Nestled along the Rio Grande and a main stop on any road trip along Route 66, Albuquerque’s highlights include a wealth of Native American culture and a variety of outdoor activities and destinations.  Take some time to shop in Old Town, have a beer at sunset on a roof top bar or ride one of the longest tramways in the world.

Albuquerque

Located in the center of New Mexico, I arrived in the city during my trip from Austin, Texas to Los Angeles, California.  Having never visited New Mexico before, I figured the biggest city in the state would be the place to get a sampling of this part of the southwest.  Odds are your stop here will be a part of a Route 66 roadtrip, which means you’ll be in for some of the same activities I found.

Part of the Japanese Garden at the ABQ Biopark, where cherry blossoms were in full bloom.

Bio Park

I did quite a bit in the two days I spent exploring the city.  I started with a visit to the Albuquerque Biological Park (aka. ABQ Biopark) which was nice after being in the car for so long.  It took a couple of hours to walk around the entire park while shooting pictures, and there are interesting, if small, different gardens to check out.  My favorite was (obviously) the Japanese garden, although the Heritage farm looked good as well.  Be aware that a ticket here also gets you into the Aquarium.

The trip up to Sandia Peak takes 15 minutes and crosses two towers. Imagine the sway on a windy day!

Tramway

After the park, I was relaxed and ready to try the tramway. I met some friends at the base for a great Mexican lunch before grabbing our tickets for the tram.  One of the longest in the world, it took us 15 minutes to get from the bottom to the peak where we basically hung out, enjoyed the view and had a beer at the nice, if a bit pricey, bar on top.  If you are there during winter you can ski and/or snowboard at the peak.

Nob Hill

That evening was spent in Nob Hill, which is essentially where all the cool, college kids go to eat, drink and be merry.  If you’re on that Route 66 roadtrip, be sure to have a meal or drink in this quirky area and see some of the old, authentic Route 66 motel signs along the way.

Fabian Fontenelle does a dance demonstration at the Albuquerque Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (IPCC)

The next day I spent immersing myself in Native American culture at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.  This museum goes into detail on Native American history and their way of living.  The highlight of the day was the dance demonstration, performed by Fabian Fontenelle, who is of Zuni and Omaha descent, and Shelley Morningsong, who is North Cheyenne.

Old Town

After filling my mind at the IPCC, I went to Old Town, which has some of the older-style buildings and centers mostly around shopping.  There are some food options here, but this area mostly caters to selling New Mexico souvenirs and  Native Amreican arts and crafts.  It’s interesting to walk around and people watch but you can skip this spot if you’re low on time and have no interest in souvenirs.

"Old Things" is a good example of the type of architecture you'll see all across Old Town.

Events

While I wasn’t there at the right time, the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta would be the perfect reason to plan a trip to Albuquerque.  Held in the fall, it’s the world’s largest ballooning event and sounds like it would be quite the spectacle.

If you’re really interested in Native American culture, you might also consider coming around the end of April for the Native American Gathering of Nations Pow-Wow.  There are many events going on during the Pow-Wow and this also sounds like it would be worth a return trip out.

One of the things you'll see around Nob Hill are these old, Route 66 motel signs.

Conclusion

While Albuquerque is the largest city in New Mexico, it’s a bit more relaxed than you’d expect a big city to be.  I was there in February and the weather was perfect for spending the day outside wandering around and following that up with a night at an outdoor pub or rooftop bar.  If you’re into hiking and outdoor activities, you could tack on a day or two to check out some of the outlying hiking trails and national parks.  A city bustling with energy this is not, but that’s perfectly fine as long as you’re up for some relaxation and a bit of culture.

A selection of images from the Music portion of the 2012 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.

Titus Andronicus at The Belmont

Pennywise at The Main

MC Frontalot at Flamingo Cantina

Dancing Girl on 6th Street

Kimbra at MTV hosted event

Gary Clark Jr. at MTV hosted event

Fiona Apple at Stubbs

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros at the Paramount Theater

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and Mumford & Sons at the Paramount Theater

East Side Dandies on 6th Street

Blitzen Trapper at Stubbs

Attila at The Main

Alabama Shakes at ACC

I just finished volunteering for my first year at the SXSW (South by SouthWest) Festival in Austin, Texas. The festival is a mixture of Film, Music and Interactive (think tech/business/internet), with the first half focusing on interactive, the second half on music, and film running the entire length of the nine-day conference. As a volunteer, I was required to work a certain number of shifts, but had enough time off to see some interesting discussions, panels, and excellent live bands. Here are some photos from the first half of the conference (interactive and film). Stay tuned for another set from the music side of things. Needless to say, if you can ever get down to Austin for the SXSW Festival, be sure to do so – you never know what you might see/hear/do.

An impromptu dance party breaks out in the rain after the SXSW premiere of "Girl Walk // All Day".

The panel for "We Are Legion", a documentary about Anonymous, was one of the more interesting panels I attended and included an anonymous member giving input via skype.

A number of the panels were set up as "A Conversation with X", and the conversation with Willem Dafoe was my favorite panel of the week.

From the panel "A Conversation with Joss Whedon"

Seth talked about his past, the evolution of Family Guy, and other projects.

Al Gore and Sean Parker had an incredibly interesting 90-minute conversation about democracy and the internet.

Anthony Bourdain and some of his production staff discussed various aspects of No Reservations and his now show The Layover.

It was common to pass one of these FedEx mobile chargers somewhere in the convention center with up to a dozen people all plugged in and charging their devices.

Free food and drink are common during the festival, and the Square Space food truck handed out freebies that changed on a daily basis.

The SXSW Volunteer uniform this year was the red shirt you see worn by this helpful volunteer.

South by SouthWest is a one-of-a-kind experience. If you’re at all interested or involved with independent film, live music or have anything to do with the internet, you’ll find interesting presentations, great films, and intimate live shows. You can choose to attend the whole conference (my suggestion) or focus on one of the three aspects. The mix of people and creative energies itself is worth the trip. Make sure you add it to your calendar for 2013, and stay tuned for more images from the music side of things.

The 84th Annual Zilker Park Kite Festival was held on Sunday, March 4th in Austin, Texas. You couldn’t have asked for a better day with all the sun and wind anyone could ask for. Under an umbrella of thousands of kites, the festival offered the usual American-festival goodies like games and face-painting for the little ones, rockwalls for the older ones, and food trucks and funnel cakes for the adults. They also had contests that included strongest pulling kite, most unusual kite and largest kite. Here are some of my favorite images from the event.

This two-year-old won the award for "youngest contestant" and, much to my delight, also seemed to have a fondness for the camera.

The winner of the "oldest event contestant" award, this 84-year-old kite lover was the operator of the Mary Poppins kite below.

These two kites were both entrants in the most unusual category. I loved the way the yellow one's "fins" moved just like a ray swimming under water.

This area covered about 1/6th of the overall park and gives you some idea as to the amount of people attending the festival.

One of the more interesting kite shapes I saw amongst the thousands at the festival.

Every kite starts low and rises, and this angry bird is no exception.

Question: How many kids does it take to control a kite?

Answer: It takes four kids to run a kite.

The anchor of the four children above contemplates the spool.

Judging the "strongest pulling kite" contest required special equipment and the kites that were entered for this contest were massive.

This contestant for Largest Kite barely made it into the air for the one minute that was required of it to compete.

Most of the entrants for the contests seemed pretty hardcore about their kites, and that definitely includes this gentleman.

All of the kites entering competition had to be hand made and this was the winner of the most unusual category.

Contrary to popular belief, Mardi Gras isn’t just about Beer, Beads and Breasts. The festival and parades were actually described to us by one locals as being put on “for the locals, not for the tourists”. A family affair, outside of Bourbon street you’ll see festival revelers of all ages, and even a few local canines taking part. Here’s some images from the parades that took place when I was there in 2012.

Masked revelers enjoy a Mardi Gras Parade

One of the half-dozen music groups walking through the French Quarter as part of the Barkus parade during Mardi Gras.

A rider on a Mardi Gras float throws beads overboard

One of the younger parade attendees toots her own horn.

One of the impressive marching bands charges down the street with attitude

The "Centerpiece" of these float were women dressed in colorful regalia.

The "Krewe of Barkus" is the only Mardi Gras parade centered around dogs and donates all of its proceeds to local shelters.

An injured dog is transformed into a mock Mardi Gras float.

A drummer steps out of formation to ham it up with the crowd.

I'm pretty sure this was a roller derby group dancing down as part of a parade.

This girl shouts and waves in an attempt to get a good Mardi Gras "Throw". The beads are the most famous of these, but the locals seek better throws like plush animals and doubloons.

Throughout the French Quarter you can find little shops selling high quality, hand made Mardi Gras masks - real works of art.

A new site just hit the web and I think everyone should go check it out.  The Indie Travel Manifesto, a collaboration between one of my favorite travel authors, Rolf Potts, and the Boots-n-all travel network, attempts to define Independent travel and create a community for those that relate to it.

Here’s the video they released with the site:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYIRLeiLtNs

I’ve typed out the individual statements below for your reference, which you can also find on their site indietravel.org.  I have to say, they did a great job of defining the style of travel I, and many others, try and promote.  All you have to do is scan the statements below to see why we love to travel this way and why we wish others would as well.  Discovery, growth, values, meaning – these aspects of travel don’t typically come with the umbrella in your pina colada.

Indie travel is about…

-       Replacing Broad expectations with nuanced realities.

-       Seeing yourself in the context of a rich and complex world.

-       Defining your values, exploring your beliefs, and crafting your own meaning for life.

-       Options over possessions

-       Dynamic Possibilities over Static Goals

-       Discovery over Escape

-       Interactions over Transactions

-       Local Information over received information

-       First-hand experience over expert opinions

-       Mental and spiritual growth as much as physical adventure

-       Private transformation over social status and bragging rights

-       The present moment over dreams of past and future

-       Pack light and keep things simple

-       Adapt as you go rather than micromanage in advance

-       Practice caution, but not paranoia

-       Slow down and enjoy an experience

-       Seek pleasure in simple moments and details

-       Make meaningful connections and informed decisions

-       Learn the economic, political and environmental context of my host culture

-       Emphasize listening more than talking

-       Practice courtesy, patience, humility, and good humor

-       Seek to understand – not judge or romanticize – other cultures.

-       Give back to the local economy.

-       Share what you’ve learned with others.

What do you think about these statements?  How do your thoughts on travel line up with these?

Image by NVinacco from Flickr.

I had grand plans at the start of this new year – weekly blogging, 365 days of photos and more.  Of course, I only made it a few days into January before becoming really really sick.  A week of headaches led into three weeks of fatigue and a hacking cough that is only now fading away.  So, due to unforeseen circumstances, I’m calling January a wash and am resetting my New Year resolutions beginning in February.

Being that sick got me thinking to how much it sucks being sick abroad.  Here at home, I at least had the comfort of a bed and a few people to comfort and take care of me.  When doing the independent travel thing and you get sick, you’re often in an unfamiliar place with nobody around to help you through that illness.  Here’s a few thoughts on how best to deal with being sick abroad.

Travel Insurance

The first thing I’d suggest is to make sure you’re traveling with traveler’s insurance.  In addition to covering things like major accidents and emergency evacuation, in a situation where you’re sick in a country where you don’t speak the language, you can call your provider, explain the situation and get good advice, usually from a staff nurse, on what to do next.  This is especially handy of you have symptoms for something that might be more than a normal cold or food poisoning.

God forbid you have to go to a local doctor or hospital, the insurance provider will tell you where the closest reliable place to go is, handle any communication issues, and cover any extraneous costs.  Hopefully you don’t get sick on your trip, but if it does happen, having travel insurance covers most of your bases.

First Aid Kit

I always carry a first aid kit at the bottom of my backpack and it’s surprising how often it comes in handy.  Yes it’s got bandaids and first aid cream, but I usually end up using the various medications more.  Anti-diarrhea meds, headache relief and rehydration packets are a life saver when you need them.  Don’t forget to refill these after heavy use or you’ll be left in the cold (pun intended) when you need them next time.

Digestion issues and food poisoning are probably the most common issues a traveler will run into.  The more foreign the country you are traveling in is to your home country, the higher the odds of something happening.  Best to have a remedy with you as it could be difficult to find the appropriate meds after the fact, not to mention that you won’t want to be wandering around town in your condition.

Hostels and Hotels

Take advantage of the staff at your accommodation.  They’ll know where the closest doctor or hospital is, where to get the meds you need, and will hopefully have a good handle on your language and be willing to act as a translator if needed.  They should also know if you might have caught something common to the local area that might be serious.

In addition, if it looks like you’re going to be laid up for a few days recovering from your illness, get out of the dorm room and splurge for a private room.  There’s nothing worse than having to deal with other people’s crap when you’re sick and you’ll gain karma points by not passing it along in case whatever you have is contagious.

Call Home

Call, skype or otherwise communicate with someone(s) back home.  Just talking to people back home adds a level of comfort to your situation.  Being completely alone for three days while recovering from food poisoning isn’t a situation anyone wants to be in.  Make it better by getting some love from friends or family back home.

Ever been sick on the road?  How’d you deal with it?  Share your tips so other people don’t have it so hard when a virus floats along…

It’s December 31^st, 2011 and I’m back home in the states after nearly three years flashpacking around the world.  Last year at this time I was in Bangkok and the year prior to that was spent at a temple in Tokyo.  Tonight is a going to be a bit more low key – dinner with my parents and a relaxing night at home.  It’s nice to take a break every once in a while.

I spent 30 months traveling through 12 countries (Spain, England, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Australia and New Zealand).  I worked in three of them, spent a month with my father moving through two, and met some incredible people in each and every one.

Looking ahead to 2012

I’m going to try and make this next year just as big as the last.  I won’t be moving around nearly as much, but hope to have some huge results this time next year.  Since I’m a firm believer that announcing goals and resolutions help keep the pressure on to complete them, here are my five resolutions for 2012.

Blog Weekly

Since I got back from my trip two months ago, I’ve really let my updates on the blog lapse, and that’s something I aim to fix next year.  I think I started to over do it and that caused me to look at it as work, which led to my not looking forward to writing the updates.  I resolve to post at least once a week, but not feel like I should be doing more.  I also aim to get the daily photos running again.

Learn Spanish

The next big trip is scheduled for the end of 2013.  The current plan is a year+ roadtrip through South America with a few scattered people I’ve met these last 30 months of travel.  I know just a bit through the osmosis that comes from growing up in Southern California, but I want to get to a point where I can actually carry on a conversation.

Lose 15 Pounds

I was doing great on the trip until I hit Australia, where I went from cheap, fairly healthy Asian meals to expensive western food.  I saved money by cooking for myself much more often, but still managed to gain more weight than I would have liked.  I’m starting an exercise and eating program tomorrow that will, hopefully, get me in the greatest shape I’ve been in since I was on the Men’s Crew team in college.

New Projects

My biggest goal this year is to try my hand at a few entrepreneurial Internet projects.  I’m currently teaching myself more about online business and how a few things work on the web.  The aim is to launch AT LEAST THREE new projects this year.  If anyone else is starting some ambitious projects and looking for a partner, contact me.

365 Days of Photography

This is a double-sided goal.  First, I aim to get the Daily Photo back up, which involves going through the tens-of-thousands of photographs from the trip and getting them edited and organized.  The other side of the coin, inspired by Brendan’s Adventures, is to join up with the 365-day Photo Challenge.  I’ll be endeavoring to shoot on a daily basis and get something up on my facebook fan page.

Are you doing anything similar?  Care to hop on board so we can keep each other on track?  Let me know what you’re up to in the comments.

Cairns is the epicenter of options for diving the largest reef system in the world – The Great Barrier Reef.  A world heritage site and one of the seven natural wonders of the world (as named by CNN), this destination is high on the list of many travelers, and is certainly a spot not to be missed when visiting Australia.

I had the opportunity to experience the reef with three different companies out of Cairns.  The longest trip, a four-night jaunt up to the Coral Sea with Mike Ball, came first.  Upon returning to Cairns, I took a day of rest before jumping aboard another boat with Pro Dive.

Some of the colorful coral out on the reef.

Strategy for The Great Barrier Reef

I’m going to diverge for a second and discuss how I think you should approach spending time on the reef.  First off, don’t just spend a single day out there.  That’s like going to Paris, Rome or New York for a day and saying you’ve really seen the city.  Nonsense.  Take your time and spend at least 3 days there – not in and around Cairns, but on the reef itself.  You’re doing yourself a disservice if you only spend a day and then move on.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way, the reef is mind-bogglingly huge, and getting on a liveboard will let you spend the most time out on the water and, hopefully, diving.  It would be best if you arrive already knowing how to dive, as this would allow you to spend your limited time enjoying the reef and not learning as you go.  That being said, you can easily learn how to dive when you get there, and it is worth the time and money to experience a whole new world under water.  You could see the reef via snorkel, but you miss out on many of the interesting coral and other animals (turtles, sharks, rays, etc.) that live more than a few meters under the surface.

In addition to letting you stay out on the water longer, you get to access parts of the reef further away from Cairns.  The further you get, the healthier the reef and, generally, the more animal life you see.  I had a strange experience where I did a long liveaboard where we visited a remote part of the reef and then later did another liveaboard with Pro Dive much closer to Cairns.  The same species of fish that would scatter as you approached in the remote areas seemed much less skittish during the Pro Dive liveaboard.  I can’t prove it, but I suspect they were much more used to seeing divers in the water because there is SO MUCH diving going on close to Cairns.

A swim through 10 meters under the sea.

Dive the Reef with Pro Dive

With so many companies operating classes, day trips and “short” 2-3 day liveaboards, it can be difficult to know whom to go with.  Pro Dive has, arguably, the best reputation of any dive company in Cairns and should be your first choice for this reason alone.  When you’re dealing with people and equipment that could affect your safety, go with someone you trust.

I didn’t do any classes with them, but out of 27 guests on my 3-day liveaboard trip, 19 were doing open water classes and one was doing his advanced open water class.  The rest of us were fully certified and buddied up for our own dives.  The only real group dives were the night dives, which was totally fine with me as I’d only done two night dives before then.

One piece of advice – try and make sure you’re traveling with another diver you can buddy up with.  One of the drawbacks of doing this kind of trip solo is the “quality” of your buddy.  I had great luck during the Mike Ball trip, but then I was the least experienced during that trip and everyone on that boat was great.  During the Pro Dive trip, I split my time with the guy going for his advanced cert, who hadn’t dived in a while and didn’t listen very well to the staff or during briefings, and a German guy who didn’t speak very good English and hadn’t dived in two years.  I went from being on one boat where I was the relative newbie to leading two others during our dives.

Some more Anemone Fish

The Great Barrier Reef

The spots we visited with Pro Dive were fine, but weren’t up to the caliber of what we saw at the Coral Sea, but that’s to be expected.  The three-day trip is offered just about every day, so these dive sites are seeing dive and snorkel traffic every day or every other day, and the reef shows it.

I also believe that because the majority of the boat was filled with new divers getting their first certificates, we didn’t visit dive sites that might have been more interesting to more advanced divers.  I hadn’t thought about that beforehand but it makes total sense and is something to consider when booking your trip.

Average Boat but Plenty of Food

The boat was smaller than the one I took up to the Coral Sea with Mike Ball, and made do with six crew, half the amount of the Mike Ball crew.  Most of the rooms are set up with bunks while a few appeared to be double beds set up for couples.

There were also a few maintenance issues that would have made the trip a much better experience.  My bedroom lamp didn’t work, one of the showers really should have been replaced and forget about staying on the salon level (where my room was) in the afternoon.  It was like a sauna in there on the return trip to Cairns, and I got no real response from the crew after asking if they could fix the heat or turn up the air conditioning.

A piece of soft coral is illuminated by the flash of the Camera.

Food was about what you’d expect for buffet-style brekkie, lunch and dinner.  The good news is there’s plenty of it and always something to snack on after every dive.  Water, tea and coffee are free all day, but anything else you have to pay for and remember to bring your own alcohol on the boat as they don’t sell it.  Internet on the boat was also a nice surprise.

Conclusion

I was probably a bit spoiled coming on board the Pro Dive trip two days after doing the Mike Ball trip, but I couldn’t help but compare the two.  The Pro Dive trip was 3 days, 2 nights and visited a part of the reef pretty close to Cairns and so sees a lot of dive activity.  The Mike Ball trip was 4 nights, 5 days and went all the way up to the Coral Sea, a region that doesn’t see nearly as much dive traffic.

At time of print, the Pro Dive trip costs $680 with taxes and the Mike Ball trip costs $1751 for the budget option.  At almost three times the cost, Mike Ball is an option many people will pass over for more affordable trips.  If you can’t afford to get far out on the reef with a group like Mike, where the whole experience is very high quality, then I recommend going with Pro Dive.

From all the options I investigated, which were many, Pro Dive offered a good variety and, again, has the highest reputation of any of the 3 day / 2 night operators out of Cairns. This reputation is even more important if you’re going to be doing classes since safety should be one of your primary concerns.

Peek-a-boo - A diver peeks through a natural hole in the coral.

If I were going back and had didn’t have the funds to go with Mike Ball again, I’d definitely book something with Pro Dive, as long as I was seeing or doing something new.

One Tip: Instead of renting a camera from whichever company you decide to dive with, stop by the WetRez Camera shop and rent from there.  You can rent all manner of cameras for days at a time at a better rate than any of the boats I looked at.  This worked great for me the whole time I was in Cairns.

Location: Cairns

Experience: Pro Dive Cairns

Accommodation: Cairns Central YHA

Transportation: Greyhound

Camera: Wet Rez Camera

Highlights: Three more days diving the reef, more turtles and sharks, a giant spiny lobster

DISCLOSURE:  I HAVE NEGOTIATED A DISCOUNT WITH BOTH GREYHOUND AND YHA, BUT WILL BE GIVING AS HONEST AN EVALUATION OF THE TRIP AS I AM ABLE.  I ALSO RECEIVED A DISCOUNT ON THE PRO DIVE TRIP.