My housemates here in Istanbul are from the US, Germany, Spain, Brazil, and Mexico. The people who work for me on my team are multinational as well – a woman from Poland who is currently living in the Netherlands, and a Canadian.

The other people I work with are currently based in San Francisco, but they tend to move around every few months. A Columbian who has visa issues in every country, thanks to Pablo Escobar, a Dutch woman who spends her time finding places with views, some Spaniards who live in Malaysia work from their laptops on the side while teaching people how to Scuba dive.

It doesn’t seem like any of these people are far away from me. I get online and there they are, no matter where they are.

We discuss life, politics, the weather, work, travel (lots of travel talk…) and how to keep doing what we are doing. While we all come from different backgrounds, care about different things, and have differing methods of travel, one thing we all have in common is difficulty staying in one place.

National borders mean that crossing into different areas costs money, and often requires proof I am who I say I am. Trying to establish a bank account that works around the world means I need a permanent address. My driver’s license currently has a P.O. BOX on it – which excludes me from many foreign bank accounts.

Almost all of my money is virtual – why should I need a physical address? I pay with debit or credit cards, get paid by electronic fund transfer, and rarely see the cash unless I am headed to a cash only bar or little restaurant and when I do, I pull my money out in Lira, Colones, Baht, Kip, Pounds, and Euros.

The difficulties are there, but I accept these as part of the journey. My coworkers and friends are not jetsetters, we are something else. We are leading a revolutionary lifestyle change that will soon be possible for almost everyone. No geographical, national, or political ties. We are people who have roots only on paper. We work in a different country every time our visa’s expire, and work wherever we can find internet.

We utilize a wide variety of tools to make this possible. The internet is the gateway, and the efficient use of it is the key.

Below is a quick list of the tools we use to make this possible:

Money:

It is all digital.

• HSBC – international bank with ATMs and branches all over the world.
• Bank of America – Sharing system with banks everywhere, no ATM fees.
• PayPal – Freelance clients pay me with this, and I can pull funds out of an ATM directly or transfer them to a different account.
• Mint.com – Monitors all of my accounts and tells me where I have my money.
• INGdirect.com – Online Bank. Doesn’t exist as a walk in location. Good rates.

Collaboration:

• Skype – Voice, video, chat. It is my go to for connecting with someone in “person” or for a quick “Hello Mom!”
• Google Services – Gmail, Gchat, Google Voice, Google Docs, and Google Wave. I use these to manage projects, communicate with team members, maintain a semi- local presence in the US, and organize my life.

Relationships:

• Facebook – Events, where people are in the world, and what is going on in general
• CouchSurfing – Places to stay, things to do, people to meet
• Email – long form conversations
• Skype – Same as above

Play/Life:

• Earthclassmail.com – scans my real mail and emails it to me.
• Grooveshark.com – Streaming music everywhere (no US only restrictions)
• ninjavideo.net – TV shows and new movies
• Craigslist – Find short term rentals, classes, activities, climbing partners, and furnishings for wherever I am.
• Kayak.com – US based flights
• Ryanair / Easyjet – Cheap Europe flights
• Tiger air – Cheap Asian Flights

Sounds great – and it is. But it means sacrificing some things many people hold on to as core life values. Friendships from before tend to fade. Hard to maintain these for seven years with only marginal face time. Family life is scarce. Holidays only – and then not always. No stability of location. My home is where I happen to be. It helps that most of the people I live and work with have an “out of site, out of mind” approach to life.

While most people are building up assets- property, cars, clothes – I am checking off places, people, experiences. Here is a quick map of where some of my friends currently live. I could spend the next few years just visiting them – and I just might.

Your roommate is on his way out the door and invites you to go with him to the bar. You stand up and walk to the bar where you meet up with some friends who have an extra ticket to a concert where the band invites you to travel with them to the next tour location where you meet a girl and end up spending the weekend at a beach side cabana. Could you stand up and do that right now with only what you have on you?

I have.

Part of being able to just up and go is having what you need already with you. Sometimes those vital minutes searching for something means you miss your opportunity. The next time someone asks you to go somewhere with them, take a look at the expression that crosses their face when you stand up and say “Okay, let’s go!” – no prep needed.

What follows is a generalized breakdown of some gear that will allow you to wander a city and interact with all of its denizens with ease and comfort.

Clothing:

Wear clothes that are neutral in color, easy to get on and off, and blend into any situation. My clothes don’t attract attention, nor do they convey a set demographic. I could be rich or poor, in college or in my late 20’s, headed to the bar or coming back from a day walking in the woods.

The shirt is a half-zip collared stretchy thing that keeps me cool in hot weather, and warm in cold weather. It washes and dries in under an hour, and compresses up to nothing. It naturally repels liquids, which is great when someone knocks their beer all over you in a bar.

The pants are straight leg synthetic khakis that are also quick dry and water repellent without looking like it. They weigh next to nothing and fold up very small with tons of hidden pockets.

The boxers are Patagonia Capiline Silkweight and, like everything else, dry fast, look good and weigh little.

The jacket is both for rain and wind, and as a place to hold other items. The pockets start in the normal place, but run up the entire side of my body and are big enough to hold a bottle of wine completely inside them. When empty, it folds into itself and can become a small pillow, or a sack to hold other things. There is a built in stow-a-way hood for really bad weather.

The shoes are dark in color, waterproof, and work just fine as hiking shoes or dinner dress. They have Vibram soles, which means I am not going to slip in on wet surfaces, I can hold my own on a trail, and I won’t scuff up someone’s boat deck.

The socks are dark Smart Wool, which dries fast, lasts forever, and wicks the moisture away from your feet to fight blisters and odor.

Gear:

The phone is an iPhone. Probably the most useful gadget I have ever owned it is my camera, GPS, internet (for finding good places to go, or for meeting up with people) and ebook reader for long trips.

The Leatherman is a Skeletool, which is lightweight and has what I need most. Bottle opener and knife are used the most, followed by pliers and a screw driver for quick fixes. With the knife locked open, the handle fits into my palm to create a good base for a hammer grip should a fight come up. (you never know…)

The wallet is my passport to everything else. Money, proof of who I am, the ability to move freely in a cab, plane, bus or train. I also keep my health insurance and my CPR / First Aid training cards with me as well.

The sunglasses allow me to distance myself from people and avoid eye contact if the need arises (beggars…). They also come in handy the next morning when you have been out all night.

These four items are with me no matter what I am wearing.

Why?

The goal is to fit in in any situation. A button down collared shirt  with pressed pants is great at a club in the evening, but if you don’t make it home that night, they look a little rough in the morning. Wearing the above clothes I have swam in the Atlantic ocean then ridden a motorcycle across Costa Rica through a torrential mountain rainforest (literally soaking wet) and into the hot valley on the other side (where the sun dried me in an hour) down to the Pacific ocean, gotten off walked into a nice restaurant, grabbed dinner and a beer then went swimming. No second looks – I fit in everywhere.

When traveling and you stick out, you automatically become a target for others. When I go to Turkey in three weeks, I will have to adapt my clothes to blend in a little more. It helps you get what you want out of the locals.

What awaits in this part of the world? I have no idea, but I will have several months to explore.

Currently on the list:

• Egypt
  • SCUBA dive Red Sea
  • Pyramids
• Iran
  • While I still can
• Greece
  • Athens
  • Sparta
  • Brush up on my ancient history
• Italy
  • Venice
  • Rome
  • Everywhere
• Israel
  • Jerusalem

These are just off the top of my head… Now to do some research and find all I want to see. I may end up riding my bike down the Danube river with some friends who will be in the area. Who knows?!

Been to this part of the world? Drop me a comment with a recommendation!

While I haven’t stopped traveling, my travel style has evolved. I now relocate about once every three to six months to a new continent and live in one location for that time. I get to know the city I am in very well, but at the same time, I am no longer part of the traveler’s circuit. When I was leaving Panama, I was offered to go sailing around the world if I could leave the next day. I almost jumped at it, but had already made commitments to people and wasn’t going to let them down. Two years ago I would have been on that boat right away. (Ironically, this is the second time this offer has been made, in two different countries – next time, I will probably do it.)

Come January, I will uproot again and make my way to Istanbul, Turkey. Istanbul, historically known as Constantinople and Byzantium, will be an incredible experience. It is a massive metropolis (12.6 million) that spreads onto two continents. It has been the capital of the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, a critical trade route, and most importantly, it is the epicenter for an incredible mix of eastern and western culture. People have been living there since 6500BC. That is old!

I spent much of my college career studying the history and philosophy that came out of this area. The battle of Troy, the Greek philosophers who were strongly influenced by the trade that allowed their ideas to spread, the crusades, etc…

Since I got back from Asia, I have had an idea knocking around in the back of my head to ride a motorcycle around the Mediterranean Sea, and here I will be, working on that sea! I plan on buying a motorcycle as soon as I get over there so that I can experience the country as much as possible. Rumor has it that I may have to buy it in Croatia and bring it over, as that will be cheaper and the export laws will actually allow me to leave the country with the bike.

I have been playing with remote work while here at CouchSurfing, and while my current job doesn’t let me do it the way I want to (read: big ass monitor and graphics tablet that require a desk for drawing) I am slowly transitioning into a leading role that will enable me to work from a wide variety of locations. If you have any advice on gear that will work worldwide and connect me to the networks that be, please fill me in.

I also have some good friends who will be traveling (perhaps moving to?) that area at that time. They will be riding their sweet tandem bike around and rock climbing throughout Europe, so I plan on meeting up with them during my travels. If you, or anyone you know will be in the area from Jan to August, let me know. I may be freewheeling around Europe on the back of a Croatian motorcycle for a while.

-Ben

A few weeks ago my dad had a business meeting in Phoenix, AZ and was planning on flying out on a Wednesday, then flying back home on a Friday. I am not too far away in San Francisco, so I suggested we meet up and go to the Grand Canyon instead of him flying home. Naturally, he jumped at the idea and we met up that Thursday night.

I flew in on Thursday afternoon and was picked up at the airport by Chris Elliott, a childhood friend I have not seen in years. We spent the car ride back to his parent’s house (also estranged but close friends of the family) catching up on what had happened in the past decade since we had seen each other and getting past that awkward “Hey, I haven’t seen you in 10 years but I guess we are still friends” thing. Turns out we still get along fine.

After a good dinner with his mother, sister, sisters boyfriend, and at the end, his roommate, we went to the fake lake in the area. It is actually really nice at night, and we just walked along talking about randomness.

My dad got done with his conference around 10pm and showed up to chat for a while. We retired for the night after Mr. Elliott helped us plan our trip to the canyon. We were not sure about getting a permit because you generally have to apply months ahead of time, but banking on good luck and with an adaptable attitude, we woke up early and headed out. Our rental car was a Dodge Charger because they didn’t have the small car we had asked for. We were concerned about gas cost, but they gave us the car for the lower rate and a free half tank of gas, which was about the difference. I was glad, because I hate renting a car and having it be a small, weak machine that protests you trying to drive it like a destruction derby contestant – which as everyone knows is what you do with rental cars.

The drive north from Phoenix was beautiful. The change from flat desert to sharp hills was anything but gradual. After an hour or so of no turns and flat land several massive mesas suddenly appeared on the horizon and we wound our way into them. Still unsure of our final plans, we stopped at the state park near Flagstaff and got some more information from the park rangers there on places to go. They recommended that we take a secondary road to the canyon as the main one was busy and not as pretty. Both of us liked that idea, so we headed out again.

Surprisingly, we ended up on Route 66 for a while. To my knowledge it was my first time on the legendary dust bowl highway and it was fun to be a part of the legend, even if only for a moment. Our path led us through alpine forests, flat prairies, dusty deserts and then up, up, up into the elevated region that houses this massive hole in the ground we wanted so badly to climb into.

Mr. Elliott had told us that sometimes people put their tickets with extra days remaining on the back of the entrance sign, but when we checked we had no such luck. We paid our $25 and entered the park. We followed the roads out to the edge of the canyon and took some photos, trying hard to crop out the massive amount of tourists that were on the observation platform. I always feel that somehow I perceive locations differently than everyone else who is there. Even though I was gawking at the canyon with a giant camera around my neck, I looked with mild disgust at everyone else who was there doing the same thing. Maybe because I knew that my involvement with the canyon would not stop at simply looking at it, rather I would soon be attempting to climb down in it and challenge it to physical battle. It would cease being a sight, and become a place I have lived in and experienced.

We left the observation platform and found our way to the backcountry office. We needed a pass to go into the canyon, and had been told by everyone we talked to that our chances were slim to none. We asked, and the ranger said, no, sorry they were out (it was 3:00pm). Right when he said this, a lady behind him spoke up and said someone just canceled five minutes ago! We were in. In order to get to the bottom before dark we needed to leave ASAP. We called a cab to take us to the top of the trail, and rapidly packed our bags.

Seven miles to go down, then ten back up. The journey had begun.

[The actual trip in and out next, followed by my weekend in Mexico]

Right. Let’s begin.

Jim (www.fliptophead.com) and I left Anchorage to start our drive, and quickly realized that this was going to take forever. Alaska is big, and Canada is bigger. We were waved through the border patrol by a bored looking guard who hardly glanced at our passports.

We passed a few cool looking glaciers on our way out, and the landscape was beautiful. A few miles into Canada, the roads started getting wavy. There were all these little bumps that were marked with red flags on the side of the road, but if you didn’t notice the little red flag you suddenly found yourself airborne with a seatbelt cutting through your stomach. It made for interesting wake ups for the person sleeping in the passenger seat.

We had the car packed about as full as we could get it. We both had our laptops, and I could just raise it above my head and push it back and it would stay, wedged between all the junk in the back seat of the truck. We took turns driving, rotating every tank of gas to start off. The first day we drove until around 3 am before pulling over and camping out on the side of the road for four hours. That day is a blur of landscapes as we made our way out of the Yukon Territory and into BC.

At one point late at night we started smelling an odd burning smell, and remembered that while we had bought oil and a filter to change before we left, we had neglected to do so. Jim also commented that his oil had not been changed in over 16,000 miles. Uh oh… So we stopped, leached some wifi while we waited for the car to settle and cool and changed the oil. About 20 min down the road the smell came back. Some searching led us to find that our DC converter which was powering our laptops and cell phones was literally melting itself. So no more power.

We stopped again that night around 3 am and camped out until about 9:30am before starting.

The only thing that had been recommended to us was some hot springs, which we stopped at for about an hour. They were great after two days of no showers, still wearing the same clothes we left Alaska in. As we left, a tour bus full of some older tourists showed up and we were very glad to be out of there.

The part of Canada we drove through was pretty bleak, but we stopped in Vancouver at a CS gathering, arriving very late and spending an hour and a half and a pitcher of beer trying to find anyone there who could host us, but the people left were all travelers and had no space. We ended up leaving Vancouver and crossing into the States around midnight. We were so sick of camping that we just got a cheap hotel right next to the boarder and crashed out until late the next morning.

We stopped in Portland to see one of Jim’s old friends and he gave us a quick tour of the area he works in. We stopped in some random stores looking for Burning Man gear, and somehow ended up in a few places that were S&M stores and fantasy shops. Not the kind of costumes we were looking for exactly.

The last night we stopped at a hotel in some random small town and went to some thrift stores the next morning. Got a good Burning Man jacket and some 70’s Oakleys for $5.00.

We rolled into San Francisco around 10:00pm and went to a CouchSurfer named John’s house to crash. We ended up staying there until we left for Burning Man, which will be a post of its own.

Read Jim’s blog for a good oil change update. (www.fliptophead.com)

We have had no hold ups, and very little traffic. When we crossed into Canada, they didn’t stamp my passport! I didnt even think about it until after we pulled away, but I am kinda upset about it. Canada has been interesting. It looks a lot like Alaska, but the people speak just a little different. Still haven’t heard an “Eh” in its natural habitat, but I am anxiously awaiting the debut. We are going to power on through the night, alternating shifts and see if we cant make Vancouver soon.

We have been listening to comedy on the ipod, discussing the aspects of the collective, and generally mocking the great country of Canada because that is what you do when you come here. (No offense to any Canadian friends I may have – it is simply an ingrained thing I have had in me since childhood.)

That’s all for now, I am going to go change some oil in the rain.

-Ben

After two weeks of living, working, and spending my free time with the people here at the collective, I needed to take some time off. Part of the group here decided to go across the bay to clear some trails and camp out as a group of 12, but Walter and I decided to head out on our own and do some real camping while hitchhiking to experience some of of the Alaskan people.

Afternoon, Day One

We walked out our front door to the gas station down the street to pick up gas for my camp stove. We had already packed up some pasta, soup, oatmeal and snacks from the house so we didn’t have to pay for food. We wanted to head north, and spend very little, so we decided to hitchhike. Hitching in Alaska is a pretty common event, as there is one road heading north and one road heading south. Before we even made it back to our house from the gas station we got a ride from a guy who was headed about an hour north. He was an air traffic controller in Homer but lived farther north. We rode with him and made small talk but nothing much came of it. He dropped us off in the middle of nowhere (actually, just north of what passes for a town here called Clam Gultch). We walked to a little bar/restaurant that claimed to have over 22,000 baseball hats and to be certified in the Guinness book of world records. There were no hats. Well, not many. Just a few around the ATM machine.

We came back outside and after just a few minutes, a guy slammed on his brakes and almost threw his truck into the ditch trying to stop so fast. Almost as if he just decided to pick us up as he was even with us. We threw out stuff in the back and jumped in. Jim turned out to be a great guy. He worked out on the oil rigs and had the day off, and had passed one hitchhiker earlier on, and felt bad so he picked us up. He said he used to hitchhike and remembered how fun it was. We didn’t have to talk very much with him as he could continue the conversation along by himself pretty well. He took us about 20 minutes up the road to Seldotna, the nearest semi large town, where he dropped us off at the Fred Myers (like a Wal-Mart). We needed to buy bear mace in case we came across bears, and I wanted to get good Coleman fuel for my stove, since it had only ever burned gasoline before. Before we got out, he offered us some of his beer, and $20.00 cash. We took the beer.

After we left Fred Myers, we waited at the corner of the parking lot for maybe five minutes before a guy stopped off for us again. He was around 28, and headed back to Anchorage for his days off, so we could ride as far as we wanted with him. We were originally going to Cooper’s Landing to camp near there, but when we pulled up we noticed that there were a hundred or so people fishing the banks of the stream and they all had RVs. We decided to move on. Walter had stopped in Hope, AK on his way down because the guy he was riding with wanted to see all the small coast towns, and he thought it would be a good place to go. Oh, I didn’t mention that Walter is a narcoleptic Dutchman with waist long blond hair, which made the trip a little more interesting. He kept nodding off during conversations so I would have to fill in, but then we just told them what was up, and they thought it was funny.

We got dropped at the entrance to the 16 mile road to Hope, and quickly got a ride from a nice old guy who had lived there forever. He took us around for a tour of the town, then suggested a little trail outside the community. (Hope has just over 200 people) We hiked down the trail and found a little site next to a stream that was about as perfect as we could have wanted. We were a little nervous about the bears, so we strapped the bear mace to my belt, but didn’t open it all the way so we could return it if we didn’t use it. The first guy we got a ride with had said no worries, just make a fire. The second guy told us we should get some bear mace, and the third guy told us we should have a gun. Right after he mentioned this, we saw a giant brown bear lumber up to the side of the road then turn back into the woods.

I switched the gas in my stove to the Coleman fuel, and we boiled water and cooked cooked the pasta. We mixed in salami and cheese and made our selves a feast. After setting up camp we walked a few miles into town to see what it was all about. Not much apparently, but the view was beautiful. Walter went to take a needed nap on a rock, and I went down to the water to skip rocks. The rest of the night was spent talking around the fire before we called it an early night.

Morning, Day Two

We woke up around 7:00 am, but fell back asleep until 10ish when we cooked up the oatmeal and headed out again. It took us a while to get our first ride, and it was interesting. The woman who stopped had a dog in the back of her truck that was tied to a cooler. When we dropped our bags into the truck it spooked the dog, so it jumped out the back pulled the cooler with it. This spooked it even more and it bolted down the road. I chased after it and as it jumped into the ditch, I tackled the cooler, stopping the dog’s flight. She put the dog in the front, and we jumped in the back. She took us back to the main road where we got picked up by two girls headed down to camp out with some friends.

These girls took us as far as Seldotna, where the Fred Myer’s was. We went back in and returned the bear spray, which was $44 originally. We had never used it, so they just gave me a refund. There was a Taco bell here, and I was craving it, so I introduced Walter to his first Taco Bell experience.

We had been making great time so far, but we were on the wrong side of town to hitch out of, so we walked through the place to get to the other side. On the way we heard someone call out from a parking lot, and a man who was cooking kettle corn in a booth was waving at us and he tossed us a big bag of kettle corn. Cool. The people here are so nice it is amazing. 

We waited a while, but finally got a ride with a girl who was late for work, but had heard from friends of the first two girls that dropped us off in town that there were two cute (her words, not mine) hitchhikers making their way through the area, so she stopped to pick us up. She, randomly, took us back to the same place that was supposed to have 22,000 hats where she works as a bartender. She said it doesn’t because they renovated, and now most of them are on ebay.

From here, our luck went down. We walked for a while because no one was going by, and walking makes the time pass. Eventually a guy in a yellow sports car stopped and we jumped in. He had his daughter in the car and seemed alright, but goofy. We soon realized he was hammered drunk. He was going off on a wild tangent and both him and his daughter, who was an emo, pierced teenager, were drinking to celebrate Father’s day. We needed to get out of this car quickly. We asked him how far we were going, and he said to the next bar. Asking him to let us out could have made the situation much worse if he decided not to, but luckily we knew this was only a few miles away. When he pulled in, we got our stuff out, declined his offer to  come drinking, and walked up the road. About an hour passed before we got our next ride, and it was from two girls who passed us, but made eye contact and stopped farther down the way. The only took us about 15 miles before they were leaving the main road, so they dropped us off. We must have waited about another hour and a half to two hours before we got our next ride. It wasn’t that so many people were not picking us up, just that we were only getting six cars every 20 minutes.

Finally we got picked up by a large, large man and his tiny, tiny Asian wife.  They were going to Homer, so we had our last 40 miles done.

The trip was a lot of fun, and we got to meet a ton  of local talent. The only other time I have hitchhiked was when my bicycle broke down in California, so this was a good experience. Walter has hitched over 6500 km in Europe, so this was nothing new for him. I will definitely do it again, as the entire weekend was amazing, and cost a total of $10.00 because we ate at Taco Bell. If you include the free beer we almost broke even. It put me back in touch with reality, which is easy to lose sight of when you live with 20 people in an isolated environment for a long time.

More Photos From The Trip