“Enjoyment appears at the boundary between boredom and anxiety, when the challenges are just balanced with the person’s capacity to act.” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the former head of Psychology at the University of Chicago, wrote the words above in Flow, a book that explores the nuances of happiness. Flow is total absorption in a moment or activity, […]
Tips from the Banker: The Real Cost of Travel in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is a truly gorgeous country near India with friendly people, sprawling jungles, tons of interesting wildlife, and endless beaches. I spent just shy of three weeks there and found it to be a perfectly feasible budget destination, with cheap transportation options, reasonable food costs, and decent room rates. Like most countries, Sri Lanka […]
The Perfect South African Road Trip
When I arrived in South Africa I knew that I wanted to do a road trip across the country. As my first foray into the African continent, I was sure it would be different than Asia where I’d spent the previous three years of my life, easily hopping from place to place on a motorbike or […]
Tips From the Banker: The Real Cost of Travel in Indonesia
2018 update: I originally wrote this post in 2013, traveling in Indonesia on a shoestring. I returned this year with a bigger budget, spending more on accommodation and transport, though some categories, like food, have remained the same. You’ll see both options in this post. Indonesia, like Malaysia, had a lot of varying reviews from fellow […]
Tips from the Banker: The Cost of Travel in Malaysian Borneo
I had heard that Malaysia is not a cheap country to visit, at least as compared to the rest of Southeast Asia. While I tend to disagree as it pertains to Peninsular Malaysia, where I only spent an average of USD$37 per day, I had different feelings as it pertains to a Malaysian Borneo travel […]