Argentina

Mumbai Arriving in emerging market airports for the first time is always stressful, especially when you are jet lagged. You don't have the right currency, your cell phone is operating at 2G (which is basically non-functional), and you aren't sure of the way things are done yet. I decided that since my hotel was only 0.4 miles from the airport, that I would be able to walk even though it was 9 pm. What I didn't realize was that India doesn't really have sidewalks in most areas and people aren't really driving so much as feeling their way through the streets. I ended up making it to the hotel and the security staff were quite surprised that a gringo had walked rather than take a taxi.  The next day I explored Mumbai not really knowing what to expect. From the Uber ride a few things were clear: 1) Mumbai is massive 2) Pollution is a real problem. The weather was listed as "Smoke." 3) Driving is nuts Crossing bridge into South Mumbai Se

Oktoberfest is one of those internationally known events like Carnaval in Rio, Mardis Gras in New Orleans, or the World Cup. My sister and I went to Oktoberfest with almost zero planning and pulled it off successfully. Here's what we did: 1) Stay in an adjacent city connected with a train: Munich will likely have outrageous hotel and AirBnb prices as everyone floods in for Oktoberfest. Another more affordable option is to stay in a place like Nuremberg and take the train to Munich (about 1.5 hours). This adds a great time to pregame Oktoberfest as you'll see many Germans doing a similar strategy fulled dressed in laderhosen and dirndls on the train drinking beer. To make sure you get a seat in a tent, you'll want to arrive before 10 am, which means taking an 8 am train. The bigger the size of your group, the earlier you'll need to arrive. Nothing like an IPA at 8 am to start things off right. 2) Buy some Oktoberfest clothes: You'll have a lot more fun if you

I’m writing on the flight home from Australia after a two-week whirl wind business trip that took me all across Australia. This was by far my longest work trip and furthest distance travelled on a work trip. Travelling for work has some marked differences compared to travelling for pleasure. First, I was able to travel Premium Economy (I was actually allowed to book business class but the prices seemed so absurdly high that it felt unconscionable for my company to pay it). Premium Economy was a nice upgrade from coach. Instead of 3 x 3 x 3 seats across the cabin it was 2 x 3 x 2 and each seat was wider and longer. I could fully extend my legs straight and recline more than a normal seat. As I was settling into my seat and happy how much bigger it was, the person next to me remarked how we couldn’t go fully flat like in business class. “Can you let me enjoy this for a second?” I’ve never flown anything but Economy. It’s so easy to adjust to your new reality and always want

India, a country of 1.2 Billion. Yes, 1.2 BILLION! Over 3 times the size of the US and only surpassed by China which currently sits at 1.4B. This is important fact to set the tone, because a country this large is a hard thing to even imagine and it wasn’t until I went to India, that I started to fully grasp the number of people it has. Put all of US, Canada and Europe together, it’s ______ - that equals India!  Indian weddings are known worldwide as something of great extravagance. I’ll set the tone for the one I attended. Indian weddings can be love marriages or arranged marriages. This one was an arranged marriage. Having an arranged marriage does not mean that either party is forced into it, it generally means both parties let their parents know their parents that they are interested in getting married. The parents will then start arranging introductions to other children from *good* families who are ready also ready to get married. After a few meetings, the two people