Nepal 104: Leaving Annapurna

Daniel 4 Comments
Annapurna Seen from Jihnudanda on Annapurna Base Camp Trek

The next morning I woke with a sense of sadness.

Today would see us out of the mountains, and back to Pokhara. Our time in this wilderness sanctuary was over. This idea was reinforced by our guides, who told us we could catch a jeep home after only a few hours walk. It felt weird to hear the words “jeep,” and consider riding in a car, when for the past ten days, we’d been on nothing but foot paths. I had kind of forgotten cars existed, up there in the steep mountains.

But modernity was beckoning.

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Nepal 103: Dance Party

Daniel 2 Comments
End of trek annapurna jihnudanda, nepal

“Wait until Jihnudana,” Ankit, the young porter, had told me again and again. “There, we dance.”

I had never thought that after nine days on the trail, walking miles and miles every day with a heavy load on my back, that I’d feel like dancing at the end of the day. But, come Jihnudanda, there I was, along with all my new friends: late night in the mountains, dancing and laughing until the neighbors told us to shut off the music.

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Guest Post: Solo Travel — Six Reasons to Do it at Least Once in Your Life

Daniel 18 Comments
Why You SHould Travel Alone

Hey y’all, guest post this weekend. I’m a big fan of solo travel — I’m a highly independent person and I think having ultimate control over your travel itinerary is one of the best feelings in the world. You literally get to do whatever the hell you want for however long you’re on the road. It’s amazing.

Maybe I’ll write a more detailed article about my thoughts on solo travel in the future. Until then, guest blogger Shawn Michaels of The Smart Lad has a few more words on the topic:

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Get Social With This Is Youth

Daniel 3 Comments
Remote Working Location Independent Lifestyle in Colombia

Hey Friends,

As our Nepal story winds down, I need to position this website to move into its next phase. There will be a next phase, don’t you worry.

Part of that work is consolidating my audience, making it easier to reach you and market to you when I need to do so. (Gross, I know).

As such, I have two new social initiatives:

  1. I have restarted my weekly email newsletter. It’s short, sweet and to the point. Check out the last newsletter here to get a sense of what they’re like, and please subscribe here. You’d be doing me a big favor.
  2. I have launched a Facebook page for This Is Youth, mostly so I can do some paid advertising if I feel like it. If you’d like to see my content in your FB feed, I’d love if you went and gave it a “Like” or a “Me Gusta,” if you’re one of my Spanish readers 🙂 Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/thisisyouthblog/

You can also follow me on Instagram at @thisisyouth — those are the photos you see in the “Pieces of Life” Column on the right.

Anyways, just housekeeping today! If all has gone well, I’m at Denver International, about to catch a plane.

Next stop, Panama!

Nepal 102: Raksi

Daniel 1 Comment
Hilarious

By the time we reached Jihnudanda, Linjon and I had been trying to get drunk for four or five days. I’m not really sure why the idea had taken hold with us, but alcohol had been a huge topic of conversation between us on the trail.

Every time we brought it up, our guides said two things: “wait until Jihnu,” and “We will drink raksi!”

Raksi is a local Nepali liquor, fermented from god knows what, bottled in whatever is handy, and sure to give you a nasty headache if you overdo it.

They have a liquor like this almost everywhere in the world, it turns out. Palinka in Hungary, Rakija in Serbia, Arak in Bali, Aguadiente in Colombia… the list goes on. Most of them are better than raksi.

But after a week of hearing about the stuff, laughing and joking with our guides — our friends — of course we were gonna try it.

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