World Travel

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 101

Once a week we’ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, and the links to them may or may not work. We present these vintage recommendations as is because the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.

How it feels to vagabond

A Map for Saturday

Don’t watch this documentary unless you are ready to quit your job. It’s about the joys and woes of long-term traveling. It’s impossible to watch this fun film and not confront the fact that you are here instead of there, out on the road, soaking up the mysteries of the world, with all-you-can-eat $3 dinners and $5 rooms, backpacking around the world for a year, as the filmmaker himself did. This kind of vagabonding is more a state of mind than a state of motion. Something weird happens when you travel longer than 10 days, and that wonderful transformation (which no one can explain to their family when they return) is what this superbly written, fabulously edited, deeply personal and wonderfully likeable documentary is all about.

This film explores the mellow subculture of (mostly) young people who trek along an invisible international traveler’s circuit. There’s a kind of endless distributed global party going on every day of the year (plainly visible here), and to join it all you need is a ticket to any country and the address of the local hostel. I was part of this mind-set for many years and boy, does this film nail the peculiar delights of perpetual cheap travel. Not just the highs (everyday is Saturday, each new person an instant best friend), but also the lows (always saying goodbye, and loss of connection).

This DVD won’t give you the how-to specifics of vagabonding. For that I recommend First-Time Around the World. A Map for Saturday works best as an orientation course, offering inspiration on why to tackle this once-in-a-lifetime adventure. It’s the next best thing to having a good friend come back and tell you what really happens when you find yourself at the other end of the road. — KK

4-wheel adventurers

Overland Journal

Last month I helped out a guy stuck on Tioga pass get his vegetable oil powered Gelaendewagen back on the road. He showed me a copy Overland Journal and I was so impressed I subscribed and ordered all the back issues once I got home. To give you an idea of the flavor of the magazine, one of the contributing editors is the author of my previously reviewed Vehicle Dependent Expeditions book.

For anyone who does car camping, 4×4 exploring, vehicle trips abroad, or just enjoys armchair exploration, I cannot recommend this publication enough. It has amazing comprehensive comparison reviews of the type of gear no other publication would cover, ranging from vehicle rooftop tents to converting a LandCruiser to bio-diesel. On top of the fantastic information and writing in the magazine, it is gorgeously designed and features beautiful expedition shots from around the world. It is the first publication I have come across in years that has me reading every word, review and even advertisement. They publish four issues per year, plus a gear guide and back-issues are available to ’97. — Alexander Rose

Best guide to the ultimate trip

First-Time Around the World

The ultimate trip is a slow transverse of the globe on very little money with lots of time. I’ve recommended two guides for this way of traveling in the past: The Practical Nomad (for budget travelers) and World Stompers (for those with almost no money). While both of these books still have some good tips in them, they are both a bit out of date and have been superceded by this great new information-packed volume from Rough Guides.

First-Time Around the World is the book I would write if I had to give my advice on how to travel cheaply and globally. It’s smart, current, wise, and true. And worth reading even if you are only traveling for a few weeks. — KK

• Q: I’ve got $4000 saved up. Will that get me around the world?
  A: No problem. You can find round-the-world tickets for half that price, or hitchhike on yachts for even less. The more important question is what kind of trip do you want to take and how long do you want it to last? To figure out a daily budget that fits your comfort level, and to learn which countries offer the best value, turn to the “Cost and savings” chapter, where you’ll find some budgeting tips as well.
• Fake police scam
  A kid comes up and asks for change for a small banknote. Not long after (most likely in a city park or on a quiet road), a man approaches, flashes a badge quickly and tells you he’s a police officer. He explains that the note you just received from the boy was counterfeit and that he needs to take it back to headquarters and you will be fined for your involvement. At this point, just as you are starting to wonder if it’s real, a large muscular “colleague” arrives and pressures you to pay up.
  How you beat it: take a good long look at the badge and tell him that, although he is certainly a genuine officer, there are many impersonators and that, according to their own tourist ministry, you’re supposed to make all such spot payments at police headquarters, and you’ll be happy to follow him there on foot. Under no circumstances should you get into their “unmarked police car”.
• Free transport scam
  You’re met at the train or bus station by a tout who is offering free transport back to his hostel. You follow him onto a city tram and notice that it’s not free – he just didn’t pay the fare.
  How you beat it: ask how you’ll be getting to the hotel. If it’s by public transport, make sure the tout is willing to cover your fare.
• Time and space
  One thing travellers often forget to mentally prepare for is the different conception of time and space on the road. With buses that don’t leave until they’re full, boats that wait at the harbour for the captain to return from his family holiday, and mechanical problems that require spare parts sent by cargo ship from Australia, the hardcore traveller’s mantra of “no watches, no calendars, no worries” begins to seem like a healthy response. Your personal space, on the other hand, is likely to shrink, whether you’re speaking with someone who insists on standing almost nose-to-nose during the conversation or you’re packed into a six-person minivan with seventeen other passengers. Plan for twice as much transport time as you think you need, try to grab a seat near a window so you can control the fresh-air supply – and make sure you’ve got something to read.
• Round-the-world tickets
  Because of their complexity, round-the-world (RTW) tickets are best booked with a knowledgeable travel agent. London is probably the cheapest place to start such a trip, but that can vary slightly based on route and currency exchange, and it’s unlikely that getting a round-trip ticket there to start your trip will provide any (or significant) savings.
• By yacht
  Private yachts of all types often need an extra pair of hands during a sea passage. Some are crewed by professional captains delivering a boat to a new owner and some by “old salt” couples who live aboard their vessels full time. They usually follow common routes across seas where anchorages are safe, the scenery is agreeable and (since many are retired) the prices are low – and simply want a little help or a little company on board. In other words, it doesn’t necessarily mean seeing the world with a bunch of nouveau riche assholes. It’s possible to get a working passage or catch a free lift (though people may request $5-25 / £3-14 per day to cover your food and drinks)
  
  Useful yachting websites
  Matching skippers and crew
  http://www.sailingnow.com     
  https://www.crewseekers.net     
  http://www.globalcrewnetwork.com    
  http://www.crewfile.com     
  http://www.partnersandcrews.com
• Meeting locals
  It’s hard to pick up a travel magazine, brochure or guidebook without seeing an exotic cast of faces. The unspoken message seems to be that this is who you’ll meet in these countries. The people you’re far more likely to encounter, however, are other travellers. And the local people you’ll mostly come in contact with are vendors, taxi drivers, guides and hotel clerks – people serving you. To make more genuine contacts takes some effort. Volunteering or working in a place is one of the best ways. But even if you’re just looking to take a picture of someone, a thoughtful approach might lead to a more meaningful connection.
• Free accommodation
  Travel exchanges are growing in popularity as a Web-based method of finding a bed for free. Once you’ve registered on one of the websites below, you gain access to a list of accommodation offered by other travellers. You email those that sound appealing and, if they say yes, you get to use their sofa, bed, hammock or whatever’s available. It takes a little advance planning and a good deal of Internet surfing and mailing, but the results can be hugely rewarding. The minimal (and fair) hidden cost is that you have to offer your home to travellers heading your way, although you are under no obligation to let them stay. Check out:http://www.globalfreeloaders.com     http://www.hospitalityclub.org

Just 1 Question/Sprint/Carry-on spinner

Recomendo - issue #424

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The Recomendo team is trying something new that might interest you. Once a week we will ask readers a simple question and then we’ll curate the best answers to share in a newsletter the following week. These questions won’t be about current events, nor will they solve any mysteries. Instead, they are about finding what’s good and true and beautiful in everyday life. There are no right answers and there is only one question.  We’ll run this as a free one-page newsletter (similar to Recomendo), and we’ll keep going as long as people enjoy it. If you want to read the best answers and see the next question, sign up for Just 1 Question here: https://just1question.substack.com/

Rewarding sports series

Sprint is a Netflix reality series following the colorful characters trying to become the world’s fastest human. The Olympics is only one meet in a parade of races all year as they face each other again and again. The really simple test of being the fastest highlights the drama and their sacrifices over years. Season 1 ends just before this summer’s Olympics. The upcoming Season 2 will focus on the tribulations through this Olympics, and its unexpected surprises. Sprint is one of the better, well-crafted sports documentary series out there, and my preferred way of “watching” sports. — KK

Carry-on spinner

Whenever an old piece of luggage breaks, I replace it with a SwissGear model. I finally abandoned my 20-year-old Briggs & Riley because the zippers were all broken and I didn’t like having to use both hands to extend the telescoping handle. I bought the latest version of the SwissGear carry-on for under $100. It’s a lightweight, 360-degree four-wheeled spinner with two front pockets, a snap-on TSA liquids bag, and a mesh zipper compartment in the interior lid. It also has handles on the side and bottom, making it easy to pull out of stowage areas. We now have 7 pieces of SwissGear – three 21-inch models and four 25-inch check-in models. — MF

Use AI as a language teacher

I’m learning European Portuguese, and I’ve asked AI to be my tutor. I use a prompt like this:

Have a simple conversation with me in European Portuguese in the Simple Present tense and correct me in English when I get anything wrong. Start by asking me about my day. If I respond with “t” repeat what you said in English.

I use Claude Sonnet 3.5, but it doesn’t seem to matter what AI you use. — MF

Robust wifi mesh

Our once wired home is now totally wireless. I recently upgraded to a mesh wifi network, with multiple wifi units around the house creating one extended network with one shared password. We went with the Eero 6 system (owned by Amazon) which Wirecutter gives the highest marks for its ease of setting up and speeds. In our kitchen we get 700 mbps. You can easily daisy chain the units ($90 each) with small overlaps to reach anywhere in a sprawling household. It’s great to never have to think about reliable and robust wifi. — KK

Stay calm without any hacks

Here is a great short list on how to stay calm without any hacks from Greg Isenberg. All of these tips are effective and simple ways to help you move out of “stuck” energy or feelings of helplessness, guiding you toward something more beneficial and useful. The advice, “if you’re scared, take a risk,” reminds me of an anonymous quote I recently came across: “The cold water doesn’t get warmer if you jump late.” — CD 

Gar’s Tips & Tools – Issue #182

Access to tools, techniques, and shop tales from the diverse worlds of DIY

Gar’s Tips, Tools, and Shop Tales is published by Cool Tools Lab. To receive the newsletter a week early, sign up here.

Buying/Selling Vintage Toolboxes

Continuing the vintage tools theme from our previous issue, I ran into this video on YouTube about buying old toolboxes full of tools at yard and estate sales and reselling the contents for a profit. In the video, Chris from the Ultimate Recycler buys two boxes, one for AUS$20 and one for $40. The $20 box looks like it’s mainly cheap and exhausted tools, but he still manages, after some cleaning, to get over $100. He estimates that the $40 toolbox will get at least $150. He concludes that, even with a not-so-great collection, you’re still likely to return 4-5 times what you paid. This would be a fun side hustle/hobby for those of us who like trading in “old iron.”

Understanding Over-Center Mechanisms

Over-center mechanisms are a type of bistable mechanism, meaning they have two stable states—think of your bicycle kickstand or a cupboard latch. Toggle clamps, anyone? In This Old Tony video, the always good for a laugh and a great education, Tony looks at the physics, construction, and application of these useful and ubiquitous mechanisms. I certainly knew of a number of these devices and how they worked, but didn’t know the name for this category of mechanism and the physical science behind their function. Great stuff!

Sharpening Wheels on Tube Cutters

In this See Jane Drill video, Leah Bolden shows how easy it is to replace the cutting wheel on a tube cutter and how to keep the cutting wheel you have by sharpening it on a leather strop.

Removing Sticky “Soft Touch” Coating

It’s called “soft touch,” “premium textured feel,” and “rubberized finish.” It’s that coating found on some consumer products like flashlights, binoculars, kitchen items, and personal electronics. No-slip grip. It feels good. For a while. Over time, it starts to break down and the object gets sticky and unpleasant to the touch. As someone explains in the comments of this video, “the gummy material is created when the polymer [in the coating] reacts with ozone and UV and re-links. It happens faster when oils are present.” The solution? In the video, they found that gasoline is one of the few things that removes it. Someone in the comments says Naptha works well and is safer. Naptha-based Coleman fuel also works.

Must-See Maker TV

I’ve written about The Practical Engineer here before, but these videos are so good, you deserve a reminder. Each episode is a crash course in… well… practical engineering. Here is everything you never knew about the leaning tower of Pisa. Like, did you know that it had already started to lean during its multi-century construction and subsequent builders had to correct for the lean as they added stories? The tower is curved, not straight. Channel host Grady Hillhouse is an amazing and effective educator. He uses great graphics, in-shop experiments, and history to drive each episode home. You’re always smarter coming out than going in. As someone comments on this video: “There’s just something extremely joyful about a guy being able to say ‘recreational geology’ with a straight face and a genuine smile.”

Shop Talk

Readers offer their feedback, tips, tales, and tool recommendations.

My old friend and colleague, Mike Colombo, wrote in response to the Stanley Workmaster screwdriver piece in the last issue:

I inherited a few Stanley Workmaster screwdrivers from my father. When I watched Adam’s video, I grabbed the tools out of the box and had a newfound appreciation for their ergonomic qualities. And these were probably manufactured before the word “ergonomic” was even in the zeitgeist!  Anyway, just another “thank you” for continuing to send out these newsletters. Cheers!

Long-time reader Paul Cryan:

Fantastic stuff as usual! It seems that fishing tools from the trash/thrift stores/estate-sale-miscellaneous-jumble boxes and giving them new life is my raison d’etre. And you’re one of my most influential influencers in that regard. Thank you. Just this weekend, I spent a good bit of my leisure time cleaning up a $2 pair of Truecraft pliers I found at Goodwill. The purchase was really just an excuse to try the Tub-o-Towels you put on my radar. OMG…they’ve got lanolin.

The lovely and talented Steven Roberts writes:

I hardly know where to begin! I have a few favorites I need to photograph for you. This one just caught my eye this morning on the way out of the boat… Fabulously dense little hammer with a very useful pair of additional utilities. I don’t even know its proper name, but it’s always been in my tool cabinet. I’ll try to get some more for you. Inherited a lot from my father, a mechanical engineer from Swarthmore… Even a favorite old ice pick with a wood handle that’s right up there with newer scribes. Something about that old steel. 

Consider a Paid Subscription

Gar’s Tips & Tools is always free. But if you if you find ir truly useful to you, consider a paid subscription ($8/month). This keeps me in coffee and potato chips while I’m working on this labor of love. If you really want to show your patronage, consider becoming a Hero of the Realm. I will send custom packages of goodies (books, tools, zines, and more) to all my Heroes.

Thanks to all those who have already subscribed. You are the Kapton tape on my 3D print bed.

Aishwarya Khanduja, social and health-tech innovator

Show and Tell #405: Aishwarya Khanduja

Aishwarya Khanduja is the founder of a stealth entity working to solve wicked problems through lenses of complexity, markets, and power. She’s spent the majority of her career thus far being a founder or supporting founders. Her companies span biotech, ed-tech, and the future of work. She writes a weekly letter, essays, technical primers, and other musings on aishwaryadoingthings.com.

TOOLS:
0:00 – Intro
1:08 – Hero 329 pen
8:48 – bamboo book stand
11:06 – tetr app
16:30 – vestoj: the journal of sartorial matters
24:20 – The Analogue

To sign up to be a guest on the show, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/qc496XB6bGbrAEKK7

Volaris Pass/Free Airline Wi-Fi/Best Loyalty Programs

Nomadico Issue #118

A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.

The Volaris Annual Pass: My Review

Last August, my wife and I both took advantage of an introductory offer and bought an annual pass from Mexican budget airline Volaris. (Now it’s around $500.) The promise is that you can fly as much as you want for one price, but the list of restrictions and drawbacks is a long one. To evaluate whether this makes sense for you if you’re near an airport they serve or you will travel a lot within Mexico, here’s my update on how it went for us and how the math added up in the end. (Bare-bones airline Frontier offers a similar program, sometimes as low as $299.)

Best Travel Rewards Programs

How fast does it pay off to be loyal to a specific hotel chain or airline? US News & World Report ranked the big programs on a variety of factors, including the time it takes to get something free in return and what kinds of perks you earn. Wyndham’s program came out on top for lodging (they have the simplest redemption tiers by far) and Alaska Airlines came out on top for carriers.

Adidas Makes Sunglasses?

I’ve worn a lot of travel clothing items from Adidas over the years and the behemoth brand makes everything from Tae Kwon Do uniforms to tennis shirts. In addition to thousands of shoes. They also make sunglasses though and I recently spent 2.5 months traveling with their SP0070 polarized model, which lists for $120 but goes for far less at the Adidas store or on Amazon. That’s a sporty pair that worked in multiple situations for me, including beaches and boats, but they also make more fashionable options that are high quality but are usually in the range of $50 to $90. See the whole range here.

Free Wi-Fi on Delta Airlines

Delta announced this week that it was the first carrier to be rolling out free cabin Wi-Fi to all its customers. You can use it now on most domestic flights but in the next few months it will be coming to 15 European countries and 5 in South America. Big bodies of water are the tricky part, but they’re working on implementing satellite solutions for that in the longer term. Check this page on their website if you’ve got a Delta flight coming up.

What’s in my NOW? — Greg Maass

issue #183

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Greg Maass is a computer programmer, musician, and photographer living in Seattle. Soon he will stop being a computer programer and is looking forward to using that part of his brain for other things that are yet to be determined.

PHYSICAL

• Aroma Season Heated Eye Mask. I read a lot and my eyes get very dry. 10 minutes with this on my eyes makes me feel like I’ve had a 45 minute nap. Easy to travel with, too.
• Stainless steel thermos. I tend to linger over my morning coffee, and it stays the perfect temperature all morning. No more reheating in the microwave. Also great for cold stuff, but you probably want a separate one that doesn’t taste like coffee.
• Darn Tough socks from Vermont. Very expensive for a pair of socks, but I’ve had several pairs for many years and they still are in great shape and super comfortable. Heartbreaking when I lose one of a pair, though.

DIGITAL

• Patriot, season 1 on Prime Video. Simply the best show that nobody has heard of. Brilliant, unique, amazing cinematography, dark, and hilarious, with a great cast. Season 2 is really good too.
• Castro podcast app for iPhone. Everyone has a specific way of triaging and listening to podcasts if they have a lot of subscriptions. If Castro works for you, it will really work for you.

INVISIBLE

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Your brain is a machine for making suggestions, and being able to intercept and modify dysfunctional thinking is a skill that can enhance everyone’s lives.

What’s in my NOW? — Greg Maass