You may have heard of TSA Pre-check, which gets you through the line faster and prevents you from getting groped by TSA. Last time I opted out of the millimeter wave scanner, I counted a total of 6 times where the guy rubbed his hands against my junk. Fortunately for him, I always opt out. There's also Global Entry, which not only includes TSA Pre Check, but also gets you into Immigration much faster at select US Airports. However, both of these services cost money, and even require personal interviews with unelected government bureaucrats. I was strongly considering purchasing Global Pass because of a recent return from abroad where we waited almost 2 hours in the immigration line. But during my last trip, I found a service you can get totally for free to speed you through immigration possibly as fast as Global Entry, and all you need is a smartphone!

Mobile Passport is an app I recently discovered on a trip home from Costa Rica. I was amazed when we landed in Miami to the most ridiculous line to immigration I'd ever seen, only to be told by workers there that I could skip all of it and go to a line where there was absolutely nobody to gain entry through immigration!

Mobile Passport a totally free app, and you simply download it to your phone, scan your US passport into it via your phone's camera, and then answer the same basic set of questions that are asked on the blue paper customs form you get each time you enter the USA. When you get back to USA, if you are arriving at one of the 25 airports that accept it, then you just click the 'submit' button in the app when you land, then you get to skip the big line and and go into a special line. Of course, as the secret gets out, this line might get longer, but you heard it first here! Do yourself a favor and get the free app to save yourself some time.

Bonus App: TSA also has an app called MyTSA, which is not nearly as useful as Mobile Passport, but it can tell you the amount of time you'll have to wait in a serpentine line before being groped, irradiated, and yelled at by felons on a power trip! It will also outline policies about how you cannot bring bottles of water onto a plane, but doesn't mention that agents fail 95% of tests where people bring in weapons and other dangerous things. As an added bonus it can even track your location!

My partner and I just got back from a 13-day trip to Peru to visit one of the 7 wonders of the world! We didn't just fly to a tourist hotspot -- we walked to it via a 7-day 65-mile trek over centuries-old trails made by the Incas!

The Salkantay Trek is one that some do on their own while primitive camping or with an inexpensive guide, but we decided to combine the rigor of day-trekking with relaxation at night by adding gourmet meals, hot showers, and high thread-count sheets on soft beds with the Mountain Lodges of Peru. Budget travel is fun, but on the front-edge of the rainy season with the psychological tests of trekking at altitudes up to 15,000 ft, we were happy to drop extra cash so we could focus on walking the 65 miles while a tour company took care of the rest. Here is my review and photojournal of our Christmas 2018 trip...

We started with 3 nights in Cusco, but getting there was no joke. A 5 1/2 hour flight from Denver to Panama connected to a 3 1/2 hour flight to Lima, which connected to a 1 1/2 hour flight to Cusco. Once we arrived to 11,200ft, MLP picked us up at the airport and dropped us at a hotel we booked on our own for 3 nights of altitude acclimation. Even though we live in Boulder (6,000ft), we noticed the elevation gain in Cusco, which resulted in light gasping for air for the first couple of days until we could acclimate. We were happy we booked 3 nights to chill in Cusco before the trek.

Cusco has plenty to see as a destination of its own. There are great restaurants of all nationalities, and the Peruvian ones serve up some special chicken and beef dishes, as well as the national specialty meats of Alpaca and Cuy (Guinea Pig).

We found a shaman shop to buy a drum, and the town is littered with high-end clothing stores that sell sweaters of baby alpaca wool. However, the shopping gem is the San Pedro Market, where you can find clothing, spices, food, souvenirs, and even San Pedro, a psychedelic cactus containing mescaline, used in ceremony by some shamans.

Ever since my 5th grade teacher told me about mountain people chewing coca leaves to give them endurance for trekking, I had wanted to try it. Through my adult life, I'd tried cocaine a couple times, but it was never something I enjoyed. I don't think I "had the gene" or something -- it just never made me feel good. However, as a fan of nature's medicine, I always wanted to try the raw form. In Peru, coca is part of the culture, and it's 'no big deal.' You can find the leaves in the convenience store, like chewing tobacco in the USA. I bought some and chewed it through the treks. Besides making my mouth numb, I found coca to be helpful energy-wise for the last hour or so of the trek, but, not unlike a cup of coffee, it came with a small crash after about an hour which made it somewhat useless in my eyes for endurance. Anyway, it was fun to try, and while we were in Cusco, we stopped at the Coca Museum, which gave a nice history of the coca plant, including the fact that Coca Cola still uses small quantities of processed coca to this day as the 'secret ingredient' of "Coca Cola Classic." They also gave me the tip that when chewing the leaves, it's best to mix in a little baking soda (found at the San Pedro Market) to 'activate' the plant's properties.

Before our trek began, our guide informed us that our 7-day Salkantay Trail experience "is not hiking -- It is trekking." My partner and I briefly read the marketing materials for the trip and estimated that we'd only walk about 4 miles a day. This seemed reasonable for a luxury hiking tour. But we soon realized that the daily average was more like 10 miles. Not to mention, much of it would be at altitude with unpredictable weather.

Fortunately, Day 1 was a brief jaunt. We took a van from Cusco to a small village of women who made jams and llama clothing, then we ate lunch at an organic garden. After lunch, we were driven up a switchback mountain and dropped to begin our tour. We would not see a van for 6 more days, but the first part of the trek helped us ease into this fact. After a steep ascent not unlike the local trails in Boulder (such as Mt. Sanitas trail where I did my light training), we walked several miles along an aqueduct to our first lodge, enjoying the beauty of the green mountains and its treasures (like the rainbow) along the way.

After a cozy night at our first mountain lodge that included a dip in the hot tub and a gourmet dinner, the second day was a round-trip hike to 14,000ft where we visited Humantay Lake, an aquamarine oasis at the top of the mountain. It was definitely a tourist spot, but MLP had their own private trail to get to it, which had nicer views and a higher altitude than the public trail, and at the end of it, we were above the lake instead of beside it. This was a great perk of MLP. On this day, we also hiked with two Mountain Priests, Santos and Lorenzo, who hosted a ceremony above the lake to bless our trek, which was starting off nice and easy before we returned to our lodge for one more night before the real work began on day 3...  

Day 3 was the test. It began with sunshine and summer heat with mountain views reminiscent of the Swiss Alps. After a gentle start, the hills got steeper. We crossed the "seven snakes," a set of switchbacks that took us up to the next level of the mountain. Then, it began to drizzle and cool off as we gained in elevation. After several hours and 3000ft of gain, the weather worsened. More clouds; more rain; more chill all the way to the top.

Hoping for a view at the pass, it was not to be; instead, the weather turned to winter. We heard rock landslides in the distance, but couldn't see anything in the fog. My partner and I were the first to make it to the pass. As we did, the rain turned to sleet, and my fingers began to numb from the cold wetness. I could also feel my cognitive abilities decline from the lack of oxygen.

After a few photos in front of the sign, our guide told us to move forward before the others made it up so that we would not have issues with the altitude. The path forked, so we had to go back to see which way to go. After picking the correct path, the rain started to fall harder. I pulled my disposable poncho out of my pack, and awkwardly tried to put it on, but it was difficult. The lack of oxygen and the cold air made me feel like I lost some IQ points.

​Eventually, I got it together and we began to descend. The rain kept getting harder, and the path was rocky and awkward. After another hour, we made it to lunch, and the rain poured. Fortunately, we were under a tent taking a break. It would have sucked to have to keep going during the cold downpours. Eventually, the rain let up and we descended the rest of the way to our lodge, but it was not easy. That was a trek! Little did I know the 'psychological trekking' would continue that night as I lied in bed with one of my nostrils stuffy. This made me gasp for air at the altitude and get a little nervous, feeling like I was almost suffocating, especially after our guide told us a horror story after dinner about one of his previous clients almost dying from altitude sickness and hypoxia in that very lodge. The thing about trekking the mountains is that it's not just a physical ordeal, but it's also a psychological challenge.

We were told day 4 would be the 'easy day' because it was all down hill. On the contrary, I found it to be one of the harder days for that very reason. There's something invigorating about an up-hill hike, but when everything is down hill through a bunch of rocks and stones, not only is it a mindfulness exercise to stay upright, it's also hard on the body because of the extra impact of descending 3000ft in one day. Nevertheless, we made it to our third lodge, which was out of the 'high altitude' danger zone. We found it appropriate to celebrate with some Pisco Sours and wine at dinner.

Before dinner, our guide got tipsy on the Pisco and started trying to explain his culture to us, but it didn't go over well. One thing my partner and I noticed on our trip to Peru was that we hadn't seen a single black person the entire trip to this point. This made it clear to me that the guides didn't have to deal with serving people of color much, or the nuances that go with truly being equals. It can be a touchy subject to talk about race without acknowledging that, especially in places like Latin America, the color of one's skin was also a marker for social class. For example, in Panama, when they built the Panama Canal, the darkness of your skin determined where you were in the work hierarchy. The darker your skin, the shittier your job. The lighter your skin, the more power you had over those with darker skin. This was also a thing in Peru when the Spanish came and conquered. They put themselves at the top. At the bottom were the black slaves they brought with them. In between were the native Incas who were slaughtered and bred with the Spanish to create the Mestizos.

"In my culture, it is ok to call people by their skin color!" said our guide. "We call people with light skin 'Colorado!'" he said as he looked me in the eyes. "I am Mestizo, which is a mix of Spanish and Inca." Then, he looked at my partner. "We call dark skin people Negrito, and this is OK in my culture!" he said. My partner gasped, but had no immediate response after a 3 long days of trekking and the day we'd just had. Shit, black people can't even spend $4,000 on a vacation and not be marginalized.

My partner was crushed, but held it in until the next morning when she started balling her eyes out at the beginning of the walk. I told everyone what was going on, but also said that we didn't want to give a lesson on racism. It's hard when white people suck energy by being ignorantly racist, but often worse when they get called out and require even more energy from black people to ease their white fragility. In the moment, I just wanted to acknowledge what happened and let it go, especially if our guide ever had another person of color on a future tour. Unfortunately, he became very depressed and wouldn't let it go, even for several days apologizing over and over. I'm sure there was some underlying unprocessed sadness from when he was a child and may have been picked on by the Spanish kids for being a Mestizo, but was taught "it's ok because it's the culture (leaving out that racism is the culture according to the ruling class)." I'd imagine nobody ever asked the black people of Peru if they were OK being called Negritos, neither in the days of slavery, nor at any point in history after that.

The last two days were more of the same -- beautiful views, walking in the clouds, great exercise, and connecting with nature. It's not that they were uneventful -- in fact, they'd each be life events if not for the fact that they were surrounded by so many other days of wonder. The highlight of these two days was the last day when our guide realized that we were way faster hikers than the rest of the group, and he let us leave late instead of being at the head of the pack and continually stopping and slowing down to let everyone catch up. Instead, we sat for a coffee while the group left, then hunted them down. It was so much fun to lose our breath going up the hill after breakfast and catching the group, then, after a leisurely after-lunch coffee and deuce dump, careen down the hill at full speed until we caught the rest of the group. It was a team building experience to stick together, but it felt way easier on my body and mind to go my own pace and "zone in" on the trek instead of continually slowing down for the group to catch up. I'd think that this trek would be enhanced by going with a group who is all of similar speed, but the variation is also part of the "psychological trek," both for those who feel like they are too slow and those who have to wait.

Finally, the culmination of 65 miles and 7 days! It was a little foggy, but we had some great views. We even climbed to the Inca Bridge and to the top of Huayna Picchu, where we were able to see Machu Picchu in between the clouds.

Our package trip included only one day at Machu Picchu, but I had read that the weather could be foggy and unpredictable, and MLP offered an add-on where we could spend another night at Incaterra and another day at Machu Picchu. I was glad we did because Christmas was a bit foggy, and the second day was totally clear. The fogginess led to its own mystique, but it was nice to also have a clear day.

Overall, I would recommend MLP as a tour operator for this kind of trip. While you "could" go it alone on the Salkantay trail, I'd at least suggest hiring a local guide to support the economy (for cheap). However, you will still be stuck camping or, best case, roughing it in a Geodome or makeshift resort. Mountain Lodges of Peru is the only company who literally has 4-star hotels along the trek with gourmet dining and their own private trails for parts of the trek. It wasn't cheap to go with them, but it was nice to not have to think AT ALL during the entire trip. Also, (except for tips) we paid a single price that included the trek, Machu Picchu, Huayna Picchu, all transfers, mule support, nights in the lodges, train tickets, bus tickets, all meals (breakfasts, lunches, dinners, two desserts per day, and afternoon snacks), and our hotel (Incaterra, which had natural hot springs on site) in the town of Machu Picchu. Otherwise, everything is a la carte, and these things add up anyway.

Spin the World Around was a concept based around empowerment through solo travel. I've extolled the virtues of traveling alone over traveling in a group, but two is often the perfect number of people for travel. Traveling with a friend or partner can make a trip more economically and socially viable than traveling alone or traveling in a larger group. Here are specific reasons to travel as a pair, and types of trips which are best suited for bringing along a travel partner instead of going at it alone...

Most all-inclusive resorts, group trips, retreats, cruises, and other organized excursions that require stays in a hotel room or sharing equipment quote their prices based on the assumption that the booking will include two people. It ends up being negligibly more of a cost to support two people than one, especially when sharing a room, meals, and side excursions together. This means that if you try to book with a single person, they will charge a premium, and as an individual you will pay more. Therefore, any travel that involves an entire room (as opposed to a couch in the corner of someone's living room) will often have a cost benefit if you travel in pairs.

The cost of gas and car maintenance is the same no matter how many people the car is carrying. Therefore, bringing another person along for the ride can cut your expenses in half. It also helps to be able to share driving responsibilities, which will not only get you there faster, but could possibly lead to more time spent on the road moving forward instead of resting at more hotels along the way. Not to mention, having a witness to all the glory you will experience on a road trip can help make the trip more impactful as you spark each other's memory about all the awesome things you saw!

Of course, having another person around as you travel is a great safety valve for when things get weird. Your travel partner can be a good 'rip cord' if you ever need to get out of a situation, as well as a "another set of eyes" to help you judge a situation before it gets out of hand. That's not to say that you should have to babysit each other, but it's good to have each other's backs.

Having a travel partner with whom you get along means that you don't have to spend an inordinate amount of time going out of your way trying to be social. When I traveled alone around the world, there were stretches of loneliness that were only filled by either meditating alone or putting forth the effort to meet new people in order to have a social interaction. When you have someone to fall back on during your travel, this no longer becomes important. Of course, it can be a double-edged sword if you begin to isolate yourself from the culture which surrounds you, but in reality, if you want to still meet locals, it's not too much harder to do so as a pair than as an individual. Once you start to get a larger group, the island of isolation can grow bigger, but with only two people, you can have the best of both worlds if you wish.

When traveling in pairs, there's no rule saying you have to be together the entire time. Once you reach a destination such as a city or resort where you have a home base such as a hotel room or cruise cabin, there can be plenty of opportunity for the two of you to spend a little time on your own exploring the things that you might deem important which your travel partner does not. For example, I'm not a huge shopping fan, and my girlfriend is not scuba certified, so an afternoon apart lets us try different things and then have a ready-made conversation about our day when we come together afterward.

It's always good to be clear up front about expectations when traveling as a pair. It's inevitable that there will be some deep bonds formed as you create lifelong memories together. The only question is whether those memories will be of fondness or awkwardness. This can especially be uncomfortable if one person is paying for the entire trip. Does this include attached strings? Is it really a business trip? It can be important to know up front the nature of the relationship, lest you end up in a hotel room with one bed in the middle of some foreign place with a dude coming on to you who painted a very different picture in his head about how the trip would unfold. If you're both on the fence, it could be an exciting catalyst to see how your relationship evolves, but if you have a clear concept of a platonic relationship with your travel partner, it's best to lay the groundwork before you leave home so that nobody's feelings are hurt on either side of the equation with nowhere to go.

I travel a lot, but it had been too long since I took a beach vacation. But when opportunity knocked, I opened the door! With cheap nonstop flights from Frontier Airlines out of Denver to Cabo, it was my chance. My first vacation in two years was a wonderful traditional beach vacation. I took advantage of all the great things Cabo has to offer, and, as usual, I wanted to share tips with the world. So, here's my destination guide to Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, Mexico!

"Los Cabos" reside on the southern tip of a peninsula with the mighty Pacific to the west and the Gulf of California to the east. This results in a unique set of beaches stretching out to "Land's end," at the very tip of Baja California.​ The water is clear and cool, and the coarse tan-colored sand reflects turquoise in the shallow depths. Cabo San Lucas also has great snorkeling and scuba diving, and it was nicknamed "the world's aquarium" by Jacques Cousteau.

1. Medano Beach is the most accessible and "safest swimming" beach of all. Though you can't really go out that far standing up because of the depth, the waves aren't bad and there are buoys to mark the swimming.  It's also in the heart of Cabo San Lucas.
2. Empacadora Beach is on the south side of the peninsula but separated from the rest of Cabo San Lucas by the marina. You can get there by walking all the way to the edge of town. There's very good swimming here, and it's way more chill.
3. Lover's Beach is on the south-side of the tip of Baja near land's end. It's an awesome beach surrounded by amazing rock formations. It also has fun currents with glass-bottom boats coming and going. It's best accessed by boat, and if you take a boat to or from the harbor, have them ride you past the arch on the way! Besides boating, there are ways to get there by foot if you are willing to either walk long distances along the Pacific coast and/or hike in some slightly technical mountain terrain through some dude's property (see below), and/or "coasteer" the edges of sharp rocks and/or wade through low tide. I'd recommend the boat.
4. Divorce Beach marks the west-facing southwest tip of Baja, and it also has some interesting rock views. As in life, you can easily walk between Lover's and Divorce beaches once you are at one or the other.
5. On the west coast of Baja in Cabo San Lucas, there is Solmar Beach. It's a nice long sand beach, but it was pretty much deserted, and the waves make it dangerous to swim. There is a public entrance to the beach amidst all the hotels though. From there, you could walk all the way to Divorce beach. There are some nice hotels along this beach, but it's not a place where the public goes, mostly just hotel guests. 

Cabo's beaches have a unique feel, with strong currents, cooler-than-tropical water temperatures, and high salinity. The "standable" shallow beach depths usually only go out about 20 meters until the slope creates a "borderline too tall to stand area" for a 6-foot person just past point break.  This setup results in concentrated and powerful rhythmic waves instead of a drone of smaller waves coming and going at the same time.  Cabo San Lucas has several beaches that are all different and isolated from each other. San Jose del Cabo has  just one long beach with powerful waves that are too dangerous for casual swimming, but ok for daredevils, surfers, or those looking for a mindful awareness exercise with risk. ​

I came to Cabo without a beach towel, figuring I could find one at a souvenir shop. Strangely, it was almost impossible to find one on my first day, but I ended up with an even better solution. I went to a fabric store and had them cut me off two meters of towel material so I ended up with a perfect towel that was also big enough to be my beach blanket and sunblock as I walked the streets as a bum in high sun. It also made for a nice towel cape for me to look like a homeless superhero.

Cabo San Lucas has countless restaurants. There are so many that it would be easy to eat at a different one for every meal and not even scratch the surface. As such, my experience was limited, but overall, I found the prices to be on par with bigger American cities. You could find some deals at local Mexican joints, but the tourist spots far outnumbered them. The average was around $15-$20 for lunch and $30 for a big dinner -- not great. I even once paid $3 for a side of rice at an Indian place! I'd had some amazing 'high end' meals traveling through interior Mexico, but the places in Cabo were just a shadow of the quality at much higher prices. By the end of my trip, I started to get used to the  style of the food, which appeared at first glance to be high-end fine dining, but actually seemed to be mass-produced, yet a step above Sysco quality. But there were a few gems. Most notable is the seafood -- Cabo is surrounded on 3 sides by water, so you can find some great sushi, shellfish, and "catch of the day." I also stumbled into Taqueria Las Guacamayas one day in San Lucas, and I liked it's tourist-friendly blend of traditional Mexican fare.

I would highly recommend taking a hike to the top of Mount Solmar (aka "Pirate's Overlook) at the edge of town. It's a little weird at first to get there because it's on private property and there's a fence and gate with dogs behind it you have to enter, but the owner is really nice and welcomes tourists to hike to the top. It's definitely a mountain hike, and, while I did it with Crocs and a friend did it with sandals, hiking shoes would be helpful, especially if you decide to take your life into your hands (as I did) and hike down the back-side of the mountain to Lover's Beach. That had some tense moments of technical climbing in the ravine along the sharp rocks, and I wouldn't recommend it, but I did it anyway. Either way though, going to the top of the hill and back down on the "town side" is very safe and absolutely worth your time and energy!

The airport is about 30 minutes from San Jose and 45 minutes from San Lucas. I spent 5 nights in San Lucas and my last 2 nights in San Jose (so I'd be closer to the airport at the end). Many people recommend renting a car for the trip. I didn't have one, but I met a dude who did, so it came in handy to get between San Lucas and San Jose; otherwise, I think the bus is easy, and walking is do-able both within San Lucas as well as San Jose. To get to and from the airport, you can also take the bus, but I booked a shuttle with TransCabo, and this was super easy.

Unlike flights, the hotels in the area are not cheap. Beachfront will set you back several hundred dollars a night, and even the cheapest hotels in town are about $60. Traveling solo, I ended up staying in hostels in both towns which I found on Hostelworld. Neither was particularly great or terrible, so I'll leave them out here, but when you look, consider if you would rather stay in a "quiet" place or a "party" place because Cabo San Lucas can be a party city, especially during Spring Break, which is when I was there.

The party vibe is apparent in Cabo San Lucas (less so in San Jose). Tourists proudly walk the streets with open containers; kids are partying on Medano Beach with loud music during spring break; and the restaurants have deals on dollar beers and cheap margaritas. Mexican dudes constantly approach tourists walking the harbor or sitting on the beaches, letting us know that they can find us "anything we want," including sun hats, blankets, counterfeit cuban cigars, Mexican marijuana, and even harder drugs. I wasn't looking for any of it, but I was offered a lot. Of course, if you decide to take them up on it, be mindful. I saw Federales shaking down some kids on the beach for weed, going so far as to smell their fingers before kicking them off the beach.

Close your eyes and imagine the ideal vacation. There’s white sand, blue water, warm breezes and nothing to do but blow the foam off your drink. Actually, that’s just one of countless vacation scenarios. Whatever your fantasy getaway entails, you’re probably anticipating that vacation will counteract months of pent-up stress. Unfortunately, those hopes are often bitterly disappointed when a long-anticipated vacation falls short of expectations.

Recent studies indicate that a surprising number of people fail to escape stress on vacation. Many just expect the worst. In a 2015 survey by Healthline.com, more than 60 percent of 2,000 respondents said they experienced stress while on vacation. Nearly half said they felt “somewhat stressed,” while approximately 20 percent felt “very stressful.” A 2013 Huffington Post study revealed that a significant number of subjects were “stressed out” just preparing for vacation and working long hours to make up for time off.

Fortunately, there’s good news for vacation worry warts: There are steps you can take to ward off misfortune and make sure everyone comes home with a smile and a souvenir.

It’s easy to overlook, but one approach is to rethink the traditional “long” vacation, that one time a year when many Americans schedule time off. Putting all your vacation eggs in one big basket puts a lot of pressure on people who try to squeeze too much activity into that window. Mistakes, anger, and stress often ensue. Instead, try breaking vacation up into shorter breaks and spread out the fun.

Airline travel is a major feature of many vacations. Anyone who flies on a regular basis these days will tell you that stress comes with the territory. If you’re flying to your vacation spot, do yourself a favor: purchase tickets well ahead of time, travel as light as possible (remember the benefits of carry-on luggage), get to the airport at least two hours early, and factor in jet lag if you’re crossing multiple time zones (flying west instead of east is less disruptive to your internal clock).

Few things are worse than packing the car and heading down the road, only to run smack into a sea of red brake lights. It’s a frustrating, helpless feeling that leaves most of us wishing we were still at work. A little bit of careful, common sense planning can help you avoid the dreaded vacation traffic jam. Plan your departure for when traffic is least likely to be heavy, and make sure you know where you’re going (your smartphone’s GPS feature is worth its weight in gold at times like this). And don’t forget to check in with AAA -- it’s a great way to avoid road construction  ...and road rage.

According to CareerBuilder.com, one in four people work while on vacation. That defeats the purpose of getting away, even for the most conscientious employee. If you’re feeling stressed about what won’t get done while you’re gone, talk with your employer about their expectations prior to vacation. Set limitations if you plan to check your work email, and try to steer clear of deadlines unless you absolutely have no choice. The last thing you want to do is turn your trip into a working vacation.

When the whole family leaves home for an extended period, there’s always a risk of crime. Burglary and vandalism are two of the most common occurrences people have to face when they return home. A home security or home monitoring system can give you peace of mind as well as protection for your valuables. Leave an external light on, and be sure to stop your mail delivery so that a bulging mailbox doesn’t announce your absence to the world.

You work hard all year. Vacation is your big chance to decompress. You can take full advantage of your time off by thinking through the details and preparing for the unexpected.

This is a guest blog post, written by Henry Moore, co-creator of fitwelltraveler.com, which blends two of Henry's favorite subjects (travel and health) to provide readers with information about how to get the most out of both. Henry believes travel can change you, and good health preserves you.

​After a year of travels followed by three years of writing and editing, the story emerges of a yearning seeker who trades safety and the American Dream for fearlessness and a new way of living. Worn from the paradigm of a 9-5 office job, an early marriage, and a lack of spiritual connectedness, the author’s world is turned upside-down after an arrest, a divorce, and leaving the only career he knows in search of something more.

​As a new paradigm of connecting with himself, his surroundings, and his experience emerges, the writer sets out on a quest to circle the planet, piecing together an around-the-world path with a series of one-way flights and hosts he finds online, who graciously offer nights on their couches to him for free. In the process, he discovers an efficient and groundbreaking method of cheap travel with technology and mindfulness, but more importantly, discovers how intention and unconditional love makes the world go 'round.

​In a story that has been called the guy's version of Eat, Pray, Love, the author crafts the voice of a unique soul. He lives the kinds of Hunter S Thompson-esque adventures that some guys dream of, but always stays connected to his higher self as he treads the jagged line between unadulterated pleasure and the greatest good of the universe. Time after time, he illustrates how ‘right thought’ and ‘good vibrations’ lead to positive experiences, but also shows that when he disregards the teachings, he is led into trouble. The motion of non-stop travel around the world manifests these illustrations in rapid succession as the author discovers the ways in which he is never the victim of circumstance, but instead the creator of circumstances.

​As the author lays a crystal grid by gifting quartz crystals to his hosts and develops deep relationships with each character, he discovers the secrets of the universe through experience. A strong persistence, an intention for the greatest good, and an awareness that ‘the universe provides’ combine to create a world in the physical reality that some think can only exist in a dream. A realization unfolds that a ‘fictional’ intention of the mind can be a tool to create the reality of ‘non-fiction,’ and this discovery unlocks a door that opens to infinity.

​Spin the World Around is an inspirational tale. May it unlock the minds of some still stuck in old paradigms, waiting to spin their own world around.

​Buy it now on paperback or eBook -

The white cliffs are rapidly eroding. The Telegraph published a report by the University of Glasgow which estimated that the chalk cliffs are disappearing at a rate of 22 to 32cm each year. That’s ten times the rate 150 years ago, and the worst thing is that it’s still accelerating which means that this natural wonder may fade even faster in the coming years.

Furthermore, the BBC highlighted that chalk on the beach like those found along the white cliffs is ‘very rare’. That’s another reason to visit the site while it still holds its current beauty.

I am a big fan of traveling the world to pass the time. I'm also a big fan of traveling within myself to pass the time! These journeys within myself can often be even more enlightening than the ones to far away places. You can combine both types of travel by going to a meditation retreat, especially when it's one that teaches you how to meditate.

There are many meditation retreats out there, but the one offered by dhamma.org not only teaches you how to meditate, it's free. You can give a donation if you like at the end, or later. They not only feed you well at this retreat, but all the work you are doing is for yourself and your soul! Here's a blog about my personal experience at the 10-day retreat in Kaufman, Texas. Dhamma.org has retreat centers all around the world, so you can find one closer to you! I'd recommend this for anyone.
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After growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and living in Cleveland, Ohio for 7 years, back in the early 2000’s, I visited Atlanta when I was searching for my next home. Atlanta made the short list because it was a warm-weather city and a cosmopolitan hub with opportunities for techies like me.  I ended up choosing Austin instead, and I’ve been living there for about ten years, but these past two Octobers, the Atlanta Visitors Bureau invited me to their annual SITSum conference, so that I could deeply explore the city and post about it. These experiences made me realize that Atlanta is a confluence of all the things I love about all the cities I’ve lived.

While many cities fight a constant battle against graffiti, Atlanta has nurtured the call for these visual artists to express themselves, with sanctioned (and even subsidized) murals throughout the city, painted by the very same artists who once tagged buildings with their names. Graffiti taggers respect the murals, and it keeps the city classy and vibrant. Also, the town is laden with sculptures throughout, reminding me of Rome, where statues and art have been a mainstay since ancient times. Visual art is a part of the culture, and it’s everywhere in Atlanta.

We all know that New York, Miami, and LA are the fashion capitals of the USA, but did you know that there are several shops in Atlanta with stuff you can only find in places like Milan and Paris? I’m not much of a fashion buff, but was blown away when I visited the Shops at Buckhead to find $30,000 coats and brand named stores I’d only witnessed in Milan.

While Georgia is not especially known for its tolerance of racial equality, Atlanta has been an oasis for those of us who wish to move beyond building walls based on skin color. Even back during the Civil War, slavery was less common in Atlanta than in the rest of the state. That didn’t help them much when the North burned the city to the ground, but after the war, Atlanta was chosen as the capitol partially because of its tolerance to diversity, and of course, who can forget that Martin Luther King, Jr was from Atlanta? Of course, it took a while to get where we are today, but progress has been made, and Atlanta is a prime reason for that.

After living in the racially-charged cities of Pittsburgh and Cleveland and moving to the racially-non-diverse city if Austin (and traveling with my bi-racial girlfriend throughout the country, seeing first hand the kinds of micro-aggressions people of color deal with on a daily basis), it was enlightening to be in a place where the vibe was one of equality. I could feel it in the city – it’s a place where people don’t care about your skin color – you are human like the rest of us, and it’s something you can experience just by being there.

Besides being “the blockage of America’s artery” by playing home to Coca-Cola, Waffle House, Chick-fil-a, pecan pie, and Holeman & Finch, Atlanta has an endless slew of gourmet restaurateurs opening local businesses across town. From fine dining to southern comfort foods,  Atlanta holds its own in a variety of cuisines.

In addition to having a subway (a luxury in car-centric America), Atlanta also plays host to the Beltline, a series of trails for bicyclists and walkers to avoid traffic and walk through a bit of nature. And if you’re too lazy to peddle, you can ride an electric bike from ATL-Cruzers, like I did.

Actually, there are over 20 colleges & universities in the city limits, including Georgia State, DeVry, Emory, and Georgia Tech to name but a few. This keeps the mean age of Atlanta lower than the rest of Georgia at around 33 years, just one year older than Austin.

It’s no surprise that Atlanta falls on a huge ley line with other globally-historic-significant cities, which have experienced major events that have shaped human culture over the ages. There is a ‘great circle’ around the planet which passes through Mexico City, New Orleans, Atlanta, Washington DC, New York, Boston, Dublin, Stonehenge, London, Troy, Amman, Kosovo, and Saudi Arabia.

So, if you are considering where to move for your next city, I’d keep Atlanta on the short list. It’s still on mine.

What makes the perfect beach? To me, it's soft white sand that makes the water appear aqua in color, yet so clear I can get neck-deep and see my feet on the endless soft blanket. The waves keep things interesting, but the turbulence is not unsafe.  Bonus points go to any beach where I can swim around with my snorkel and interact with the sea life.

After a long road trip between West Palm Beach and Key West, we've uncovered our favorite beaches of the east coast of deep South Florida, as well as my personal favorite beach of the entire Continental USA! Here is the rundown of all 8.

Located as a stop-off point on the south-side of US Highway 1 through the Florida Keys, this free public beach is a pleasant point to rest during what can be a long and stressful drive through the two-lane road the length of the keys to Key West.

Annie's beach is very narrow, with limited space to lay out, but the beach also has vegetation areas teeming with birds and wildlife. The clear water displays an ocean floor of sand and seaweed, but we didn't see much wildlife while snorkeling. Also, the water was so shallow that we couldn't feasibly get neck deep without a hike. Unfortunately, I didn't snag a photo of the actual beach because I was having fun snorkeling, and my only camera was my new non-water-and-sand-proof smartphone.

Sombrero is the beach that everyone in Marathon goes to because it's pretty much the only beach around for that stretch of the Florida Keys. That said, it's a very nice beach. There weren't many waves that day, but there were enough to keep the water moving.

The soft white sand had some shaded areas, and the parking lot was very nearby. Sombrero was walk-able, but not really much of a hike. That said, with full beach and barbecue gear, this would be a great place to spend a day.

Smathers is consistently ranked as top beach of Key West. Being in Key West has its benefits, and the white sand beach stretching a distance along the coast looked very impressive. There were even a few spots for shade among the palm trees.

As I entered the water, I kept walking out was still only thigh-deep. Also, there were little-to-no waves to keep things interesting. Nevertheless, this man-made beach imported nice sand from the Bahamas, and snorkeling was pretty good, with fish, seaweed, and inhabited conch shells hanging out along the sea floor!

West Palm Beach is what East Coasters dream of: clear water, great restaurants, nice wide beach with fun boardwalk, and decent waves.

While the water is pretty much ideal to Northerners, is less than perfect when compared with the beaches further south. It might be due to the proximity of the intercoastal waterway, the sand deposit patterns, or it could just be my imagination.

That said, I could see my feet as I stood neck-deep in the ocean that day. What else can I ask for?

Hollywood Beach and Fort Lauderdale offer some of the most beautiful beach experiences on the east coast, with a wide beach, nice looking golden sand, clear water, and a wide boardwalk for people watching.

The water was great, but perhaps not as good as Miami, but the prices were also more reasonable than Miami. As with West Palm Beach, the cuisine and types of cultures in Ft Lauderdale seemed less diverse and accommodating than Miami. That said, both West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale were also less crowded and less expensive than Miami.

My favorite beach on Key West was a State Park with a small fee to enter, totally worth it! Trees at the back provided shade for this family-friendly spot. The water was crystal clear, but the sand was very coarse -- more like pebbles and rocks that were hard on the feet -- so it wasn't the best sand.

The water got deep relatively quickly, so I couldn't go out too far before I was over my head. Snorkeling was great, especially out towards the boulders put in place to impede erosion. Those areas were perfect little ecosystems of fish and coral. Snorkeling, I saw barracudas and many tropical fish, some of which I would have gladly eaten. Being in Key West, this also made the park cool. Definitely bring a snorkel to make the most of it; they are $35 at "Divers Direct."

Our favorite beach in the Florida Keys was Bahia Honda. Another state park with a fee, but again worth it. We were able to find shade at the far end, near the bridge. This place was the most awesome place to snorkel, with barracudas, tropical fish, and shellfish. It also had some nice sand for wading neck-deep without a snorkel as well.

It seemed like the area was 50/50 sand and seaweed so we could either stay on the sand or snorkel through the seaweed forest. The beach itself was mostly uncovered, so an umbrella would be ideal. There was current that wanted to pull us out towards US 1 in the distance, but it felt safe. The park was about 50 minutes away from Key West.

Miami beach offers clear water with brightest sand of the East Coast, leading to beautiful aquamarine and turquoise waters along its shores. The Atlantic Ocean keeps things interesting with waves; it wouldn't be as cool a beach without them. Not to mention, Miami Beach boasts the warmest water of the USA, but it's still not bathwater -- it's still a refreshing way to beat the heat.

While it was possible to walk pretty far out there before I got neck-deep in the water, I didn't have to walk a mile to get there.

Snorkeling revealed a sand desert. There was no seaweed to be seen growing anywhere. I suppose there might be an occasional shark or fish hanging out.

Miami Beach is not only a night-life capital, it is loaded with many great restaurant options, from authentic Cuban cuisine to fine dining.

The downside to Miami Beach was as one of the most expensive places in the country. $25 lunches, $50 dinners, $40/night valet parking, and $40+ "resort fees" tacked on to the hotels. There might also be people partying non-stop in all directions. We actually had to have our room moved because of partying neighbors, but I still liked Miami the best from this list!