2012 was a year of restlessness and unhealthy work habits. It was also a year of self-discovery (or self-annihilation, depending on your view of self!) and a redefinition of priorities.
2011 was brought to a close in Maui after a month-long trip around SEAsia. What followed was a year of 80-hour workweeks and, to be honest, I can’t even remember where I was, who I was with, or what I did for New... 
I decided to not go through with my Divemaster on just about the day it was supposed to start. The question over whether I really wanted to pursue it or not niggled into my mind somewhere in Kuala Lumpur – probably while I was staring at the ceiling fan of my 6ft x 12ft cell. Did I really want to spend the next 2 months in a town with 2 roads and a dozen restaurants? Also there’s no surf. And... 
Life on Koh Tao is a lot slower and a big part of my day – when I’m not seasick on a boat or 75 feet below the ocean’s surface – is spent eating, talking, and thinking.
My favorite place is a French café right off the main street in Mae Haad called Cappuccino. Like almost everywhere on the island, it has an open-air patio and is way too big for the number of customers it ever has at any point in... 
I landed in Kuala Lumpur with a backpack and little more than a vague idea about where I was going. My first time traveling without a real “plan” was on my previous visit to Thailand two years ago. Arriving in a new place with a guidebook and a booked room has just the right combination of safety and spontaneity to get your adrenaline pumping while still knowing everything is going to turn out... 
I had a decision to make: buy a last-minute ticket to Manila or take my chances on making the cross-city bus ride to the international terminal in time to catch my flight to Kuala Lumpur. With a little under 90 minutes till my flight and an estimated bus ride time of 15 minutes it wasn’t an easy call to make – but I decided to make a mad dash for the international terminal, Don Mueang. Worst-case... 
This is not at all what I expected I would be doing when I left 3 weeks ago. I try to stay away from using cliches as much as possible – but this quote by Lennon is too good to pass up. “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” I think this is the first time that I really get that quote.
I had planned on traveling around Thailand for a month before my... 
“Okay now please put on ze bikini,” she said.
“My bikini?”
“Yes. You have it on, no?”
“Uh, yeah, sure.” I turn around in my brown swimming trunks. “Does my bikini look alright?”
“Fine. Good. Yes.” She says, half-smiling over her shoulder.
I see now what people say about the French not caring much for learning English. Joelle would be... 
I’m an ex software engineer, a newly-minted exporter, and on my way to becoming an international vagabond. I write about things like polyphasic sleep, moving to the other side of the world for no good reason, and surfing. Read more...
