When Living Out Of A Suitcase Becomes A Way of Life

by Dave Seminara on

After four months of living out of a suitcase, I should be eager to go home. But the truth is that I’m quite content to be on the road and free. My wife and I and our two children, ages 2 and 4, moved out of our home and put all of our things in storage on April 1, in order to spend three months traveling in Europe.

We’ve been back for a month, and plan to relocate to a new home, but have been procrastinating settling back down again. The truth is that the traveling lifestyle can be addictive, and once you get used to living with only your essentials, you don’t miss very many of your possessions.

I’ve moved more times than I care to count since leaving college many moons ago, and every time I’m tasked with boxing up my things, I come to the depressing conclusion that I have way too much stuff. So I sell and give plenty away, but then inevitably start accumulating again at the next destination.As I’ve written before, if you’re planning to move, it’s a great time to put your things in storage and hit the road prior to settling in your next destination. But be careful, because you might not want to settle back down again.

On our trip, we brought just two large suitcases for a family of four, but my wife and I also left two smaller suitcases at a relative’s house in the U.S. so we had some other items not locked away in storage. I recovered the second suitcase a month ago, and haven’t even bothered to open it since. It’s amazing how little you really need and when you evaluate all of your worldly possessions, most of it begins to feel more like a burden than a blessing.

What do I miss? My books. Sometimes I miss my Tempurpedic mattress, and, when I’m watching sports, my DVR, which spares me from watching commercials, and allows me to fast forward if my teams are losing. But that’s about it. As a family, we have 7,400 pounds worth of stuff in storage, and I only kind of sort of miss about 10 percent of it.

My wife jokingly remarked the other day that we should just move and start all over again. Leave all of our stuff in storage and let the guys from Storage Wars bid on it. She was kidding but it was kind of tempting.

How do we stay sane on the road with two small children in tow? Most of the time we’ve been in holiday apartments and hotels with at least two separate rooms, which helps. Still, there are days when we’re all sick of each other, but we manage to coexist, somehow, and have actually grown closer together. In some ways, toddlers are kind of like high-energy dogs. Get them plenty of exercise and good food and they’re fine.

You can tell a lot about travelers by how much baggage they’re dragging around. With kids, we can’t travel anywhere near as light as we’d like to, but we still do our best to stay lean and mean. The great thing about travel is that every time you consider making a purchase, you’re forced to ask yourself: do I want to carry this thing around with me. In most cases, at least for me, the answer is no.

Travelers who want to prepare for every eventuality by dragging around an enormous amount of luggage are missing one of the real delights of travel: learning how to live with less.

For a few blissful months, I had no mobile phone, no bills, other than credit cards, and no home address, and I enjoyed every moment of it. The truth is that the longer you travel, the harder it is to settle back down again. In some ways, it’s because being settled represents commitments and responsibilities – scary things for a restless traveler.

Soon we’ll be moving into a new home and, like it or not, dozens, if not hundreds of boxes of stuff will arrive at our new doorstep. But every time you leave home for a long time, you come back a little different. In life, I’ve made a few bad choices and, like Sinatra, I have at least a few regrets. But I’ve never taken a trip that I later regretted. Travel is always money well spent, especially when it teaches you to spend less at home.

[Photos by geishaboy500 and Dave B on Flickr]

5 Secret Tech-Savvy Tips For Traveling Abroad

by Elyse Pasquale on

As a perpetual wanderer who spends roughly half the year outside the United States, I’ve learned a few savvy tricks for bettering my own travel experience. From making free phone calls to accessing the entire “Doctor Who” series, here are five tech tips for the modern traveler abroad.

1. You can watch Netflix out of the country.

You can also watch HBO Go and Hulu, listen to Pandora Radio or access Facebook in China. All you need is a VPN. This stands for “Virtual Private Network,” and what it does is run your Internet traffic through a network with a different IP address, making your computer look like it’s back in the states, while you’re typing away in a hostel in Beijing.

StrongVPN and Hide My Ass! are two reliable and cheap VPN services, starting as low as $6.55 per month.

Once you sign up, you’ll have access to a number of servers around the world. The set-up instructions are also easy to follow, and both companies have excellent 24-hour customer service. A VPN will work on your iPhone, iPad and computer.

2. You can make free calls to the United States.

T-Mobile is the best cell service for travelers abroad, but they don’t really want you to know it. They certainly won’t advertise the fact that all calls made to the United States from abroad over a Wi-Fi connection are free. As in, totally free. No roaming or data charges apply.

Wi-Fi calls connect to a UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) network. Much like a VPN, UMA gives the Wi-Fi caller external IP access to T-Mobile’s core network, making the phone act like it’s in the United States, even when it’s not.

Heads up, university students heading overseas in the fall: it might be worth it to invest in a T-Mobile plan for the year to keep in touch with friends and family back home.

T-Mobile and Blackberry also have the best-combined overseas data plan. For $19.99 a month, unlimited emails are covered. This service doesn’t cover apps like Twitter and Facebook, but once on the UMA Wi-Fi network you can access the phone’s web browser and log onto your favorite social media apps.

3. You’re at risk for being electronically pick-pocketed

RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) “skimming” is the world’s latest, greatest form of pickpocketing. RFIDs are the radio frequency chips in your credit cards and passports that carry all sorts of personal data, and stealing that data is a piece of cake. All it takes is someone with a portable card reader to simply walk closely past you in a crowd.

I personally know travelers whose data has been accessed while in transit, and their bank accounts drained. Crowded transport hubs like airports, train stations and shopping centers are pickpocketing hotspots, electronic or otherwise.

How to protect yourself: invest in an RFID-proof wallet or passport case. I swear by PacSafe‘s anti-theft and travel security products, carrying the RFIDtec™ 150 RFID blocking passport wallet everywhere I go.

4. You don’t need a converter.

I’m often asked which adaptor plugs are used for different countries, and if purchasing a converter is necessary. Today, most – if not all – modern electronic equipment comes with a converter already built into the charger. This covers your camera, iPod, computer and cellphone.

What you do need is an adaptor plug. Different countries use different types of plugs. In Europe, the plugs are two-pronged and round. In the United Kingdom, they’re three-pronged and square. It’s always a good idea to do some research in advance and determine which plug adaptors you’ll need when traveling.

I recommend purchasing an all-in-one or universal plug adaptor that will work in Australia, Europe, Asia and the United Kingdom, currently available on Amazon.com for less than $5.

So when DO you need a converter? The answer is: for a hair dryer, curling iron or electric shaver. If you absolutely have to have your styling products abroad, then you’ll need to invest in a good step up/down voltage converter. Be warned: even with a converter, I’ve seen rural European sockets melt American appliances to mush, with a good dose of indoor fireworks to boot.

Take my advice: buy a hair dryer abroad. It will most likely cost you less than buying a voltage converter and it will be one less thing to lug in your suitcase.

5. There’s an App for that.

Need some helpful phrases in Amharic? A guide to traveling to Paris with kids? European train schedules? Where to find Madrid‘s best tapas? There’s an app for that. Really, there is.

It’s a good investment to purchase destination-specific travel apps before you leave on your next trip abroad. Mobile guidebooks, language lessons, city maps and comprehensive transit information are just the tip of the travel tech iceberg.

Apps don’t take up that much room on your electronic devices, and they don’t cost a lot. What’s an extra $20 in your travel budget if it means you can competently navigate the London Underground or effortlessly order the next round in Moscow?

Video(s) Of The Day: The World In Two Minutes

by Libby Zay on

If you only knew the world through viral videos, what would our perceptions of other countries look like? Video company Woki Toki mashed together some of the most famous videos from their home country, Chile, as well as the United States, India and Russia. Although Woki Toki writes the videos “[describe] different cultures and how eccentric they are,” the two-minute interludes mostly show people hurting themselves, stumbling around drunk and jumping off things. The videos are kind of like mini episodes of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” except most of them are set in other countries. What the videos really remind us, though, is that laughter is the universal language. Watch the India video above (warning: there is some nudity) and the rest after the jump.


“The World in Two Minutes: Chile”
(Note: This video contains nudity)

“The World in Two Minutes: Russia”

“The World in Two Minutes: United States”

10 Colorful Cities From Around The World

by Jessica Festa on

When many people think of cities, they picture concrete, skyscrapers, road work and steel. The truth is, however, there are many cities around the world with a more vibrant and colorful atmosphere. In fact, some of these places are so creative and beautiful, they are a work of art in themselves.

Deep blue structures reside next to loud pink and sunflower yellow houses, as hot orange and rich spring purple buildings sit across the street. Being able to see this fusion of colors in one place is reason enough to visit each of these unique cities.

For a more visual idea of colorful cities around the world, check out the gallery. Have a favorite colorful destination of your own? Tell us in the comments.

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[Images via Big Stock]

Why Chicago Beats New York

by Dave Seminara on

Years ago, when I told a group of colleagues in New York that I was moving to Chicago, the reaction ranged from bemusement to outrage.

“Chicago?” one began, tentatively, as if they’d heard of the place but couldn’t quite place it. “Why would you want to live there?”

Another co-worker was more blunt.

“Chicago’s a dump,” he said. “You’ll be back in New York in a year.”

Like many New Yorkers who consider their city the capital of the world, he’d never actually been to Chicago, or anywhere else in “Fly Over Country.” My career ended up taking me away from Chicago after two stints totaling five years, but I never went back to New York, except for brief visits, and I never regretting moving to The Second City. How could I? I met the woman I would marry on my very first day in town.New Yorkers are always crowing that they live in the greatest city in the world. It is undoubtedly a singular place; perhaps the only can’t miss city in America for tourists alongside San Francisco. But I find all of the “We’re #1” bravado tiresome. There are a few things I like better in New York than Chicago – weather, weekend travel opportunities, pizza and bagels – but I’d much rather live in Chicago than New York for all of the following reasons.

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Less Attitude

Chicago attracts young people from all over the Midwest, so although it’s a big city, there’s a friendly, middle-of-America vibe. New Yorkers tend to be friendly towards tourists but rather hard on each other. When I lived in New York, I found that native New Yorkers were often friendlier than transplants.

I have a couple friends who are Staten Island natives, and I’ll never forget how newly minted Manhattan residents from other parts of the country would mock them as “Bridge and Tunnel” people. For me, the locals with the accents who live in the Outer Boroughs are the real New Yorkers, not all the transplants who live in Manhattan and look down upon everyone else as soon as they get a 212 area code.

More Affordable

According to Bankrate.com’s cost of living comparison, New York Metro’s cost of living is about 95% higher than Chicago’s. In the Windy City, you can buy a fairly nice three-bedroom home in a nice, close-in suburb with good public schools for about $450,000; whereas that same amount of money barely buys a small condo in a sketchy neighborhood in New York.

In New York, I lived in a neighborhood called Bay Ridge, a long subway ride from Manhattan near the Verrazano Bridge in Brooklyn, because I couldn’t afford to live closer to my office in Manhattan. But when I moved to Chicago, I felt like there were only a couple of neighborhoods that were completely off limits due to price.

Chicago is also cheaper to visit. I was in town last week for a visit and got a room at the Hyatt at Michigan Avenue and Wacker for $55 on Priceline. No chance you’ll get a nice room in NYC for that price.

Lake Michigan

There are more bike paths in New York now than when I lived there but there’s still nothing quite like Chicago’s killer lakefront, which has an 18-mile-long bike path and several very nice sandy beaches, including one just steps away from downtown.

Better Smells

Thanks to the Bloomer Chocolate Company, the sweet smell of chocolate permeates the West Loop neighborhood but New York has more foul smells than good ones. If you Google “New York smells” or “What does New York smell like” the most common results involve urine.

You Can’t Get Lost in Chicago

If you give me the east/west coordinates of any address in the city of Chicago, I’ll immediately know where it is, thanks to the city’s street coordinates system. Midtown and Uptown Manhattan are straightforward but the rest of the city’s a mess and God help you if you need to find something in Queens.

Billy Crystal and Yoko Ono Have no Apparent Connections to Chicago

Chicago has a few obnoxious celebs, but New York has scores of them. Donald Trump. Rush Limbaugh. The Jersey Shore kids. (some of whom are from NY rather than NJ) The list goes on and on.

Vintage Street Signs

Chicago has more vintage street signs than any city in the country and these old beauties are emblematic of the way the city preserves its past, rather than bulldozing it.

The Green Mill and B.L.U.E.S. on Halsted

New York also has its share of small, atmospheric jazz and blues music venues, but there’s nowhere I’d rather hear live jazz and have a stiff cocktail than the century old Green Mill in Uptown, and if I could hear blues in just one place in the world, it would be B.L.U.E.S. on Halsted, which features authentic live bluesmen and women 365 nights per year.

Conclusion

It’s silly to claim that one city is definitively better or worse than any other city. One man’s paradise is another man’s prison. But for me, Chicago’s the most livable big city in the country. It’s a place where it’s easy to meet people, easy to fit in, no matter who you are, and hard to leave.

There are harsh, long winters that stretch into hot, humid summers, legendary traffic tie-ups, and miles of boredom outside the city limits in every direction. But there’s something about Chicago – the neighborhoods, the architecture, the people, the vibe – that has hooked me in a way New York never did. It’s a huge city that still manages to be a well-kept secret.

[Photos by Dave Seminara, TheeErin, Spiterman, Cliff 1066, Nimatardji Photography, mdanys and Michael Clesle on Flickr]