I’ve never before tried working as a “digital nomad,” and it’s been nearly a decade since I’ve traveled in lands where I didn’t really know the language. Travel has changed astonishingly during my lifetime: most of the change is massive improvement: Google Maps, ubiquitous cellular data, Tripadvisor, Uber, Airbnb, translation apps, Street View,… any one of these tools and services would itself ease and simplify travel — but taken altogether, travel can be much more comfortable and sure. And given all the various bodily complications that now make travel more difficult for me, these new developments are really a game-changer for me.…
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Endless cold, darkness, & snow. I can’t stay warm. I can’t get enough light. I don’t ski.… And as I’m posting this retrospectively in mid-March, I realize that I cannot remember whether my weather app was displaying temperatures in Celsius (i.e., these temperatures are cold) or in Fahrenheit (i.e., these temperatures are bloody cold). Either is entirely possible. Either would be entirely unremarkable.…
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… Did I learn from previous experiences? Did I stop myself cold and create a new plan? I did not, no. I decided to walk down Av. Almirante Miguel Grau towards the main square and either take away or find a nice place to eat. This never works well, since my decision-making brain is the first thing to go when I get hungry.…
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As any traveller knows altogether too well, there are several different types of “standard” electrical plugs around the world. There are many web sites that purport to explain the different standards and that offer color-coded maps showing what plugs are used in what countries — but the information is highly contradictory and, in the case of Peru at any rate, incorrect.…
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Being a shy fellow, I received the last-minute news that there were two additional guests on my walking tour of Barranco with a bit of trepidation. Three or four hours not only with a tour guide I was unfamiliar with but also with two other guests? I need not have worried. After an hour or so, the tour guide (Mau) left the three of us alone briefly. The more extraverted of the two other guests turned to me and said, “You seem like a nice person!” which she immediately followed with “Is that a weird thing to say?” …
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Friends have expressed concern — and who can blame them? — that no one has heard a peep from me since I posted the good news weeks ago that I didn’t have COVID, and the concomitant news that I did have flu.… I have been in Lima for 6½ weeks, all of which has been delightful. And on a few of those days I have felt 100% myself — and, indeed, those days have been terrific. But for about half of the days I have been plagued by, shall we say, a fairly violent version of a Common Travellers’ Complaint.…
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I’m a bit behind in posting, for which I ask your indulgence. I’ll temporarily skip over my adventures of the weekend, and briefly write that a vague tickle in my throat on Sunday night developed extraordinarily rapidly into a pretty bad illness. This is 2024, however, so the big question was whether or not it was COVID, especially since the symptoms seemed identical to those when I contracted COVID in May of 2020. Dear Peruvian Tolkien Society friends pointed me to a MiFarma web page.…
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I’ve used Airbnb extensively since 2015 for lodging, in locations close to home that I know well and further afield in Edinburgh, Prague, Paris, and more. Only once before, however, have I ever booked an Airbnb “event” (a day-long cruise along the cost of Martinique). It was a success; and, based on that success, I thought that finding the “right” experience(s) in Lima might serve as a useful introduction to the city. I picked A magical walking tour on the bohemian side of Lima, hosted by an artist (actor and author) named Mau,…
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People who know me well know that, despite being a shy introvert, perhaps paradoxically, I love meeting people and getting to know them. And so, after much delay, I reached out to the Peruvian Tolkien Society to let them know I was coming to Lima. The next day.…
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The long leg of my flight from Burlington to Lima (almost 8 hours from JFK to LIM) was decidedly red-eye, leaving just before midnight. I had elected to pay a modest upgrade charge for a little more elbow and leg room to make the night just a little less awful. This was one of those co-branded flights: it was nominally Delta, but it was really a Latam flight. Somehow, though I had a boarding pass that showed the upgrade (in row 12) that I had printed out last August when I made the reservation, Delta then reported last week that I was in row 35.…
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I’m glad Lima isn’t as expensive as New York!
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He did not tell Gandalf, but as he was speaking a great desire to follow Bilbo flamed up in his heart — to follow Bilbo, and even perhaps to find him again. It was so strong that it overcame his fear: he could almost have run out there and then down the road without his hat, as Bilbo had done on a similar morning long ago. — LR §1.02.178.
I left my hats at home, intentionally, though I did leave behind a couple of items I’d meant to bring. Delta Airlines warned me that because of “increased travel,” I should report to the airport in Burlington three hours before my flight. Knowing it was Burlington, we took that with a grain of salt and arrived at about 2¼ hours early. Snow plows slowed us down; they and the 5ºF temperature (-15ºC, for those of you sensible enough to use Celsius!) reminded me that I shouldn’t feel too homesick! .…
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Two weeks from today will be my first full day (out of 55!) in Peru! The intention is that my trip will be a true blend of work and relaxation; I’m hoping to work industriously for seven five-hour days each week, leaving the balance of the time for sampling food, espresso, drinks, music, art, and the ocean. But those work hours will be crucial, and I’ve worked out an efficient, portable workstation in order to make that time as useful as possible.
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