen in a few ways.  The simplest is someone will approach you asking to sign a petition.  They will make sure their clipboard is blocking your view from looking down whilst a partner walks by and pickpockets you.  The petition isn't actually for anything.  Tried to me.

The other version is someone claims to be deaf/blind/mute and their petition basically says (in French) you will pay them by signing the paper.  Saw it happen.

Kids: This happened to me multiple times within my 24 hour stay in Paris (luckily nothing was stolen). Basically a large group of kids all of a sudden swarm making lots of noise and try to steal from your pockets.  It's amazing how quick those kids are.

Dropped Ring:  Basically a stranger approaches a couple and says one of the pair dropped an expensive looking ring.  Obviously the couple will say the ring is not theirs but the stranger will give it to them anyway. Time to pay up.  Read about this online.  Apparently it's very common.

Bracelet:  Scammer asks if the victim wants a friendship bracelet and no matter the answer will tie cloth or plastic wristband very tightly around the wrist.  Since it's on so tight and can't be removed, money is demanded. Read about online.

Extra Hotel Charges:  I imagine this happens everywhere but I received a massive charge from the hotel I stayed at because they claimed we cleared out the mini fridge.  I don't think we even opened the fridge.  I got my money back after threatening to contact the credit card company.

Barcelona, Spain

Street Games:  These seemed to pop up and suddenly disappear everywhere on La Rambla. The games usually consist of find the 'something' under three cups and win money. It's always rigged and you will not win.  The main person has others in on the scam posing as players who may "win" and pretend to be audience members, cheering people on.  Even if you don't play, you are prime pickpocket target by watching.  Saw it happen.

Dancing Puppets:  There's a lot of people on smaller streets selling paper cutouts, usually in the form of a popular cartoon character.  The cutouts seem to be magically dancing to music.  Nope.  There's a hidden string making the characters move to the music.  Saw it happen.

Public Transit:  Pickpockets love the trains.  They get on when a cart is full and place themselves right next to the door.  After a quick slip of the hand, they run out at the next stop as the doors close.  Saw it happen.

Pigeon Poo: The scammer tells you a pigeon pooped on you.  Luckily they happen to have water and paper towels ready to go.  While scrubbing the nonexistent stain, your wallet goes missing.  Read about online.

Italy

Train Ticket Help: This was fascinating to watch.  While waiting for our number to be called to buy tickets, my sister and I saw three guys clearly trying to scam people.  One was at the automatic ticket machine appearing to help tourists buy tickets so they wouldn't have to wait in line. There were two other guys closely watching everything and observing where wallets were being kept once it came time for the tourist to pay.

Thailand

Paying for Friends: This one is popular in many places.  The scammer will approach a lone tourist, befriend them, and want to go for drinks.  They take you to a bar/club and order drinks that cost an exorbitant amount of money without you knowing (the business is in on the scam). Sometimes the scammer will simply leave before the bill arrives or "pay" for half, leaving you with the other.  If you refuse to pay, some very large bouncers will escort you to the nearest ATM.  Read about online.

Everything is Closed:  Cabbies will tell a passenger the place they want to go to is closed (it's not). Instead, they offer to take you to their friend's store so you will spend money there instead.  Read about online.

Not Using the Meter:  Also involving cabs, the driver will quote a price and not use the meter.  This always results in paying substantially more.  Always use the meter (or an Uber which is way cheaper).  Read about online.

Hollywood, USA 

Free CD:  Want to be "music artists" hang out on Hollywood Boulevard and either get you to listen to their new demo CD and then give you a copy or just hand you a copy straight out. It seems to be free until they demand money for it.  Needless to say what is on the demo is probably not worth the $20 they want. Apparently many times the CDs they give are actually blank.  I had a CD shoved in my hands, quickly tried to give it back, and the person was not happy.  If I recall I actually had to throw it in with the rest because he wouldn't take it back.

Characters: Not so much a scam but just be aware those mildly creepy people dressed up as superheros will want money if you take pictures of/with them.

New York City, USA

Buying tickets on the street: Especially around Times Square, people will approach you offering very cheap tickets to some sort of show.  Although some are probably legit, the scammers will lie about what the ticket includes.  Someone unsuccessfully tried to sell me tickets to a comedy show after lying about the headliner.  The guy also called the theatre where the show was supposed to be and had me talk to a guy who in no way shape or form sounded like he worked at a comedy club.

What's the best way to avoid scams?  Unfortunately the easiest way is to be a little rude to strangers. Especially in Europe, most people who start a conversation with "do you speak English" is going to scam you.  Also, always keep an eye on your belongings and never put anything valuable in your pockets.  If you want to learn some more,  Scam City is a fun show where the host purposefully gets scammed.  It's quite interesting.

- - - - -

In other news:

• The Olympics are great
• Rock climbing will be in the Olympics for Tokyo 2020!
• I'm going to Cairns in Queensland at the end of the month to swim on the Great Barrier Reef and do other tbd things

That's all for now.  Bye.

I MOVED TO AUSTRALIA!

Well there's really no eloquent way of saying this.  If you haven't figured it out from the title...

Holy crap this actually happened!

I moved to Australia! 

Such beautiful prose.  But let's rewind a couple of months...

Last July I visited Australia and fell in love. My original plan when I left the states was actually to stay in Oz but due to a number of circumstances, that didn't happen.  When I got back to the states, I wasn't happy.  The whole return trip I was thinking about how much of a mistake I was making coming back.  Returning to the same day to day life as before was pretty disheartening.  I couldn't imagine doing it for much longer and continued to research about moving to Australia.

The initial research began before the first trip.  I had a general idea about the logistics but really started the studies about two weeks before I came back to the states.  I was looking at places to rent, job offerings, how the visa worked, and lots of other little important details.

On September 5th, I applied for the Work and Holiday Visa. About 45 minutes later, I got an email saying my visa has been approved. I broke out my last package of Tim Tams and the celebration/minor freak out began.

A tip I found rummaging through online forums was to get certain certifications before looking for work. A few days later, I earned two certificates that basically allow me to serve alcohol/work in a place where there's gambling in Australia.  The "courses" were both online and incredibly easy. Some of the information was actually mildly interesting since laws are a bit different country to country.

Quite the setback presented itself in the middle of September when I took a bit of a fall and fractured part of my spine. I was out of work for 2 weeks which took a hit to the finances and I wasn't sure how long it would take to be healed. Would I be mended enough by November to travel for 30+ hours? Would I be able to carry a decently heavy backpack without keeling over? Luckily I made a speedy recovery and felt comfortable enough heading over with the almost healed injury.

The last major step was figuring out how I would get back to Australia. When I went the first time, it was pretty much the peak low season which made return airfare relatively cheap. As it was getting more towards southern hemisphere summer, that was no longer the case. Lucky for me, my magnificent Aunt Cindi happens to work for Delta and was able to hook me up with some ridiculously cheap tickets. Thanks Cindi! You're amazing!

There was a fair amount to do beforehand

The only caveat to the cheap airfare was I had to fly standby the whole way. Flying standby, you have no idea if you're getting on a flight or having to wait hours or even days to try for the next one. Since I didn't have a deadline to get to Australia, this wasn't that big of a deal.

A few days before leaving, I had to get my phone ready for use abroad. This seemed like an easy process but ended up being a huge pain. Basically, AT&T sucks. Long story short, it's still getting figured out.

"Down low" goodbye party. Thanks to whoever took this. Already missing some of the best people I've ever met.
Visit me!

On November 11th, I headed to PDX with my fingers crossed. I was able to make the flight to Los Angeles but the flight to Sydney had a bunch of people on standby with not a whole lot of seats available. Flying standby was a new experience for me. It's a very odd feeling not knowing if you are going to be flying.

Names of what I assumed to be standby travelers going to Sydney began to be called, allowing them on the flight. I knew my name was fairly far down the list but there was some hope. Each time the intercom turned on, the stomach got some butterflies and the heart pounded. Then it happened. The wonderful sound of the gate agent saying "all standby passengers have been cleared." I made the fight (and even scored a window seat)!

My cheap Delta ticket got me to Sydney but after that, I was on my own. After the wonderfully refreshing 15 hour flight to Sydney, I made my way to the domestic terminal and checked for flights to Adelaide leaving later in the day. That was also a new experience booking a plane ticket at the airport for the same day.

When I arrived in Adelaide, my buddy Liam who I met at CSU picked me up from the airport and we made way to his place.  That was it.  I made it through the weirdest traveling experience I have ever done!

Side note, huge thanks to the Rella family for letting me stay with them for a bit!

Now at this point you might be thinking, "But David, why didn't you post this stuff when it was actually happening?" Well, rest your curious little head because I'm about to tell you:

One night in late August I came up with the crazy idea to keep all of this on the semi-down low so when I got to Australia, I could surprise Vlad.  This happened today/yesterday depending on when/where you read from.  It's not very often you get to shock someone who lives on the other side of the world by showing up at a bar and saying "hey." Special shout out again to Liam for helping me with the surprise and to everyone who knew what was going on and kept the secret!

So what exactly am I doing? To be completely honest, I don't really know. Basically my visa allows me to stay in the country for a year traveling around and working. The only limitation to the work is I can only keep a job for 6 months at a time. The hope is to work in some sort of hospitality setting but I'll pretty much take whatever I can find. I'm starting in Adelaide since I know a few people but am open to moving around. After I get settled/readjusted, I'll start looking for hostels to stay in or possibly a place to rent, depending on the job situation. Other than that, I'm just going to see where things take me. 

Yes, this is slightly terrifying. Moving to the other side of the world without a job lined up, without a consistent place to stay, and without a massive amount of funds to live off is nerve-racking. That being said, I am not the first person to do this. Not to be too boastful but I consider myself to be pretty smart, self-sufficient, and resourceful. A massive part of my research before heading over was reading about other peoples' experience. If they could do it, why couldn't I? This actually is a once in a lifetime opportunity (unfortunately US citizens can only get an Australian work visa one time) and I really have nothing to lose. I can do this.

So yeah, here we go! This is going to be insane. I'm predicting heaps of good times, a few struggles, and the most adventurous year of my life. I'll try and post on here as much as possible. Same ways as always to stay in touch so please do (except I'll have an Australian phone number so you'll need that for the iPhone things)!

That's all for now. Bye.

David Down Under - Are We There Yet?

Oh boy two in one week.

Despite the highly disorganized check in process for Delta at PDX, everything went smoothly.  We were delayed about 15 minutes which was actually kind of nice because it made the wait in LA a little shorter.

When I got to LA, I headed straight for the wonderful In-N-Out.  Lugging around the backpacks wasn't too much fun but I forgot all about the aching shoulders whilst devouring my double-double. 

Pro tip: If you ever have a lot of time to spend at LAX, get on the free shuttle bus which takes you to long term parking lot "C."  From the first stop, take a left off the bus and then a right onto Sepulveda Blvd, walk down the street a few blocks, and you just scored yourself a free ride to In-N-Out.  To get back, head to the same parking lot and hop on the shuttle again.  I wish I could take credit for this but my friends on the TripAdvisor forums are responsible, so good on them.

Seeing as I was in the back of the plane, I boarded first.  My first thought was how hard the seat was but I was very happy with the amount of leg room.  Well done Virgin Australia.  The flight was long.  No no, it was really long.  I believe going from the US to Australia is one of the longest flights you can do.  Although the 14ish hour flight felt never ending, it got to the point where I sort of accepted what was happening which caused it to go faster. 

When we finally arrived in Sydney, I could not have been more relived to get off the plane.  Going through customs was one of the fastest things I have ever done.  They had machines set up that scanned your passport and then they essentially did a facial recognition match to make sure you were the one using the passport.  No human interaction was needed which made the process insanely fast.  It was one of those times things went too well where I felt like I had done something wrong because of it.

Alas, I escaped customs without getting detained and made my way to the last leg of the never ending journey.  Going through security was way different than it is in the US.  I forgot I had a full bottle of water in my carry on and they didn't care.  I never had to show my ID or ticket.  Everything was may more relaxed and it was a nice change.

 The flight to Adelaide was only 2 hours and flew by in comparison to the previous.  It was one of the most empty flights I've ever been on.  I actually got an entire row to myself until the captain said people needed to rearrange because the plane was weighted too much on one side.  When we landed, good old buddy Vlad was at the airport to reunite and pick me up.

This was kind of terribly written but I haven't really slept in over 48 hours so that's my excuse.  Headed back to Sydney tomorrow and then the Gold Coast!

That's all for now.  Bye! 

Auld Lang Syne

New Years is kind of an odd holiday if you really think about it.  Nothing magical happens between December 31st and January 1st but it somehow always feels like the end of an era and the beginning of another.

For celebrations, a group of us gathered at a friend's house to bring in the new year.  There was food, drinks, games, and good times.

2015!

2014 was one of, if not the most, craziest years of my life.  There were some extreme highs and some extreme lows.  It marked a major shift in the life that I knew and forced me to start almost completely over.  I try to keep these postings light but have a feeling this one might be a bit heavier.

So what big things happened in 2014?

• Despite going borderline insane due to being enrolled in 21 credits, I had my most fun semester at CSU of the time I was there
• Was able to have a fantastic time traveling across the country from New York City to LA (where I finally got to experience Disneyland!)
• Got to see some of Canada for the first time and made some (hopefully soon) travel goals
• Graduated from university.  That still hasn't really hit me yet
• Mentored and made a noticeable impact on a 10 year old's life
• At least for me, made what I hope to be a lifelong best friend from the other side of the world who has been through an eerily similar amount of identical life experiences/situations as me
• Lost one of my oldest friends but still think about him often
• Had to say goodbye to my two best friends and all the other people I got really close with after 3.5 years living in Colorado.  I think about them everyday and miss them terribly
• Moved back to the Northwest
• Even though the process was long, I got a job that was number one on my list
• Started writing this weekly blog which is both fantastic and frustrating.  It's great to look back at something for every week and see when I had nothing to write about or when the ideas were flowing

What will 2015 bring?  I don't really do the whole resolution thing but I do like to set some goals.  What might those be?  I don't want to give away too much so those are just for me.  

Hope everyone had a memorable year and that 2015 will be just as eventful.  I've got a feeling this is going to be a good year.

Happy New Year!  

That's all for now.  Bye.

California Dreamin

Part two of spring break found Vlad and I on the other side of the country: Los Angeles, California!

After a 6+ hour flight from New York on Thursday, we got to LA around 10AM pacific time and were exhausted!  The plane ride felt short because we were in and out of consciousness the whole time.  When we arrived, we made the last minute decision to rent a car instead of relying on public transportation.  For the things we wanted to do, we figured spending the money on a car would be worth the time and hassle the car would save (which it did).  The most annoying part was even though I have a clean driving record, because I'm not 25+, rental companies jack up the car prices.

Once we picked up the car, we were leaving the area and noticed an In-N-Out around the corner.  Obviously a lunch break was in order. 

Not the Last Time we Made a Stop Here

From there, we made our way to Hollywood Boulevard in, you probably guessed it, Hollywood, and checked into our hostel.  Yes, the US does have hostels.  I was worried a bit because I had looked up the hostel in the JFK airport and on one website it said you had to have an international passport with you to be able to stay there.  Luckily when we checked in, we found out you just needed to have an out of state license.  Crisis averted.  We stayed in a 6 bed room but were the only ones there (until later that night) and decided to take a much needed nap.  Afterwards, we walked down Hollywood Blvd taking in the sights.

Let's have a little chat about hostels.  I'm not claiming to be an expert on hostel life but I have stayed in a fair few within the last year.  If there is a TV in the room, do not turn it up all the way and fall asleep with the remote hidden.  Do not wake up everyone else in the room because your sheet fell off the bed.  Do not complain about anything related to the room...you're in a hostel!  Talking to yourself is also something that should be done when there are not other people around.

While on a tangent, let's also talk about drivers in the LA area.  The majority of them either drive insanely fast or way too slow, there is no in-between.  No matter the speed, they were all just terrible drivers!  On the plus side, I only got honked at once which was in the parking lot returning the car.  Also, traffic was terrible.

Anyways on Friday, I got to finally have a proper childhood.  

We...
went...
to.... 
Disneyland!  

My only mental images of Disneyland are from this old VHS tape I watched all the time as a kid.  Although the park has changed a lot, it was fun to see some of the places I remember watching on the tape.  Since there was no line, we started off on Splash Mountain followed by the Haunted Mansion.  Some rides later, we rode California Screamin' at California Adventures which was our favorite of the day.  Being Friday of spring break, the park was quite crowded and the lines long but we made it work.

Dreams Do Come True...for $137

#NoFilter

We only had time for one day in the Magic Kingdom which meant we went all out.  Come hour 6, our legs were burning.  Add on all the walking we had done in New York and you have two very tired people.  We powered through and made it to the fireworks show over the castle (which is much smaller in real life) and then finally got to use our 10:30 PM fast passes for Space Mountain.  All in all, an exhausting but great day (with, of course, a stop at In-N-Out on the way back to Hollywood).

On Saturday, Vlad and I decided we deserved a sleep in.  When we were well rested and awake, we headed out to torture our legs again by hiking up the backside of the Hollywood sign.  The hike had a fair incline but wasn't too bad.  The top rewarded us with a complete, although hazy, view of the LA skyline and the backside of the Hollywood sign letters.

Behind the Letters

For lunch we went to a food cart the internet told me had good, authentic, Mexican food.  The internet never lies.  It was delicious!

That night, Vlad and I went to the Staples Center to watch the Clippers play the Pistons.  The Clippers won.  I hadn't been to an NBA game in a long time so that was fun!  Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis were there as well and we got to see them on the "kiss cam."

Basketball

On Sunday, the two of us got up and checked out of the hostel.  From there we headed down Hollywood Blvd again for a bit and then made our way to swanky Beverly Hills.  We both felt out of place and underdressed.  It was like being on 5th Ave in New York but even more uptight.  Sometimes I'm glad I'm not rich.

Vlad needed to film some for the Los Angeles portion of his YouTube video so we made our way back to Hollywood Blvd.  When shooting was done, we drove out west to the Santa Monica Pier.  It was dark by the time we got there which made the lights from the rides stand out more.  After hearing a restaurant owner yell at a patron for not paying, we got seafood at a place on the pier and then headed to LAX for our last airport overnighter. 

So Hollywood.  It was an interesting place to visit but I think a day is all I could take. Hollywood Blvd was the epitome of a tourist destination.  Every five steps you got aggressively asked if you wanted to go on a tour bus, massive crowds of people stood in the middle of the sidewalk unaware of their surroundings, and souvenir shops are as far as the eye can see.  Although we were only in Santa Monica briefly, it had more of the laid back California vibe I like.

Walk of Fame

TCL Chinese Theater

And that was unfortunately the end of spring break 2014.  I had such a great time hanging out with Vlad and seeing sites I may not have had the motivation to see otherwise.  I had forgotten how much I love being in the traveling state of mind and it's depressing to go back to school.  I always get some post travel depression when I get back from traveling.  It's been 5 days since getting back and I'm just now adjusting to normal mode.  On the plus side, only 2ish more months until graduation which hopefully means more traveling!   

Watch Vlad's video of us recapping spring break here.

That's all for now. Bye.