Ipad on the road: Man's best friend

So as some of you know we have acquired a quite wonderful piece of technology along our way this year...the Ipad. While Emily had her back turned I snook an Ipad out of the Melbourne Duty Free Airport and since then we have both been addicted. I must admit it was an impulse buy but...it proved to be a pretty handy one!

So for all those of you out there thinking about it here is my Top 10 Free Travel Apps and a few pro's and con's of travelling around the world with an Ipad.

1. The Economist: If you have a subscription you can just activate it and get all your issues for free, the format was specifically designed for the Ipad and it looks pretty good. The best way to keep current on the news where you are and everywhere else. 

2. Skyscanner: A Simple Ipod app I just had to include. It allows you to search flights in every country, set your currency and book them. Doesn't get much better than this...After having taken over 30 flights in 23 countries this year I have checked and it's never been beat!

3. XE Currency Converter: get real time exchange rates on over 180 currencies...for Free. Exchange rate scams are now a thing of the 20th century.

4.TRVL: A beautiful travel guide that gives you an alternative to the LP trail and is full of ideas to plan your next vacation with pictures that will make you drool!
5. The Weather Channel: Plan ahead to pack wisely on that hike in Patagonia or before you go biking round the countryside in Lao.

6. Skype: Call and be called everywhere. Convenient to change you flights (1-800 numbers are free), give Mum a shout and wish you bestie her Bday in person.
7. Us Weekly: For all of you that want to keep up with the home gossip for free...this is the one app that won't let you down. You can load it up and use it offline on one of those long bus rides through Bolivia.
8. Kindle: Instead of packing in those heavy volumes of HP, LOFTR or the latest Grisham, keep some backpack space to bring back your shopping! Comes with sepia and night mode and a couple free classics!
9. Nightstand: For those early wake ups to get the sunrise on Angkor Wat and to make sure you don't miss that morning flight, this app helps you wake up with smooth sounds of a waterway (will make you get up to go to the loo), or birds chirping.
10. Tower HD: This one has made many 2 digit-hour flights bearable. Probably more for the guys out there, this game is simply addictive!

First I have to mention most of these will work fine with Iphone. Second I didn't mention some of the native apps like Google Maps that can be used as a GPS if you load up the instructions while online. It will also give you the walking times and distances so you know if you'll need to pack in your headlight!
Obviously it's been pretty handy to book hostels, hotels, find camping sites and more. As a Bonus the app Offline Reader allows you to save webpages for offline usage for maps, flight confirmations and more!
If you haven't bought the Ipad yet, beware! It is highly addictive and has got something for everyone, but if you are planning to work on holiday I would recommend you bring that old computer to keep you company.

Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

This week we arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay - to be honest, a place I had never thought or heard much about. Just a small country nestled next to Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay on the east coast of South America. Though upon arriving in its capital - home to 1.8 of its 3.5 million people - I was more than pleasantly surprised at its beauty and charm: tree lined streets, grand plazas, cherib dancing fountains, and a wide boardwalk bordering the coast that looks at the bluest of oceans. For anyone in need of vacation ideas, I would highly recommend visiting Uruguay (especially if you can speak spanish)! Its the best of Europe and Latin America combined!

For more specifics on Uruguay you can visit www.uruguay360.com.uy - a website developed by the Sartori brothers, who are currently students at ORT in Montevideo. We met up with them and a number of other students yesterday at the university who have been engaged with the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Founded by Professor Enrique Topolansky (aka Topo)- a passionate, charismatic leader...the kind of professor that makes you want to go back to school or even start teaching yourself - the CIE supports budding entrepreneurs and gives them the wings to get to their destination. In my opinion, every university in the world should have such a center, supporting fresh business ideas and the energetic determination of students everywhere.

The interviewees - entrepreneurs and future employers - will be appearing in our piece on "unemployment and globalization." stay tuned to hear their advice on how to make it in today's marketplace! Special thanks to everyone from CIE!

Hiking the Patagonian Andes - The W Trek

After a week relaxing in Vaparaiso, we left for Punta Arenas, the hub of Chilean Patagonia. We took a bus to Puerto Natales, bought a couple pairs of socks and left for Laguna Amargas the base camp for most expeditions through Torres Del Paine National Park.
There are many treks one can do in this area but the W is arguably one of the most rewarding. So we set off on a patagonian misty morning  with our adventure spirit, a camera, tripod, and...a heavy backpack full of energy bars.

The views were amazing at the end of each day, the expensive simple food tasted delicious and the old expensive beds felt like the best we had ever slept in. It is the end of the season here so we didn't see too many tourists (...we are adventurers, don't get confused).

Perfect conditions...by perfect I mean 0 degrees celsius (FYI drains all the battery out of our Ipad).We filled up our water bottles from the streams and for a few days lived "d'amour et d'eau fraiche" as we say in french.

I never liked hiking as a kid but I know realize why our parents enjoyed it so much, the whole clearing your mind and body, losing yourself in the natural state of things. Guess I'm getting older...(wiser? ;-)


For anyone wishing to do the hike, here is a little advice:

• Itinerary: The full circle isn't as rewarding in terms of scenery so I would reccomend taking your time for the W. Ideally 5 nights and 6 days in the park is comfortable. You can travel from one end (Las Torres) to the other by boat and bus (3 hours total), or walk it (10hours). It's a fun walk but if you have any kind of heavy backpack you might want to avoid it as there are some river crossings where you will have too do some rock hoping...or get wet.
• Timing: Mid/Late March is the best but you might want to pack a tent as some Refugios are closed by then. We did it in April and it was getting cold. Los Cuernos closed on the 13th April 2011 and Chileno was closed.
• Refugios: Mainly 3 places you can stay if you don't want to camp. 2 Different companies to book ahead. Book them individually through there websites as packages and agencies will incur a commission. 
• Paine Grande (Pehoe): http://www.verticepatagonia.com/precios-y-reservas/
• Las Torres and Los Cuernos: http://www.fantasticosur.com/refugios_in_torres_del_paine/
• Prices: Refugios are not cheap. Count about 40 US/night per person for a bed. +10 US for a sleeping bag (worth it depending on the season). 20 US/dinner which are usually bread, entree, main, desert. Camping is usually 8 US/person and some places rent out tents for 12 US/night but having tried it I would recommend you bring your own.

Oh and here is our website where you'll find tons of info about FYDB - The Series, Raw video footage of our trip and more... www.fastenyourdreambelt.com


 

Retrospective australienne

Apres presque 2 mois en oceanie, il est grand temps de partager un peu ce que nous avons vu, senti et entendu depuis que nous sommes ici!
Nous avons commence par une petite semaine a Melbourne et je dois dire que le calme, la proprete et le confort dont nous avons profite ont ete d'autaut plus appreciable que nous arrivions de Delhi! L'open d'Austrlie est super moderne compare RG et Wimbledon mais l'ambiance etait tout aussi belle. Apres ca 2 semaines de voyage en australie du sud, le premier etat a interdir les sacs plastiques dans les supermarches. Et pas le dernier a produire des vins superbes.
Nous poursuivons avec 3 semaines sur la cote ouest dont 2 passees a apprendre les rudiments du surf, a apprecier les joies du camping et a prouver que meme avec des moyens limites on peut quand meme cuisiner du tres bon. BLT, pates thon moutarde, sandwichs tomates seches mozza... Et bien sur un bon cubi de vin rouge local pour accompagner tout ca a moindre cout!
Nous avons eu la chance de voyager dan un "wicked van" et pour ceux ui ne savent pas, ce sont de tres vieux vans toyota (780 000 km au compteur du notre) couverts de grafs et en locs a un prix tres concurrentiels. Certes la 3eme ne marchait pas, la conso est proche des 15litres/100km, la radio hs et la clim...n'existait pas a sa date de prod.
Bref apres ces 3 semaines idylliques loin de toute pollution visuelle et olfactive nous avons du rentrer a Perth ou nous avons eu le plaisir de rencontrer une fille de 13 ans qui coordonne le nettoyage annuel des plages dans son quartier nous avons pris le "red eye", le vol de nuit pour sydney.
Apres 48h et 4interviews, ecrasage sur notre lit et gros dodo bien merite apres une nuit blanche qui m'a fais realise que je suis plus vieux et moins resistant que je ne le pensait. Mardi gras a Sydney c'est l'equivalent local de notre gay pride et c'est une fete enorme. Sympa mais le prix de la chambre a l'auberge de jeunesse moisi (90$/nuit) s'en est resenti. Passage oblige par bondi beach pour un cafe et un trempe d'orteil,le soleil n'etant pas de la partie ce jour la.
Retour a Melbourne pour quelques jours d'interview, une session de beer & bash (driving range version australienne ie decomplexee). D'une facon generale j'ai trouve les australiens tres relax, ouverts et acceuillants. Mais attention aux apparences, sous ses airs de societe parfaite, l'australie cache de gros problemes de racisme et d'integration des populations aborigenes. Comme quoi il n'y a pas de miracles.
Pour finir, voici quelques expressions relevees sur les differents vans croises pendant notre voyage (en anglais desole) ou lu/entendu ici et la.

Prayer is asking for rain, faith is carrying an umbrella
Forgiveness is a lot easier to get than permission
Men are like mascara as soon as you get emotionnal they start running

Courage pour les quelques mois qu'il vous reste avant l'ete, moi j'y restes, demain saut en parachute au programme, j'espere que ceci ne sera doncpas mon dernier blog, si c'etait le cas ce fut un plaisir!
Salutations
Will

In my place

Hi boys & girls,

We've been a little out of touch recently, it was nice to be relatively isolated from the outside world for a couple weeks although we bought and frantically read Newsweek, Times and The Guardian weekly last night after making our first stop in a town with international news in a week!

Life in WA is as some people describe it here "backwards". Back from what? Well No public transportation, No big hotels or any building higher that 2 floors, nothing on the coast but white sand and clear water. As one of the surfers we interviewd said: "If this is being backwards then I want to be!".

Before I hear you say I'm going hippy don't owrry I am getting sick of the insects and the heat so I will be happy to return to civilization gradually tomorrow (Perth then Sydney).

On our trip we have been all the way north up to Geraldton where we had to turn back because of floodings due  to another cyclone. So we headed back through Perth and stopped in Bunbury to swim with the dolphins that literraly come up a few meters away from you at feeding time. Again an amazing interaction that made me realize my place which is fitting since the seaside cafe I'm writing from is playing this classic (yes I'm calling it that!) by Coldplay.

Generally speaking I would say that was the highlight of my trip to Australia  was that it made me realize how much nicer it was to be able to feel like I was adapting to my environment.
It made me realize that while we must tame nature in order to make room for our comfortable lifestyles and all the necessities of modern life that come with it, we it should remember that we also need our environment to lead this lifestyle. I think we can easily forget the fact that everything we have, it has given us or at the very least enabled.


To think we have dominated our environment is a mistake. We must remember that our relationship with our surroundings is like our relationships with one another. To be succesfull they must be a healthy balance of give and take. And be based on respect.

Thanks for reading my rant,
Chill out and stay safe
Will