Taking a break from Blogging

Currently, I have too many important projects going on in my life. While I love blogging, I'm going to have to take a break from it for a while. I don't know how long this break will be, but I don't expect for this to be a permanent change.

Thank you for your loyalty, I hope to be back once things settle down.

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No post this week, I'll be back next week

I apologize to all of the loyal readers of Graham's Travel Blog that were expecting something exciting and original from me this morning. I've got some personal things to take care of this week so I'll be unable to post this week.

However, I do have several interesting posts in the works so stay tuned.

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I'm Just Plain Tired

Dear Loyal Readers of Graham's Travel Blog,

This week I will not be posting an article about travel. In fact, I won't be posting much of anything at all. I could go on and make up some sort of excuse or post a half composed article, but I won't do either of those things.

Instead, you get the truth. I'm hot and I'm tired. We're in the middle of a heat wave here in the Boston area, and just staying hydrated has been a challenge. Combine that with the move and taking care of the few things that needed to get sorted right away with the house and I'm just pooped.

I hope to be back up and running soon, but for now I'm taking a nap.

Thank you,
Graham

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Extreme Packing- I'm Moving Again

Photograph by Nicole Holt

Well, I've been living in the Boston area for around a year now so it's time to pack up all of my belongings and move once again. Faithful readers of Graham's Travel Blog will remember how much of an adventure it was for my wife, our cat and myself when we moved from Oregon. If you missed that, you may enjoy Flying With a Cat.

This time the move is just a few miles, but everything must still get packed. Over the past few weeks we've been busy packing and the cat has been busy trying to figure out what's going on. She really doesn't like it when we start packing everything up in boxes, but considering what we put her through last time I can't blame her.

I hope that you will forgive me for this departure from my normal travel writing. If all goes as planned, I'll be back next week to tell you all about poutine. Until then, safe travels.

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Two Years of Graham's Travel Blog

Photograph by Nicole Holt

At midnight on May 26th, 2010, something of note happened on the internet. No one took notice, and I have to admit that I slept right though it, but it was something that I had been anticipating for quite some time. On that date and time, Graham's Travel Blog became 2 years old.

This is quite an achievement in a world where the attention span of the collective population seems to be measured in hours. In today's day and age, anything lasting for two years on the internet seems like an increment on the geological timescale.

For me, it's been quite a journey. When I started, I had a rough idea of what I wanted to accomplish and an understanding of the English language that is best described as "functional", but I had no idea what I would learn or how far my writing would reach.

In the past two years, I've not only written over 100 articles but I've also improved my writing skills and made some new friends along the way. I've found that maintaining this blog has been a rewarding experience, and I am glad that I've continued to keep it up.

One of the unexpected and rewarding things of writing a blog has finding out who regularly reads what I've been writing. Not surprisingly, people that know in real life make up the majority of my regulars, but there are a few that I've never even met . This brings me a smile every time I think about it. After all, my mom has to read my blog, but there's not reason for anyone else to read my musings.

Not all of the articles that I've written have been great, but I've stuck with it and published something every week without fail. I'd take a few minutes and reflect upon a few of my articles that continue to be popular long after the publish button had been clicked.

Walking Across the George Washington Bridge
Going for a walk over the George Washington Bridge was something that I'd wanted to do for a long time and it turns out that it's been on many other people's list of things to do as well.

Not a day goes by where someone, somewhere in the world doesn't read this article. That any one particular piece of writing has been read by so many people pleases me to no end. One reader even mentioned that they had always wanted to walk across the bridge, but had put it off for years. After reading my article, they commented that they were inspired to finally do it. I hope that that reader finally made the walk.

What Airplane Ear is and How to Avoid It
Airplane ear was something that I had never heard of until I was stricken by it, and it was terrible. Getting the chance to educate people on a potentially serious yet little known medical condition was a nice change of pace from my normal lighthearted articles.

Oddly enough, this article did much better than my article about pinball wrist, go figure.

Sleeping in the Frankfurt Airport
When I wrote about my rough night in Frankfurt, I had no idea how many people sleep in the Frankfurt airport every day. Being an international airport, Frankfurt has flights coming in all the time with overnight layovers being common. One reader even contacted me about a rumor that was being spread around that you could no longer sleep in the Frankfurt airport. Thankfully this isn't true, but that's a story for another day.

Aside from these few popular pages, Graham's Travel Blog continues to have a small, but loyal, following.

I'd like to thank everyone who has supported me along the way, especially my wife, Nicole, who regularly contributes her photography and editing skills to this blog.

It's been a great two years of writing for me, and I hope that it's been good for you. If you have a favorite article that I have written, please let me know in the comment selection below.

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The Cold Truth About Pinball Wrist

Two weeks ago I discussed my passion for playing pinball while traveling in Pinball on the Road. What I didn't mention was that I injured myself while playing Pinball.

I was having a really great game on Pirates of the Caribbean, I was set to beat my personal best, when my ball was about to drain so I grabbed hold and shifted the game to the right. While I did save my ball momentarily, I felt a sharp pain in my wrist. Every time I pressed the left flipper with my index finger, the sharp pain came back. I abandoned my game and called it a night from playing pinball.

The next morning the pain subsided, but it still returned when I picked up heavier things. Weeks went by and the pain came and went until I decided it wasn't going away on its own. I went to see a doctor and after explaining what pinball was and getting back a clean x-ray, I was diagnosed with tendinitis of my left index finger.

Getting to the point, my left hand is to be immobilized and I'm not to type with it. This is making working on my blog more of physical challenge than it should be, but I'm hanging in there.

My posts may be shorter over the next few weeks while my tendon heals, but I will write something new each week. For now I have some exciting posts coming up that I can let you know about.

There will be two more entries in the regional cookie series and one of those, believe it or not, will be Oreos. I've got three product reviews in the works including a review of a spork that some silly marketing department calls a foon.

As always, I've got some trips coming up. In May I'll be in Akron, Ohio trying some of their micro brews and I'll be in Sudbury, ON to pick up some Coffee Crisp candy bars. No personal travel, but I've got other things in the works on that front.

Thank you for you continued support of Graham's travel blog. For now, I'm going to rest my good hand.

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Graham is Moving!

Photograph by Nicole Holt

Wheels have been set into motion for my wife, our cat and I to relocate from Eugene, OR, to the greater Boston area in the next month or so. The move comes after a long stretch in Eugene, but we think that it's going to be a good move for us because it will open up both personal and professional opportunities for both me and my wife. Of course that means leaving the familiar and the friendly, which is something that I generally resist.

There will be plenty of things that I'll miss: friends, cubicle neighbors, farmer's markets and the odd restaurant (Eugene has lots of odd restaurants), but I am very much looking forward to discovering the Boston area.

With that said, my attentions will be a little scattered in the coming weeks as a cross country move is neither easy nor without its logistical complications. I hope to be able to maintain the same level of content on Graham's Travel Blog, but if it comes down to working on the blog and preparing for the move, the move will have to come first. The posts may be shorter or slightly move related, but I'll do my best to keep up.

Once we get settled, things should go back to normal fairly quickly, and the blog that regular readers have come to know and love will be back. Boston is a great place to kick off traveling adventures, of which we plan to take full advantage of so you can look forward to seeing that reflected here.

Before we leave, we’ll be going on one last Oregon road trip to the Tree House Hotel in Southern Oregon, and then we'll head back up the coast. This trip is one that we’ve wanted to take for quite some time, and it’s long overdue. I should note that this trip was booked long before we had tentative move dates. I’ll admit that the timing for the trip isn’t perfect, but life, much like travel, often doesn’t turn out exactly as we plan. Oddly enough, it’s those unexpected events that end up being some of the most memorable experiences of our lives.

Moving to Eugene was another one of those events that wasn't part of my grand plan, I sort of went with the flow of my life at the time, and it brought me to Oregon. It was quite an adjustment, going from a suburb of Los Angeles to a small college town in Oregon, but eventually the pieces fell into place. After a rough start, I ended up meeting some amazing people, landed a great job, fell in love and got married. I wouldn’t trade any of those experiences for the world, but it is time to move on.

I’ll admit that I haven’t always taken advantage of everything that Oregon has to offer, but I will learn from my mistakes take more opportunities to explore New England.

Have you ever moved across the country? Do you have any sagely wisdom for me in my time of transition?

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Using Twitter to Gain Assistance in a Travel Emergency

Last week an article of mine was published at www.twitip.com about using Twitter (www.twitter.com) to gain swift assistance in a travel emergency.

You can read my musings on the topic at Using Twitter to Get Travel Assistance in an Emergency, and if you are on Twitter and would like to follow me, my twitter handle is ghtravelblog.

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Graham's Travel Blog is 6 Months Old!

Well, my blog is now over 6 months old and I'd like to take this time to reflect on what that time has brought.

By the Numbers

In the past 6 months I've:
Posted 30 entries (once per week with near clocklike precision).

Had 17 subscribers to my feed (only two of which are actually me).

Have a regular circulation of roughly 40 per week.

These certainly aren't record breaking numbers but I've had the chance to explore my creative side, learned quite a bit about myself, and I've learned a lot about writing.

Blog Highlights

I've had several blog related accomplishments over the past 6 months. I think the most important may be my slow adaptation to using photos. While I'm not currently posting a picture with every entry; it certainly has become a more regular activity. As a result I have been taking a lot more pictures, which is a happy side effect of blogging.

As far as my posts go I have a few favorites that I would like to highlight:

Queue Madness- Inspired by my wife; this entry really sucked me in. I quite enjoyed the thought process on this one, and it took a life of its own. I've updated it with a wonderful picture taken by my wife, that's reason enough to give this post a second (or first) look.

11 Usable Tips for Greener Travel- This was my first 'green' post, and it felt very good to write. It was nothing groundbreaking, but quite a few people read it, and it was nice to share my knowledge on the subject.

Curse of the German Asterisk- One of my favorite travel stories detailed in excruciating detail. The short version is that I got lost on a train in Germany but the full story is much better.

Travel and Disaster- A topical post that explored the emotional connection that I develop with the places that I visit.

The Future of Graham's Travel Blog

It looks like I'll continue to travel, and I'll continue to write about my adventures. I'll keep to one post a week since I have been able to maintain that pace without too many troubles. I will however work on including more pictures in my posts since they break up the ranting blocks of text that I am apt to write.

I appreciate all of my regular readers and encourage you to continue to comment. You can even send me an e-mail if you like, I'll do my best to get back to you promptly.

Wrapping it up

OK, that's about enough of me blabbing for now. To close out my first 6 months I'd like to open the floor to you in the form of a Q&A session. Pose to me any questions that you will and I'll answer all reasonable questions in a future post. You can post your questions as a comment below or you can send me an e-mail.

Thank you for reading,
Graham

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Welcome Badger and Blade

I'd like to send out a special welcome to all the good people from Badger and Blade, without their kindness and help I would not be enjoying shaving today. Please enjoy the entry below and feel free to read a some more entries such as Queue Madness or Why I Hate Standing in Line and Vending Machine Love. You might even consider subscribing to the RSS feed if you enjoy this kind of thing.

Thank you for visiting,
Graham
AKA: Sporkboy

Announcement: I'm on Twitter

I'm now on Twitter. It's an application for getting updates on people. Kind of like the Facebook status function. If you are interested in following me on Twitter you can click here for regular updates.

Announcement: Facebook Group

Graham's Travel Blog now has its own Facebook Fanclub. Presently there is no exclusive content on the fanclub page but if you like the blog and want to show your support please feel free to do so.

Welcome to my blog

Some would say that I travel a bit too much and I agree with them most of the time. On the other hand I get to come home with all kinds of interesting travel stories from the places that I've been and the people that I've met. I keep a traditional journal with me wherever I go and this blog is my attempt to share some of my experiences with someone other than myself.

I'll refer to my travel journals (I'm currently working on my third) for some of the more interesting travel stories and then I'll be adding things once they happen.

A little background on myself. I travel around the world training people how to use EEG equipment in universities, clinics and hospitals. There is also the occasional NASA mission or National Geographic special that I've been lucky enough to work on but mostly it's universities.

I've been to Chile, Taiwan, South Korea, Germany, Finland, Norway, Spain, France, The UK, most of Canada as well as several other countries. I've translated from English to English and I've seen all kinds of crazy people in airports.

New posts will come on Wednesdays, hopefully even while I travel. Please comment on my posts if you feel like.