Most travelers and backpackers I know aren’t into collecting souvenirs.  Face it, there comes a time in everyone’s life when they take down their collection of shot glasses.  Also, as a backpacker carrying home breakables and added weight is a burden especially on a month or longer trip.  During a bar visit, I noticed some well designed coasters that were being used.  Most beer companies and restaurants use a coaster that has a front and back, and more often than not, the two sides correlate with each other.  This gives us a perfect opportunity to use a free souvenir to decorate the pad back home.

Step #1:  Collect 3 coasters from wherever you may travel.  Make sure they have different front and backs.

Step #2:  Go to your local art & craft store and pick up a cheap framing mat board.  They usually don’t cost more than a couple of bucks.  (And they are big so you can often reuse them).  Using black or white mat board creates a little better contrast to most coasters I find.

Step #3:  Line up three (art lesson 101 – odd numbers usually work better than even numbers) of the coasters and space them about how you want it to appear.  Then…cut the mat board with a utility knife so that the three coasters fill most the space.

Step #4:  Glue the coasters to the mat and hang in desired location.

So there we have an idea that is cheap, reminds you of that special place you visited, and adds decor to the apartment walls when you’re not travelling.  Cheers.

So I broke down and got a “Flip.”  This is a handheld video recorder that is about the size of an iphone…probably a little smaller, but thicker.  I’ve been testing it out with a few videos, and playing around with software.  Overall, I’m thrilled.  I can not wait to take this with me on my next trip, as it is so small, it’s not going to be a burden in relation to all the other crap I carry around.  The video for it is simple, great for web (which was my main intention), and looks sharp with good sound.  Initially, I was worried about the sound/mic for this device, as that seems to be the hardest part to get right, but The Flip nailed it.  It sounds very good when played back either through the device or on the computer.  My only complaint would be the software seems a little too simple and not exactly what I was hoping for.  Plus the USB plug which pops out of the top of the camera itself is a little weak.  I’m afraid it’s going to break off if I keep using it without support.  Time will tell.

I managed to sneak away to Philadelphia this week, and found a great tapas restaurant.  Amada, which is in downtown Philly was a great meal that reminded me of what it was like in Spain…without the language barrier.  I really wish the US would adopt more tapas bars, as it’s a very healthy way to eat, in addition to getting a variety of food instead of pounding down a 16 oz steak for an hour straight.

Shabu Shabu is a Japanese dish that is self served in a boiled water or broth. The dish Shabu Shabu is Japanese for Swish Swish, meaning you cook the meat and ingredients very quickly because the beef strips are so thin.  It makes for quick cooking/eating.  Main ingredients are usually a very thin sliced high end cut of beef, greens such as spinach, leeks or bok choy, shitake mushrooms, cabbage, and basically whatever else you want to throw in it.  Some start with chicken broth to add more flavor, and some use a ginger soy sauce to dip in.    I’ve listed a few different recipes I’ve found online to try it out at home, as I imagine it would be hard to make in a hostel.

Epicurious Shabu-Shabu
Food Network Shabu-Shabu

But if you want the true experience, you’ll have to go to Tokyo or Taiwan as I’ve heard these are some of the best places to get this dish or at least a version of it.  Hot Pot, Sukiyaki, are similar and while I’m not going to get into a debate about the history and origins of food here, I will say that this is one meal you may want to spend a little more money on than usual and be wary of cheap versions.  It’s all about the beef, and since the beef is cut so thin, and cooked so quickly, it’s important for your health to not get into cheap cuts.

Recipe Book: Favorite Japanese Dishes (Quick & Easy)

We’re back after a long computerless tragedy.  And while we were sans computer, we were coming up with some ideas and concepts for the site.  Mainly #1 being we’d like to start doing some video.  And we have had a lot of advertisers looking to place their products here….many of which were turned down in the name of I don’t need that crap because I’m a backpacker.

So cheers to you and our sincerest apologies for the lack of updates.

But we’re back.

A long while back I posted about Bordbar.  They create designs on the airline carts that goes up and down the aircraft aisles around the world.  Recently they have added to their collection.  They are available for purchase if you can speak German.  I’m not sure if they ship overseas however.  I’ll let someone else investigate that.

A while back I wrote a post about the Zink Inkless camera. Well I guess that merged into the Polaroid Pogo with Zink Technology. Polaroid’s digital camera prints off 2×3 inch pictures in about a minute. Cost is $99. Personally, I think these would be a ton of fun if you didn’t cheap on the paper. The good thing is that it is digital, so you only print the pictures you like, and you can crop and alter images as well.

I’m a bit of a nut for retro gadgets, and nothing will beat the original polaroid camera, but this isn’t a bad remake. And it’s a lot easier to travel with.

1.  Chess – Yes it requires a travel partner, but the positive is games can last a long time….almost as long as that train from San Sebastian to Paris.  If you do travel with a chess set, make sure it has a magnetic board and the colors aren’t bright white and black.  Cream’s and woods are easier on the eyes, which you will need since the pieces are so small.  Also, if it has backgammon and checker pieces even better, because you know you are going to lose a pawn sometime during the trip, and checker pieces are good backups.

2.  Battleship – A classic game.  I have yet to figure out a way to play this by myself tho.  Be sure to make the opponent do the sinking ship sound effect when their battleship goes belly up.

3.  Trouble – Good for a small group or even to play by yourself, as there is no strategy involved, but cons would be this game makes some noise to roll the dice, and there are just a lot of plastic pieces to lose.

4.  Connect Four – Good for quick games that all different cultures know how to play, bad because you are going to lose a lot of pieces.

Sometimes I make up words….not for fun, just because I’m a half degree lazy and want to save oyxgen. I’ve been thinking about the whole “eco-green-save the planet-renew-reuse” lifestyle more recently, and how that has affected my life. You should know I dislike corporations who use the green theme to sell products, and I’m far from a tree hugger. But the more I think about it, I have become environmentally conscious…which happened unconsciously. I use to have a problem getting out of a hot shower because I enjoyed it so much…spending way too much time under the jets. But now, I think about saving energy and it motivates me to get out of the shower quicker. Which is what I wanted to do in the first place. Hence…Ecovation. Also, a light bulb went out in my room and where normally I would wait for the other one to burn out, I was ecovated to go out and get the new energy saver style just to see how long it will last.

Bottom line…as much as I have bashed the “wanna-be-green” corporations, I have become somewhat green myself. (author note:  please don’t use or spread the word “ecovation” it is a dumb  word and I really don’t want it to catch on)

A while back, I’d say late last year, everyone was talking about how bottles that had BPA were no longer accepted when it came to water bottles.  At the time Nalgene had to take a hit over that, as most all of their bottles contained what nobody wanted.  From there, Sigg was selling out and you most of their bottles were not available.  But that is not the case now.  Sigg has a decent selection out now, and even though they start around $18, I think it’s well worth it if you are going to be traveling and dislike trashing plastic every day.