Vagabonding begins!

Unlike 2011, I actually managed to add two new countries in 2012 (India and Sri Lanka) — yay!

Thailand — for living and working.
Malaysia — a quickie visit to find out the hard way that they do not grant visas to India
India — my first time on this incredible stressful-but-interesting subcontinent
Sri Lanka — one month of island recovery time after India.

I’m still blogging over at http://www.vagabondinglife.com — and have given the site a facelift.

You can catch my writings from all over the web on: http://www.facebook.com/vagabonding.travel

See you there and may there always be a road!

My 2011:

• Lived on the island of Koh Tao in Thailand
• Saw the groundbreaking elections in Bangkok which could have resulted in a coup.
• Learned exponentially more about Thailand customs.
• Saw the record flooding in Bangkok which included escaped crocodiles!
• Visited Sumatra, Indonesia, and learned about the Batak headhunting cultures
• Climbed Gunung Sibayak – an active volcano – in Sumatra, and experienced a long earthquake!
• Lived in Amsterdam for two months just to remember how wonderful (and expensive) that Europe is!
• Went to Perhentian Kecil island in Malaysia again just for a break from the city
• Put on a fireshow in Perhentian Kecil in front of a bar crowd where I managed to burn my leg
• Spent good time in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, showing new backpackers around the city
• Got my first traditional bamboo tattoo while on Koh Tao
• Went back to a Thailand Full Moon Party – first one since 2006

And the vagabonding travel adventures will (hopefully) continue into 2012!

I just started a new vagabonding travel Facebook page to encompass updates from this blog, my vagabonding blog, and my other backpacking websites. Don’t worry, I only post extremely – or bizarre – stuff! Give it a like, and add me as a travel buddy if you want.

Life is insane, but good!

This year I barely escaped all the flooding in Bangkok. After weeks of dealing with the rain and poor weather, I ended up living in Koh Tao — not a bad trade at all.

I finally put the finishing touches on my new website to help people on their way to Thailand. Rather than the usual site with long articles to pick through for information, I came up with a Twitter-style site with small tidbits and tips of use for backpackers and vagabonds.

I literally launched the site yesterday, so I’m still putting some bells and whistles on. Still, if you have an upcoming trip to Thailand planned, check out:

Thailand Tips

I’m 100% positive that you’ll find some Thailand tips of interest that will help you save money and have more fun on your next trip to my favorite country.

Happy travels!

Today marks the official five-year anniversary of my new life of Vagabonding.

Man, what a ride it has been! Life changing to the Nth degree, my paradigms and personality have become permanently upgraded. The good news? After five years of being out of my corporate cubicle, there are no plans to go back. Bad economy be damned, it’s not even an afterthought when I’m trekking in the rainforest or sitting on a Thai island somewhere.

All countries, cultures, adventures, and memories aside, this humble blog played a far greater role in my vagabonding than I ever predicted. I have managed to meet new real-life friends all around the world, just through sharing a few things here.

This first post says it all; when I started vagabonding I had no idea how long I would be gone, where I was going, or what to think. I generally expected to get travel “out of my system” before coming home and unloading my stuff from storage to find a job and a home. That storage unit did eventually become unloaded – as I sold nearly everything I own to fully embrace this new life!

Thank you BootsnAll.com for the great opportunity, motivation, and support that got me out of that damned cubicle.

I’m doing a semi-thorough writeup on my vagabonding blog in hopes of inspiring others who are still stuck in corporate jobs, grinding away days and years without feeling fulfilled.

For a rundown of the countries I wandered through over the last five years and even some pictures, have a look at my homepage: Greg Rodgers.

Ignore the naysayers and negative types – don’t ever stop dreaming. If I managed to do this for five years, anyone can!

Cheers and may there always be a road!

I haven’t felt this excited about opening a box since Christmas circa 1985.

My new Denon AH-NC800 noise canceling headphones were everything that I would expect from a top-notch Japanese sound company dating back 100 years.  While the cost is certainly above the budget of the average vagabonding traveler, these headphones are a must for anyone working with video, sound, or production.  All frequent fliers would be happy with the splurge to own a Denon as well as people that just demand the best sound at any given moment.

I will do my best to quell my excitement and keep this review subjective – a task made easier as Job2Do thumps my favorite Thai reggae through the powerful inducers.

Read on to see what I have to say about my Denon AH-NC800 headphones.

Read the rest of this entry »

As usual, I’m still slowly catching up on writing about my adventures over on my vagabonding blog (http://www.vagabondinglife.com)

Call it nostalgia, but after four years and over a half million hits (woohoo!) I refuse to let this blog go just yet. Instead, I am going to use this space for stuff such as travel gear reviews and other goodies that just don’t fit in on my regular blog.

I am home in Lexington, Kentucky, USA for at least the next month or two – resupplying and planning my next adventure in 2011.  What’s on the radar? You’ll know as soon as I do, but I’m toying with a return trip to Borneo plus finally getting to Papua, Indonesia.  A diving trip to the Philippines sounds nice too…as always, there are more ideas than time and money!

Whatever the destination, the priority for 2011 is outdoor adventure – preferably in the jungle and rainforests.

Some of you have been following this blog, as well as my transformation from cubicle dweller to vagabond, since I began in 2006.  Thank you for sharing this amazing life journey with me.

So, stay tuned…it’s going to be one hell of a vagabonding year!

It’s that time of year when people frantically crowd the malls, battle for parking, and do their best to find gifts for the ones they love.  Backpackers, or just budget travelers in general, can be difficult to buy for – many do not own homes to fill with lots of junk.  Luckily, the best gifts for travelers are usually small, make life on the road easier, and can be found online; no need to square off for a death match in the mall entrance.

As a former engineer and current lifelong traveler, I have decided to write a subjective review for Monster Cable’s “Travel Kit” - a nice collection of gadgets and devices that are guaranteed to make any flashpacker or career traveler on your list happy.  I know the Monster brand well from back in my old IBM days; serious hackers and IT guys always paid the little extra for Monster-brand cables when needed.

To keep the review subjective, I am going to list pros and cons for each piece.  If you are one of the lucky ones that Santa bestowed Amazon.com credit on this year, pay careful attention!

Read the rest of this entry »

Travel to Borneo and see stuff like this!

Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam….of all four places I visited this year, none captured my attention or my heart more by surprise than Borneo.

The name “Borneo” just comes across as exotic. Maybe it’s the fact that people were still lopping off heads there only a few decades ago or maybe it’s just the remote feeling of the place.  Either way, Borneo is teeming with rainforests, endangered species, and loads of adventure possibilities for budget travelers.

Thanks to so many tour operations popping up, Borneo travel is becoming synonymous with “too expensive for backpackers”.  From my personal experience this year, I found that as with every other place, you can still travel cheap.  Sure, Borneo may not be as cheap as Vietnam or Indonesia, but backpacking in Borneo really isn’t that bad.  Solo travelers will have a slightly tougher time saving money on accommodation – probably the highest expense, but getting into the national parks and spotting wildlife can certainly be done without hiring guides.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m alive.

Not only alive and kicking, but alive and kicking butt.  Life is good!

So far this year I have managed to explore a large chunk of Borneo, visit Brunei, go to several new places in peninsular Malaysia to hike and work on my Bahasa language, then Vietnam – a brand new country for me.

After one month of bumming around Vietnam in the rain, I have now landed back in Thailand to live in Chiang Mai (in the north) for a month.  After this trip, I will have over two months accumulated in Chiang Mai.  This city is simply a great, relaxed, creative place to live full of interesting people and lots of sunshine.

I’ve been slowly catching up my vagabonding blog (this is an old one) over at www.vagabondinglife.com if you want to check out more details about this year’s trip.

Thanks for reading, and may there always be a road!

After 4 years on the road, I have decided to cave in and publish my bucket-list of vagabonding goals.  If anyone else has a list out there, I would love to see it!

I start traveling again this June, its time to start working on this list!

Current List of Goals

1. Run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain
2. Ride on top of a train in India
3. Dive in a shark cage
4. Visit all 50 states
5. Go hang gliding
6. Go to a Burning Man festival
7. Try white water rafting in real rapids
8. Become proficiently bilingual in a foreign language
9. Do a volunteer project
10. Write a book
11. Learn to snowboard
12. Learn to Latin dance (well)
13. Spend a week in the wild alone
14. Go trekking in Papua, New Guinea
15. Learn to ride a horse (well)
16. Finish a 5 day fast
17. Learn mountaineering
18. Have a vision in a native American sweat lodge
19. Visit Tibet
20. Visit Everest Base Camp in Nepal
21. Visit Burma (Myanmar)
22. Sail as part of a crew from point A to point B
23. Live on a deserted island
24. Walk in an active lava field
25. Ride a motorcycle larger than 500cc
26. Travel from point A to point B by train hopping
27. Sleep in the desert
28. Walk on all 7 continents
29. Try zero budget travel
30. Get a bamboo/traditional tattoo

Goals Completed So Far:

1. Try skydiving
2. Try bungee jumping
3. Learn to Scuba Dive
4. Go inside a shipwreck
5. Solo (without protection) rock climb a named peak
6. Have a grizzly encounter in the wild
7. Swim with sharks
8. Visit Angkor Wat, Cambodia
9. Study Shaolin Kung Fu in China
10. Learn to drive a motorcycle
11. Go hitchhiking
12. Shoot a machine gun
13. See Komodo dragons in the wild
14. Try surfing
15. Use a machete in the jungle
16. Try cliff diving
17. Live with locals in a country
18. See a full moon party in Ko Phangan, Thailand
19. Go to Oktoberfest in Germany
20. Walk on a glacier
21. Walk on a nude beach (nude, of course)
22. Land a pre-paid travel writing assignment
23. See the Egyptian Pyramids and Valley of the Kings
24. Stand on top of an active volcano
25. Bribe a foreign official to get out of trouble
26. Go fishing in Alaska
27. Become self employed
28. Go into an underwater cave
29. Shoot something and eat it
30. Pet a tiger
31. Learn to spin a fire torch
32. Ride an elephant
33. Visit Machu Picchu
34. Meet my favorite travel writer (Rolf Potts)

This is a living list. I’m sure that it will be growing as I meet new people and learn of new opportunities.

Onward!