Flightster

What’s Your Ideal Seasonal Travel Plan?

• by Colin Wright
• on May 2nd, 2011
• 3 Comments

Since I arrived in Iceland, people have been telling me ‘just wait until June, you will be surprised by how bright it is at night.’

Turns out I don’t have to wait until June to take in an Arctic Circle Summer. Although it’s not sunny 24/7 as of yet, it is bright most of the day and night, with the sun peaking up along the horizon at about 4am and not descending into anything that you would think of as ‘night’ until after 10pm.

Full-Time Travel, 2 Years Later

• by Colin Wright
• on April 20th, 2011
• 3 Comments

About two years ago, I made a decision: I was going to uproot my life and start traveling full-time.

The path to this decision isn’t important at this point, but let’s just say a major mind-shift occurred and that I realized I wasn’t as happy as I could be, and that in fact I was plateauing. Feeling ‘okay’ all the time, but never ‘great.’ That’s no way to live your life.

And so I did what any rational person would do upon realizing they need to grab their life and pivot: I started a blog.

Partying with Locals

• by Colin Wright
• on April 7th, 2011
• No Comments

“You know, probably the most useful way to say ‘cheers’ is ‘l’chayim’” I tell the small crowd of Icelanders huddled around the bar next to me. “Israelis have to do a stint of military duty after school, but when they’re done they take a trip overseas, and you’ll find them scattered all over the place, living it up, looking to meet people and drink like fish.”

International Separation Anxiety

• by Colin Wright
• on March 22nd, 2011
• 2 Comments

It’s easy to say “I’m going to travel the world, staying just long enough in one place to get an idea of how the culture works, who the people are and what keeps things ticking; then I’m going to move on.”

It’s really more like “I’m going to travel the world, and although I won’t stay in one place even half a year, when I leave I’ll feel incredibly sad and miss all my friends and my favorite coffee joint and restaurants and the grocery store I would go to every day and I really miss the way they say certain words like ‘fish’ and ‘reconnaissance’ and there was somebody I kind of liked there and I’m sure she’ll forget me quickly but I’ll remember her and in a way all of these things represent a new childhood for me because they were there for me at the beginning of my new life in a new country and they were there at the end as well to see me off and damn I need a drink.”

Adjusting to the Temperature (and Inhaling) in Iceland

• by Colin Wright
• on March 9th, 2011
• 2 Comments

I’ve been in Iceland a few weeks now, and I couldn’t be happier with my lot in life.

It’s been more than a little cold, and that’s made exploring a bit difficult sometimes, but I’ve persevered through the numbness in my toes and the odd looks from strangers and continued to hit the pavement, exploring my surroundings and generally trying to ‘take it all in’ as much as possible.

Booya! In Your North Face!

• by Colin Wright
• on February 22nd, 2011
• No Comments

I have a fairly distinctive style.

You can see it in my work, in my writing, in my personal grooming and in how I dress. It’s me. I’m aware of it, and I like it.

It makes me feel comfortable to be exposed to aesthetics that I appreciate.

Let me take a moment to clarify – in case you didn’t click the ‘how I dress’ link above – my style is not what most people would call ‘outdoorsy.’ The opposite, actually. I’m usually fairly out of place while hiking or canoeing or running from bears.

Cambodia, Quadrasickness and Your Immune System

• by Colin Wright
• on February 8th, 2011
• 3 Comments

I’ve just returned to Bangkok after a week or so in Cambodia, preparing for, presenting and recovering from the TEDx talk I was asked to give there.

My overall experience was an enjoyable one, and though I met a bunch of amazing people doing really incredible things, and though Phnom Penh (where the talk was) turned out to be a really interesting place, I’m sitting here in Bangkok trying hard to ignore the pain in my gut that is the FOURTH bout of sickness that I’ve suffered from since I arrived in Cambodia the week before.

Tomatoes and Personal Growth

• by Colin Wright
• on January 27th, 2011
• 3 Comments

Let me tell you a story about me and tomatoes.

Or rather, my relationship with tomatoes.

Actually, my FORMER relationship with tomatoes. Things have changed.

For most of my life, I’ve had this extreme aversion to the little red beasts, and the very smell of a ripe tomato or word ‘tomato’ would lead to cringing and gagging and picking tidbits of them out of my food. Any chunk big enough to be removed was fair game, and I would need to remove them before I could safely start consuming.

Mobility is the New Facebook

• by Colin Wright
• on January 24th, 2011
• 1 Comment

You heard it here first: mobility is the new Facebook.

Not literally, of course. Being able to hop on a flight and dash to a new city on a whim will not increase your exposure to other people’s digital farms.

It will, however, increase the strength and number of REAL connections that you make, and that’s something the net can’t top.