bit by the travel bug

during my asia adventure my friend stephen joined me in singapore for 8 days. stephen had been traveling around asia for the last 6 months (now almost a year) so i was privy to getting tips from him about my leisure traveling during my work time in asia. he recommended me to go to penang (which i loved), so i was highly considering the philippines when he said it was his favorite place so far. during my time in singapore i was also reading the crazy rich asian series, which is fun and light but was proving to be very educational for my time in singapore. at the end of the three book series one of the character is in palawan, and the description captured and confirmed i was going there. i was able to convince my friends matt and sabrina (who went with me to penang ) to come along, meeting in el nido, on the island of palawan. there's a few ways to get to palawan, i flew into manila and then took a small airline called airswift, which is the only airline that flies in/out...

i moved to san francisco in 2013 and have loved living in this beautiful and quirky city. as i'm starting to wrap up my time here, i wanted to write down some of my fav things about this wonderful city for those stopping by or spending time here. sf specific stuff alamo drafthouse (super cool old movie theater where you can order food - highly recommend) the emporium: a theater turned into a really cool arcade. nearby there is lots of good food and ice cream (see recs below)  see if there's a daybreaker morning dance party ( https://www.daybreaker.com/city/sf/ )  the market on market (super fancy but awesome market. they have good tacos and my favorite poke in town) church of 8 wheels (really fun roller rink)  ferry building: cute shops and food, very sf  mission bowling club (unique bowling alley) things to eat: the mill: super trendy coffee + thick yummy toast OR pizza at nighttime trouble coffee: lots of history breakfast/brunch at kitchen stor...

okay, so i don't get jetlag. it's my superpower, and it's pretty super. i don't mean to brag about it, but it's legit. and it makes traveling much easier. BUT i do think it's partially because i shift my sleep schedule and sleep on the plane, plus follow these MUST do tips below to ensure i can and will sleep when i need to and be awake when i need to. here's how i do it:  get a neck pillow. it really really makes a difference. if you don't like carrying a fluffy one around (i don't), get an inflatable one, that's what i use and it works just fine.  get ear plugs, and wear them. they make a HUGE difference on airplanes. i recommend these ones .  get an eye mask. they fuck with the lights and people might have their shades open, it's a crazy world out there and you need to be able to regulate the light. i recommend this one .  take tylenol PM 30 min before you need to sleep. if you've tried it before and it sucked, try it again...

can you fully know a city until you lived here? well i did. 5 full weeks in tokyo! things to note:  tokyo is a very cash based system. get a lot of money out of the ATM and don't expect to use your credit card too much. you can also get a suica card at the train station, which you can use for the train and many other bakeries, grocery and convenience stores. the best way to get into tokyo is by train. you can take the monorail or the keikyu line. google maps is great for public transit. taxis/uber can cost upwards of $100 if possible, fly in/out of haneda, not narita if you plan to travel outside of tokyo, get the smartEX app and buy your shinkansen (bullet train) ticket with your suica card. it's ticketless and SUPER easy to use and make modifications, if needed.  be aware of how and where people walk. everything is very orderly on the sidewalk/crossings and on the elevator, don't stand still on the right side people speak very little english in tokyo. learn ...

i guess i never imagined myself going to malaysia. no idea why, it just wasn't really on my radar. but now that i've been to 15 countries in asia... 31%, more than an other continent, by percentage, the idea of going to new countries is an adventure. i'm in singapore for four weeks as part of an asia work trip. four weeks in singapore, five weeks in japan and three weeks in seoul. so while in singapore, i decided to take the quick 1.5 hour flight to penang. i had heard great things, so i popped over for a short 48 hour visit, and really really enjoyed it. as i'm learning more about singaporean culture, it's important to note that the countries are neighbors, but also really different. it's like same same, but different. malaysia is a much more muslim country, and singapore's infrastructure is much more robust. so to put it blatenly, singapore is fancy, rigid and beautiful while malaysia is rustic, has character and is a bit more rough around the edg...