Layout Tweak: Now with larger images!

I decided to tweak my layout a little, given that the vast majority of people are screens that are greater than 1024x768. I'm still debating whether I should keep it, but the result?

Before:

After:

A little bit of a difference...

Coming Soon: Food Fridays

If you've seen my foodie photos, you'd know that I love to try new places and new foods. Food is a type of culture and one of the biggest perks of traveling. By going someone and sharing in their cuisine, you learn much more about the place you're visiting than all of the touristy sites you could possibly visit.

The type of spices used (and unused), plus the variety of vegetables, fruits, and meats that go into dishes tell a story of the landscape and environment they live in. The way it is prepared and served, in addition to the manner in which you eat, tells you about the social relations embedded in the food. Even the adaptations of non-local dishes tells you about the tastes and preferences of the society you visit. Lastly, where it is made, whether it is institutionalized in restaurants or dished up on the side of the street, tells you about the mode of life and the means of the people you are visiting. In short, food is living culture and is one of the few aspects of contemporary culture which is visceral and easily available to the visitor. To share a plate is to share a story and an experience.

In honor of this tradition, I'm going to start posting "Food Fridays" every other week to show off some of the places and foods I've experienced, along with the story behind them.

The Mileage Game: Tips for Beginners

If you like the idea of free travel, then getting into the mileage game might be for you. There are, of course, lots of loop holes and restrictions that the airlines have put in place to make it difficult for you to actually redeem your miles, but if you’re willing to put some thought into it you can bend the game to your side. Some advice if you’re just starting your mileage addiction plan:

• Consolidate! If you have a mileage plan for every airline you fly, then you’ll never earn enough miles to fly for free. Instead, read up on which airlines are in what alliance and then pick one airline frequent flyer program to give every time you fly within that alliance. Your miles will pool and you’ll be flying for free much faster.
• Don’t let your mileage expire! This is one of the most common annoyances for the infrequent traveller: If you haven’t had any activity on your account (redemption of miles or accrual of miles) within a certain period of time (two years for United), all of your miles will vanish. It doesn’t matter if you have 5,000 miles or 500,000 miles: If you don’t keep an eye on it, you can lose everything. The good news is that any activity at all, even a single mile, will reset that countdown for all of your miles and most airlines have a “mileage mall” where you can buy stuff through a plethora of different websites (even gift cards on some!) and earn miles regardless of payment type just for starting your shopping session in their “mall”.
• Don’t let miles rule over your travel or purchases. All frequent flyer programs are designed to get you to spend more money than you might otherwise. If you see a higher fare or an offer that will give you miles for buying something from a third party, always make sure that the miles you gain is worth it. For redeemable miles, a conservative estimate of the value of your miles is around $0.01 per mile. That means that if you wouldn’t sign up for something or make that extra purchase for $5, then you also shouldn’t do it for 500 miles (although this doesn’t apply for things that you would genuinely buy otherwise: In that case, you can think of your miles as a 1% discount).