6 of the 7 Continents For The Budget Traveler

Life in Argentina My First 6 Months As an Expat

2026-10-19T16:56:49.932-07:00

Gracias por toda la ayuda amor!

April 18th, 2026 was a day that will forever change my life. It was the day I moved to Argentina. I left the United States behind—for a few months, or maybe a few years. I wasn't sure then how long and I’m still not sure. But it was something I had wanted to do for a long time. You could say that ever since I started writing this blog, I’ve wanted to live overseas. I love America, I have visited all 50 states, and loved every one of them in a way, but I also had this dream to live abroad... After visiting approximately 77 countries across all seven continents, I decided to make Argentina my first home abroad.

You watch 1,000 YouTube videos, read 1,000 blogs like this one, talk to people on forums, friends that maybe did it, but nothing will fully prepare you until you are there. I compare it to the gym. It's great to watch YouTube videos or read a book about workouts, diet, etc. But until you go to the gym, you really haven't started. The videos helped, the reading helped, my girlfriend here helped a ton, but until I got here, I hadn't entered the gym yet.

The first two months, flew by quick. I am retired so I thought time would be on my side. Things took a lot longer than I would have liked. Finding an apartment, furnishing it, immigration, and balancing life in the USA. USA is still my financial center of interest, that's probably a whole other article, but since it is, every business day I am doing a little work with accounts there, or on my Airbnb there. The first two months a lot of time was dedicated to finding the right gym, opening a bank account, and learning the neighborhood. I'm happy now to have it down pretty good in month 6. I know some of the locals and laugh a bit when I can show my girlfriend who grew up here a store or cafe she didn't know about. But it definitely took a lot more time than I thought it would. Like many expats my money goes a lot further here than the USA so some of that time flying was being too picky with apartments. I was looking for something fitting of Bruce Wayne but it turns out in a middle class 3rd world country, there aren't too many Wayne Manors in the area. But of course now I am happy with my place. At one point between Airbnb checkout and check in, I was technically homeless. This is where I lightened my load of luggage, left stuff at my girl's place and got to business. All that being said, the apartment hunt was way more complicated than I ever thought it would be.

So was the bank account. I didn’t have an Argentine bank account at the time. Credit cards are widely accepted, which is great—but there’s often a 10% surcharge, and I didn’t want to deal with that forever either. Withdrawing cash can also be a hassle. Argentina has very high ATM fees. I do get reimbursed through Schwab, but that’s not something I want to rely on. And of course, you still need cash for things like tips and small everyday expenses. I have been a customer of Chase Bank for over 20 years. I have been a customer of Galicia bank here for 4 months. I probably spent more time in the Galicia branch here opening an account in the four months, than I spent in Chase in the 20 years. Every thing finance has been a learning curve. But now that I got it down, I'm comfortable... Relatively.

Bariloche

I went back to the USA right when I got my apartment in month 3, I had some work on my rental to do there. So I left for 3 weeks. I told my girlfriend it was as if we go to the movies, we order popcorn, a soda, we take our seats, the coming attractions finish, and as the main movie comes on I say, "Ok, I gotta go!" My life was ready to begin, but work called. But after those three weeks I came back, and have been here since.

These two photos above describe better than I ever could "life abroad". I'll probably say it often in my blog, but my favorite short way to explain it, "Some days you are living the dream, and some days you are at Home Depot or Costco." I love waking up in a different country, speaking a different language every day, immersing myself in a new world from everything I knew! But some days, you are also at Home Depot or Costco, the toilet has something wrong with it, you need to buy gas for the grill, buy chicken, veggies, etc. You go to the gym and workout, you read on your balcony, you play guitar in your jam area... Sometimes life is the same, and always will be. That's in part why it's so important to be happy with your daily routine more than anything else. I don't go to Mendoza wine tastings every weekend, I don't visit Palacio Barolo daily, or snow mobile in Bariloche, I still haven't been to Iguazu falls, it's the day to day life that makes or breaks you.

Trelew

It became pretty clear after my 3rd or 4th trip to immigration a lot of influencer type people who say they are living in a country, probably only came for the duration of a tourist visa stay, that's not to say they lied, especially if they don't have a home base anywhere else, but to actually live long term was a big curve that I think now after month 6 I finally adjusted to. I spoke fluent Spanish before I got here but I got used to the accents finally after 6 months. I grew up taking every train in NYC but had a curve to get used to La Roca and the Subte train here. I drove police and fire trucks lights and sirens to "life and death emergencies" but I'm still getting used to driving here to a corner store, which at times also seems like a "life or death emergency!" But overall I feel like my feet are wet.

A bit of daily life

Wine tour, not daily life

I started waking up when I wanted to, and without an alarm for the first time in my life, 7-8ish (except those damn days at immigration!). I sleep with my phone in an entirely different room. I enjoy my morning coffee at home but sometimes the second coffee down on the corner where the barista makes jokes about the streets we live on. I buy my produce from the vegetable store, my wines from 2 or 3 different places, my chicken always from my friend on the other corner. My gym friends know me as the American guy. I have dinner with my girlfriend and her family 2-4 times a month. It took me a solid 3 months to get used to her brother's accent and fully understand what he was saying, but now I got it down. Hopefully he's not reading this now! Anyway, life has become good. The Malbec flows, eating steak here is cheaper than eating a burger in the USA, we go to the city center once or twice a month for fun or my girlfriends business. We have been traveling a lot in the country. This is one of the biggest things I want to take advantage of while I'm here. Southern Hemisphere travel.

The places that would have been super far before this are now weekend trips, we just got back from Mendoza. Before that we visited Puerto Madryn to swim with sea lions and see the Southern whales up close and personal. Before that in August we stayed at Llao Llao in Bariloche, one of the most famous resorts in the country. We enjoyed snow in August, hiking, snowmobiles, and sleighs. We are set to go back to Brazil for a concert in March, I want to visit Easter Island in Chile, return to Uruguay for more than a day trip, and of course I am super excited to be going back to Antarctica next month! All of these places were a world away, now most are a 2 hour flight. And living down here with a flexible schedule makes those travel costs even easier.

All in all, it's been an incredible 6 months. It has been way more complicated than I thought it would be, but alas, if it was easy, everyone would do it, and it just wouldn't be as good. You think every day is going to be a new adventure, and in a way it is... But sometimes that adventure is just Costco or opening a bank account. But hey, it's still been fun in a way. I'm looking forward to more adventures down here and seeing where life in South America brings me. I grew up in a basement in Brooklyn, in a house with 10 people, and never thought I'd travel further than Florida, hell at some points maybe even New Jersey, and now I've traveled to all 7 continents and I am retired living in Argentina... Life is good.

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Why I Chose Argentina To Be Home

2026-10-17T06:43:03.914-07:00

Palacio Barolo Argentina

77 Countries.... I have now visited 77 countries. I think... Everyone always asks, what is your favorite country you visited? And I think I've talked about it here. I say, picking your favorite country is like comparing your favorite pizza, to your favorite football team. Each country has it's own unique flavor, the purpose of that trip, what that trip meant to you the year you did it vs what it means to you now 10 years later. And one man's trash is another man's treasure, things I loved about some countries could be something others hated about it, and vice versa. But that being said, I always loved my trips to South America, countless visits now, to every country here except Venezuela (hopefully one day!). I also loved Italy, which I've visited now at least 7x, and have visited every region. After all the trips combined when it was time to go Nomadic and leave the USA behind for a few months, or perhaps years... I decided on Argentina because for me, it is the crossroads of South America and Europe, specifically Italy.

A large portion of Italians immigrated here, so you have the Italian influence along with the flavors, architecture, and many other things I love about Italy. But it's not Italy. You also have a lot of the things I love about South America, food, language, cost of living, but it's also not quite like everywhere in South America. For me it was the perfect blend and crossroads between Italy and South America. But it wasn't that simple. I had a lot of vacation leave to burn at work before I retired from my career in the fire department. I decided to take advantage of this and do a few trial visits/trial living. I must have deep down known South America would win because I called them Juicos instead of trials... Which is grammatically incorrect (pruebas), but whatever, for the blog we shall say the trial visits.

That's the short summary, writing this article I thought would be more the novel format than the checklist format, but as I reviewed why I moved here, I think it serves better to show the process rather than romanticize it. I retired in July of this year and had narrowed down stop one of the retirement life to Colombia, Italy, or Argentina. For each trial visit trip I journaled the trip itself, random thoughts, diaryish, but more logical. Then I factored heavy logic elements... I'll go over these now...

Immigration: I wanted to live in another country but I also wanted to be free to travel around easily leaving or re-entering the country. Italy wins by a landslide here. With my Italian passport I have never waited on lines or even talked to a customs official entering the country. Colombia the wait was insanely long. Argentina, it's been average getting in. Getting out is pretty instant.

Language: I speak the languages of all 3 countries so this wasn't such a big deal, it is worth noting that for me personally I don't want to live long term anywhere that I can't speak the language, too many hurdles that I don't want to rely on google translate for.

Cost of Living:all 3 would be way cheaper than what I was paying in Scottsdale, AZ. Colombia was the most affordable, Italy was the most expensive, Argentina was the middle ground.

Coffee at home: This one Argentina is definitely the worst. Coffee is a big part of my life, so far my experience with coffee at home, while not terrible, certainly doesn't compete with Italy, or Colombia. Colombia won here.

Coffee at a cafe: This one is a bit more complicated. Italy has the best cafes, but the culture of sitting down to work on your laptop/blog isn't as dominant. The coffee in a cafe in Argentina tastes better than home. Colombia overall was probably the best for the lounging around aspect along with delicious coffee.

Protein: This is one that if you are just visiting you may never even notice. I always try to workout and be in the best shape possible... You know besides those cheat days.... And after extensive travel in Italy it became more and more noticeable a lot of the meals revolved more around a carb than a protein, I admit I don't like seafood, so I kind of screwed myself there with Italy. But that being said, Argentina dominated this category. Now that I am living here I've discovered even more. We have stores that only sell chicken. We have stores that sell only beef. We have a store in my neighborhood that sells only eggs. If that's not enough, there's literally a guy that rides a bike around my neighborhood sometimes that sells his farm fresh eggs from his bicycle. You hear the music from the balcony, it reminds me of the days of the 1980s Ice Cream Trucks in Brooklyn, but it's protein instead of sugar!

Super Markets: Here's another one you don't care about when only visiting a place.For the overall super market like what I was used to in the USA, Argentina may be the best for the big box supermarkets, food quality overall Italy dominates. Colombia has Carullo's which is one of the best supermarkets I visited in my life, but they are not abundant there. I made it my mission to visit as many as possible and walk the aisles in the day of my diets. Living here now the only thing I lack are certain cheeses. And needless to say the smaller butcher shops, bread bakery's, or cold cut places have better products than the big box stores.

Gym and Gym Culture: Minus John Reed Fitness in Trieste, Italy, one of the best gyms I train at in my life, Italy lacks big in gym culture. The gyms are smaller, they are clean, but too clean! You have to change your shoes when you come in, so you can't jog to the gym on a nice day unless you bring other sneakers. The dumbbells don't tend to go to heavy, and people in general just aren't training the same. Colombia had a solid gym culture, but Argentina took the crown here. One of the gyms I trained at in Recoletta even had posters of Gold's Gym Venice, and LA Fitness, two of my former gyms I trained in. It was a sign.

Walkability: Italy and Argentina were great here. Colombia not so much, besides safety issues, there's too many times you need to cross the street and it's going to be an adventure just to cross.

Safety: This one is easy, Italy safest, Colombia least safe. Argentina scored in the middle.

Beaches:Here's another one Italy dominates. I thought however that Argentina with all that ocean front would have some great beach towns... I was disappointed, but it's in the works to find more!

Puerto Madryn, the first good beach town I found.
Italy I don't know if I ever saw a bad one!

Airport Proximity: Argentina wins big here, bonus we have two airports, and I've used both in the 6 months I've been here.

My former employment

Public Transport: Colombia loses big here, Italy wins big. Everything from Lime Scooters to nice intercity trains. Argentina luckily has a pretty decent system with buses, trains, and subway.

Not public transport!

Taxis: all 3 were great with Uber, so no issues there.

Taxes: The other "tax" word.... Italy's taxes are a complete nightmare. I do hope to one day live in Italy, but for now, this was one of the biggest things that pushed it to the "just not yet" category.

Guitar/music:I wanted to continue playing wherever I lived, Argentina won big here as there is an entire large city block dedicated to the sale of instruements. The choice has continued to do well here as I've seen bands both large and small down here since I've moved. I like the music scene, not as good as the states, but definitely enjoying it. And of course I was able to set up my little studio area to play and sing at my leisure.

Upcale Dining: here really all 3 options have great upscale, but of course Italy overall.

Average Dining: Italy got eliminated here due to the protein as mentioned earlier

Fast food: Argentina! The empanadas!!! Though honorable mention to Arancini in Italy.

Also love the diverse climates here

Dive Bars:I love a good dive bar once in a while! Outside of USA and a few other countries the dive bar culture doesn't really exist. That being said, all 3 had something, it was a tie.

Wine: Speaking of alcohol, Argentina won before the trial began, but this was biased because Malbec has always been my favorite wine.

Immigration logistics: Italy took the cake here because I have an Italian passport. I ended up finally getting my Rentista Visa this month in Argentina, but it was a ride!

I didn't mention dating, but my girlfriend is Argentinian,
so you can figure out who won there!

So Argentina won for my first destination, I'm happy to be here now for a few months, maybe a few years, maybe forever. But of course Italy or Colombia will always be there. Argentina isn't the BEST country, but it's the best for me and what I am looking for at this time:

training and protein
having a good gym
walking around your neighborhood
inexpensive everyday life
eating out regularly
coffee
music/guitar
having your own space
easy airport access
being able to travel
avoiding excessive taxation
not needing everything to be perfectly polished
and having enough disposable income to actually enjoy yourself

I was so glad to have the opportunity to do the trial runs, they changed my views on all 3 countries. I've already written more specifically about Why I Chose Not To Live In Colombia, and I'm working on the same article for Italy. This week is marks my first 6 months in Argentina, and I'm of course thrilled to be here, living this life, and of course writing this blog when I can. Hope you enjoyed this article. Below I will post a blank version of my personal check list to cut and paste if that helps anyone out there.

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WORK SHEET:

Cut and paste and edit to your personal preference :)

Immigration:
Language:
Cost of Living:
Coffee at Home:
Coffee at a Cafe:
Protein:
Supermarkets:
Gym and Gym Culture:
Walkability:
Safety:
Beaches:
Airport Proximity:
Public Transport:
Taxis:
Taxes:
Guitar/Music:
Upscale Dining:
Average Dining:
Fast Food:
Dive Bars:
Wine:
Immigration Logistics:
Dating/social circles:

My Path, Process, and Cost for Argentina Residency

2026-10-13T10:50:43.582-07:00

This all started in 2022 when I first visited Argentina, that's a longer story why I chose Argentina, so I will get into the meat and potatoes of obtaining my Rentista Visa.

The first of many days on immigration lines

Summary of cost: $3,490

Lawyer consult fees (2 appointments): $300
FBI Background check and Fingerprints: $70
Lawyer Process Fee:$2,300
Translation fees: $400 (doesn't matter if you speak Spanish, you have to use official translators)
Apostilles and notary Arizona: $105
Apostille FBI attempt 1: $20
Apostille FBI attempt 2: $145 with FedEx delivery
Accountant letter: $150

Early days in Online Forums September 2025-January 2026

One of the first things I noticed, just being honest, is many expats living in Buenos Aires don't go through the immigration process. They overstay the visas and pay the fines, or they cross the border every 3 months in Uruguay for the day, sort of illegal, but I have not heard a single story of it being enforced (Oct 2026). And a lot of people on expat forums are also only staying for the 3 months that most passports allow. I decided I wanted more out of this country so I decided to go through the process for the rentista visa.

This wouldn't be my first time working with another government for long term residency as I have an Italian passport I received over 10 years ago (recently renewed!). In those days I was much more of a budget traveler, living with roommates, working 2-3 jobs, so I decided to do it all on my own. Even though I speak fluent Spanish and was confident to DIY, I have a bit more money now, and hired a lawyer ($2,300) for this process, advice from the forums when I finally found the right people that were doing the full Rentista Visa.

Work in the United States January 2026-April 2026

My time before Argentina was dedicated to getting all the documents needed, some of it I was familiar with from the Italian process, Apostilles, an international certification was needed for my financial statements and FBI background check. The financial stuff was fairly easy, I went down to the Secretary of State in Arizona a few times with bank statements, my house deed, signed some paperwork, paid some fees, easy. FBI took a bit more time, the background check itself was almost instant, but the apostille was not. I had only 3 weeks or so until my flight and the $20 check wasn't cashed yet, so I hired an apostille company, they got it back to me fairly quickly for around $145. Then of course a few days later I received the $20 one as well, oh well, now I had two copies.

I had a final call with my lawyers the week of my flight. They sent me some paperwork for immigration, and I was told to make sure I said on entry into the country I was not here for tourism.

Boots on The Ground/First Immigration Meeting April 2026

On arrival as instructed I told the immigrations officer why I was here, I also provided documentation from the lawyers, I added that I still had a return flight in June for work anyway, which probably sped things up. My lawyers told me to relax the first week, I didn't quite relax as there was a lot to do with the move, but the immigration part was on pause.

Precaria Meeting April 2026

The next step was the Precaria Meeting, I now have had 5 and still can't exactly explain what a Precaria is, I guess a document that says the process is in the works, I also was able to open a bank account with it along with a CUIL, money in Argentina is a whole other blog post! I got two days notice for the Precaria meeting from my lawyers which was fine since I wasn't working down here. I showed up early and still had a significant line for my meeting. I dressed formally, some people were there more or less in pajamas. I recommend at least a nice shirt and shoes, it goes a long way if you have extra questions on top of the meeting. It was awkward at first because they asked me for a Certificado de Domicillio, I tried to get it at the police station which was no longer possible. They want to see you are living here and not visiting, this is super odd for me, as you need a DNI to do a lot in Argentina and can't get that DNI until the wheels are in motion. They asked for a utility bill like gas or electric, I had just arrived in the country 7 days ago! Of course I'm also a bit nervous here! The lawyers said I could sign a declaration which I asked about then they accepted.

There weren't really questions beyond that, just clarification of what translation went with what document. They took my finger prints, took my photo (another good reason to dress formal), and told me they would contact me if anything else was needed. I received the precaria via whatsapp from the law team the same day. It would expire in 3 months, I had to be present for the expiration, very important.

Yet another day on the immigration line

I thought from there it would be easy, perhaps one more renewal, like all things Argentina, I was very wrong. My next precaria renewal was only for a month, I had to go back 5 or 6 times. This became complicated when it tied in with other trips because you need to go to the renewal up to 10 days before it expires, so if you have a two week trip planned, you might be getting into some trouble. Every trip for the renewal was the same, I'd wake up early, get there 30-60 minutes before they opened, and still be on a line to wait for 2-3 hours. And every single time when my number came, the appointment was about 2 minutes on average. Why this could not be done online is beyond me to this day. It says you can renew online, but it never worked for me personally.

I tried to do the process from the USA before I left, it's crazy to me, and still doesn't make sense to do it in Argentina. You literally pack your belongings, leave everything behind, and come here with the chance that you may have to just go back. I called every Argentina consulate in the US, and they all told me they do not do Rentista and I would have to do it here in Argentina. I went to the immigration office every time. Which was a lot more than I thought, the first Rentista was 3 months. After that it was only one month. So I had to go back four times, & once for the certifcado domicilio, which was also an odd day of visiting 3 or so offices.

Finally this month (October) I went to renew my Precaria yet again. I was just going in for the renewal, but also had some upcoming travel, so I brought flight receipts as the expiration date would have been an issue with the travel. While I was waiting, I was called up to a different counter than normal. Hmm... I had also brought a thumb drive at the request of my lawyers to see where the case was at. The woman informed me that my Visa had been approved for the first year, and I was free to travel in and out of the country. CHA CHING!!!! She mentioned there was no need to put the information on the thumb drive since I had been approved. I started April this year. To date it was almost exactly 6 months, but finally I had my official permission to stay. The Visa is good for a year, with an option to renew for another year there afterwards. After that I can apply for long term residency or even citizenship. That's two years away, so for now, I am just happy to have the Visa. Needless to say a nice cup of Malbec was poured when I got home.

Here's a good list of items to keep in mind or prepare during the process:

Rent / AirBNBs
-I am not in CABA. I live in Monte Grande. So the Airbnb bubble was not even an option for me. I would have liked to and it would have made life simpler, but the Airbnb options here are few and far between. And surprisingly, pretty costly. It's more expensive for an Airbnb in an okay apartment in Monte Grande then a really nice apartment in Palermo. For renting my apartment that was a bit of a pain in the ass as well, a few places rejected me with no DNI, even when I offered the complete contract up front. Luckily they didn't accept that, because when you have little problems with your apartment here and there, it will suck even more that you paid everything up front. So I personally wouldn't do it now that I've learned a little bit more, maybe offer 3 months up front. I had one apartment that I almost signed the contract, but I read the fine print, they wanted me to bring the rent in cash, to a different city every month. From there on, I was very adamant about agreeing to transfers before even visiting an apartment. I also was a bit overpicky, my area is not a luxurious area, my money does go further here, I was looking to live like Bruce Wayne. But it turns out in a lower middle class neighborhood, there are not too many Wayne Manor options available. But I am happy with my apartment.

Tips & Mindsets
-I speak Spanish and Italian fluently. I received my Italian passport/Italian citizenship about 10 years ago. I did the whole process on my own without lawyers. It was easier to get and understand the Italian citizenship process than it was to do the Rentista Visa! Italian citizenship was literally all done by mail in the USA for documents and one trip to Los Angeles, two if you count the passport appointment. I think this visa was 9 or so trips in 6 months, and 10 will be my DNI. Every trip to immigration was exactly the same, I waited 2-3 hours, and whatever I came in for would take 2-3 minutes. Get there early. If you are working that day, plan on starting late. Oh, and use the bathroom before you leave the house!

Language
-If you don't speak Spanish go with someone who does, if you do speak Spanish but are not a native speaker and learned in a different country, be ready for a bit of a curve, I have worked jobs completely in Spanish and had LTRs with a few Mexican gals, it was still a big adjustment here to the accents! Try to start watching Netflix or YouTube specifically shot in Argentina.

Banking
-Each month I had to send in my financial statements from my bank. I learned the hard way that for my particular visa, it had to be a bank to bank transfer. Western Union transfers were cheaper, but when they told me that I did bank to bank, which means a fee on both ends of the transfer.

Travel during the process
-If you have travel plans during the expiration which at the time of writing is up to 10 days before the date, I was told to bring the receipts before the trip or during renewal. For example my final appointment I would have been traveling November 4-15th, my exp was the 15th, 10 days before I would still be traveling. I brought flight receipts and a business format letter of the trip plans, I highlighted the dates on the flight receipts, but I was also approved that day, so it wasn't necessary but that was what I was explained to do from the officials there on the prior visa appointment. Also if your travel does not interfere with the process bring your precaria for when you re-enter the country. You are not a prisoner here, but it is recommended to keep international travel limited before you are approved. I left once to the USA for work, and this month would have been the 2nd international. In the country can be travel galore as long as you are good on the renewal days.

Wardrobe
-I didn't wear a suit but I always showed up in a nice shirt & shoes, to my knowledge there's no check box for wardrobe, but in my opinion it will give you a slightly better edge for questions when your turn comes up.

Holidays/Scheduling
-If you like to cut things close, watch out for Holidays, you don't want to arrive for renewal the last day and it's a Feriado. There seems to be a lot of those days here!

Time Elapsed
-I started in April, I was approved today for 12 months, and basically was explained I could renew in one year for another full year, so although it was frustrating going so often, essentially the 2 year visa can be 2.5 years in the country because of the process.

So now the fun can really start, although the process was a little fun, I won't miss waiting on the lines for 3 hours anymore. I've got 1-2 years now to make Argentina a bigger part of my life, or South America in general. From my first trip here in 2010 to today, it's always been an amazing place for me. I am trying to take advantage now of my position here with all the places nearby that before were 18 hour flights/transit time. I've already bounced around a few places in Argentina, next up is a return to Antarctica, a trip back to Brazil in the works, as well as Easter Island in Chile, all in good time. It's time to roll down the windows and let the ride begin.

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How To Pay For Things When You Live In Argentina

2026-10-09T05:49:23.516-07:00

If you are just visiting, TLDR, bring $1,000 USD or so cash, make sure they are not charging you extra if you pay with credit card, make bank withdrawal's with western union or a bank that doesn't charge ATM fees, the days of the blue rate, are relatively gone.

I never thought this article would be necessary, and with the ever changing economy here, maybe it's pointless to write, but as of now October 2026, after living in Argentina for 6 months, here's how I structure my payments, and how things have changed since I moved here...

Argentina Pesos: I pay with cash/effective/pesos now pretty much how I paid in USA, smaller purchases like coffee, or an empanada, and tips. Luckily bigger places like restaurants that in the past only took cash, now seem to widely accept at least debit or transfers. Transfers was a new thing for me to pay with for something like dinner...

Transfers: I will use my Galicia bank account to pay for services like my gas, as mentioned above some restaurants or bars, my rent, and friends the way we did with Venmo in the USA (no fees Argentina bank to Argentina bank). If you are lucky enough to have a landlord with a bank account in America its great to be able to pay US bank to US bank for an American based salary.

US Dollars: When I first got here, dollars were a part of my life, I paid for some things in dollars, and extended my Airbnb reservation in dollars, I also tipped a bit in dollars. If you are visiting you'll probably do the same. Living here, I have some dollars, not the $10,000 max that some expats bring because I grew up in Brooklyn and even though I'm in a safe neighborhood, the idea of my apartment being robbed is a possibility, but I keep a few dollars for emergencies, or for international trips out of Argentina, we are going to Antarctica next month, and Asia for New Year's, for both destinations I'll bring my dollars for tips, or currency exchange. USA is my financial center of interest, I will go back twice this year, and that's the plan from here on, so I can always reload on trips back.

Debit Card: I use my Argentina Debit card WAY more than I ever used a debit card in the USA that was virtually never aside from cash withdrawals. I pay for dining, clothes, a lot of shopping, mainly because a lot of places charge 10-20% if I use credit card. Note I also never keep too much in my debit account because the risk of less coverage of a credit card if it's lost or stolen. Now that I have an account here, I have not used my US debit card at all.

Credit Card: As someone who loves travel, free travel on points, or business class upgrades, I sure as hell miss paying for everything with credit card. My credit spending has been reduced by about 30%, so I still can use it a lot, but not as often, too many times there's a fee for credit cards. But if there isn't, it sure as hell is a place I will shop at or eat at again. And needless to say I only use credit cards that don't charge a foreign transaction fee. All travel is still booked on credit cards, no extra fees... for now!

Argentina Credit Card: I do not have one, but I should note, many establishments will do the opposite here of the US credit card extra charge and offer a discount when you pay with an Argentina credit card.

Western Union: Before I had a bank account here I had to use Western Union for cash, having to pay 30,000 pesos to withdraw 100,000 pesos at a normal ATM didn't make sense, so I did withdrawals from Western Union which was a pain in the ass. One time I needed about $500 USD in pesos, and I had to sit in the office for 2 hours while the companies did security checks. I still use Western Union now, but not the physical office, I transfer from my US debit card to my Argentina account, this is about 5-10% cheaper than a bank to bank transfer, because bank to bank charges transaction fees on both ends.

There's other ways to pay for things, like Crypto, apps, P2P, but the above is all I use. It's been a ride learning, and the inflation here is always more of a ride. But that's my go to methods for everything here in my 6 months. Hope this article helps you!

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Argentina! Where Are Your Beaches!?

2026-09-27T11:23:58.518-07:00

September 27th, 2026

I've never done this before with articles, but since this blog doesn't get too much traffic I wont offend too many people. I'm going to start here, a published, YET unfinished article.... I will add as I learn more to this article.

Argentina is the 8th largest country in the world, and has more coastline than most of the 195 countries in the world. I didn't even think about the beach before I got here to live 6 months ago, with such vast coast line, I figured I'd find my Miami Beach, my Bondi Beach, or my Florianopolis when I got there... It turns out a lot of Argentines go to Miami, Bondi, or of course Florianopolis for their beaches. It's not Alaska or Russia beaches, but for the overall size, the options are way more limited than you would think. Buenos Aires itself sits on the ocean along Rio De Plata, except it doesn't flow Plata, it flows mud, so it's okay to go fishing or even sailing, but don't think you'll be jumping in the waters soon. A lot of the coastline is muddy, rocky, or just too damn cold to swim. I'm not a fan of just the ocean view, I like the immersion. This working article is my journey to find great beaches to hang out, swim, and immerse be it through kayak, scuba, swim, etc. Enjoy!

Puerto Madryn Septemer 2026

Swim: sort of... Summer time

Scuba: year round with great wild life!

Beach front: Excellent, bars, dining, etc Scenic boardwalk

Ocean Activities: All the standards minus surfing, limited, but kite surfing possible

We woke up to a beautiful sunrise in our ocean front Airbnb, an early morning to swim with the sea lions,a truly unforgettable experience. As we stepped foot onto the beautiful sands of the beautiful beaches of Puerto Madryn it occurred to me that I have been living on the ocean now for 6 months after living in the desert in Arizona for almost 20 years and this is my first time actually in the ocean since moving here!

The sea life is unlike anything I ever experienced where you can actually swim, we swam with the sea lions, but we had up close and personal interactions with the whales and dolphins of the Atlantic down here as well boating. Come summer it's totally penguin season, we missed that but I'm sure we will catch them in November in Antarctica. Puerto Madryn gets a very high beach score. The water is definitely cold, when we swam my girlfriend went full dry suit, I went wet suit. The water was cold but bearable, however once we were swimming with the sea lions I had so much fun the water didn't bother me at all. This was early spring, the locals do swim a lot in the summer sans wet or dry suit, but the somewhat cold waters are more to cool down rather than relax. Either way Puerto Madryn was the first excellent beach getaway we found. The ball was starting to roll!

What beaches have you been actually in Argentina to add to this list????

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Why I Decided NOT To Live In Colombia

2026-09-25T07:48:50.219-07:00

At least not yet, writing from my apartment in Argentina....

2010, 29 years old, my first trip to Colombia and South America!

2010: My first trip to Colombia, the first time I ever set foot in South America, and the trip that made this blog titled "6 of the 7 continents". Colombia was number 6! I never thought I'd reach Antarctica for continent number 7, but life blessed me New Year's 2023, and I may even be going back this year, but that's another article. I landed in Cartagena and it was 8 days that changed my life in a way forever. I loved it, I loved South America, I loved the culture, the people, the food, the rhythm... Everything. I had a feeling I would be back, to Colombia, or another country in South America? Maybe both. That feeling was correct. I have been to Colombia now 4 times. I have visited every country in South America except Venezuela, it's on the list, and I am now living in Argentina. It all began with that fateful trip 16 years ago.

My second trip to Colombia was a bit more special. Medellin in 2015ish... This time I was a much more seasoned traveler, spoke better Spanish, and my eyes were not just opening to the world outside USA, they were consuming, processing, and calculating my future somewhere else one day. In those days, I highly considered Colombia to live. Especially that trip. Medellin was new, fresh, safe (ish), economic, and so different from where I lived. I spend the next 11 years working in the USA and of course traveling. I wanted to see and do everything and maybe one day, leave the USA to live abroad... Colombia was high on the list! So high I decided to make a trial run, it would be one of three trial runs of where my next long term stay would be, Italy was the other, and you guessed the third where I live now, Argentina. So why did Colombia not become home?

Medellin cable car

Immigration:

So this was trip three of four. I landed in Medellin in February of 2025. I was excited to visit not as a tourist, but as someone who was doing moving research. I would visit there and three other cities over the month. The rule was simple, keep tourism minimal, try to live the daily life there and figure out the logistics of living there. I should probably write another article on that! Anyway I landed in Medellin, and the problems started as soon as I got off the plane... Customs and passport control was EXTREMELY long. 2 hours. When I got to the end of the line they asked me a few basic questions, I don't know if they are understaffed, or over visited.. But where ever I would choose to be home base was going to be just that, home base, I don't plan on stopping travel anytime soon. The idea of 2 hours for immigration every time I come back home was not too appealing, factoring in the same year I got global entry and it hasn't taken me more than 2 minutes to re-enter the USA since I got it. The airport is not close to the city either, about 40 minutes. So I could take a short flight to Panama City, Peru, etc, and the customs and taxi to get home would be longer than the flights!

Medellin Changed, & I Changed

Medellin 2015

I got to my Airbnb late after that 2 hour wait, breathed in the jungle air, it was good to be back, and I didn't want to sleep just yet. There were lots of bars and restaurants on my block, I decided to go out for a walk, and maybe a drink or two. As I walked the street I wasn't greeted to the sounds of Colombia, I heard English being spoken EVERYWHERE, the same music I was listening to in Scottsdale before I left, seemingly even the same restaurants... The city changed. When I first came here it was a bit touristic, now it was Disney World. The little Colombian restaurants had all turned into giant Cheeseburger chain restaurants, not the big one, McDonalds, but it lost flavor both in a culinary and cultural way. I was in the touristic center, so I thought, I should get around and see more... It didn't work. The problem when I visited the other neighborhoods was it was nothing, things closed at 7pm, or the streets were barren from the get go. Plus the gyms in those neighborhoods kind of sucked. The gyms in the center were great, better than my first time here, grocery stores were also top notch, but with the good, comes the bad.

I changed. Saturday night it was time to party! I made some friends and even had a random run in with a friend from Phoenix for the first time in my travel life, so I wasn't going to go out alone. We headed downtown.... The drink prices were damn near equal to Scottsdale, the places were too crowded, the music was too loud, there were too many hookers! Ok I sound like my Dad now... Maybe not quite with the hooker part, but the point is the party scene is great when you are in your 20's or maybe even my 30s, but now at 45... It didn't feel quite like something I wanted every weekend. We had a blast that night, drank till 3am or 4am, met cool people, danced, etc. But it's not something I have any desire to do on a regular basis anymore at age 45.

Trying to blend in like a local

Then of course the night life, or really any life in other areas I checked out, was pretty non-existent. Laureles was ok... But the problem was off the main strip safety was a big issue. It was on to Cali next.

Cali: No... At Least For Now

This wasn't as easy to write off, and to be honest, I would still give it a little chance. It was like stepping back into the early 2000s Medellin as far as culture. It felt a lot more Colombian and a lot less corporate. The gyms weren't quite as good as Medellin, but they had what I needed. Grocery was the same, not top notch, but I'm mainly a man of chicken and vegetables when I cook at home... Although Argentina has added a lot more steak! The weather was the heat I enjoyed, the food, the vibe, the downtown area, it was all excellent. Some of the areas I really loved. On one night in a bar on a side street in Granada on a Friday night, I was enjoying a beer, and truly living in the moment, and I thought... This is it... This is my next home. The street was safe, there were lots of people out, great party vibe, but not too much, great restaurants, cafes, extremely safe, police everywhere, people seemed very chill, and polite... I felt great!

Overlooking the beautiful landscape from Cali

I headed back to the same area that next day, during the day I discovered even more that I loved about the Granada area. I was practically signing an apartment lease... I needed more! Then I headed back of course for dinner that night, it wasn't the weekend, Monday or maybe Tuesday now... Shit changed... Big time. I used to be a cop a long time ago in the NYPD. We had to go to the jails regularly to drop people off or pick people up, I would feel a hell of a lot safer in the jails in the Brooklyn South Precinct without my gun than I felt in the streets that night in Granada. The place was night and day difference from weekend, to weekday. The other areas I checked out were safer, but virtually not much to do. I really loved Cali, and maybe one day I will live there but for now and at that time Granada was out, Cali was out.

Bogota: Last Chance At The Capital

Ahhh Bogota, an old friend.... I also hit Barranquilla during the trip, but that was solely for Carnival! Bogota was more to visit friends than anything else, it's a beautiful city, but I also knew going in that the weather is not my scene, and it has too much of a big city vibe. I still wanted to give it a chance, but things just didn't fit, like Cali, my favorite neighborhood La Candelaria is great by day but questionable at night. The traffic, the volume of people, the city air, not quite my scene. Chapinero is a nice area, but again, it just didn't feel right.

It was great to see friends there, and those friends walked me through everything I would need to live there. The cities have all the modern city things that I would like that go beyond tourism, think things like door dash, amazon, uber, autopay for your gas/electric bill, the modern luxuries or the Colombian equivalents. But the negatives kind of outweighed the positives. Throughout the whole trip I also of course was reviewing my options to legally stay there. For my other choices, Italy, I have an Italian Passport and Argentina I had an American friend that bought a place down there and already walked me through the basics of legally living there. The Nomad Visas, Rentista Visas, or Pensionado Visa all seemed a lot more complicated than moving to Europe with citizenship or the Argentina citizenship process, now that I am living in Argentina I may have been wrong about that last part, the visa process here has been a ride through hell! But too late now for the Visa pros and cons!

So at that point, I was also journaling the whole process, categories, tracking daily spending, some boring stuff, some interesting stuff that shows up on this blog. And when I got back I read through the notes, already kind of knowing, I wasn't going to live there. I cannot stress how much I loved Cali, and how I am missing it now just writing about it, but it wasn't going to be my home. At least for now, who knows what the future holds. I know however that I love this country, and will always come back to it.

Lessons Learned

Lessons, don't plan 10 years in advance, maybe even 5 is too much. Cities change, countries change, and of course, you change. The 5 year plan is probably reasonable but have a back up plan.
Visit as a person living there, not as a tourist, I did this extremely well I think, rather than the Pablo Escobar tour, or visiting the Salt Mines, think about what you will do almost daily there. For me the important things were gyms, nightlife, cafes, music stores, live music scene, and supermarkets.
Healthcare: I don't have any health problems, but it would be naive not to factor this in. And I will say here Argentina where I live now is certainly not as good as my other option Italy, or of course my home country the USA.
Taxes.... Yep, do the homework here to on liabilities, etc. It sucks! But it's something you will need to factor in.
Budget: Don't go with chatgpt, or forums, crunch your own numbers, when I was analyzing everything in day to day spending, it was cheaper than Scottsdale, but not by much. Rent was easily a big savings compared to rent in the USA, but you gotta eat, you gotta have internet, gas, electric, etc.
If you can, by all means do the trial dip before you jump in. I am so grateful that I had the chance to visit all 3 countries for more than a month in "life mode" rather than "tourist mode". It greatly helped with my decision, and my life now.

6 of the 7 continents, 2010 that dream was complete, and of course as stated, it's now all 7. I thought when I hit 6, life would slow down, travel would slow down, but it's been quite the opposite. A lot of my life revolves now around travel, the trips to Colombia forever shaped who I am today. I love it, and I want to be a part of it, but living is just not right for me, at least for now. Like all places I have been to, I am grateful for everything it gave me. I am now living in a small town outside of Buenos Aires as my expat life in Argentina began in April of 2026. I'm loving life, loving South America, loving what the world gave me, exploring what I can give back, and always thinking about where the world will take me next. I never could have done any of this, without Colombia.

29 years old in Cartagena, it seems now like a lifetime ago

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Antarctica: I'm Going Back On The Ice!

2026-09-17T13:10:54.605-07:00

My first trip to Antarctica New Year's 2023

Well.. The title breaks it down well, I hit the ice the first time in 2022, to celebrate New Year's in Antarctica. Continent number 7, New Year's on all 7 continents, and I hit the Human Flag on all 7 continents. This blog was as you may have noticed never written with the intention to hit all 7. But life changed a lot, that's covered in the prior articles, so lets get to the return trip I just booked! I am living in Argentina. When I moved down here it was my goal and dream to visit all the places that are nearby that normally would have been a long international flight from the USA. I have already been making my way around Argentina, I have a short trip to Brazil planned in March, and I am hoping to visit Easter Island in Chile early next year. A lot of places I love, are now a lot closer, and of course, one of them is Antarctica.

Since I wrote my first article on How To Go To Antarctica in September 2011, not much has changed. There's a few more fly options, but they certainly aren't cheap. However, the item I wrote last on the list of that fateful article, "If you live in Argentina".... I live in Argentina. I mentioned Ushuaia, and how if you are present cruises can be 75% cheaper when they are unsold. I personally witnessed that the first time I went to Antarctica... A bed in a triple share for $3,000... I had paid around $12,000 for a window suite with some dude I never met sleeping in the bunk adjacent to mine. He was a retired Australian military guy, I was a firefighter, we enjoyed the cruise, and camped separate nights so at least one night it didn't have the hostel vibes. I loved the experience of traveling solo, I met great people, and I set foot on the continent, it was by no means a budget trip, but I never wanted to do it that way again.

So cut to Argentina, I moved here in April, I had been looking at Antarctica deals since April, but just casually, I figured when the season got closer I'd start throwing out some lines... Right about the end of August, I contacted every company that goes there, there's not many. Including the first company I cruised with, Oceanwide. I told them who I was, I lived in Argentina, it would not be my first time there, I am self employed and can be in Ushuaia on 1 days notice for the right cruise. Within a week, the insanity of the offers was blowing my mind, the sailing trips in particular were cheaper than some of my domestic vacations in the USA. But I wasn't going alone this time, my girlfriend down here is joining, and lets just say her sea legs are not as ready for a small boat as mine (I love you if you are reading this baby!), so we opted for something similar to Antarctica Part 1.

The fly and cruise deals were even good. These deals that when I searched in 2022 were $20,000+ were now $7,000 or so. The same cruise I had taken in 2022, was 20% cheaper, I had to go back to the states at the end of November and we are planning a New Year's trip to Asia, so even though now I had my pick of the litter, I had to narrow it down a bit. I didn't want to go straight from Antarctica to USA, or straight from the ice to Asia. So then one day I got an email from Freestyle Adventure travels. They gave the usual hello email and asked for what I was looking for specifically. I did the camping and mountaineering last time. So this time was going to be more humble, hiking, snow shoeing, maybe kayak. It was all based on if the deal was good or not. They sent me an email with 5 or 6 cruises, all were amazing deals, all were extremely cheap, or at least Antarctica cheap. One of the options was $6,000 for the two of us in a window cabin. So half price of what I paid 4 years ago! I was going to book it, but then they sent me an email for the same cruise, two weeks earlier, with a balcony suite, for $8,000 each. To put this in perspective, the same suite in 2022 would have been somewhere around $30,000... Each! Plus the dates were much better for my USA trip.

Not only was I sold, but I was a bit panicked! I researched everyone involved to make sure it wasn't a scam, how could it be almost what I paid 4 years ago now for two people in a balcony suite!? I hit all the forums, tripadvisor, google, etc. I even called the banks involved. Which ended up not being necessary because I paid in the end with credit card, those points are going to cover the New Year's Hotel in Tokyo! This trip also includes a night in a luxury resort in Ushuaia, and all the snow gear needed, which we need a bit because Buenos Aires winters aren't that bad. Last time I paid for all that upfront.

By the way, I absolutely loved the first trip, and Oceanwide, but it was New Year's, the peak week/peak day of the peak season, and I booked it over a year in advance. This was the art of the last minute deal. So we are booked. I paid for the cruise 50 days before departure. I had a funny call with the girl asking if things could get even cheaper...

Me: "I don't know, things always happen, someone can get in a car accident, and break a leg, and they can't go."

Her: "It's so expensive they usually break their leg a few months before."

Anyway, $16,000 is certainly not cheap. But for all things Antarctica, its a great deal. Enough about the booking... I'm super excited to go back. It was a dream that I thought would never happen, and now I'm going for the 2nd time. I feel blessed beyond belief, and I am looking forward to sharing it with someone this time. We are ready to sail the drake lake, or the drake shake. We are ready to see the glaciers, say hi to the penguins, maybe the mighty whales, we are ready to kayak, hike, or snow shoe... I can't wait to breathe the crisp cold air, and to see the iceberg blue shades that I swear I have seen nowhere else in this world... Antarctica captured my heart the first time, it showed me the bottom of the world in a way I'll never forget. And now, I get to go back to the ice. I can't wait.

See you soon....

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Being Nomadic, AKA The Freedom Of Getting Rid of Shit

2026-09-01T05:51:41.645-07:00

My life in 2 suitcases & 2 guitars

The time had finally come it was April of 2026 and I was about to hand my home of over 15 years off to a property management company and begin my life as an expat abroad, starting in Argentina... I knew I couldn't bring too much as it would be a matter of whatever I could carry to the airport, that decision became 2 checked bags, one back pack, and two guitars. After 45 years on the Earth, it was time to get rid of all the other shit. I knew I would ultimately be happy with the decision but expected some depression from getting rid of stuff early on... That turned out to be very wrong!

Lets start with what I brought beyond the common sense things that everyone brings overseas (some clothes, important documents, etc):

The 2 Guitars, I have 5, but I had a hard case for my electric which I would put in the fate of baggage handlers and carry the other. It wouldn't save me a ton of money, but I really liked these guitars. That being said if the airline destroyed em I'd buy new ones. Update: the electric guitar made it in great shape!
Certain guitar pedals, hard to find overseas, made life easier bringing them.
Vocal microphones, small and way cheaper to buy in the USA.
Harmonicas, same thing.
Two coffee mugs, I literally brought these because there was so much extra space in my second luggage and they were both a homage to my life in the USA so I felt I'd bring a part of me there. If there was no space they would have sailed off into the trash.
2 hard disk drives, these were SUPER IMPORTANT, I said planning on moving abroad, the most important things I owned were photos, music, videos, and guitars. 3 out of the 4 all fit on a hard disk. I also sent one to my brother as a third back up. Normal photos sailed off to trash which we will discuss next, but it was important for the memories to bring the hard disks with me.
I am born in the '80s, so I still had a few photo books from my childhood, and even my early twenties. I didn't want to get rid of these, but it was also unrealistic to carry around photos for the rest of my life. I found a great company called Legacy box, not sponsored, sent them the photos and they sent me back a hard drive. Easy peasy and the memories can now travel with me forever.
Flair Bottles, I have a super weird hobby from my bartending days of flipping bottles, I didn't check before I left but I venture to say it may be difficult to find these in Argentina. Turns out when I arrived I could have got them there as well. You live you learn.

Now lets get to the getting rid of shit, aka the fun part!

The day I flew out I realized that the above was too much shit! I planned on getting rid of more shit when I got to Buenos Aires, yes I literally was bringing things to another continent just to ultimately get rid of them. I was so frustrated that I didn't even wait to get to Buenos Aires. At the airport in Phoenix, my carry on with essentials had things that weren't so essential. For example a nice watch in a box... I don't need the box! Some documents over 15 years old... Don't need em!!! I also only had my first apartment for a month so after the big move, I would move all my personal stuff again, this was a good opportunity to reevaluate. Here's some things I did wrong and either changed or would have changed:

CDs, Back to the '80s, or perhaps the '90s. I had a collection of CDs forever. I haven't played them since the early 2000s at best. But I kept them on my wall, kind of a decoration or homage to the bands I like. I always joke that I knew I would never play them again, it was more like an art display. I really did not want to get rid of them, I even considered just putting them up in the attic, the heat would ruin them, but they would still be the art. During this period. I had spent not joking, around $19,000 on my house on upgrades and things to rent it out. And I saw I could sell the CDs for about $200, I decided why not! I probably spent about $2,000 on the CDs, but it wasn't really about money, I just wanted to know they had a good at home. Hopefully the people that bought them on eBay from me or enjoying them now.
Socks and underwear... For my normal trips this is the most important thing to load up on, I say you can wear a shirt two or three times in good weather without washing it but you certainly can't do that with socks and underwear. These are also the most easily replaceable items, think about your favorite shirt, gym shirt, pants, you can probably think of them quickly. But if I said your favorite socks or underwear it would be a tough decision.
Reevaluate daily wear! I go to the gym 5-6 times a week, yet I arrived in Argentina with at least 10 gym shirts, I do laundry every week, so this was a waste of space.
How many black shirts do I really need? I arrived with 5-7. One short sleeve, one long sleeve, and two tees, would have been better.
Coats, pick 1, unless you are moving somewhere very cold. And that coat will go on your body for the flight, along with one heavy sweater. I however brought 2 coats, and 3 sweaters, which I probably didn't even need for a New York winter where I grew up, but they made good padding for my electronics.
Living out of my suitcase also helped more with getting rid of shit. When I say living out of the suitcase I am speaking literally. I was in an Airbnb first, and didn't know if that was what was going to stay for me. So I really only unpacked as needed. After the first week the suitcase was still at least 75% packed. The first week had multiple gym days, a formal event, a few nice dates, and yet still I only needed 25% of the clothes!
Shoes: this was a hard one, especially for me personally because my foot is a little bigger and not always easy to find my size, but shoes take up a lot of space in the bags, even if you stuff them with socks. I had to get rid of a good amount of my shoes. I showed up with 6 pairs counting the ones I wore. Threw out about the same amount.
Bring $5,000 extra. It's probably too much, or it may be just right if you need to buy furniture. One of my checked bags was worth no more than $1,000 in items. For now I am young and can haul four bags on my own, but if I continue the nomadic life I think it would just be easier to have a padded savings and spend a day buying things on arrival.

New apartment essentials

The Return Trip: Shit I brought back to Argentina that I Didn't Think I Needed

I went back to visit the USA and get some work done after about 4 months, I plan on going back every 4-6 months or so. It's my financial center of interest, and Airbnb management companies charge an arm and a leg for a few projects I'll continue to do myself on my rental. So I headed back in June. And even though I just talked about getting rid of shit, I brought more shit back to Argentina! Sort of...

Italian language novels, I speak fluent Italian but I'm not a native speaker, so I don't want to lose it. It's a bit harder than I thought finding print books in Argentina, and the ones I ordered from Italy in April may never arrive to my apartment in Argentina at this point (September). So I brought 20 or so books mostly paperback back to Argentina. I really gotta bite the bullet and get a kindle!!!

Argentina homework, don't forget Italian!
Cast iron pans! In the carne capital of the world we went to so many department stores and couldn't find these. I could have ordered them online, but this is the type of thing I need to touch before I buy it. So I picked up a couple from the US for the meats I cook here. Then of course as karma would have it, I saw them in the same store that didn't have them before I left.
Electronics is a no brainer, I bought my girlfriend an amazon fire tablet which is dirt cheap in the US compared to here.
Socks... I know what I said earlier but work with me here... Yes Argentina sells socks, but I hate organizing my socks! So I don't want different ones. It was hard to find champion socks in Argentina so I bought some in the US to restock! I know I said these are easy to replace, but those damn champion brands are so comfortable!

I have a formula for my clothes, whatever amount of shirts, pants, etc I own, is the number I will forever own. If I buy a new shirt tomorrow, I need to figure out a shirt to get rid of. I don't get rid of it that day, I take the shirt that is a bit old, or next in the chopping block, and put it in my travel bag. So the next trip the shirt will come with me, but won't come home with me! It's so much easier to get rid of "your favorite shirt from 2015" when it will make more room for a nice bottle of wine, or a new shirt you are buying while back packing Chile.

Why am I shopping here??? Hmm...

Little knickknack things are great. I bought a few for my home in Argentina, but the U2 photo, the Bariloche magnet, the Optimus Prime glass, will not be part of my life forever, it's something that's easier to accept now that I've moved across the USA once, and out of the USA once! I even bought a Samurai Sword, it looks great in the apartment, but when I leave, it will be sold or donated... Where does one donate a Samurai Sword??? Hmmm... Anyway...

Transform!

Minimalist doesn't mean nothing. But I love the freedom I now have living here, and the freedom of being a minimalist to get here. Once you arrive, you think a little bit about everything back home... From the little knickknacks to the big things. But then one day... You wake up, and all of your "things" are now in your new home. You live a life of freedom. Freedom of movement, flexibility, adventure, new frontiers, new memories.... The memories... You don't need any luggage for those, and they are the best things that we can carry forever... All from the freedom of getting rid of shit!

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Mexico

2026-08-27T15:46:54.629-07:00

I've been to Mexico several times, I lived in Arizona for almost 20 years and loved driving down there when it was closer, now I'm a bit further away (currently Argentina)! But here's my Mexico articles!

My Early Trips To Mexico

CDMX Mexico City

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CDMX

2026-08-27T15:42:05.449-07:00

It's 1998ish... Maybe 1997ish? I live in Brooklyn. I am in high school and engulfing myself in a U2 album released a few years ago called "Achtung Baby". Its brought me to read a book by Bill Flanagan about their tour for that album. He writes a page or so about the tour arrival to Mexico City. He speaks of how massive it is, the view from the sky, the feeling, the air, the city... I am enthralled. I have not traveled further than east coast at this point in my life. I don't speak Spanish. Forget about a passport, I don't even have my birth certificate as a teenager. But I decide then, wow... One day I want to go to this Mexico City.

It's 2003ish... I am a police officer for the NYPD. I'm learning a little Spanish. I've seen U2 on tour now many times, I even went to Cancun on Spring Break. I have my passport for my dream trip, and first overseas trip that would happen in 6 years (Japan). I'm also about to move out of New York City to spend what would be the next 19 years in Arizona. I'm organized and planning things constantly, this includes a list of fun things, aka travel, that I plan on doing once I'm more settled in Arizona better. I put the list in an important binder of important things that I keep and am still using today for my immigration process in Argentina. I know Mexico City is a direct flight from Arizona, so I assume it will happen soon.

The list doesn't quite happen on time, it's only 4 things. I'll eventually see the Mr. Olympia in Las Vegas in 2014, Japan 2009 as mentioned, Los Angeles becomes somewhat of a recurring destination from friends, concerts, my Italian citizenship process, etc. I go to Mexico several times, Puerto Penasco driving, I speak Spanish fluently now, but for some reason, as I traveled to over 70 countries, and all 7 continents, I never hit that Mexico City bucket list item from the early 2000s. I always say, I want to go, I'll do it soon, I can't do it now because this or that. You know how it goes.

Chapultepec Castle

2025. Over 27 years since a 16 or 17 year old kid in Brooklyn read that Bill Flanagan book. I am still living in Arizona but the clock is ticking. I am retiring in 2026 from the fire department and have some ideas to move abroad, meaning Mexico City isn't going to be such a close destination soon. It's finally time. I had the usual reasons not to go, work, friends, an event, whatever... The hell with it, I book it.

Its about a 3 hour flight from Phoenix to Mexico City, or as I would now as someone who learned Spanish say CDMX. It's June and its almost boiling in Phoenix. But the time finally came, I booked the flight. This place is an amazing city for everyone, but particularly for Phoenix in the summer with 100+ heat I can't imagine a better quick international trip to immerse in a different world, and cool off at the same time. It's not super cold in June, but it's definitely sweater weather at night time, and relaxed in the day.

The flight is smooth and customs is even smoother, I don't speak to any immigration officer, I enter with my passport at an automatic Kiosk. I am sure this is not every experience, but it was a great way to start the trip. If you are at the window seat enjoy the view of the massive sprawl until you land. After immigrations the trip to the city by Uber took about 30 minutes, easy check in and shout out to Kukun Apartments I found on Airbnb, the rooftop views by day and night were both breathtaking.

U2 shirt in honor of the original inspiration

This can be a short trip, or it can be a lifetime. As I wrote about before, we don't have a lifetime to travel. I only visited for 4 days. Luckily with flight times, it was a pretty solid 4 days, no real loss of time in the air, time zone, etc. But it was an incredible 4 days. I wish I could spend a month here, but it seems like 1998 when the trip was planned was last week, I'm going to blink and it's going to be 2053... If I make it! So 4 days was sufficient. If you are doing the pyramids which I did, that's a day in itself, so it left me 3ish days to really take advantage of the city, I decided early on like many trips, this wasn't going to be a relaxing beachy type trip, this was going to be early mornings exploring, late night partying, and all the fun in between for 80 or so hours there.

Day 1: I took the city by foot/uber. The art museum, the Constitution Plaza, Chapultepec Castle, Zocalo, and more...

The Angel of Independence. It was super important for me to see the angel, it's famous, yet not the most famous. But for me whenever I watch Spanish TV when I see the angel I realize we are in Mexico City much better than just the skyline shots. Plus overall, the symbol of an angel? What's not to love? I was so capitivated by it, that I made it a mission to also visit at night, and to enjoy a rooftop cocktail after over it.

Day 2: was time for the pyramids! Teotihuacan Pyramids! I've been to Egypt and can say these big boy compete with the pyramids of Giza! We did a full day tour starting with a hot air balloon over the pyramids.

Landing to champagne toasts, then on foot, followed by brunch in a cave, and tequila tastings!

This tour can be done on its own... Well, not the air balloon part, but aside from that it can be done on it's own but well worth it for the extra money to have the guides, and all the bonuses.

Breakfast in the cave!

Day 3: As mentioned I grew up in NYC, when we saw the big red tourist buses there, we would laugh, maybe even make fun of them, "these tourists! I'll never be caught dead on on those!!!"

Yeah... Don't throw stones at glass houses. So the big red hop on hop off tour bus in Mexico City was perfect! It goes only to the main tourist sites, there was an audio phone option for history etc, but I elected to speak with friends instead.

The bus is much cheaper than ubering place to place, and something that never occurred to me in my arrogant New York days, the upper level caught some great views. Museo Soumaya, Zocalo, the revolution monument, and more!

Hotel roof view

Day 4: The flight unfortunately was leaving early, so breakfast at the airport before heading back to Phoenix.

Some Travel Notes

The trip wasn't super cheap, but from Phoenix it definitely didn't break the bank, under $1,000 for 4 days and three nights staying in the Roma area.
Overall safety it was the safest place I've ever been in Mexico, not to say bad things don't happen, but overall it was a safe feeling.
Food! I love the Sonoran Mexican food more than anything else, CDMX didn't change that. But that being said everything from street food to the elegant dining was excellent.

Night life has everything you'd expect for a giant city, and it was easy to get around with Uber.
English is definitely NOT widely spoken, so review your Spanish prior to coming.

I wasn't kidding about how excited I was for the angel!

I am currently at the time of writing living in Argentina. Mexico City was a magical place for me. After visiting over 70 countries, and Mexico itself over a dozen times. I didn't think it would have that much of an affect on me, but travel can surprise you like that. From where I live in Argentina to CDMX is a hike now, and costly. But I definitely want to go back. Since there are no direct flights from Buenos Aires to Phoenix, perhaps I can make it my intentional layover trip? Who knows... I would be lying if I said I don't regret not going more often when it was a short flight from Phoenix. It's another world from there and yet so close, I wish I went more. I didn't know in 1997 it would take me almost 30 years to make it there. I hope it doesn't take my 30 years to make it back.

Goodbye CDMX, hope to see you again

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Argentina: Let's Talk About The DNI

2026-08-08T10:09:12.820-07:00

Getting a DNI is a walk in the park.... Jurassic Park.

DNI. I speak fluent Spanish, it's been great to me from work, life, and years of travel to almost every Spanish speaking country in the world. However like a lot of 2nd language learners... I never fully learned the alphabet. I mean what's the point? Other than "Ñ" it's all the same letters as English. I don't have kids, so there is no need to sing the ABC's in both languages... Right? When I visited Argentina the first time in 2022, and second in 2025, and lived in the tourist bubble I still had never heard the word/letters DNI. But sure enough in 2026 when I got here to live... I learned quick.

Person: "Tu DNI?"

Me not having learned the alphabet: "Mi DNA???" (do they want my nationality or genetic code!)

The Documento Nacional de Identidad, lets call it the Argentina Driver's license or ID in general. It's the official national ID card of citizens and residents in Argentina. If you are visiting Argentina feel free to disregard the word and this article, you can think of it as DNI, DNA, Deena, whatever.... But if you plan to live here, it's a gonna be a ride with the DNI.

Before I had my bank account, I was asked for it regularly in my neighborhood which is now outside of the tourist bubble for credit card purchases, I felt some relief as they seemed to accept my driver's license or passport number for whatever was needed for their system. Great to buy milk or empanadas, not so great when it came time for serious things. I learned that it was needed for everything. I mean everything. It got to the point with my girlfriend where during dinner I had to use the bathroom but I joked to her I couldn't because I didn't have my DNI. A few things that happened since at the time of writing I still don't have it:

4 banks rejected my business, I had my 2 passports, 10 or so Apostilled financial documents, FBI check, and CUIL (Argentina social security number) at this point, but they still wouldn't let me open an account.
Apartments rejected my business
I can't open an account on Mercado Pago which makes daily life easier
Every internet service provider I called rejected my business, my internet today is in my girlfriends name
All other utilities are in my landlords name
Immigration wanted utility bills the week I applied for my Visa, you can't get a DNI until immigration gives you the proper Visa, and you can't get utilities till you have a DNI! What!?
And the topper of toppers, I wasn't allowed to buy a refrigerator at a major chain store because I didn't have a DNI, I have both my Italian and US passport, and I was paying for the fridge in one credit card payment, no financing!

So yeah the DNI has been and still is a pain in the ass! Some days it seemed like I couldn't do anything without a DNI, and for some things, like for example utilities, it still is! But don't give up on Argentina. The banks were work, for me outside of Buenos Aires even more difficult, but as I learned on expat forums, there's no solid rules here for a lot of things, a lot of it is who is working Friday vs who is working Tuesday, did it rain today or will it rain tomorrow. I had a list of banks that were expat friendly that weren't. Then for some people they were. The CUIL was a big deal and amazingly easy. I went to a local ANSES (still no idea what it stands for) to get my CUIL. That helped with the banks and the apartments. I explained the situation to the landlord for the utilities, my girlfriend was kind enough to take care of internet, and for the damn fridge I went to another business and gave them the $800 instead. It's still a struggle, but for the most part after I got my bank account and transfers going, its more of an inconvenience than anything else.

I am in the Rentista Visa process now. I have Italian citizenship, and swear it was easier to get Italian citizenship than the Rentista Visa. For my Italian passport the end game was holding the red passport. For Argentina, the end of the game will be getting my Rentista, and finally being able to get a DNI.

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Finally Getting My Apartment Lease In Argentina Without A DNI!

2026-07-30T07:50:12.198-07:00

Monte Grande, Argentina. My new home.

Rough Summary of My Rent & Move In Cost for the TLDR Crowd:

$1,800 Move in cost: 3x the rent, deposit, first month, and guarantor fee
Monthly rent now: $550, it was $600 but the contract is in pesos, so now it's cheaper since the peso sank
Utilities: $100-$150 a month
Internet: $10 a month, included installation (had to put it in my girlfriends name)
Furniture: I probably paid about $3k. I didn't go budget, higher end appliances, nicer bed, sofa, etc. Big stuff from local vendors, smaller/medium items from Mercado Libre. Probably could have done it for $1.5k if I wanted decent but not terribly expensive. I plan on doing a whole music/art section soon, but that probably is not a standard expat budget item!

Early January 2026, a short time before I would move to Argentina I was sitting with my laptop in my home office in Scottsdale, AZ. My house was about to become an Airbnb and rake in tons of money (or at least enough to pay my Argentina rent!), I was about to retire from the fire department, and according to all the listings I had seen on zonaprop, living soon in Argentina was going to be a breeze!!! But then life hits you.

I had set up my first Airbnb for a month, I thought it would be sufficient time to find an apartment, secretly I was hoping to be like many expats and have the luck of the Airbnb host offering me their place as my long term apartment... Then life hits you more. My first Airbnb was nice, but it would no way be home. The host even gave me a problem about having someone help me with the bags into the unit (exceeding maximum guests). When asked why I was in Argentina I told her to look for an apartment and live here. She had several closets locked, so it was clear this was not going to happen as a full time apartment. So lesson 1, don't bank on the first Airbnb.

Next problem that was clear from the get go, was my neighborhood. I am not in Buenos Aires, I am in Monte Grande. I chose Argentina for many reasons, but my girlfriend lives here in Monte Grande, so not gonna lie, that was why I chose this neighborhood to be my home. The things we do for love! Ok, kidding aside, it was clear that my neighborhood, like many outside of CABA, Buenos Aires center, is not foreigner friendly, I don't mean racist, I mean it is not set up for expats. There are far and few furnished short term rentals, if there are Airbnb's, many lack the essentials for long term, cooking, laundry, etc. Apartments in my area are 20-50% cheaper than Buenos Aires center, but Airbnb's are 200% more than the center! Imagine paying more to live in the suburbs of New York City while Times Square is cheap, welcome to Argentina!

So it was clear I would go a "normal apartment route", I started touching base with realtors as well as the typical back door apartments, i.e. facebook marketplace, a friends place etc. The back door options weren't that good. I am not rich, but in this particular area my salary is pretty decent so I wanted an apartment that was pretty decent. I kept an eye on everything but decided a traditional realtor was the path for me.

Too much time on Zonaprop, too little time getting to know Argentina

But alas, I am a foreigner. Some realtors never even replied to me with my out of country phone number, some would reply and I'm gonna be frank, they were absolutely lazy or inefficient. many people in the process were. I know it's American standards, I am a snob blah blah blah.... But I couldn't believe how hard it was to get a hold of realtors, add to this that the apartments I were looking at were by far the most expensive in the neighborhood, and in this neighborhood which is a lower/middle class neighborhood, if I wasn't going to rent the apartment, there weren't 10 other potential candidates behind me. I am writing this article in July, not some, but many of the apartments I had seen on the listings in January, are still vacant! Which gets to the next amazing element, that I do not recommend anyway!

I was rejected when I offered the entire contract up front.

For several apartments I was asked about my immigration status, understandable. I am an owner as well. To put them at ease I offered the total contract up front if there were a problem. And we are talking two year contracts! No one wanted my money! If someone offered me a year up front of cash for my Airbnb in Scottsdale I would kiss the ground they walk on and give them a month free, in Argentina, it was a straight up rejection. This turned out to be a dumb idea anyway, because the apartment I am living in now had a few major plumbing issues right from day 1. Luckily they hadn't taken me up on my offer!

The efficiency and overall work ethic was terrible. I know I'm being an arrogant American again here, but I can't describe it any other way. Many of the agents only worked 4 hours a day, 10am to 2pm. If you couldn't get a hold of them then you wouldn't get them. One of them I had actually told them I wanted the apartment and they never replied (it's still listed), as far as I can tell from Whatsapp, they still haven't even read the message. Too many people wanted cash only, the rent isn't that expensive, but being that in general the highest bill is the 10,000 peso ($7), once in a blue $20,000 ($14 as of today), the idea of walking around with 850,000-1,000,000 of pesos didn't seem to keen to me. Lets get to that story!

Finally the day arrived, I found an apartment, 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, a balcony, and a private terrace. It was also in the corner of the building so my guitar playing wouldn't bother the neighbors, great price as well. I was in! I went to the adjacent city about 10 kilometers away to make a deposit/reservation, from there they gave me the contract... Thank God I speak fluent Spanish. They wanted me every month to pay the rent, in cash, at the realtors office, 10 kilometers away! I laughed it off and got my money back ASAP. Life keeps hitting you.

The inefficiency was getting worse with no replies, or delays, no information, etc. It was so bad that when one person who was extremely efficient, I assumed she was a scammer! Luckily she was not, I didn't use her for my apartment, but I wrote a 5 star review on google for being one of the few good ones in the process. But that's how bad it was, when someone responded promptly, I didn't think, wow she's a good employee, I thought.... Shit... Could be a scam.

I had another place that wanted $950, cash, in dollars, monthly, for a two year contract! You can only bring $10,000 into the country, so I would have to go to a cambio every month to find dollars, to pay them. My job is not to find your money. I have had property for 15 years with renters in the USA. If you want someone to pay you, you make it easy for them. I had all sorts of apps over the years, paypal, venmo, cashapp, zelle, etc to make my renters lives easier, they were trying to make my life harder.

Mid May, reality set in... Hard. After a solid month of apartment tours, my Airbnb was up. I set up a next Airbnb for the same day, but of course you have the check out period. I had two big suitcases, and two guitars. Easy to walk from the taxi to the check in desk at the airport, but not too easy to walk around the downtown area for 6 hours. I talked to my girlfriend, at 10am we checked out and I put all my stuff in her tiny place. We sat down for lunch there... I was defeated... Technically homeless at this point too (2nd time in my life homeless, thankful I always had good friends to help). It was time to step it up. I decided to go to the next Airbnb, with just my carry on. She would be nice enough to hoard my stuff for the time being. Oddly enough that made me feel a lot better, because I realized, I know nothing about apartment hunting in Argentina and moving around with lots of luggage, I don't know how to do that. But traveling around with just a backpack? I know how to do that very well! One might even say I have a blog about it ;)

I was being arrogant since I had a bit more money than the competition, I wanted my ultimate Argentina pad, big living space, guitar area, comfortable bedroom, parking spot, beautiful balcony, and a very high floor over looking the country below. There are only 10 or so high rises in my area, so that would be eliminated, and honestly help quite a lot. I also at this point had my CUIL (Argentina social security number & Precaria (document that shows I am in the immigration process). This was a huge help against the constant no DNI (national identity card) problems. This is a huge immigration issue for me down here. I am not joking, when I finally got my apartment, one store, would not sell me a refrigerator with 100% payment up front, because I didn't have a DNI! I am not kidding. But with the Precaria and CUIL, the wheels were in motion... Not great motion, like a Fred Flinstone car, but in motion. Life was still hitting, but a bit less now.

Duplex

There was a duplex I really liked, it had all of the above except the high floor, it's where I am now, floor 3 and 4. I called the realtor, he told me they actually had lowered the price because the lack of applicants, no surprise there. I wanted it. But I would need a guarantor to rent it. This would mean I needed someone to send their paystubs, their ID, and sign off that if I didn't pay the rent, they would. Welcome to Argentina. I offered the whole contract up front instead, which luckily they didn't accept. My girlfriend signed up as my guarantor. The internet is also her name because I can't do anything here without a DNI (a whole other blog post).

Jam out/art area

New apartment essentials

I am a stubborn man, I hate asking for help. It was dark period in the adventure. But sitting there in her kitchen with my whole life in 2 suitcases, it was time to not be stubborn. I can't thank her enough for the help. We went to another city 10 kilometers away to sign the contract, but had agreed long beforehand rent would be paid in transfers! We celebrated on the spot with Milanesa and of course Malbec. I arrived in the country April 18th. Finally May 30th, I had the keys! Now the adventure, the journey, and the new life, could truly begin. Sometimes life hits you hard, and sometimes life hits you to wake up and live.

What does Picasso and a Samurai sword have to do with Argentina?
Absolutely nothing, just a personal apartment touch.

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Life In Argentina Articles

2026-06-13T10:28:05.108-07:00

My First 6 Months Living In Argentina

My Path, Process, and Cost For Argentina Residency

Getting An Argentina Bank Account Before Having A DNI

Let's Talk About The DNI

Getting An Apartment In Argentina Without A DNI!

Going Nomadic, aka Getting Rid of Shit To Move Abroad

Argentina! Where Are Your Beaches!?

How To Pay For Things When You Live In Argentina

Why I Chose Argentina To Be Home W/ Work Sheet

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Getting An Argentina Bank Account Before Having A DNI

2026-06-13T10:24:21.077-07:00

FOR THE TLDR GENERATION, SUMMARY: PATIENCE!

I was quickly getting sick of paying an extra 10% for credit card purchases, high ATM fees for cash, and of course the looming knowledge that sooner or later I'd be paying bills here and would need a bank account. So I set off to get my first Argentina Bank Account. The lawyers I was working with said it would be eventually needed anyway for the Rentista Visa I was applying for. They told me I should get a CUIL (Código Único de Identificación LaboralCódigo Único de Identificación Laboral), basically my Argentina Social Security Number.

I obtained my CUIL without appointment easily at an ANSES near me, fairly easy process with the precaria and my passport. I don't know what ANSES stands for, but they are everywhere.

I had a list of banks that were foreigner friendly from my lawyers, but they were all pretty far away in the city center, I live in a suburb a ways off from there. So I decided to try my luck with the branches in my area. These were the same banks, just different branches from some on the list. I visited three banks, the fist Santander was no luck, they were polite but explained without the DNI I wouldn't be able to open an account there. Next was Banco Colombia, same answer but not polite! Finally I visited Banco de La Nacion, a big branch. The employee asked me a lot of questions about the sources of my income, my intentions on how long to stay, etc. I had brought only my passport and CUIL number. But he told me I could send him additional financial documents. All of which I had for the rentista visa I was applying for. I also had a translated letter from a CPA about all my income sources, my lawyer recommended it for the immigration process, it seemed excessive at the time, but I was sure glad to have it when it came to the bank! Patience...

La Nación ended up being a false hope. After asking me for more and more documentation via email, they eventually rejected me because I did not have a dni. So it was back to the drawing board, the next day I set out to visit three Banks. However, I got lucky with the first one! Galicia bank. This also happens to be my girlfriend's bank, so I guess that will be convenient in the future if we both need to go. I dressed a little more formal, which may have helped, but who knows. I brought all my apostle documents which I needed from immigration, they didn't ask me for anything other than my CUIL, precaria, and passport. They looked at my passport probably a million times, but there weren't a lot of questions or anything. Just a lot of waiting, all very polite and professional. I downloaded the application. I did need an Argentina number which I did not have for the phone, but they let me use my girlfriend's number. Patience...

After Galicia told me I had an account my lawyers informed me I should deposit cash into the app for my immigration process. I had no debit card, no account number, just merely a "Welcome to Galicia" email and a verbal discussion at the bank that I'd be able to access all of that stuff... "Soon." "Soon" never came, on my next trip to the bank, they told me it turns out my passport photo was refused, I retook the photos, and then had an account, and account number. I deposited the money as instructed. Roughly $1,200 USD. But I had no debit card still, only the account number. However the money was deposited. I was told I would be able to get my debit card, and the documents needed for the lawyers and process "Friday."

They delivered the card to the wrong address, my first Airbnb, to change my address online I would need the debit card.... Figure that one out. A few phone calls got the card sent to the right place. It still didn't work, a bank trip later and the card worked, but the "token" code to receive international transfers would not work. So I had an account I could only withdraw cash from or deposit cash to, no transfers! Another bank trip... Patience.

I then received an email from Galicia telling me all was well! It was time to activate the token! NOPE! Got an error message 3x trying at home and at the bank. Another visit. From their they eventually set up a call with a more central branch, or technical support, the cloud? I don't know. Whoever it was, they got it up and running. The timeline was well over a month from the first visit to being able to fully use all the features. Patience...

Final Thoughts: Patience. I "opened the account early May and was not able to use it completely until Mid June. Common sense stuff, be polite, don't blame the person behind the counter. All the Galicia staff were excellent with me. I can't imagine not speaking Spanish or whatever the language is of the foreign account you are trying to open, so if you are not fluent, bring someone who is. The whole process sort of goes along with the whole life of being an expat in general. This is not going to function like the United States. The process is much smoother there. My later visits I started bringing a book to read for anticipated wait times. The quickest visit was 30 minutes, the longest was at least 2 hours. All part of the adventure. But finally I had my account, I could start transferring my money from my foreign income, and I could start living! With Patience...

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My Tips On Visiting All 50 States (not in one trip!)

2026-05-29T07:56:46.529-07:00

Michigan! State number 50!

I finally did it! After 44 years of living in the USA, Michigan was my last state! Here's the way I did it, and after I'll touch on some general 50 state advice and recommendations!

Born in New York city, life has probably
already taken you to a few states

Set Up The Plan In Big Chunks

Life had naturally got me to 20 or so states, I lived in two, friends, family, spring breaks in college, road trips as an adult, concert trips, a 24 hour layover that I left the airport, etc. So first thing is first, figure out which states are left, make a list, then grab the map!

The Bourbon Trail

I decided it would take about 6 or 7 trips to do everything, I nicknamed the trips for motivation which helped a lot, The Dirty South, The Bourbon Trail, The Heartland, Big Country, The Dakotas, etc. Look at the map, and figure out which can be done together, factor in milage here! Some states look close, but doing them together will be harder than you think! When I arrived in North Dakota, I learned on arrival that the Dakotas are so big they have different time zones! That trip originally had Montana and Wyoming in there, luckily I mapped it out enough to know it would be better to split it up!

Old school photo, boys trip to Delaware

Use someone else's car

Putting miles on the rental in Kansas!

Ok this one is debatable, especially if you have a car you love to drive a lot, or something like a camper. But personally, I have a Honda Civic, it's a cool ride to ride around town, go to work, get groceries, etc. But not something to drive the 50 states. I really enjoyed flying somewhere, renting a car, and returning the car. When I did Montana, guys at work asked how long it takes to drive to Montana from Phoenix? "I have no idea! 2 hour flight, and a rental car for me!"

Play Around With The Rentals If You Are Doing One Way Rentals Same For Flights

I originally planned on going from Indiana to West Virginia, turns out the rental was cheaper to do it the other way. The Dakotas there was no cheap one ways, so I figured out how to do them in a full circle and drop the car back off at Fargo without repeating the same sights. Same if you are doing one way flights. The rental car also can be the most expensive or least expensive part of the trip if you plan it right. Speaking of rental...

Book The Car Early

Rental cars are one of the easiest things to cancel, book the car so at least you have one thing off your plate.

Time The Seasons

I'm not a big cold weather guy, and since I live in Arizona I'm not the best at driving in the snow! Time your trips for when you want to go and be aware, those cold states are no joke in the winter! Glacier to Yellow Stone is something like 4 hours extra in the winter when certain roads are closed off. I loved so many aspects of seeing the 50 states, but I also reminded myself why I moved to Arizona. I also didn't want every single trip to be in the summer, so a few like Illinois and Oregon became New Year's trips. And I went to Idaho in the middle of December solely because a random flight showed up in my rewards.

Set Up Something Fun In The Potentially Boring States

For me it was concerts. When bands I like announced tour dates, I would line them up with some of the states I was uncertain about so if the state or trip ended up being boring at least I knew I got something fun out of it. Goo Goo Dolls in North Dakota, Collective Soul in Oklahoma, Matchbox 20 in Ohio, and by the way, all three of those states ended up being epic fun regardless!

Decide How Much Time Is Enough

I've talked about it before in this blog, you do not have eternity to travel. Some states are gonna get more time than others. Indiana I visited a wolf sanctuary for a day. Washington was a long layover on the way to Alaska with an 8 hour layover to explore Seattle. I've been to Florida and Nevada more times than I can remember. Michigan got the most days to celebrate the end of the mission. Each state will require a little more or a little less time. Decide what's important for you.

Mesa Verde Colorado, one of the most underrated places in the USA

Factor In With Life Events You May Already Be Doing

Wedding in Kansas you didn't want to go to? A conference in Virginia? Why not knock out a state especially if you haven't been yet, and especially more if it borders a state you haven't been to, speaking of which...

The East Coast Will Be A Lot Easier Than The Heartland and West Coast

You can probably if you drive it right hit 4 states in New England in under an hour, you definitely can hit 3. The western states however are gigantic. I'll write another article soon as this year I did highway 1 aka the Pacific Coast Highway, 5 days of just a small piece of California. So factor that in with deciding on flights, driving, etc.

Enjoy The Ride

Be sure to download your favorite music, or podcasts, especially if you are driving solo, many parts of the journey you won't have cell phone service. That being said, sometimes when there was no traffic I also enjoyed just rolling down the windows and listening to the sounds of the road. Other than a car charger, and downloaded music I didn't bring anything else in particular, but if you have your own comfort items bring em along.

How I Did It:

In roughly chronological order:

Born in New York City, state 1, life took me to a lot of the east coast (but not all). Life also took me to Florida a few times, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware once for the hell of it. On a missed flight from spring break we once drove from Florida to New York, but I didn't count any of that because it was solely driving. Same for a road trip from California to New York helping a friend move, the only spot was Vegas, everything else I didn't count (for me the count means an activity, tour, wild night out, etc) Arizona life next. That took me to Nevada, California, Washington & Utah.

Life In AZ

I can't remember the exact number but I was probably in the high teens or low 20s when I decided to go for it and knock out all 50. One of my sisters moved to South Carolina, great to visit her, and very close to Georgia, so I visited Savannah as well.

Next was the "Dirty South Trip". Me and a buddy flew to Tennessee, we knocked out Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana. This was the first official trip that was really dedicated to just knocking out the 50 states.

West Memphis, Arkansas

The "New England Road Trip" was an awesome time, starting in Rhode Island visiting White Horse Tavern the oldest bar in the United States, and then going all the way up to Maine. Some of these states I may have been to when I was younger, but either I didn't remember it or I didn't do enough to count it, so great to go back as an adult.

White Horse Tavern, Rhode Island established 1673

The Bourbon Trail took me to West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Great whiskey, great people, some sadness in abandoned towns, but overall a beautiful trip.

Freezing in the sand dunes of Idaho!

Then I hit Idaho randomly, it's another big state, and didn't seem feasible to fit it into the longer drives with the other states. I also went during the winter, 80% or so of the states were summer trips, so it's a nice way to see the country in other seasons, not just the summer trips as stated.

The Blue Whale Oklahoma!

"The Heart Land" was another great one, my friend that accompanied me for The Dirty South came back for the Heart Land. We started in Nebraska, biked into Iowa, drove down thru Kansas, and finished in Oklahoma. I had a coffee there that literally forever changed the way I drink coffee. Like James Bond, shaken not stirred.

I hit Oregon for New Years. This was a special trip because I travel every year for New Years. It can be a place as famous as Rio Di Janeiro or Sydney, but I also have really enjoyed the obscure New Year's spots. Antarctica, Havana, or perhaps the Oregon Coast.

At this point the count was going down, 5 to go! I did the "Dakotas" next, thinking they would be boring, I was very wrong! I am now living in Argentina, I was so wrong about the Dakotas, that if I were to move back to the USA one day, I would highly consider the Dakotas to live! That trip also was close to Wyoming for Devils Tower, and a very quick cut thru Montana to have a beer and lunch. So technically I had one to go. But 3 or so hours in these two giant states didn't work for me, so I went back that same summer to see Montana and Wyoming in the "Big Sky Country" Road Trip. One to go!

Wild life in the Dakotas

Summer of 2025... My last summer before moving to Argentina... When I lived in NYC I didn't realize till I left how much I didn't do there in 25 years. Luckily because family I went back many times and was able to max out my time there. I felt that if I were ever to leave the United States, be it for a few months or a few years I wanted to max out what I could. Meaning all 50 states. Michigan was the last! This was always intentional. Living in Arizona I had met a lot of people from Michigan, particularly Detroit, but a bit of other parts of the state as well. I had never even been to the airport there.

I also knew from my friends that Michigan would be special. In fact of all of the states post where life brought me, Michigan was the longest trip. 8 days exploring in the summer. Its deceptively large! I drove over 1,200 miles here! Starting in Detroit all the way up to the UP, that was mandatory for me personally as well. The trip was perfect from the start. Arriving in Detroit, visiting the auto museum, hanging out in downtown Detroit, Detroit pizza, then setting off to see as much of the state as I could. Mackinac Island has to be one of the coolest spots in America, no cars allowed! A quick salute over Lake Superior at the Canadian border in a small town called Grand Marais. I'll likely never see that town again, but it was a special place to end the trip before driving back down to the airport over a day or two.

Texas Ya'll!

A journey that started in NYC in 1981 at birth, and finished in 2025. I love America so much, and I am so happy I was able to visit every state! Is the journey over with the USA? No! Never! It's such a big country there will always be more road trips. As mentioned I did Highway 1 this year. I've done parts of 66, but maybe I go back and do the whole thing? Revisit some of the great spots with people I hadn't done it with before. Explore other smaller towns, or bigger cities I may not have seen yet. The possibilities of travel, like the possibilities in general in this beautiful country, are endless.

God Bless the USA from Michigan

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Calabria: Visit To The Toe & My 20th Region!

2026-05-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

It was summer of 2025, the last year I would be living in the United States full time. I have plans on living in Italy eventually, maybe forever, maybe just part time (that is a whole other blog article)... But before I would make the big step to leave the USA and move to Italy, I wanted to visit ALL of Italy. Completely all would of course take a lifetime, it's a relatively small country but there is so much to see, I instead opted for the goal of visiting all 20 regions of this beautiful country. After my last trip there was only one left... Calabaria. It was time to start an unforgettable road trip through the toe, and with a bonus end the trip where I first saw Italy in Sicilia. Here's my tips and experience for visiting Calabria!

You will probably want to rent a car. Unlike other parts of Italy, Calabria is not well connected by train, the first half of my trip visiting castles, mountain towns, and small beach villages would have been impossible without a car.
You will probably want to ditch the car when you get to the major beach cities. Yep sorry for conflicting info! I landed in Lamezia Terme, rented a car from there to explore towns like Crotone, Squillace, and Santa Severina, but when it was time to head to the western seaside places, particularly like Tropea, parking is a nightmare, so I returned the rental and opted for the train instead.
One of the things I loved about this region that may be a negative for some, was that there were very few, in some cases, no other foreigners other than me. In Crotone, Squillace, Reggio Calabria etc, I never heard English. Tropea was a bit more touristic but still a great time. I love Rome, I have been 4 or 5 times and will always go back, but I also loved being the outsider. I loved speaking Italian every day instead of English. And I loved the little taste of immersion in the culture.
Prices for everything were great, even the most expensive restaurants were very affordable compared to other regions I have visited.
The Castles and lack of tourists, even in peak season! I am a tourist of course, so it's a bit hypocritical but in this lesser visited region it was great to avoid lines and crowds, I wrote a similar thing about visiting Roccascalegna Castle (possibly my favorite in Italy) in Abruzzo, when you visit the Colosseum you visit with a few thousand tourists, when you visit the castles and museums in Calabria, you may be the only tourist!
Hotels or Airbnb's were excellent, great prices, great views, all the standard amenities needed to make a great trip of the region.

Rooftop from my Airbnb
But special shout out to the Blu Tropea Maison. Going to Tropea it was very important to me to stay in one of the historic buildings overlooking the beautiful beach. The Blu Tropea Maison seemed like it was the city center, my room overlooked the ocean, and right outside there was a beautiful overlook as well.
Tropea was the only part that was a bit more crowded, that being said other than parking, there were no issues with long lines, finding a good spot to eat, etc. The beach was definitely packed though!
Once you are on the coast, it's coastal activities, boat days, beach days, swimming etc. If you are not a big water person, make this part of the trip shorter.

Reggio Calabria
When I hit Reggio Calabria it was time to do some Scuba Diving, I try to dive at least once a year. It was a great break from the heat to go deep in some cold water, but honestly other than that it was not an impressive dive.
Gelato Cesare 1918 however was VERY impressive!
Speaking of food, of course you have to try the 'Ndjua. A little spicy but not overbearing, I had it twice, making sure my last dinner in Calabria was a local dish.
I had heard Calabria was dangerous, under mafia control still, I am not saying it isn't, but I personally didn't experience this. Italy is relatively safe, and nothing has ever happened to me there, but I've seen more potential for problems in the big famous places more so than Calabria.
I spent about a week in Calabria, you could spend a year there and not see everything, but a week was good for a really good glimpse into this region.

Once I finished seeing Reggio Calabria it was time to take the ferry to Messina, and revisit Sicily. I first steped foot in Italy in 2016, in Sicily. It seemed fitting to make a full circle and finish where I started. I loved Calabria, and do hope to go back! I put it above certain regions in Italy, below others, it's hard to choose in this country! Though for a first timer, I wouldn't recommend it, you need to "know" Italy a bit before you are ready to navigate Calabria, that being said, if you have been a few times, please give this beautiful region a visit. It was an unforgettable adventure, and truly mesmerizing experience.

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Finally A Direct Flight To Greenland!

2026-02-03T20:41:00.000-08:00

I heard a saying once on a frequent traveler forum, "When you have been everywhere in the world, there's always Greenland!". In late 2025 I hadn't been everywhere in the world, but I had traveled to all 7 continents, and guesstimate my country count was in the mid 70s, Denmark already being one of them. I had to go to New York City for a wedding, I initially planned on going back to my hometown just for a few days for the festivities, but that turned into making New York the jump off point of an entire month off traveling to and from Europe and South America, and when I say Europe, I'm of course speaking of Greenland.

It was already on my radar, but constantly the flights and flight pattern were not reasonable for me, spending around $4,000 to fly to Iceland first or Denmark then back to Greenland was not feasible time or money wise. I even considered just doing one of the cruises there, I'm not a huge cruise fan as the exposure is pretty limited, but the prices were okay, and at least I could see a bit. But then in 2025 for the first time in my travel life, United Airlines, which happens to be my airline began offering nonstop flights to Nuuk from Newark. A flight of only roughly 3.5 hours. Now it wasn't quite a budget traveler price, sitting around $1,200 any day you chose (also limited), but it was a steal compared to the prior option, and time wise 3.5 hours sounded better than 35 hours.

I was finally ready to visit this country (or a small part of it as we will discuss). In September I left the USA to visit this Arctic community, here's my go to tips and advice for visiting Greenland!

Timing is everything if you are on a money or time budget. While it was exciting to have the flight, it wasn't a daily flight, the options for a short trip were to go one day, or to go 5 days (minimum). I opted for 5. Saturday to Wednesday. This didn't seem like enough to see anything other than Nuuk, and flight prices in the country are still pretty high, so I decided Nuuk was better than nothing. Luckily it did not disappoint.

View from the air
I usually like the aisle seat on the plane, because I don't like to wake up the guy next to me when I need to use the bathroom, but try to get a window seat if you can. My plane was damn near empty so I had my own row and the views coming into Nuuk were outstanding! The runway direction can of course change based on winds, but when I flew it was the 3 o'clock, right side of the plane, for the epic views landing in Greenland.

Nuuk Skyline
The airport is cool, but don't waist too much time when you land, taxis are limited and you could be waiting awhile if you don't catch the first group.
I had originally planned on not doing much the first day as the flight would arrive around 6pm. But two things played into my favor, one only about 10 people were on the plane, customs was a breeze. Two, I had forgotten from my prior Arctic experience the convenience of eternal daylight in the summer, this was September so not quite summer, but close enough. By the time I checked into my hotel, the sky was still shining bright and I took advantage to walk the small city and get a lay of the land.
I first visited Old Nuuk, and of course had to take "The Greenland Photo".
Afterwards I walked into the downtown area, after some exploring I grabbed a beer and Musk Ox burger for dinner 1.
Nuuk is a very small city, I wasn't expecting a Vegas Night Club, but was happy to find a chill little Tapas type place and enjoy a glass of cold wine on the cold roof deck before calling it a night.
Hotels I decided early on I wanted to stay in a historic or classical building rather a modern hotel. I found the Seamen's Home, Hotel Soma. The historic building used to host fisherman and dock workers, it probably still does, but now also is open to tourists, with a few more amenities.
Greenland is not cheap! I paid somewhere around $150 or so a night for a single bed with no bathroom at the hotel. I was super happy with my experience, I had a little sink to brush my teeth and the common area showers and toilets were always clean with hot water, but make no mistake, Greenland is not cheap.
Day two it was time for some nature and hiking, I decided to do the Lille Malene trail, not too easy, not too hard, perfect for a little exercise, great views of nature and the city, and not too hard where you need to be rescued by the Nuuk Mountain Rescue Squad.
Physically the hike wasn't hard, but it definitely got a lot colder minutes into the trail as I ascended.
Afterwards I visited the Nuuk Art Museum, and history Museum, both are very small, but nice to visit.
Day 3 started off in the gym, I was traveling all month, and tend to visit gyms in other countries when its longer trips, besides the work out aspect, it's an exposure to the culture a lot of tourists don't usually see. FitnessGL was a solid spot to start the day, they don't mess around here, the dumbbells go over 150lbs!

Water Taxi arriving for the cruise!
After that and some walking around the town I did a harbor cruise. Always a great time, we saw some icebergs, waterfalls, and a little bit of wildlife.
Each night I stayed up till sundown or even got out of bed in the middle of the night to see if I could see the Northern lights, but not every trip can be perfect, I didn't catch them... This time...
Credit card was accepted EVERYWHERE.... EXCEPT the bus, and I did ride it a few times, you need exact change... I can't quite remember how I got the Danish Krones, but other than the bus I didn't use them for anything else.
My last full day I had knocked off all the major tourist things, Nuuk is small, honestly in speed mode the whole city can be done in a day, but I had a full free day and decided to take advantage rather than relax at the hotel.
People were not at all rude, but it's definitely a bit of a closed off culture. This also is the Arctic, so a lot of the times I talked to people we were outside and freezing, who really wants to talk then?
I went back to the gym, afterwards I did a "Coffee Crawl", I visited three cafes throughout the city and chatted up with whatever locals wanted to chat. I walked the piers extensively, I revisited Old Nuuk, in particular the beautiful hill over looking the city, I went to the mall, had a beer or two, and for dinner I found best and most memorable meal. Its pretty much a cafeteria for the dock workers, they definitely did not speak English that day, but myself, locals, and fellow travelers all swear that Igaffik is delicious, definitley give it a try! I stayed up late again for the Northern Lights one last time, failed... But it was a special day even though in the grand scheme of things I didn't do much!

Greenlandic Pizza!

Gourmet food in the cafeteria!

Flight times dictated the last day, I had time for a delicious breakfast at Hotel Soma, but beyond that it was time to head to the airport, and say goodbye to this beautiful country.

Not my plane, but it looked cool

Land wise Nuuk is less than 1% of this giant country, but population wise over a third of the residents live in Nuuk. So it was a good peak into the country. But of course I would love to see more, from mountainous glaciers to musk oxen in the wild. I'd love to cruise the Ilulissat Icefjord, visit the Thule Air Base, kayak the channels, sleep in an igloo, or camp at night while of course seeing the Northern Lights... But travel isn't eternal, I had to get back to work, and travel definitely isn't perfect. But being able to set foot back into the Arctic, and being able to taste a little bit of this giant country, is as close to perfect as I could ask for. When you look at a map of the world, it's pretty hard to miss this giant Island, I am glad to say now when I see it on the map, I know I visited and loved this tiny little dot on it.

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Miami: My Favorite East Coast City In The US

2026-01-07T17:57:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve 2019

Like many New Yorkers my first taste of Miami was spring break as a "college student"... Or maybe a "college drop out" by that time. It started for me as a place to party, but over the years and countless trips there it's become something more to me now. I have friends that live there, I've dated girls there, in 2006 I almost moved there, I'm about to be the best man at a wedding there, it's been my link to most trips to South America or the Caribbean. From the days of it being a party spot, it's become more like a second home, and it's become a major key for me coming back to the USA. I have some other common airport hubs when I go abroad, but Miami is the only one where if the layover is in Miami, it's not a layover anymore, but a separate layover vacation to visit this beautiful city.

Early 20's first visit!

Young traveler with a total of zero passport stamps drinking in the hotel

on South Beach to save money! I had actually visited two or three countries back then,

but in those days Canada, Mexico, or the Bahamas didn't need for passports

Hanging with the gators in 2017

In the early 2000's I made my first trip out there, partying on south beach, partying on south beach, and partying on south beach. I didn't speak a word of Spanish, didn't see the gators, didn't visit Little Havana, or anything cultural for that matter. Wynwood didn't really even exist back then. Brickell I'm not so sure. I can at least say between the partying we did go in the ocean. I also remember those days I was making about $10 an hour working for an ambulance company in Brooklyn, NY. The South Beaches prices were steep to say the least! Fast forward to the wedding trip in 2025! I'm now a Fire Captain, investor, real estate investor, home owner, business ower, and of course blogger! And the prices are still steep! Every time I come here, Miami is one step above my pay grade! But I still love it, and will never stop coming back.

So what makes this place so special? Where to start? 9 months of glorious weather and beautiful beaches. We are talking beautiful beaches with calm, warm, clear water, white sands, super chill and comfortable. I will say 9 months, definitely not 12, the summers can be rough with humidity, and I live in Arizona and still say the summers are rough there! If are single, its lined with beautiful singles looking to mingle, if you are there with your lover, there's countless romantic date spots to visit and things to do from exploring underwater to a rooftop bar overlooking the city. It's the cultural link to Latin America, Spanish is spoken everywhere, as a huge part of the USA has Latin American roots Miami is the city that really links it together. I'm sort of passed the age now, but the party scene can start in an Irish dive bar and finish in a night club at 5am, still hungry after? The food scene, from a street pizza to elegant dining, options for everyone. But these are things I think a lot of tourist books or tripadvisor reviews will say... I decided to write this today, to also say more specifically why Miami is special to me.

Wynwood was born

This will be a blend of stories, hopefully it makes sense. It's the year 2000 something? Shit, too far back to remember, it's one of the 7 spring breaks I went on (I only went to college for 2 years). I'm in the Bahamas with my buddies, we just get back from the beach, and it's almost the end of the trip... Memory is an odd thing, because I am imagining we are all on smart phones for this story, in reality, I don't even know if we had cell phones here. My first cell phone comes 2004ish when I'm working, I'm pretty sure I'm still in college for this story, so likely no. We are 5 guys from NYC, Connecticut, and one guy living in Miami, Florida. My buddy Justin checks the weather and sees it will be 15 or so and snowing in New Haven, CT. Team NYC checks the weather, we are going back to 20's with no snow, so I guess it's a little better. Then Victor from Miami chimes in, 72.... 21 or so Celsius....

Two of my brothers love the snow, they ski, they snowboard, they love the cold. I love to visit the cold. I don't love to live in the cold. The Spring Break trips from freezing NY to tropical destinations were the initial steps to me leaving the city to start life elsewhere, and of course, Miami was a big part that. When it came time to leave NYC I had narrowed it down, and had to decide between Miami, Florida, and Phoenix, AZ. I chose Phoenix, mainly because housing was more affordable. Ironically where I live now in Scottsdale, AZ is more expensive than most areas of Miami. But no regrets, that humidity in the summer wasn't for me.

Then we cut to my single days, more specifically when relationships ended, it seemed like a good idea to head down to Miami, I am dating someone now, so we will not get into details... But again, Miami is good for singles. It helped me through a rough break up or two!

One of the countless nightclubs spinning all night long

As I got more experienced at international trips, and more fluent in Spanish, I started to realize the hub Miami Airport was a great launching point to South America, but since I always enjoyed my trips there, why just hang out in the airport. I pretty much always would spend a day or two visiting friends or chilling on the beach. For some of those long flights it definitely helped breakup a boring flight. I also became more and more aware of how my Spanish was opening the doors to blending more and more into the culture there. I loved walking into a store or restaurant and being spoken to and responding completely in Spanish from someone from Colombia, Cuba, Peru, etc. And of course if I was with a Gringo friend the staff would kindly speak English as well. It gave me a feeling of being able to visit a little bit of all the Latin American countries in one. Like a Copa America tournament in one city.

But hey, it's also America to the fullest. Coming back from an international trip, and it being the welcome home city and welcome back city for me was far better than other international hubs. I always felt, this is my country, and my city welcoming me back, even though I didn't live there. The weather isn't the only warm thing, the people never disappoint me.

I have now been to all 50 states. I loved all 50, but I don’t need to revisit every one. But Miami, Florida… this is a place I hope to always come back to. After countless trips there, beyond all the Tripadvisor-type stuff, there are memories in the corners, the neighborhoods, the bars, the clubs, the cafés, the late night pizza, the beach… I walk those memories with my former self every time I walk the streets there, and make countless new memories as well. When you go somewhere you love, it’s a trade-off. You take part of that place with you everywhere you go, and you leave a part of yourself there. But when you go back… you can see and feel that part, relive that part, and you always will remember it.

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Colombia!

2025-11-08T14:08:00.000-08:00

I have now been to Colombia several times, so I thought it deserved its own section!

Beaches, bars, and avoiding military police in Cartagena!

One Month in Colombia

Why I Decided NOT To Live In Colombia

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1 Month In Colombia

2025-11-08T14:04:00.000-08:00

The first time was 2009, Cartagena, the 2nd Bogota, Medellin, and a side trip to Guatape for New Year's 2015, then 2025 came, it was time to go back. 2009 I could mumble some basic Spanish, it was my first time traveling to South America, I had no friends in Colombia, and really I was new at international travel in general. Fast forward 16 years, I've been all over the world, speak fluent Spanish, travel with multiple passports, I know the streets better, I know the world better.... At least I think I do.... Maybe we all think we do, but then the world can always surprise us! But all that aside, that first trip to Colombia was one of those trips that was significant in my travel life. It opened the doors to beautiful South America. Now, I don't know how many times now I have been to South America. I do know that I have been to every country in South America except Venezuela (yet), and I'm currently working on getting a rentista, nomad, or pensionado visa for Argentina, so needless to say, I like this place. It all started with Colombia. So it was time, long overdue, to go back.

Colombia 2009, my first time in South America!

Since those early travel days of not knowing anyone I since met some great friends in Colombia and had to of course visit them. I also wanted to revisit some places, and to explore new corners, oh, and completely unplanned bonus, it was during Carnival, so I of course added Barranquila. So the month looked like this...

1 week in Medellín
1 week in Cali
5 days in Baranquila
1 week in Bogota

Medellín

Medellín was the biggest change from my prior trips to Colombia, and honestly a bit disappointing. Medellín in 2015 was an untouched land, super super cheap prices, a bit touristy but not too much, a bit dodgy, but safe if you were street smart, and very Colombian. Fast forward 16 years... I exit my taxi to my Airbnb, I'm hungry and walk out around 8pm to get some food.... The whole block as I walk past restaurants, all I hear is English. The little Colombian restaurants we dined at have been replaced by giant hamburger joints and "New York Pizza". Don't get me wrong, I love hamburgers, and I love New York Pizza, but I was missing the Colombia I knew. For context, this was almost all in El Poblado, the main tourist area.

The nightlife scene was over flooded with expats, prostitutes, scammers, and expensive drinks, I live in Scottsdale, AZ and at some of the bars the prices damn near paralleled what I pay in Scottsdale. The food wasn't as good. The scene was different... But I too was different. The Joe that went in 2009 probably would have been thrilled, "They speak English everywhere!", "Hamburgers were great!" etc. So that being said, I totally agree with the people that live there. If I worked in Medellín, I would have done exactly the same thing. It's a great way for a once poor city to make money and come out of poverty and hard times.

The good, it was fun paragliding over the city. As much as I complained one paragraph ago about western influence, credit cards were now widely accepted, the gyms were way better, as were supermarkets. And the core that was there and still is was great. Laureles and Envigado were huge pluses. Laureles wasn't quite the Medellín from many years ago, but definitely didn't feel like I was in Times Square either. Envigado was also a super chill neighborhood I went to twice. Its the type of place that would be tranquil to live in, but could get boring after awhile. The fine line to cross, when it goes from boring to too touristic!

Barranquilla

The next stop on the Colombia tour was Barranquilla. I had never been but definitely met a few friends from there over the years. It's not the best city in Colombia but we had a good time there. It's small as far as the tourist things to do. But that being said it was fun and easy to get around, seeing some crazy buildings, meeting friends there, exploring the city, spending time on the pier, and of course Carnival was all a great time.

Carnival, Rio is the big one, but Barranquilla did not disappoint! For starters we came into the game late, booking hotels less than a month before and getting tickets to the parade the same day. We didn't go to see Shakira but for last minute plans we had a blast, the parade was fun followed by the night out after. Don't wear your favorite clothes because you will get the celebration powder on you!

I also really enjoyed the rooftops of Barranquilla. It's a more humble part of Colombia, great people, great food, bad humidity, but good times.

Bogotá

Bogotá was a repeat, sort of. The first time was in 2015, but I had arrived late after being stuck in the Dallas Airport terminal for 2 days during a horrific storm. So Bogotá Part 1 was rushed. Bogotá Part 2 was much more tranquil. My Colombian sister Martha lives there, shout out to you if you are reading this! A friend for over 15 years now, she guided us through the first time, and no doubt helped on the second. Travel is always better with locals, and even better if they are friends.

I bought some clothes and a pet to mask in with the locals!

Parts of Bogotá remind me immensely of New York City where I grew up. I enjoyed those parts minus the traffic and rain, I also enjoyed where I stayed in La Candeleria, although in retrospect, Chapinero would be my recommendation for future Bogotá travelers as La Candeleria by night was not the safest place.Chapinero zero problems. But during the day La Candeleria was amazing, a step into Colombian history, museums, coffee shops, and so much good food!

We also set out to the country side one day. This was my last day in Colombia. I can't tell you where we went, I don't remember, and I wasn't driving. I can tell you it was beautiful to escape the city and spend time with my friends in nature. My flight was at midnight so things weren't rushed. We got back to Bogotá, and they dropped me off at the airport. I was truly sad to leave this beautiful country behind for the 3rd time, but also know I was blessed to have visited 3x. So it was time to say goodbye yet again... But wait.... that was good bye to Colombia, not the end of this article.

CALI

I wanted something else on this trip. A new experience, a less traveled road... I talked so some friends on language forums and was recommended to look into Cali. There's a reason I saved this for last. Of the 6 cities I have been to in Colombia, Cali is my favorite. Not by far, but its my favorite. The normal tourist things, the churches, the river, parque de los perros y los gatos, futbol games, and of course a deep dive into the capital of salsa dancing were all amazing. But I more felt like the place could be called home.

The gyms were great, very important for my daily life. The city is big, but not too big. The main street of the Granada neighborhood was perfect for nightlife. San Antonio for history. Food! Not just Colombian food, other world cuisine. I liked the unique vibe and flavor. Christ The Redeemer, almost as big as the one in Brazil, but much easier to visit as I have had the honor to see both. Night time, again, to be honest, not the safest place. I may live here one day. But it would be during my 40s, not so sure about the 50s. By day I explored many neighborhoods and loved em. By night it was 50/50. Especially on weekdays.

But the friends I had there were very warm hearted. The strangers I did talk to were kind. The weather wasn't as good as Medellin, but 2nd best of all the cities I've been to there. And very very affordable. I remember sitting in a futbol bar, without my friends, just enjoying a beer, and watching the game, and thinking.... This is a city I need to come back to.

2009 was a long time ago. I have to thank my friend also named Joe for introducing me to this country. It was his idea to go to Cartagena that I agreed to reluctantly at the last minute. Who would have thought I'd be writing about it 16 years and 4 visits later, yes 4! I actually got stuck there on a flight delay for a day 2 months ago and had breakfast with Martha. This country always amazes me, it always shows me something new, in the country, and in myself. When the plane takes off on certain countries, I sometimes reflect and think... This was a great place, but I'll never be back... I hope I never say that leaving Colombia.

2009 First time meeting a sloth!

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Why I Always Travel On New Years

2025-11-07T08:13:00.000-08:00

Edit: This is a longer version of an article I wrote in 2015. After writing this article I wanted to make some edits and found the old article! I'm so old I'm starting to forget! Or I just love New Year's travel that much.

Antarctica was the chalice of my New Year's trips, I wanted to visit all 7 continents, and all 7 continents for New Year's. It was a trip I thought would never happen, thus the name of this blog 6 of the 7... And surely became one of the best trips ever to this special land, and on for me, this special day. Was it time to retire New Year's trips after? Not even close. I celebrated New Year's in Oregon the following year with a girl I was dating, and kicked off the year this year in the Old Havana neighborhood of Cuba. This year I'm thinking of celebrating it in Africa or Asia as I realized of the 18 New Year's I've done, they are heavily weighted in my hemisphere and I'd love to expand the resume just like expanding the passport stamps, but it's a good ways away, so we shall see when it gets closer.

In my past life when I grew up in New York City I remember as a little kid the celebration was to have a big dinner and at midnight we would bang pots and pans over the streets in Brooklyn, some people shot off fireworks, some people shot off guns, but my block was pots and pans, and I'm okay with that. Y2K when the world was about to end would be the last New Year's I'd truly celebrate for awhile, it was a house party in Brooklyn, nothing special, but I still remember it 25 years later. After that when I became a grown up I had grown up jobs that I worked new years for several years, bartender, police, firefighter. Somewhere in that mix I did get to celebrate Las Vegas with friends for New Year's and one year with the fire department I had off and celebrated in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Then in 2011, things changed. I once again didn't have off, but I knew if I covered one of my buddies for Christmas he would cover me for New Year's. At the same time a friend invited me to Austin, Texas to end 2011 and kick off 2012. I don't have any kids so the trade was on and the trip was on. The following year me and a good friend celebrated it in Russia in Red Square, from there on, I decided after having worked so many New Year's shifts (which in retrospect now at 43 years old was only a small part of my life) I wanted to spend the rest of my New Year's traveling to a different city or a different country every time. It could be a huge party like in Red Square, it could be something quiet like a cold beach in Oregon with the girlfriend, a deck overlooking Antarctica, a rooftop party with the pyramids Egypt, the Sydney harbor, Miami Beach, wherever!

The thing that makes New Year's special for me is that it is the holiday for all. They don't celebrate the 4th of July in Mongolia, we don't celebrate El Dia De Las Velitas in the USA, not everyone celebrates Christmas, etc. But New Year's is the one day, the world gets together, and says, "Ok, let's do something." Some places are clearly more than others! But what about China Joe? China has their own New Year's? Yes they do, but I was in Shanghai on December 31st, trust me, they also celebrate that night!

It's a special time for me, I still don't have kids and I still generally work Christmas, but then the travel blood activates, and I'm on the plane to wherever, a long or short flight I'll review the year that was in my life, my travels, and in the world. And of course, plan the next year ahead. The end of one chapter, and the beginning of the next. I'm only 3 months into 2025 and have already done 3 trips, 2 international (Colombia and Cuba). And some big things happening at work that will change my life forever. So while I plan to enjoy every minute of 2025, I'll also be excited to see where I end it on yet another special New Year's in 2026.

UPDATE: Brazil, here I come! New Year's eve 2026 in Rio!

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The Dakota's The Most Underrated States I Have Ever Been To

2025-11-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

I am currently at 49 states on my 50 states mission! Michigan will be my last state which is planned for this summer. It's been an exciting ride, and that's a whole other article and/or YouTube video in the works. I don't think I'll write an article about every state, but the Dakota's were really special, and I want to share what made these less visited states so much fun and so exciting for me in Summer of 2024.

I had originally planned to do the Dakotas alongside with Montana and Wyoming, it quickly became clear that these states were too big to do altogether, especially on a time crunch, so I made them two separate trips, I then realized how wrong I was about them being "so big", when I set my GPS for day 1's driving, it was telling me at 7am I would arrive 11am or so, but I thought day 1 was a 5 hour drive, then I saw it was indeed a 5 hour drive, it involved crossing a time zone, these states are not "so big" they are so gigantic they have more than 1 time zone!

From there it was time to spend a week exploring these two giant states, these are very untraveled places in the USA except for maybe Mount Rushmore, you don't hear of too many people that visit either of the Dakotas, and I'll admit my expectations even with my research was that it would be a check mark for the 50 states, and nothing special. I was incredibly wrong. Here's my quick bullet points and recount of visiting these 2 beautiful states.

The rental car, for most of the 50 states I was able to secure a one way rental car for the trip, this was great to start in West Virginia and end in Indiana for example. This wasn't an option for me when I booked the Dakotas, the price difference was almost $1,000 more, now this can change daily and vary widely, but for that week of summer I decided I would do a round trip, and conveniently it didn't really change anything for what I wanted to see and do.

Upgraded to a pick up for the adventure
I arrived in Fargo early evening and did a 2 hour drive to Watertown, South Dakota, there was nothing too special about Watertown, it just seemed to be a bigger town to stop in on the way to the main attractions of South Dakota, which would be the 5 hour drive, I didn't want to land and drive 7 hours, so a budget hotel in Watertown sufficed for the night before the adventure began.
Day one was a long drive, and I wanted to get to Badlands national park sooner rather than later, but there were too many tempting spots to pull over that the drive took longer than planned, one such places was Fort Hayes Old West Town, it was used in the Dances With Wolves, film and was a great spot to stretch my legs and tour, there were plenty of spots, this was definitely a nice one to sight see.
Badlands is a fantastic park! Parts of it absolutely beautiful, parts of it looked flat out like a different planet! Great to spend a few hours, even a few days to see what this park has to offer with hikes and sight seeing, I was of course hoping to see a Buffalo but didn't catch one there.
Mount Rushmore!
I posted up for the night in Rapid City, while I don't usually prefer a hotel, the hotel Alex Johnson by Hilton was in a historic building and had a great rooftop bar to enjoy the night before the next days driving.
Now this was the Dakota's trip, but when in Rome, Mount Rushmore and Rapid City were too close to Devil's Tower in Wyoming to say no, and then the way back to North Dakota, would also cross me thru Montana, so why not? Of course fortunately they would both get their own dedicated trip down the line, but it was a nice appetizer of things to come.

I stayed that night in a small town called Belfield. This was a type of town with two restaurants, a cafe, small place. I ate AMAZING North Dakota chicken, I don't know if thats the name, but that's what I called it, chicken breast with swiss cheese, mixed peppers, and Alfredo sauce, writing this reminds me I still need to try to make this at home. Belfied was a good launching point for Theodor Roosevelt national park!

North Dakota Chicken!
Another breathtaking place for hiking and sight seeing, and even though I didn't catch the Buffalo in Badlands, Theodore gifted me a herd of over 100 (from a safe distance of course).
I saw several other Buffalo in the park, one perhaps a bit too close! But luckily the rental truck was with me!
If I wasn't fulfilled enough with Buffalo I made one more stop in Jamestown, North Dakota to see the largest statue built of the beautiful animal.
From there it was back to Fargo.
Fargo surprisingly had a very fun night life scene! I also had some great dinners there, and met great people.
The last night was a concert for the state fair, The Goo Goo dolls, for the 50 states mission, I timed out some of the potentially boring states with bands I like that were on tour. So if the trip was a bust, at least I'd see a good concert at the end, the concert was great, but of course the Dakotas were even better!
I sometimes say the best things aren't always posted, that being said, the driving itself had just random beauty I saw with the rolling plains, or small towns, and of course friendly people.

As I headed back to the small airport I had a feeling of nostalgia and happiness... I came in expecting nothing, and left with so much more. These are not fly over states, maybe they are not for everyone, but the Dakotas were a special place for me. I'm glad I got a taste of them, and without a doubt I hope that one day in life I will go back.

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Nicaragua: Banished and Redemption

2025-10-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

Nicaragua Summer 2018

As I embarked out of the Panama Airport I said goodbye as I always did wondering when I would come back (not knowing it would be less than 3 hours). I landed in Nicaragua and arrived at customs, I speak fluent Spanish and it went something like this after the standard immigration questions...

Immigration Officer: ¿Tienes una tarjeta de fiebre amarilla?
Me: ¿Que?
Immigration Officer: ¿Tienes una tarjeta de fiebre amarilla? (louder)
Me: ¿Que?
Immigration Officer: Do you have a yellow fever card? (now in English)
Me: No, I understand what you are asking for, I just don't understand why you are asking me for this?

A brief argument ensues, I tell them I have been all over the world and have never been asked for this, I've worked in emergency medicine for 15+ years, I'm healthy etc. But at some point when you are in a foreign country, have only $100 or so cash, a phone that doesn't work, and you have no idea what they are doing with your passport, you give up. I was kicked out. I have been kicked out of a few bars in day, but I never was kicked out of a country before. I was politely and cordially escorted up to the terminal and placed back on a plane to Panama City.

It was a hard travel lesson learned. The rest of that trip was actually pretty epic, you can read about it here. I was upset that I couldn't visit that beautiful country, and explore the beautiful land. But I learned many times in life, for some things you should never give up!

Nicaragua Summer 2025

Memory is a funny thing.... I'm a little nervous at flight check in, maybe I'm banned from entering? Check in goes smooth, real smooth actually, as I'm upgraded to Business Class (Thank you United). The flight is smooth, the landing is smooth, I feel... Smooth... But then I disembark the plane, I walk the jet way and enter the terminal, the memory hits me like a crash. I've probably been to over 500 airports at this point in life, if you teleported me to JFK or LGA where I grew up I couldn't tell you for sure which one I am in... But suddenly my body and my memory, know damn well I am in Augusto Sandino airport,Managua. It's like I remember every step. And sure enough, the first part like last time is the health check....

Of course at this time I have the Yellow Fever Card, but I am not coming from any high risk areas, it is not even asked for. The process is easy, the customs line is short since I was in business class, and before I know it, that ever epic moment happens where you see the customs official stamp the passport and here the signature beautiful click clack sound of the passport being stamped. "I'm in."

The rest of the time in this beautiful country is nothing short of amazing. It's a short trip, 4 or 5 days,but I couldn't ask for anything more. Here's my go to advice on exploring and visiting this magnificent place.

Let's start with the obvious, and this goes for any country, but I learned the hard way here, check the entry requirements before entering Nicaragua, be wary if you are entering from a country other than your own if the rules may be different.
There are a lot of great spots to visit in Nicaragua, I would have loved to visit the whole country, but time was an issue as I do not travel full time as a job (that's soon to change though!), and to be honest there was a slight fear of being deported again that made me not plan too deeply this time around.
I chose Granada as my base, and more or less it was the only area I saw. I loved the colonial charm, the architecture, there were near by hikes to do, the town had enough culture, and night life to make for a great weekend trip, and since this was the summer, I though it would be nice to stay close to the lake in case I wanted to swim, I later learned the lake has fresh water sharks! So the swim didn't happen, but boat rides were fun.
I rarely give free advertising to a hotel, but Socialtel Granada was a great spot. The absolute center of the city. I only took a taxi to and from the airport, and one tour by car, other than that this place was right in the middle of everything. It also had a pool which was nice since the lake was not going to be used.

Delicious breakfast too!
I was there in June, the humidity is no joke! People do get dressy on the weekend, but make sure your clothes are light.
The volcano hikes have been hit or miss for some travelers, it was a miss for me, check if there are road closures or low activity before booking.
Great dining options from casual street food to an amazing steak dinner my last night.
Boat tour is a must, of course... Don't swim!
This is a definitely a budget friendly travel country, my last night I had around $10 USD in whatever amount of pesos that converted into, I decided to go out for a beer and go home, the $10 paid for 4 or so drinks and the cover charge into a night club.
I did a little city tour, normally not my jam as I like to self explore, but the driver for the day as good to cover a lot that I wouldn't cover as quickly on foot. Minus one trip to the mountains though, all of it was walking distance.
Zero safety issues for me as far as anything serious, in the main plaza during the day people constantly trying to sell tours, but they were polite when I politely refused. That being said it is a third world country with problems so travel smart as you would anywhere.
More time, and Managua. Next time I'd like to see more than one town, and I'd love to head the the beaches of San Juan Del Sur, and spend a little time in the capital.

Maybe it was coming out from the terrible low start, but this trip, short but sweet was a special one. The only country I was ever deported from, the redemption was worth it. Each moment there felt different from other trips, and of course even a person that hasn't been deported would love it. I also met some great people there. The connections made me feel like a welcome guest, and a small part of the community while I was there. A country that has had some rough patches in history, but when I was there, through its own rough patches, some bad neighborhoods, some run down villages, I saw the mystical beauty underneath, sometimes shining bright, sometimes a bit harder to see, but once you see it in this country, you will never be able to unsee, or forget it.

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Nomadic Mongolia, The Steppes and Beyond

2025-05-08T17:48:00.000-07:00

Mongolia had been on my radar for a long time, to be 100% honest it was not from travel, not from culture, not from some awesome inspiring person I met from Mongolia, it was from playing Genghis Khan on my Nintendo when I was a kid. I thought maybe one day, I'll visit Mongolia. So then in September 2025 it was to become a reality. I certainly was interested in the historical aspect of Genghis Khan and sites to see related to the Mongolian Empire, but I also knew from years of traveling that it would offer so much more. Here's my go to tips for visiting Mongolia, and my experiences there...

It's cold year round! I was looking forward to snow, but even if you are coming in the middle of summer be prepared for the cold. Ulaanbaatar is the coldest capital city in the world, you may get lucky and catch a warm week, but you are also going to venture out to see and explore the Mongolian Steppes, so be prepared for the snow!

Went to bed a few nights with coat and hat on!
Speaking of Ulaanbaatar, if time permits don't just land and skip the capital! This place was fun! It was a great spot for the Genghis History Museum, a random festival I stumbled upon, visiting temples, meeting locals, great view points, great bars, and great people.
I was here at the start and end of my trip, I opted for Airbnb for the first part for price, but splurged at the end for the Blue Sky Hotel, the most noticeable building in the city sky line. Both were great and in the same relative area. If you are looking for the city center, Blue Sky was definitely it. It was just south of Sukhbaater Square which was the true heart of the city while I was there.

Blue Sky Hotel, home base for the end of the trip
Now while I walked most of the city, not everything was walking distance, notably, the Zaisan hilltop monument (great views!), and two temples. So I took a taxi, but Uber doesn't work there, here I learned about Mongolia taxi culture...

Everyone is a taxi! Ok, so use extreme caution here, but the culture is to hold out your hand and do the standard wave, someone is going to pull over, it may be a marked taxi, it maybe a mom with a kid in the car, if your direction fits their path, you negotiate a price, and go. I'm not joking, and again, use extreme caution.
Language, I foolishly thought Russian was widely spoken here as I speak some Russian and saw Cyrillic alphabet in all the research I had done. Russian is hardly spoken here, the Russian alphabet is used, but the language was there and gone after the Soviet Times ended. English was spoken at major tourist sites, elsewhere I made it work with hand signals or whatnot.

Mongolian nights

Four days in the Capital was perfect for me. I definitely hit all the sites, and wasn't rushed.

Try the black ice cream before you leave!
Now for the Steppes, I knew this was not going to be one for me to self tour... I was very happy with that decision as my tour guys drove the roads with no signs, in some cases no roads, and definitely lots of snow.
I used Enza tours, recommended by Tripadvisor reviews, and they did not disappoint. We did the 5 day tour around central Mongolia in Yurt acomodation. I was very excited for this, there were two tour options, traditional yurt camps, or tourist camps. I like showers and toilets, so we did tourist camps. The yurts themselves were still pretty traditional, just included a place to charge your phone.
First stop was Terelj National Park, some easy hiking and great views. We also visited an old Buddhist temple.
It also became very clear as we left the park, that this was going to be a wild life paradise for sight seeing, we passed 1000's of horses, goats, yaks, and birds during this epic tour.
The Genghis Khan Statue! How can you come to Mongolia without visiting it!? You visit the small museum inside then can go up the stairs to the top of the horses head, and get a good look at Genghis's face up close!
The camping begins! All the yurts we stayed in had a power source, a main building with a toilet and shower. Some were colder than others, all had a fire place, and each yurt experience was a great night's sleep, although some mornings I definitely woke up freezing!

Tea with the guides
All meals were included, except alcoholics drinks, great options from camping food to traditional Mongolian meals.
We then visited the Khugnu Khaan National Park for some horse back riding, then the Elsen Tasarkhai sand dunes for some camel riding! I've rode camels before, note, Mongolian Camels are bigger! I thought I was on a dinosaur!
This tour has a lot of driving, but the tour guides were social, made good stops for coffee, or random stops to visit a traditional family, see some wild life, or toilet breaks. There were also smaller stores if you needed things along the way, but definitely wiser to stock up beforehand.
The Tsenkher Hot Springs visit was a nice slow day, I hung out at the camp, met some yaks, met some horses that invaded the camp, and tried Genghis Khan Vodka.... wasn't my favorite drink of the trip, but hey, at least I tried.
And of course, relaxed in the springs.
The next morning I climbed out of my yurt to see what I was hoping for, beautiful snow! We spent some more time at the springs before driving off to the next stop.

Good morning snow fall
The snow drive was epic, again glad I had the guides as now, we cannot see any roads, any signs, they didn't have a GPS, I asked how they knew where to go, and they just replied, "We've done this so many times..."
We then visited the Erdenezu and Kharakhorum temples, covered in snow of course.
The last stop after a week of Yurt camping was to search for the elusive white Asian wild horse in Khustai National Park. With help of some locals binoculars I did see it. No photos, but as I say, sometimes the best things don't get photographed.

Thanks for letting my use the binoculars friends

Back to UB!

I ended the tour back in UB exploring some more of the sites and just taking in the rest of central Asia as this was part of a bigger trip with Kazakhstan as well. This was certainly an off the main tourist stream place to visit, and I am so thankful for my younger Nintendo version of myself that sprung the interest. Through the snow, the hiking, the yurts, the animals, the vodka, and the chaotic capital of Ulaanbaatar, I found the cross roads of the kid growing up in Brooklyn playing video games to the grown man living out that kid's dream in real time in Central Asia. This was a place to never be forgotten, and even though I only saw a small part of this giant country, I'll forever be grateful to Mongolia for everything it gave me.

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Cigars, Scuba, and Celebration. Cuba New Years 2025

2025-04-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

How Do I Go To Cuba From The USA: This information is CONSTANTLY changing, but for the record, when I went... From Miami to Havana, I got my eVisa from Cuba Visa Services, I filled out my Dviajeros travel form, I had them both on my phone and printed out. I have my flight booked with American airlines which I understand "should" include insurance. For all bookings I was booking with intent to support the Cuban people. This applied at the time to any passport coming from the USA. That was it, not very complicated at all. I recommend of course checking with official sources when you book your trip, now lets get to Havana!
Cuba had been on my list for a long time, and I feel like I always wanted to go on New Years! I've wrote about it a few times on this blog how it's my favorite time to travel and experience the start of the year in a new place, ending 2024 and starting 2025 would be in Havana! Here's my go to tips and advice on how I spent about a week on this beautiful island.

Our adventure begins right in Miami Airport. I had a layover of at least four hours in case there was any issue with the Visa, luckily online sources worked out great, and I was ready to fly without problems. I do recommend a couple of hours for your layover if it's there to make sure everything is in order, same when checking into your home base airport. The agents at the gate made announcements only in Spanish, luckily I speak Spanish, but it was sort of a "Wow... its time!"
The flight goes up and down, we didn't even have time for the flight attendants to give us our beverages.
The flight was quick, customs was not, the lines take quite some time for whatever reason. I had no issues, no odd questions once I was talking to immigration, but the line was long.
Taxi to Havana was pre-booked on Airbnb, definitely convenient. At the time of writing this the recommended cash price was $20-30.

View from my balcony

Old Havana was going to be not only home base, but the only base. This trip was 6 days or so, I didn't wanna spend extensive time on the road seeing other parts of the country, and while I am sure they are beautiful in their own right, Old Havana was my dream. I found a great Airbnb very close to the Museum of the Revolution, this was a perfect spot to get to the sea side Malecon, walking distance to pretty much everything in the city, a nice balcony overlooking the city as well. The city center I would say is The Capital Building which was about a 10 minute walk.
CASH. This is the hardest thing about traveling to Cuba that I didn't like. I don't like to travel with too much cash, but it is the only way to pay for most things there unless you have a non-USA credit card, and that being said, still very hard to find places that would accept that. $100 per person per day was my measure, and I didn't spend anywhere near that even being a big tipper. Somethings like tours, and airport transport were booked and paid on Airbnb which was convenient, some Airbnb experiences will want a deposit but the rest in cash. When I'd leave the apartment I never had all my cash, I didn't have any issues whatsoever with safety, but I didn't wanna walk around with wads of cash either.
CURRENY EXCHANGE: While US Dollars are accepted everywhere its wise to switch to Cuban Pesos as most places will charge more in dollars than pesos. I exchanged with the Airbnb host which was the best bet as they had lots of great reviews and were less likely to rip off on the exchange rate.
Speaking of safety, again zero problems, but remember things happen, at night I always took a taxi, bike taxi, or motor cycle taxi. I quickly noticed that once you are off a tourist street, street lighting is a luxury, the streets were very dark, and my night vision sucks these days, but again, no issues.
Of course you probably already know about cigars and mojitos, but....
I was super amazed how great the rest of the food was! From the fine dining to the street food, Cuba was one of the best food countries I have ever been to, did a food tour through Airbnb which was one of the best days, but also day to day restaurants, cafes, or street food in Havana was truly amazing and SUPER BUDGET FRIENDLY.
Definitely visit some of the forts! Castle of the Three Kings was my favorite.
You have to have a drink with Ernest Hemmingway at Floridita, pleasant surprise to see no one sat next to him for too long so everyone could enjoy the photo op.
Scuba diving was definitely a fun getaway from the city for a bit, the Airbnb tour also included a delicious lunch after.
Salsa lesson? Why not!? Also booked through Airbnb.
I wanted to ride in one of the Old Convertibles and get some good photos, so again with Airbnb I got the best of both world for a convertible car photo experience, also note, at the center there were tons of convertibles for day tours or quick trips.

Now of course it wouldn't be New Year's in Cuba, without New Year's in Cuba. Old Havana Square was the base for the party. Note dinner here was actually on par with US prices, but well worth it, but that being said, bring a little extra cash if you are eating in the square.

Old Havana New Year's Eve
After dinner with some great live music, and a cigar, there was a corner bar that had another live band, and back to Cuban prices for Mojitos, I finished 2024 there, and began 2025. Dancing, drinks, great food, great company, and an amazing start to the New Year.
There are some great roof top bars in the center, but beware, some of them are Government Owned and may not accept US Dollars or Pesos, and your credit card won't work, they will only accept non US credit cards. So just be mindful before you get bottle service...
The Malecon pier was a great way to start the morning after coffee, or during sunset.
Just walking around Old Havana and meeting locals was by far one of the best and most underrated things (along with the food!), plan on at least a full day or two half days of wandering the streets and seeing what you see. At night I didn't walk much, but even though taxis were cheap by day, I opted to walk to enjoy this beautiful city.

This one was on my bucket list for a long time. It was very important for me to go, and I think it was always planned to be one of the New Year's trips. I also wanted to take advantage of the legal route supporting the Cuban people, as in the past people went illegally through Canada or Mexico taking God knows how long verse the 40 minute flight from Miami. The wait was worth it. The history with the USA and Cuba has no doubt been a tumultuous one, but I didn't feel that from the friends and people I talked to there when I told them I was American. This is a country trapped in time, isolated, with some very poverty stricken regions, but through all of that, it showed me the light, it showed me the best parts, and the best people. I'll never forget the countdown in Old Havana in Spanglish... The party that became 2025, and the countless unforgettable experiences and beautiful moments that Havana Cuba brought me.

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