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Travel with Diabetes Guide

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I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2011.  Few people know how much effort it takes to maintain a normal blood sugar level; tight control of my blood sugar requires constant attention and I check it religiously, and ever since that fateful hospital visit in 2011 I have not slept through the night without waking up at least once to check my blood sugar. How does all of this relate to budget backpacking?  Or traveling at all?  Can’t I just take an extra vial of insulin with me and call it good? Here’s the story: my partner and I are currently on an open-ended backpacking trip and we left the United States with one way tickets to London.  Before leaving I found it difficult to track down any solid advice for long-term T1D traveling without access to refrigeration for medicine, availability of test strips and needles, or any reliable health services at all.  Why would I take that risk and travel somewhere new that may not be diabetic-compatible?  Why not just stay home and …

London East End Street Art Tour

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The area of focus here is Brick Lane and Shoreditch in Hackney on London’s East End; this stretch is a cultural hub which doubles as a vibrant fashion district as well as a constantly evolving street art exhibition space.  This is an exciting area to see ever-changing work, and a point worth mentioning is how accomplished artists are producing in areas constantly in flux.  From hard edge abstraction to large-format hyperrealism, it’s all happening here.  An appropriate word that comes to mind while walking through these streets is dense.  Another word that comes to mind is gentrification; this area is home to England’s largest Bangladeshi population living side-by-side with the artists moving into the neighborhood.  Case in point: we saw in the same instant a Muslim woman in her niqab (a garment which covers the entire body and face except the eyes) walk past a fabulous man changing into a pair of hot pants in the middle of the sidewalk.  While the woman was modest enough not do a double-take, I had to get another …

Vegetarian Travel 101

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Backpacking through new countries and sticking with your vegetarian/vegan diet can be quite daunting (try ordering something vegetarian other than a pretzel at Oktoberfest in Munich!) but luckily there are a few foolproof ways to stick with your dietary convictions.  There are wholesome foods available at low prices available throughout most of the developed world (if you know where to look), and there has been a renaissance of vegetarian and vegan food cultures in the United States and Europe.  Just because you are vegetarian does not mean that you have to miss out on the traditional meals when traveling.  These traditional dishes are usually meat-based, but they are often offered with vegetarian substitutions.  We found that even the full English breakfast (usually consisting of sausage, bacon, eggs, etc.) was offered with vegetarian substitutions at most eateries in the UK! Of course you cannot (and should not) be eating out constantly when you are backpacking on a budget, so make sure to take advantage of the farmers markets and grocery stores to make your own meals. …

Glasgow in 100 Words or Less

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Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and is a hotbed of music lovers, art enthusiasts, and donut connoisseurs against a backdrop of Victorian architecture.  These photos document our quick trip through the Second City of the British Empire. ^^^Urs Fischer at The Modern Institute.  The posts and ropes are cast bronze! ^^^The Gallery of Modern Art downtown; a world-class exhibition space and free admission?  Yes please! ^^^A cobblestone alley in Hillhead which houses vintage record stores and a Bikram yoga studio. ^^^The SimpliCITY bus system effectively services the whole city and costs $2.34 for a pass, and you get a great view of the landscape from the top level. ^^^Kelvingstone park near the University: a perfect setting for an afternoon picnic. ^^^The Print Gallery downtown specializes in affordable reproduction works. ^^^Vintage shopping galore in east Hillhead!       ^^^CCTV monitoring is definitely a thing in Glasgow…these cameras punctuate every landscape. ^^^Perhaps mans greatest food invention: savory pie. ^^^We grabbed a pint at this old Merchant City staple: The Black Bull.  The bar was …

UK TechFest 2015

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Opalescent.  I overheard this word being used by a concert-goer to describe their experience at UK TechFest 2015, and this is one word that I cannot get out of my head.  At first I was confused by this description, but as more time passes I am becoming more comfortable with it.  About 700 attendees assembled between July 8th-12th this year on the beautiful grass plains of Newark-on-Trent, England to watch their favorite metal bands perform inside huge aircraft carriers which housed two stages. The first large main stage hosted international touring acts like Monuments, Decapitated, Slice the Cake, and Nexilva, and a smaller second stage where I played with my band Kardashev alongside Portuguese tech-death forerunners The Voynich Code and our label mates The Room Colored Charlatan.   I got a kick out of that word.  Opalescent.  At first I would have never used that word to describe the experience.  In fact, nothing about the festival was glamorous; it was truly a rowdy and drunken ruckus from beginning to end.  The Newark Showground was transformed …