When I was preparing, the best advice I read was “Just show up in Atlanta with any gear at all, and it will be fine”. I think that’s actually true, and I met several people who had clearly done that. However, this is some advice for someone who wants to know what to expect and have the best time possible. I’ll be doing a separate gear post with gear recommendations, so this will be about the mechanics of actually doing it.

It’s actually not that easy to get to the beginning of the AT because it’s technically on the top of a mountain in the middle of the woods. The two main ways to do it are to hike the approach trail from Amicalola State Park or to get dropped off on USFS 42 where it crosses the AT at around mile one. Going in I thought it was really important to start at Amicalola, but in retrospect I think the other method might be better. 

The Amicalola hike is extremely difficult and it would have been nice to apply those miles to the actual AT. On the other hand, you get the classic picture at the Amicalola arch, and the waterfall is one of the most beautiful things I saw on my whole hike.

If you did the mile 1 thing, you could be camping within 30 minutes of hiking, and then start at mile zero the next day. Instead I stayed at a hotel, hiked the approach trail, camped, and only then started the AT on my third day in Atlanta.

Either way, fly into Atlanta (put your backpack in a throwaway duffel bag or a free stroller bag from the airline), take the MARTA train to the end, and go to Perimeter to get ready. Perimeter has an REI, many restaurants, and many hotels all in walking distance. I walked two miles from the train station to Best Buy, REI, a restaurant, and then my hotel. From Perimeter it’s cheaper to take an uber to Amicalola than a shuttle service (more on those later), which is more convenient (maybe $70 or so).

You can figure out the best time to hike various parts of the AT using this heat map. I decided to go right after the bubble of through-hikers because I wanted to meet people, but didn’t want it to be too crowded. In retrospect, I think there’s likely plenty of space in all but the most busy days. It was pretty hot when I went, and I was wishing I went earlier just for cooler temps.

I think it’s a really good idea to buy the lightest gear possible (I would, wouldn’t I?), but I would actually overpack food next time. Every day I ate a tiny oatmeal packet, a few Larabars, nuts, and a big Peak Refuel camping meal. This wasn’t nearly enough food or enough variety, and was too healthy. I like Larabars, but it’s just tedious to eat them all day. Nuts are good but don’t provide immediate energy. I just had no idea how much energy I would be burning (and didn’t realize it was all up and down hills). Next time I would bring something substantial for lunch like tortillas, peanut butter, and honey, and I would actually bring a bunch of candy to eat while hiking. Sounds crazy, but I think the immediate sugar in the bloodstream would help tremendously.

When in doubt, stop and have a snack. Sometimes I would try to just power through because I didn’t want to waste time, but pausing and refueling increased my speed by 50-100%, so it was well worth the stop. The hikers I met who hiked the most miles stopped every day for lunch.

On the other hand, you need way less water than you might expect. I had two 1.5L bottles and I had them totally full the first day. That’s about 7 extra pounds to carry up all the mountains. For reference, my base weight without food and water was around 15 pounds. Download the FarOut app, which shows where water sources are, and only carry enough water to get to the next water source. By the last day I was only hiking with about 1-1.5 liters and I would try to drink as soon as I was thirsty to make the pack even lighter. I would also drink a lot of water every time I refilled so I could use it immediately and not carry it on my back.

Speaking of weight, figure out how to adjust the straps on your backpack before you hike. My shoulders killed me the first two days, and then a girl showed me that my load lifter straps were too tight, and the next day brought immediate relief.

When planning, I’d start with about 8 miles per day as a goal. I felt ok after 9 the first day so I did 15 the next day, and after that I was destroyed. For the first few days, only stay at shelters. You’ll still sleep in your tent (I didn’t understand this until I got there), but they have the most amenities and make life easy. There are bear boxes so you don’t have to hang your food, outhouses, water sources, etc. There are also lots of really smart and helpful people at the shelters.

The shelter itself is a building with three walls, so bugs and animals can still get in. I guess people sleep in them sometimes, but everyone I saw just pitched a tent in one of the spots nearby. Even random tent sites on the side of the trail are pretty flat and have few rocks and roots.

There’s really not much you have to worry about on the trail. People offered me water and food several times. It would be easy to use someone else’s stove or water purifier if yours broke. It sometimes seems like no one else is on the trail, since most people move at a similar speed, but once you stop you’ll see people pass you. The trail also goes through many local parks, so there are a ton of day hikers, especially on certain days.

I’m sure everyone is different, but I was surprised at how much my cardio improved over four days. I was really huffing and puffing on day one, and my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest, but by day four I did the biggest mountain yet with no issues. So if you feel like you can’t do it, stick it out for a little while. I was also incredibly sore every morning, but I found that I could still hobble along and after a mile or two I was warmed up and didn’t feel the soreness anymore.

I was also surprised at how much cell service I had on the trail. With T-Mobile I’d say that I had coverage about 60-80% of the time. I also subscribe to the T-Satellite service, and that covered the rest of the trail. Signal wasn’t great, but it was enough. I wouldn’t bother with one of those emergency satellite things some people carry.

I saw one rattlesnake, which was terrifying, but apparently it’s extremely rare to see a rattlesnake. No one I met had seen a bear, and I think the danger of bears is exaggerated to make sure people do smart things like hanging/locking up food so that bears don’t become an actual problem. There are reports of mice in shelters, but I didn’t see any personally. There are bees, butterflies, and flies, but nothing too annoying.

When it’s time to leave, you can call shuttle companies. They’re familiar with all of the crossing points of the AT and will come get you. There are a lot of them, so if you call a few you can probably get picked up within 30-60 minutes from just about any reasonable point. There are definitely some days where you don’t cross anywhere they could get you, but I’d say every 2-3 days it’s possible. If you just search the internet you can find them.

If you’re on the fence about hiking part of the AT, you should really just go do it. It’s an adventure with really limited downside, and even though I was only on the trail for four days I feel like I got a couple week’s worth of memories and adventure. 

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Photo is a random good view along the way.

I got the photos taken for the AT gear post, so that will come in a week or two. Look at this posting frequency!

The next day I went down the rabbit hole of camping gear and discovered that in the 14 years since I went to Peru, camping gear has gotten WAY better, mainly due to better materials. It seemed like many of the people in the videos were packing not just to camp, but to through-hike, a term I’d never heard before. The granddaddy of all through-hikes is the Appalachian Trail.

I had heard about the Appalachian trail before. One of my favorite authors, Bill Bryson, wrote an incredible book about it. Maybe I should hike some of the Appalachian Trail!

I started researching it and realized that I had just missed the window and would have to go the following year. This was the perfect excuse for a gear fanatic like myself to start accumulating lightweight camping gear, which I did.

As new gear came in I’d go camp in the mountains in Vegas to try it out, and then I’d return stuff I didn’t like and buy different stuff until I had the perfect setup. I knew that if I couldn’t sleep well I would definitely quit after one night, so I mainly focused on comfortable sleep. In the ten months I never actually researched what the Appalachian Trail was. Mainly I just wanted a challenge, some time away from screens, and to meet the insane people who take five months off from normal life to hike from Georgia to Maine.

For a while my mother and aunt planned to come with me, but then they found out there were mice out there, so it became a solo trip again.

You’d think that the most famous trail in the world would be easy to get to, but it’s not. First, you fly to Atlanta, which is easy enough. Then you drive an hour and a half to Amicalola State Park. Then you hike a very strenuous uphill 8.8 miles to get to Springer Mountain, which is the official start of the AT. There’s actually another way to do it that is a bit more convenient, but this the classic entry.

So I flew to Atlanta, walked two miles around town to practice (my first time wearing a loaded backpack) and do last minute errands like buy camping fuel and have dinner, and checked into my hotel.

The next morning I woke up, had a breakfast and a chocolate chip cookie (I figured I’d need the energy), and ubered to Amicalola State Park. I registered as an AT hiker and just started walking.

After almost a year of waiting, I was excited to be there. I hiked quickly, pausing several times to catch my breath as I went up the 600 stairs to get to the top of the waterfall. I didn’t realize that you can easily get water as you go, so I had a full 3 liters on my back. After 8.8 miles, I finally made it to Springer Mountain, the start of the Appalachian Trail. I saw my first “white blaze”, the marking of the AT, and made it to camp.

It took me four hours and forty-five minutes, which ChatGPT told me was an incredible pace. Most people do it in 6-10. I had been using ChatGPT for trip planning, and never had it been so confident in my abilities. I asked it how far I should go the next day and it assured me that someone at my elite-level should go 15.5 miles to Gooch Mountain Shelter.

On the AT there are a few different options for places to camp. There are random cleared out areas of varying quality along the trail. If you’re ever just dying and want to stop, you can probably find somewhere within 30 minutes or so. But there’s nothing there besides space. The next level up are camp sites. They have more tent spots, usually a bear box or a cable system to hang your food, and access to water. But the Ritz-Carltons of the AT are the shelters. A shelter has everything a tent site has, plus some sort of building that you can just sleep in without a tent (but they usually don’t have a fourth wall, so I don’t quite understand why you’d do it), as well as a picnic table, and a privy (outhouse).

One of my main reasons to be on the AT was to meet the other people who were doing it, plus I was a little nervous about trying to hang my food bag by myself on a tree, so I was focused on the camp sites and shelters, as were most other hikers.

Shelters and even camp sites are relatively sparse, maybe every 4-8 miles. There’s also a weird idiosyncrasy with the Georgia section of the AT, which is that a prime stretch on the 3rd or 4th (depending on your pace) doesn’t allow camping anywhere unless you have a hard-sided bearproof food container. Because these containers aren’t necessary for any other part, I didn’t have one, so I absolutely had to traverse that ~8 mile stretch in one day.

I say all this to illustrate why in a given day there may only be one or two spots where you’d consider ending your day. ChatGPT told me not to stop at the shelter that was 8.4 miles from Springer Mountain, but rather the one that was 15.5 miles away.

Exhausted, I set up my little camp chair, looked out at the Georgian wilderness, and cooked my dinner.

Even though I had stayed up until 2am the previous night, I was conked out by 9pm. I heard people chatting at the shelter, but I was too tired to join them. I woke up at 4am to the howling of wolves (actually owls, but I didn’t know that at the time), stayed up until 5, and then managed to sleep until 7am.

Well rested but sore, I was ready to go. Now that I understood how water purification worked, I only filled up to about 2L, saving a couple pounds of dead weight. I made my breakfast, which I thought was oatmeal, but was actually a weird oat-free oatmeal that was a sort of disgusting paste. I had ordered it in a rush the day before the hike, thinking that maybe I should bring breakfast with me.

I was surprised to find out that day two was also constant mountains. In fact, the whole AT is basically just hiking up and down mountains all day, but I had no idea. Flat sections were an absolute joy, as were slight declines, but both were in short supply. Mostly it was steep inclines with switchbacks and rock stairs, and then corresponding steep declines. My heart rate would get up to 140 on the inclines and I would have to stop to let it calm down.

The terrain was varied and moderately interesting, but on day two I realized that unlike any other hike I had done, the AT was really just a random line through the mountains. There were no beautiful vistas or waterfalls, it was just a cross-section of northern Georgia. Trees, butterflies, millipedes, small creeks, rocks, and a narrow dirt path through it all.

By the time I reached the first shelter at 8.4 miles I was pretty exhausted. I decided to take a break and rest before deciding whether to camp there or go to the next one. A thirty-something year old Chinese guy was at the creek fiddling with his water purifier, trying to get some water. Surrounding him were five different bags. A backpack, a duffel bag, a sleeping bag in a stuff sack, a tent in a stuff sack, and a huge fanny pack.

I struck up a conversation. Henry had just been “separated, but not voluntarily” from the military, and decided to hike the AT. He had clearly just bought random camping stuff, maybe at Wal-Mart, and had headed to the trail. His plan was to go all the way to Maine by October. He seemed to be about as shell-shocked by the experience as I was, but seemed a bit surprised that I thought he had way too much stuff. “Yeah, It would be nice to get it down to just two bags I think.”

He had no trekking poles, which absolutely baffled me. I couldn’t imagine doing the hike without them, especially the descents. But he had to carry his duffel bag in one hand, so he couldn’t use them anyway. Nearly every single hiker uses an app called FarOut. It has a detailed map of the AT including markings for water sources, camp sites, shelters, etc., and hikers can leave notes on each one in real time. So, for example, you can check upcoming water sources and see which ones are flowing. Henry was not using the app, but rather just looking at google maps. Unimaginable. I gave him some information on where he could get water next.

I asked where he was going that day, and he said Gooch Mountain Shelter. If he was going another seven miles, what was my excuse not to? I said I’d see him there and started hiking again. Shortly after I passed a woman with a 1-2 year old baby. I asked where she was going and she said, “The Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee!”. She had an impeccable attitude, but I later heard that her baby was crying all night the night before. Not sure how she did it. 

Everyone hikes at different paces. Not just absolute pace, but different pacing and breaks for different situations. I was very fast on flats and descents, but extremely slow on uphills. Other people are more consistent. I met one girl who races up hills because she claims it’s easier that way. For that reason, even though you’re passing people and being passed, sometimes by the same person, you rarely walk with anyone else. Even friends who hike together will often hike separately and just meet up at shelters.

But Tim and I were basically the same pace. I passed him while he was taking a break, then he passed me when I was taking a break. Then I caught up to him on a flat. We argued over who should pass who, but we ended up hiking together for the rest of the day. He worked at the municipal utility company in Jacksonville Florida, was about to retire in a few months, and thought that maybe through-hiking would be his new hobby. This was a three day test to figure it out. He borrowed his brother-in-law’s camping gear and just headed out to the woods. He was very introverted (I never saw him talk to anyone else at camps or shelters), but that worked well for hiking. We mostly hiked in silence, but would occasionally have a short conversation, usually on a flat section. He hoped his wife would get into trekking, too, but she was a “girly-girl”, so he wasn’t sure. 

Tim had started at a later shelter than I had, but had walked the wrong direction for two miles, so he had an extra four miles total on his day. That would have been devastating for me. You’d think that following the AT would be easy, and it mostly is, but there are junctions with other trails and weird semi-side trails that don’t lead to anywhere. I had gone maybe a quarter mile in the wrong direction earlier. It’s pretty easy to do, and most hikers I met had done it at some point. Two miles was brutal though.

A few times that day I had encountered a girl named Keri Ann (almost positive I have her name wrong) with two dogs. I didn’t realize people hike with dogs, but it’s actually very common. Sometimes they put little packs on their dogs and the dogs carry their own food. She explained that her dogs both had medical issues, so she had to carry their food. 

Keri Ann was clearly a pro, though. There are two distinct groups of hikers on the AT: people like me, Henry, and Tim, who have no idea what they’re doing but are figuring it out and could eventually become pros, and then there are people like Keri Ann who actually hike all the time. They claim to love hiking, which was surprising to me. I found almost no joy in the actual hiking, but she just loved charging up ascents and back down. That was baffling to me.

As we got near the end of our day, Tim and I were absolutely exhausted. Even though he had hiked more, I think I was even more shot. I needed frequent breaks and told him he could go ahead, but he kept waiting for me. Normally you would never take a break half a mile before your final destination, but there was a big creek right before the last half mile of steep ascent, and we both needed a break. We soaked our sore feet in the freezing cold water, which actually helped a lot, and ate snacks. It was amazing how much immediate energy I would feel from just eating one bar. All day I was thinking about snickers bars and sour patch kids, even though I never eat candy. I had brought healthy snacks like nuts and Larabars, and somehow I just knew that raw sugar would be better.

We finally made it to the shelter, which was abuzz with activity. I sat down at the picnic table with the thousand-yard stare usually reserved for soldiers in battle. I could barely muster the strength to take off my backpack, dig out my food, and get dinner going. My feet ached, and my heels had developed an acute pain around mile 10, where it felt like the backs of them were bruised, and every step felt like fingers pushing into the bruises.

I chose “American Buffalo Goulash” and I honestly can’t explain to you just how amazing that meal was. My mouth waters just thinking about it now. I have no idea if this freeze-dried camp meal is actually the pinnacle of culinary achievement, or if I was just starving. My ring told me that I had burned 1800 calories just in steps (I don’t think it knows about ascent and descent), and I had eaten fewer than 1000 calories for the day. You’d think that you would eat a lot while hiking, but somehow you’re just not that hungry most of the time. Stopping to cook an extra meal seems like a huge waste of time, so I just didn’t do it. And yet, the people I met who did the most miles stopped and had lunch every day.

As I wolfed down my American Buffalo Goulash (740 calories), a girl I recognized from the first night’s shelter sat down across from me. She had actually started in the same place as me, but didn’t seem to be fatigued at all. Her name was Audry, and she was an absolute pro. I was a bit delirious and didn’t take in her entire story, but she did some sort of work on trails, loved hiking, and did through-hikes all the time. She asked me if I wanted a Snickers, and I’m not sure any offer had ever been so exciting to me in my life. I had been thinking about Snickers all day.

The king of camp that night was a guy named Carl. He was a local and had just hiked up from a closer access trail, so he wasn’t exhausted like the rest of us. He listened to a baseball game over a radio, cooked an extremely elaborate sausage sandwich with condiments over the fire, and encouraged everyone to sit in his comfortable camp chair. He smelled like booze and weed, but I never saw him partake in either. Despite a fire ban, he had a huge fire going, fueled with wood that he had cut with a huge lightweight camp saw. Tim was too tired or introverted, so he set up his camping hammock and didn’t hang out at the fire. I heard that Henry had trudged into camp and set up his tent, also too tired to join.

Carl, a guy named Kevin who I hadn’t met before, Keri Ann, Audry, and I sat around the fire. We commiserated over the tough day, shared our stories, and talked about camping gear. Audry asked if anyone had any unusual hiking luxury items, and showed us her haircut scissors. My hair had become soaked with sweat during the hike and was constantly in my eyes, so I almost took her up on her offer to give me a haircut, but worried that a hasty haircut done by firelight may not translate well to the real world once I was off trail. Keri Ann brought out a huge bag of sour patch kids, which she shared with us. I knew how much every gram of weight mattered and I felt bad eating food someone else had carried so far, but they were almost as delicious as the snickers.

Keri Ann also shared “bread insides”. The explanation for why she had “bread insides” didn’t make much sense to me, but she had scooped out the insides of a sourdough loaf and put it in a bag. She said she loved sharing food, and there is really probably no better phrase to hear when you’re exhausted on the AT. I felt bad that I didn’t have anything to share with people.

We all started planning where we’d hike to the next day. Because of the Blood Mountain bear can restrictions there were really only two viable options. The sane choice was another 8.5 mile day to a campsite right before the Blood Mountain restricted area. Blood Mountain is the tallest mountain on the Georgia section of the AT, so it’s no joke. But, if one wanted to go further they could go 17 miles to get past Blood Mountain. Keri Ann and Audry decided it would be really fun to hike the full 17 miles. I thought about joining them, but every part of my body was sore. I knew there was no way I could do it. 

I was hoping I would be in less pain the next morning, but my heels were even worse than before. I struggled to stand up and walk to collect water for the day. But somehow, as I warmed up a bit and got my trekking poles in my hands, walking became a little bit easier. Every step hurt, so my pace slowed to almost half. Luckily the first mile and a half was relatively flat. I felt confident that I could make it the 8.5 miles to the last tent site before the restricted area.

The best moments of hiking were the flat areas where you managed to think about anything other than the hike. I’m not sure how other people are, but I found it really difficult to not think about the hike as I hiked. Would it get easier? How far had I gone so far? What was coming up next? Should I quit? Will I have less pain tomorrow? But on the third day, despite the pain, I found myself in the zone, putting one foot in front of the other, pondering life as I walked on the narrow path cutting through the side of a steep mountain.

In an instant I was yanked back to reality. I heard a loud rattling noise and in the corner of my eye saw a snake coiling. I screamed and jumped backwards. I had just stepped two feet away from a rattlesnake that was now facing me and rattling loudly. I was absolutely terrified. I backed up and stood there, waiting for it to do something, but it just sat there looking at me. The hill above and below was steep and full of plants, leaves, and branches, so it wouldn’t be easy to go around the snake. I set up my camp chair and decided to wait it out.

Thirty minutes later the snake hadn’t moved, and Kevin caught up. “Rattlesnake!” He stopped and also had no idea what to do. Ten minutes later an older hiker started coming from the other direction. “Rattlesnake!” He stopped, but he had another twelve miles to go that day so he just walked right past it, putting his poles in between him and the snake. I thought about videoing it, but thought it might be a bit rude to film a man’s death, so decided not to. The snake freaked out and rattled the whole time, but he got past. Kevin and I couldn’t believe it, but weren’t brave enough to try it ourselves.

After another fifteen minutes of the snake not moving we bushwhacked our way above it, really nervous that we’d slip and fall on top of it.

For the next half mile I was certain that every root and stick was a snake. But then I started thinking about how at least it warned us with the rattle and didn’t bite me, so maybe I didn’t need to be so careful. I kept going and stopped looking down.

My morale was really low that day. I was in extreme pain, scared of rattlesnakes, exhausted, and just not enjoying the trail. I didn’t have to be here. I didn’t even like hiking. What was I doing? The forecast said there would be thunderstorms soon, and then the next day, when I would have to go over Blood Mountain, it was supposed to be extra hot. I had all sorts of warm weather gear in my backpack, but it was so hot that I never used any of it, except at night in camp.

Five miles in, I came to Woody Gap. I saw it on the map, but didn’t realize that it was a crossroads into civilization. There was a huge parking lot full of cars and trucks, a road going through it, an outhouse, and a bench. It began to rain. I sat down and went on my phone, looking up nearby hotels, hostels, shuttles, and ubers. I was done. I texted the nearby hostel to see if they had availability and messaged the local shuttle service to see if they had any drivers that could pick me up.

While I waited for them to reply, I saw that Henry, the guy with the five bags, was across the parking lot eating lunch. I figured I should at least say goodbye to him, so I limped over. He was having lunch, which was a weird concoction of milk powder, nutritional powder, and olive oil. He explained the theory to me on why he ate that, but it didn’t look very appetizing. I still had a bunch of camping meals, so I figured I should at least eat one with him while I waited for my exit to materialize. 

Another hiker, Austin, showed up. I had run into him once or twice before but he was quiet and didn’t talk much. He had a reputation for borrowing people’s battery packs and using a lot of power. Kevin offered to let him charge in his car, which he had parked there for his planned exit, and Austin eagerly took him up on it. I charged for about ten minutes too.

As I ate I got a bit more energy and felt better. I thought about how soon I would be in a hotel reflecting on my AT experience, and I realized that I would regret it if I quit today. The whole point of the AT, as far as I could tell, was to endure hardship, and I was about to quit before the first rainy hike and the tallest mountain. Surely I would feel better about myself if I just pushed one more day.

Before I could think too hard about it, I just started walking into the woods again.

It began to rain, and I got soaked. Every step was painful, but at least I had more energy. It was amazing how dependent my attitude was on food. I had a moment, as I shuffled down an easy descent, where I thought about how some day my body wouldn’t be capable of this. Some day I might not have the time. Some people dream their whole lives of hiking the AT and never do it, but here I was. I had the time and I had the gear, and my body was holding together just well enough to hike. And as I walked through the rain and fog, I had a fleeting moment of actually enjoying the hike.

The camp site was more basic than the shelters I had been to before, but still nice. There were four elevated tent sites, one of which was occupied by two matching blue tents. I said hi as I walked past and I think I woke the people inside up. They never talked to any of us, which was really strange. I set up my tent and began shuffling down to the spring to get some water. My heels kept getting worse and worse and I could barely make it down there and backup. On a normal day you’d run down and up in thirty seconds, but it took me about ten minutes.

As I made my dinner Henry and Austin made it to camp. Austin had a huge heavy backpack so he was slow like Henry. Henry set up his tent and Austin sat on a log and took out his phone. He was still on it an hour later and hadn’t set up camp at all. We were so tired we barely exchanged a word.

I slept for ten hours and my heels were even worse the next morning. Surely the smart thing to do would be to go backwards 3.5 miles and get out of here. What’s the point of torturing myself and going over Blood Mountain? I couldn’t do it, though. It didn’t feel right to go through all that pain just to go backwards. Before I could talk myself out of it, I headed towards Blood Mountain.

I now had several pounds less food than when I started, and I had gotten smart about water. Now that I knew how much water I actually drank while hiking, I could fill up my bottles partially and refill at water sources along the way. I’d drink as much as I could in camp and at water sources, and just carry the minimum through the hikes. It makes a big difference. On day one I carried 6.6lb of water, but as I left for Blood Mountain I only had about 2.5 pounds. Those pounds matter.

I only had 7.4 miles to go that day, but it was all uphill and then all downhill. No flat sections, no gentle slopes. I expected the uphill to be brutal, but I noticed something remarkable. My cardio had improved! I still got hot and sweaty, but my heart rate no longer elevated. I barely had to take any breaks at all on the way up. My legs still got sore and my heels were killing me, but at least cardio was better. The view at the top of Blood Mountain was among the better ones on the trail so far. Downhill was rocky and hard and painful, but it didn’t really matter. I knew I was getting close to being done, and I was ready.

The end for that day was Neel’s Gap. The trail actually goes through a hostel and gear shop, so it’s the first bit of comfort most hikers encounter. Austin had just gotten there and ordered an oven pizza. I bought an ice cream snickers, an orange, a banana, and potato chips.

We talked about Henry. He was really slow because of all his gear but he absolutely had to make it to the hostel before they closed at 6pm. He didn’t even have basic bear supplies like a rope to hang food, so there was no way he could camp on Blood Mountain. I tried to get the hostel to let me prepay his fee and let him in late, but they wouldn’t do it.

Austin took out all of his gear and the gear shop did a “shake down” where they tell him what he should change. It was then that I learned that despite his huge backpack, he had no sleeping pad! He was sleeping directly on the ground, which generally had roots and rocks on it. You also lose a lot of heat to the ground without an insulated pad. He said he’d consider getting one.

At five thirty my ride came. I said goodbye to Austin and told him to say goodbye to Henry if he saw him again. You never really know who you’ll see again, because if someone has a different pace than you, you end up staggered by a day or at least at different shelters.

I was hoping that I’d make it far enough to fly out of a different airport, but I ended up closest to ATL, the airport I flew into. Now I’m in Chicago. My legs are still sore, but my heels don’t hurt as much. The thought to get some new shoes, fly back and hike some more has crossed my mind. I’m not sure if it’s because I want to, or because I feel like I should. I think I’ll probably come back next year and hike some more.

I didn’t miss not having my laptop, although as I walked and imagined this blog post I found myself narrating it to the passing trees. I’m so grateful for all of the characters I met on the trail and hope they all make it to the end. They were people I would have never gotten to know in real life, and I’m grateful to have shared some moments with them.

I have a lot of advice for people who want to hike the trail, and will probably make that another post. I’ll also probably do an AT Gear Post, because even though my performance was among the worst of the people I met, my gear was absolutely the best.

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If you’re one of the people I met on the trail, please leave a comment with your email!

I started selling shore excursions through it through Viator, which is the site I always use when I book something (onboard shore excursions are generally not great and are very expensive).

I got so used to using the CruiseSheet port guides whenever I went somewhere new that when I flew somewhere that wasn’t a cruise port I was disappointed that I didn’t have my usual guide. So… I made Amazing Atlas!

It has all of the information I would normally look up, has good prompts to get the right information, uses the best AI models, and is constantly updated. Every city will be updated every 1-2 months. Here’s all the info each one has:

At the top I try to show the information you’d want if you were just landing in a city for the first time as well as the info you’d need if you wanted to learn about the city for the first time. Where is it, what’s the main airport, what’s the weather like right now, and what time is it?

I also show a quick blurb to give you a quick intro to what type of city it is and I show a map that includes every point of interest mentioned in the guide. One of the main problems I face with a new city is not knowing what area of the city is best to stay in, so this provides a visual clue.

A have some quick facts, focusing on things unique to the city. So by the time you get to the main sections you should have a rough feel for what type of city it is and what makes it different from other cities.

After that I have a section on the key highlights. These tend to be more touristy things, but should be the main things you’d want to see for a short visit.

Next I show nearby cities and attractions, including a zoomed out map on how far they are from the city. I did this because I found that, especially on cruise stops, often the best things were a short drive or train ride away, instead of inside the city center. These sorts of trips also sometimes help put a city in context

Local picks is next, showing places that you may want to visit on a longer trip, a second trip, or if you just aren’t that interested in the main tourist attractions. One of the next features I’m going to add is integrating my own recommendations into these, since I’ve been to a lot of these cities.

Weather + Climate focuses on general times of year to visit, mainly if you’re planning something well in advance. Safety considerations includes crime as well as natural disaster information. Sort of boring, but I figure people would be interested.

Getting around tries to give you an idea of the tradeoff between taxis, ubers, transit, and whether you can walk in the city. I include times and prices, which is only really possible because these guides are updated frequently.

Getting In and Out shows major rail, bus, and air transit stops. I mainly did this because I always wonder how near or far each option is from the city center and how hard it is to get to the city from each option.

Shopping is a boring section that I mainly made for other people, but I tried to focus it on things that are unique to that area vs high end fashion stuff that you can find everywhere.

Next is currency and tipping. Every time I order my first meal in a new place I have to search for how much to tip as well as the exchange rate. Again, because these are updated so frequently they will never be outdated.

When to Visit tries to combine weather, festivals, and crowds to provide guidance on the best time to visit.

Last is Useful Phrases. I always try to learn basic phrases wherever I go to show respect for the locals. In this section I have the basic phrases as well as anything that would be particularly useful in that city.

And that’s it for now! I may add more in the future (and would be very interested in feedback if you think there’s anything missing). If you’d check out Amazing Atlas before your next trip and give me some feedback on how useful it was, I’d really appreciate it. It’s also really important to get google to index the site, so if you’d be willing to link to the site (or to a city in it), it has a huge impact when something is first launched. 

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Photo is an awesome teaware shop in the mountains near Fukuoka.

I also have a new game I’m developing that I might release soon! It’s really annoying to make an Apple Developer account, but my friends and I are currently playing it on Android + PC.

In case you haven’t read the last 18 years of gear posts, my goal is to have the best possible gear with the most wide ranging capability in the smallest form factor possible. Yes, I know some of this stuff is expensive and borderline ridiculous, but I travel for at least half the year and the incremental benefits are worth it to me.

They may not be worth it for you, but at least you’ll know what the best possible thing is and can work backwards from there. At the very least, get all wool clothing and shoot for around a 20 liter backpack. I have friends with totally different priorities and gear, but they all stick with around the same backpack size.

Some links are affiliate links. Some aren’t. I promise it has zero bearing on whether or not I recommend things. I also sometimes receive products, and that does make me more likely to try a product, but it won’t affect how I rank them.

As with last year, I will note when things are new and perfect. Perfect doesn’t mean it’s permanent, but it means that there are no obvious improvements that I would hope for with current technology.

The only thing that was removed this year and not replaced with something else was the travel blazer. I still have it, but it’s not in my bag most of the time.

Wool and Prince Merino Henley Perfect

This is my fourth year using the Henley instead of a more traditional button-down. I like both, but the Henley is so soft and comfortable that it makes a big difference when trying to sleep on planes or curl up and read a book. It also has a lot more stretch, so it’s better for active things. It also seems to be totally indestructible. I’ve never replaced it and it looks exactly as it did new. (Wow, I just saw the new colors they have when I clicked to make sure the link worked… maybe I will be an ochre guy if this one ever wears out)

Buy at Wool and Prince

Wool and Prince V-Neck T-Shirt

This might be the longest running item on the gear list, though I’m not sure. Maybe I should start tracking how many years everything makes it and it would be like a competition. As always, I love this shirt but wish it had a pocket for folded up boarding passes.

If you’re new to the gear post, this is probably a good time to say that the only reason I’m able to keep my packing so light is because I wear wool. I routinely wear this shirt 7-14 days in a row without washing it, and it stays fresh. Wool and Prince is my favorite wool company, but there are other good ones out there, too. I damaged my Wool and Prince one this year so it was a good opportunity to try SmartWool again, but I bought another Wool and Prince shortly after.

This is literally the only shirt I wear all year, even when I’m at home, unless I have to go to a wedding. I generally switch colors every year, which shocks the people in my life because they’re so used to seeing me in one color.

When I became the godfather to my friend Noah‘s daughter, he got a Wool and Prince V-Neck embroidered with “El Padrino” for me.

The v-neck is now less deep than previous years. I wish it was the old depth, but overall it’s about the same.

Buy at Wool and Prince

Wool and Prince Stretch Canvas Pants

These pants made it another year! They look like black jeans, have a really good amount of stretch, and are comfortable and durable, but I’ve had issues with the pockets ripping in the past, as have my friends.

But… they have redesigned the pockets and use new material. So far so good. I actually haven’t been wearing these recently because I’m testing the new denim jeans, but I’m not ready to switch my recommendation just yet.

These are 55% merino wool, which is higher than most wool pant blends. You need some material besides wool to keep it durable, but despite these being a higher amount they have been extremely durable. I’ve put them through their paces, worn them every non-warm day, and they’re in perfect shape.

These pants were gone last year, but apparently they were just out of stock. Phew!

Buy at Wool and Prince

Faherty All Day Shorts 9″ New

A year or two ago a reader suggested Faherty shorts, and I was lucky enough to remember the name as I was looking for a new pair. And… WOW are these shorts great!

What makes shorts like these special is that they look good enough to wear every day as shorts, but they dry quickly and have a draw string. The draw string doesn’t serve a huge function if the shorts are the right size, but by tying it together and popping it over the waistband I feel like the shorts look like a bathing suit enough that you don’t look out of place swimming in them. All of the pockets have a mesh portion to drain.

The material is even better than rip curl, they look much less casual, and they seem to dry just as fast (I swam in a cold swimming pool in late November just to give them a full test).

I removed the “perfect” on these because the fabric started pilling after a couple years of moderate use. I still wear them, but it’s annoying that they don’t stay in better shape.

Buy at Faherty

Wool and Prince Boxer Briefs

I decided to try Wool and Prince last year, and have made the switch back to them. I found that the Icebreaker ones would last a year (~180 wears), but no longer. A year later the Wool and Prince ones retain their stretch better and look brand new.

My one complaint is that the waistband wrinkles/folds over, unlike Icebreaker. Wool & Prince is trying to figure it out and thinks it may be due to laundry habits. I had a brand new pair that I was being careful with to try to figure out what causes the waistband to have issues, but I didn’t figure it out.

I switched to trunks because every once in a rare while there’s some reason I need to be wearing my underwear in mixed company. Two years ago I found myself jumping into the ocean in Greenland to swim to an iceberg in front of some bewildered cruise passengers.

Buy at Wool and Prince

TimmerMade Custom SUL .75 New Perfect

The Montbell has been replaced! I’ve worn the lightest montbell jacket available since at least 2012, but no longer! However it’s still the most sane choice probably.

TimmerMade stuff is made by a guy named Dan Timmer. Dan REALLY cares about gear and makes the warmest stuff by weight. Someone who cares even more about outdoor gear than me measured everything and made a spreadsheet to rank it all.

But you can’t just order from TimmerMade. They have so much demand and don’t want to raise prices (I guess?) so they have an insane lottery system. Every month you have to answer a one question quiz about how they make their products. For example:

“If I took the down fill out of a 6″ wide chamber in the footbox of the smallest width Serpentes fetal 20f and I put it into a box that is 6″ long x 12″ wide x 10″ deep, what depth would the down reach?”

So if you want a jacket, you have to learn about how he makes sleeping bags. Then if you answer you’re in a lottery to get a production slot. It took me a few months, but I finally got one.

I explained what I wanted (basically the same specs as a MontBell, but with the benefits of his designs) and he spent a week trying to talk me out of it. He basically hated every choice I made and we essentially went back and forth with him telling me the jacket won’t be good, and me saying I’m already pretty happy with the MontBell, so any improvement is worth it to me.

I even had to justify what I was going to put in the pockets! Anyway, he was very gracious and made the jacket I wanted, and I’m super happy with it.

It’s almost exactly the same weight as the MontBell, but it feels like it packs down a little bit easier. It’s maybe 20% warmer or so (absolute guess), and has a much better collar that keeps your neck super warm. It’s also a denser exterior fabric (he REALLY didn’t want to use the same density as MontBell). It also feels like it is a bit better in the wind without a shell over it than the MontBell.

The only odd thing is that it seems like feathers come out more easily than the MontBell.

If I didn’t write a gear post I probably wouldn’t have upgraded, but I’m glad I did. I really like the jacket a lot.

Buy at TimmerMade

Rab Cinder Phantom

I loved the idea of the windbreaker as a shell until I found myself running through a storm in Riga, soaking wet, desperately trying to find a working ATM so that I could get cash to get to the airport.

What I’ve learned about waterproof shells is that the lightest ones are made for bikers. This makes for a slightly shorter cut (in the photo it’s folded over, not super short), but they look normal enough for regular use. After a ridiculous amount of research I ended up on the Rab Cinder Phantom.

This is the second year I’ve had this, and I’m surprised every time it actually keeps me dry. It’s as light as tissue-paper, but has never worn or ripped despite a lot of use.

Don’t be tempted to get pullovers. You can save a tiny bit of weight but they are really annoying and have fewer options for temperature regulation.

Besides keeping you dry, a shell is critical for the coldest weather, as it traps the heat when worn on top of the Mont Bell plasma. Between the two you have a range of warmth ranging from unzipped plasma in the spring and fall to zipped plasma with shell for winter and snow.

The Rab Cinder is 3.5oz, which is a full 25% lighter than the last one, and it is definitely waterproof. The only thing I don’t like about it is the stuff sack is tricky to use and the hood doesn’t follow your head very well when you turn it.

I’m giving it a perfect score because I already thought MontBell was perfect and it’s better.

Buy at Rab

FarPointe Alpha Wool Beanie

I thought this hat wouldn’t last more than a year, but I still wear it. It weighs 21 grams and actually adds a meaningful amount of warmth, especially with a shell hood over it. The don’t have the exact same hat anymore, but I linked to the closest thing.

Buy at Farpointe

Merrel Hydro Moc Next

These shoes are similar to those I wore in prior years, but they have a real sole made of harder rubber. I tried them on a lark because when the other soles wear out they become very slippery.

I love these shoes and was tempted to label them as perfect, but I’m not sure that label can be applied to shoes that look like this. Then again… I did wear them to a wedding this year and wasn’t kicked out.

The point of wearing shoes like this is that you don’t need to wear/pack/wash socks, which is a hard requirement for me. Most shoes like this (e.g. Crocs) don’t quite have enough ventilation to never smell bad. These do. Unlike normal shoes, they can also be used as water shoes and they dry quickly and easily.

I tried another pair of more normal shoes on a couple trips this year and they didn’t last. I’m trying another one now. I really would like to have shoes that look acceptable to polite society, but I’m just not willing to wear socks or shoes that smell bad.

Buy at Amazon

Roav Eyewear Lennox Sunglasses with Transition Lenses

These are the smallest folding sunglasses you can get. They look really good, weigh almost nothing, and have survived years of use without issues.

The only thing I don’t like about them is that the nose pads flop around too much.

I’ve always hated the case that these came with, since it seemed too big for the small amount of protection it provided. ROAV also sells a fake leather pouch that looked similar. Ever since I got them I wanted to make a custom pouch.

A couple years ago in Madrid some friends organized a leather making workshop where we all got to make our own projects, so I made this little case.

Last year I switched from carrying glasses and sunglasses separately to carrying just one with transition lenses. It’s a compromise, but one I’m happy to make given how infrequently I wear sunglasses. That said, it’s pretty clear when wearing these that they aren’t as good as regular sunglasses.

I chose Transitions XTRActive lenses because they will darken even in a car and they seemed to be the darkest. I’d say in reality they’re just barely dark enough to make a difference. As normal glasses they work perfectly, so having sunglasses in a pinch is a bonus.

Buy at ROAV + Lenses at Lensabl

Seiko Astron GPS Watch Perfect

I wrote an entire article about this watch, but here’s the gist of why I switched from my Breitling mechanical watch:

I used to be enamored with traditional watchmaking (and still am, to an extent), but this watch really shattered some illusions. I believe this is the watch great watchmakers would make today, given that back in the 1800s they were using all available technology.

This watch syncs the time every day via GPS so that it’s always correct, can find your timezone and set the time anywhere in the world, remains charged via solar (and can survive two years in the dark), and looks and feels like a normal analog watch. It’s even titanium, so it’s very light.

I’d consider getting the newest model that has a stopwatch now, but I prefer how mine looks and don’t need a stopwatch badly enough to switch.

I linked to Chrono24 below which has ALL GPS Astron watches. My specific one is an SBXC117.

Buy at Chrono24

Triple Aught Designs Axiom S2 VX Pack

Wow, new backpack! This does not happen often. If you read this post every year, you know that my biggest gripe is that the Minaal Daily doesn’t have enough good organization. Well, the TAD Axiom S2 totally solves that problem!

It has a similar main compartment to the Minaal. It opens up all the way and has roughly the same amount of storage. But then in front of that pocket it has an organizer pocket that zips halfway down. It has so many awesome pockets in it that almost everything I need while I’m traveling is reachable there.

On the top it has a small pocket that’s big enough for a charger, glasses, and headphones, which are the things I’m most likely to grab quickly.

One side has a laptop pocket, and the other side has a water bottle pocket that drains outside. Perfect for the Kanpai water bottle that leaks if you don’t really cinch it down.

The material is pretty cool, though I probably prefer the Minaal material overall. I also wish that the laptop pocket was accessible from the top.

I love the look of the bag and I find it very comfortable. I might make a video or live broadcast to show how I pack this thing.

They have a variety of materials. I chose the VX because it was the lightest and is fully waterproof (though I haven’t put that to a very serious test yet).

Recommended to me last year through the comments here by Denis.

Buy at Triple Aught Design

Sea to Summit Ultra-sil Packable Daypack

I had something like this years ago, stopped carrying it, and then went on enough cruises in a row that I really wished I had something I could easily take to the beach or on a hike. The bag is so small and light that it’s really a no-brainer if you ever use it at all. It’s perfect for a towel and for hiding your wallet, or for stuffing jackets into as you hike. Stuffing it back into the sac is very annoying, but given that I use it a dozen times a year or so, I like how compact it is.

Buy at Amazon

Kem Vintage WWII Playing Cards Perfect

These were made during WWII for US soldiers. You can’t tell very well from the picture, but the cards are tiny, maybe 1/3 the size of normal cards. I used to carry these around everywhere when I was practicing memorization, but then I stopped.

Now my wife, friends, and I are obsessed with this three-player Chinese card game called “fight the landlord”, so we carry these around to play.

Finding these cards is impossible now. I have a couple decks, but only one that has the jokers (necessary for our game). A reader once offered me a few decks he had collected, but I didn’t take him up on it. Huge regret!

Can’t buy anywhere… sometimes on ebay or etsy.

Philips One Toothbrush

I like having an electric toothbrush, and this one is good enough. I wish it was more powerful, but this one is a big enough improvement over a non-electric that I’m happy with the compromise.

Now I have the rechargeable one, and it uses a stupid proprietary plug! I really don’t want to carry that around, so I may switch back to battery once it dies.

My toiletry bag is from Swiss Air business class. A pro tip— search ebay for business class amenity kits. A lot of them are stupid, but in general they are the only toiletry bags that are small. I bought five of these on ebay and gave a couple to family members.

Buy at Amazon

Scissors and Nail Clippers Perfect

The nail clippers are my trusty Henckels Ultra-Slim Nail Clippers. This is the same pair I’ve had for six years and they’re still just as sharp and effective as ever.

The scissors are Tweezerman GEAR Scissors. I think that I actually bought some fancier Dovo Solingen ones when I thought I lost these, but to be honest I can’t tell the difference from a practical standpoint, so it’s better to just buy these.

Make sure you get the rounded tips. Most places don’t care, but I went through security three times in Australia recently and they were militant about checking to make sure the tips were rounded.

Keith Titanium Travel Tea Set Perfect

I know the portion of people reading a gear post who actually want tea gear is vanishingly small, but this is maybe my favorite item on the entire list. It’s an absolutely perfect tea set, made of titanium, and the next best alternative is SO much worse that I have a spare set just to make sure I never have to go without. I also bought an extra cup so that I can serve three guests instead of only two.

I modified the set by anodizing the titanium and cutting off the handle of the fairness pitcher. The titanium imparts no flavor and is virtually indestructible. If you love tea and you travel, you should have this.

The cups and gaiwan are double walled so they are never hot to the touch, and the shape and edges are ideal.

Even though I marked it as perfect, I wish there was some way for the interior of the cups and gaiwan to be white to better sea the color of the tea. I think it’s just not possible with titanium, though.

They actually make a new version of this now, but in my opinion it is worse. I bought it and planned to switch, but went back to my old one. I am using the lid from the new one because it has a mesh built in, which is useful for finely cut Japanese teas.

Buy at AliExpress

Kanpai Titanium 350 Thermos and 3D Printed Tea Containers Perfect

This is the lightest double wall water bottle you can get. I love the extra-wide mouth and the no-taper design that makes it easy to clean and to store things inside. It comes with three tops but I just use the hot water one. It’s absolutely perfect for keeping boiled water in. I replaced the noisy rubber seal with an o-ring, and it works perfectly.

As soon as I got my 3D printer I designed and printed a set of stacking tea containers designed to take up about 95% of the interior volume. I can now hold 50% more tea than I could before. They were hard for me to make, especially because they were the first time I tried to make screw threads, which took a lot of trial and error.

The tea containers hold NFC tags and made a script using Tasker so that I can use to electronically label the teas. You can download the files and print your own here.

Buy at Amazon

300W Immersion Water Heater

In case it’s not obvious, I put this in the Kanpai Thermos and use it to boil water. Often I’ll put the top on and wait until I’m in the air before I make my tea. You can also ask for hot water on the airplane, but it’s sometimes not very good because of mineral buildup.

The model with the switch is no longer available, but I might go without it anyway. I once had someone turn on the switch when it wasn’t in water and we almost burnt an airbnb down. Now I unplug it every time.

It’s very important to get a model that can run on 120v or 240v. I suspect that all of them can and that some manufacturers just don’t bother to label it, but I don’t take the risk. In Europe (or on cruises) you can use 240v to boil 4x faster. 300W is a good compromise between size and speed of boiling.

Buy at Amazon

Carbon Fiber Money Clip Perfect

I still have my rather expensive original carbon fiber money clip, but there are cheaper options on Amazon now that seem to be identical, so I’m linking one of those instead. I can’t imagine why someone would use any wallet other than this. It’s super compact and light, doesn’t set off the metal detector, and is very easy to use. Mine has retained its springiness for over a decade now.

Buy at Amazon

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 New Perfect

Folding phones are just so good that I feel bad for all non folders out there. You used to have to deal with a thick phone, but the Z Fold 7 is the same thickness folded as a normal phone. You still have to have to fight against the Apple blue-bubble brainwashing, but once you do you’ll never go back.

I thought that I wanted the bigger screen for watching movies on the plane, and while it is noticeably better than a regular phone for that, it’s not the main draw. My favorite thing to use the big screen for is reading (it’s bigger than a Kindle’s screen) and web browsing. I barely prefer a kindle over it, and read way more while traveling now.

I used to hate browsing the web on my phone, but now I do it all the time because the size and shape feels like a normal screen. If I need to copy information from one app to another I just open them side by side and it’s like having two phones.

Everyone predicts that they will hate the crease in the middle of the phone, but you really don’t notice it. The inner display has a punch-out now, which is the one downgrade from the Z Fold 6.

When the phone is closed it is roughly the same as a normal phone.

I’ve had every Fold from the 3 to the 7, and I tend to upgrade every year because they make it very inexpensive to do so and I’m happy for a brand new screen and battery. The 7 is the biggest upgrade in many years.

I didn’t switch to the Pixel Fold because Samsung DEX is a seriously underrated feature. It’s hard to explain, but it essentially runs a virtual computer and sends it to a screen. It’s not just mirroring your phone— you can use both independently at the same time. I mostly use it to play shows on TVs.

My one wish for this phone is that it would get a better zoom, like 5-10X. Maybe impossible given the other constraints.

I use T-Mobile service with the Global Plus add-on, which gives me free LTE/5G everywhere. I happened to add it on during the <7 days where it offered unlimited LTE rather than a 15GB cap. Project Fi can be a bit cheaper, but T-Mobile includes free voice calls to and from every country with Global Plus, and I’ll definitely get a lot of use out of that.

Buy at Amazon

Lenovo X1 Carbon 13th Generation New Perfect

The main story here is that the X1 Carbon is a perfect laptop. It has the best keyboard of any compact laptop, has a touchpoint (and a trackpad, but once you adjust to the touchpoint it’s SO much better), and has a great screen and other specs.

Despite having a bigger screen, the X1 is 20% lighter than a Macbook Air. I think if more Macbook people saw how good this machine is, they would switch.

The screen I chose was the 2800×1800 OLED that can run at 120hz. I’ve never had a laptop that can run at 120hz before, and it really makes for a buttery-smooth experience. I don’t miss 4k at all.

I run Arch Linux + Hyprland on my machine and all of the hardware works perfectly out of the gate, except for the webcam. I ordered a touch screen by accident (imagine my surprise when I accidentally touched the screen and it moved), and it has a webcam that I can’t get working.

The port selection on the computer is perfect (2 USB A, 2 USB C, HDMI).

I upgraded to the 13th generation this year and it’s the first one in many years that is smaller and lighter (now under 1kg!)

Buy at Lenovo

Mogics Adapter MA1 Perfect

A couple years ago a reader recommended this travel adapter to me and it’s incredible.

It’s just a tiny cylinder that can convert any plug to a US plug. Unlike previous iterations, I don’t think that this could get any smaller.

It is slightly difficult to get. The fastest is to buy a combo pack with a weird travel power strip on Amazon. It’s worth doing just for the adapter. You can also buy it direct at Elvesfactory.com.

Buy at Amazon or Elvesfactory.com

CIO 45W Dual Charger New Perfect

I had the old version of this, but it kept breaking (and I kept buying more). I switched to a slower Anker charger because I liked how small it was. CIO finally came out with a new version that was mostly the same, but… seems to not break! I’ve had this one for almost a year with zero issues, as has my friend Todd.

Buy at Amazon

Nitecore NB10000 Gen III Battery Pack New

I’ve begun accumulating gear to hike part of the Appalachian Trail this year, and that led me to find this awesome battery pack. It has a 38.5Wh capacity (mAh are incredibly deceptive and can’t be compared apples to apples), which charges my phone about once and a half or so. It’s super slim and fits easily into a pocket, it can do pass through charging using its two USB-C ports.

The whole thing weighs 5.3oz, which is light enough that I’m happy to carry it around in my backpack for the rare occasion I need a charge.

They just came out with Gen IV and I haven’t received mine yet, but I’m going to link to it anyway. It’s about the same volume, slightly lighter, and charges 20% faster. It also has a low power mode that can output more total energy at the cost of charging your phone slower, which could be good for overnight charging.

Buy at Nitecore

Two Rokid Max 1.5M USB-C Cables New Perfect

I care enough about gear that I went to Tokyo, went to the electronics stores, and took a caliper so that I could measure every cable and find the thinnest. Turns out the thinnest cable was already at home— the HDMI cable that came with my video glasses I used to travel with is WAY thinner than any other cable I’ve found. It also supports video over USB-C which no normal cables do. This is especially important when you see the next thing on my list.

I have a coupler so that I can combine both cords into one 3M cord (note: the coupler will only work one way. If it doesn’t work, flip one cable around), or I can plug each cable in to the CIO dual port charger and charge my phone and laptop at the same time.

These cables are so thin and light that it’s very easy to stuff two into a tiny pocket along with the coupler. They go in and out of stock. I bought several extras so that I’ll never run out.

Buy at Rokid

1964 Ears Custom IEMs With AliExpress cable

Two years ago I tried to switch to something that’s easier for people to buy (Samsung Bud Pros), but these are just so comfortable that I keep going back to them. Because they are custom molded to my ears they don’t push on my ears at all, so I can wear them for a whole flight and barely notice that they’re there.

The audio quality is predictably excellent and better than I really need. The custom fit blocks a lot of noise.

They were originally wired, but you can buy all sorts of replacement cables on AliExpress that convert them to bluetooth. I like this style, which allows me to drape them over my neck so that they hang there when I have them out.

Buy at 64 Audio (Realistically mine are a totally different model that they don’t make anymore, so you may have to do your own research)

Incharge 6 Keychain XL Cable New

For those who aren’t familiar, this can connect any combination of USB A, USB C, micro USB, and lightning (or USB-C to USB-C). I use it for transferring files and for charging my phone while my laptop is plugged in.

I got a bigger one last year because the small one is just annoying enough to use that I find myself avoiding it. The only thing I don’t like is that the microUSB is shared with lightning, and it’s a little bit finicky. It always works in the end, but I’d rather get rid of lightning and just have a normal microusb.

Buy at Amazon

Vaio Vision+ Portable Monitor New Perfect

I noticed that as I approached certain tasks I’d think, “Nah, I’ll just do it when I’m home and I have my huge monitor”. But what if I could just have a huge monitor while I traveled? I tried using the Rokid video glasses I had in my list a couple years ago, but shifting focus between them and the laptop was too annoying.

Then I found the Vision+ monitor. It is so thin and light that it feels fake, runs 1920×1080, and is bright enough. It has two USB-C ports, so you can power it from the wall and then power your laptop directly from it (or you can power it from your laptop with no external power). It’s almost exactly the same size as my laptop screen, and almost the exact same height, so when put next to it, it feels like a huge wide screen.

Fun fact… a Macbook Air is 2.7lb. My X1 Carbon AND my monitor combined are 2.89 lb.

The case that comes with the monitor is super bulky, so I just threw it away. All of the ads in Japan for this monitor show them absolutely thrashing it, so I just put the screen against my laptop lid and put them in the backpack together. No problems after almost a year. I do wish the backpack had a separate sleeve like the Minaal did so that I could more easily take my laptop in/out without the monitor (like on a plane where there’s not enough room).

Buy at Vaio

Aurzen Zip Tri-Fold Projector New Perfect

This was an absolute longshot that ended up paying off. I saw it on Kickstarter, ordered it, and expected to use it once or twice and put it in the closet. But now it has a permanent spot in my backpack.

It’s a folding projector that has made every compromise exactly perfectly. It’s just bright enough that it’s pleasant to watch. The sound is just good enough that you don’t really need a speaker. The battery life is just good enough to get you through a short show. The resolution is 720p, just barely good enough. And all of those compromises lead to a super light projector that easily fits in your pocket.

I’ve used it in a rented RV, several cruise cabins, the bulkhead seat of an airplane, the ceilings and walls of hotels that don’t let you hook up to their TVs, the wall of my aunt’s house, an extra piece of chloroplast on the island.

It looks great at 50-70″, and watchable up to about 90-100″.

The case that came with this projector was enormous, so I designed and 3D printed a 2mm thick one. If you want the STL file, let me know.

Buy at Amazon

Western Rise Versa Hat New

I so rarely wear this that I almost didn’t include it, but when I went to take the gear post photos I realized that it was still in my bag, so I might as well. It’s so light that you don’t even notice it’s there.

The handful of times I’ve worn it, though, it’s been great. It keeps the sun out of your eyes and can be stuffed into a pocket if you don’t need to wear it anymore. Great for hikes where you’re walking towards the sun.

Recommended to me by Adam Ruggle.

Buy at Western Rise

Summary

Sorry it took a while to get this one out this year (though actually it was faster than last year). I always end up making last minute changes and am testing a bunch of stuff, and then I have to schedule getting photos taken, etc.

It probably goes without saying, but I’m just so happy about my collection of gear these days. Every year my functionality increases, and weight stays about the same.

At home I have a projector and a nice big monitor, and now when I travel I have those things too. It makes longer stays or cruises feel a bit more seamless. It’s also nice to get a little bit more versatility out of my power cords (and redundancy), and have a warmer jacket in the same footprint.

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I want to do a Tea Time with Tynan video to show off the new year, but I’m traveling for the next little while and don’t have a clear time to do it. Subscribe to my YouTube channel to get a notification of when I do it.

The author is correct and the despair that generation feels hit me in the gut. But I think there’s more to the story.

Even though I’m 45, I’d argue I lived through the exact same scenario, so I am better equipped than most to give advice.

I found it impossible to work hard and do well at school. These days I’d probably be diagnosed with ADHD, but my experience was that learning in a classroom was too slow and boring and I had zero interest in what it was leading up to. I can’t remember exactly how I came to this conclusion, but even in middle school I knew there was no chance I would have a normal career. It’s hard to articulate thinking from 30+ years ago, but you’ll have to trust me when I say that I never once considered having a normal job long term.

At the same time, I was exposed to levels of wealth above that of my own family. My parents were middle class, but they prioritized education. I went to a private school for middle school and then one of the best public schools for high school. My middle school had families representing a range of wealth levels, but the top was quite high. A friend took me to Taiwan where we stayed in his family’s seven story house, and I remember going to a pool party on a classmate’s family complex that had an indoor pool.

In high school a friend was obsessed with Robb report, which made me obsessed with Robb report. I’ll never forget an advertisement for a private island in the back, which probably at least indirectly led to me getting one with my friends.

And besides all that, I’ve always just loved life and been so curious about what’s out there. I want to see and experience everything, from the low end to the high end.

On the surface, you might argue that I prove the author’s point. I was actually a professional gambler for many years, a good portion of my success has come through crypto, and the rest has come through being an entrepreneur and investing. I think there are some bigger factors at play though, and those same factors would be very useful to someone who finds themselves in the same dilemma.

One persistent factor is that everyone’s view on life is far too narrow. People limit their thoughts and actions to roughly what their peers do. I think it’s true that up until the 1980s if you just did what your peers were doing (go to school, get a job, etc.) you would achieve a greater level of success than your parents. I can skip making the argument that this is true, because I think everyone innately understands this at this point. 

It’s always so strange to me when people complain about housing prices. Yes, they are much higher than before, especially compared to incomes. But… there are so many places that have inexpensive real estate. Everyone is looking at the same ten real estate markets, panicking because they can’t buy a house there. Why not go somewhere that’s not so in demand? You can buy a livable two bedroom in Vegas for $120k. Chicago real estate is extremely cheap. Go rural or to a less glamorous city and I bet you can find even better deals. And who cares if the jobs aren’t there? There’s never in history been a better time for remote jobs or being an entrepreneur.

If you don’t want to follow the beaten path, and you shouldn’t, you have to learn to be creative. There are so many incredible ways you can combine the resources available in this world, especially these days. Broaden your view and consider everything. Move somewhere weird, start a niche business, learn things other people don’t learn, be an interesting individual and create and incredible network of friends.

The higher levels of wealth, at least the parts of them that matter, have also never been more accessible. Physical luxury goods may be expensive, but they’re also so pointless that I don’t really care if people can’t get them. On the other hand, international travel is so cheap now that it’s not that difficult to get yourself into a position where you can truly see the world. Through the internet and AI, quality education is completely free and can be delivered at your own pace in your own time. You can connect with just about anyone in the world if you have a good enough pitch. 

This world is changing so fast that it requires creativity and resourcefulness most of all. Those are skills that you can develop on your own for free. Another skill, one that’s harder than ever to develop, is focus and attention span. That’s a tall order these days.

In addition to the given reasons for why younger people are turning towards gambling, I’d argue that our short attention span requires immediate gains rather than long term gains. No one cares about earning 8-10% a year, even though that growth will lead to wealth. I’ve been trying to get my siblings to invest money for years, and they only finally did it once I made a spreadsheet that showed that those modest gains coupled with meaningful monthly contributions will lead to them becoming millionaires. They had no idea.

The one aspect of gambling that can be positive, and one that I’ve harnessed for my entire life, is understanding risk and expected value, and harnessing asymmetric risks. Betting on a sports game is dumb— you have no advantage there. But spending a month testing out an idea that could lead to a successful startup? That’s worth trying. 

The guaranteed path to success used to be go to school, follow the rules, get a job, buy a house. That worked for most people who did it. That path is gone now. 

Now there are a lot of paths, but here’s the one I’d prescribe because it will always work. Live below your means as long as you can, including going to a low cost of living area. Don’t live where people who made it are living, live where YOU can make it. You can move wherever you want later. Start a business, work remotely, or both. Don’t indulge in dopamine hits like video games, feeds, the news, reels, etc. Build habits that will serve you for life like a long attention span. Find other people who are on a similar path and help each other. Don’t follow what other people are doing. By the time they’re crowing about it, it’s already too late.

Contrary to what the news says, I think there’s actually no better time to be trying to make your fortune and find your place in this world. The resources available to everyone are better than ever, and leverage through AI is unprecedented. The standard American path is dead, but we don’t have to mourn that. Let’s just move on to better things.

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Photo is the Colorado river just below the Hoover dam. There’s an amazing place you can hike to down there to camp and bathe in amazing hot springs!

Nature

Halfway through the year or so I felt like I was spending too much time in front of screens and decided to spend more time in nature. I decided I’d hike a small part of the Appalachian trail in 2026 and started researching lightweight gear (no one is surprised here…). I was worried I wouldn’t use the year very much but I’ve already gone camping a few times and have absolutely loved it. Believe it or not, Vegas has a couple really great camping spots. In the summer you can go up to the mountains where it’s cool, and in the winter you can hike to some amazing hot springs next to the Colorado river.

My wife and I also got into RV trips. We went from Vegas to Seattle and then did an RV trip through Banff a few months later. We were going to buy an RV and probably still will, but we’ve had too much going on to deal with it right now.

The boat also works again (I said it worked last year, but it ended up breaking for most of this year) and we’ve been out on it a ton. When we’re in Vegas we probably go camp across the lake on it once per week. I also did some fun upgrades so that we have good internet and tons of power while we’re out there. I’m probably going to write a blog post about boats because I don’t think people understand how awesome they are. Everyone knows they break a lot and are expensive, but they never realize that boat owners know this better than anyone and they still have boats.

Cruises

Speaking of boats, I went on 6 cruises for a total of around 66 days. Sort of crazy that 18% of my year is on a cruise ship! Abstractly it felt like borderline too many cruises, but as I look back at the photos, each one was such an amazing time that I couldn’t choose one to have cut out. The best cruise by far was one where I had already planned on going with a bunch of friends, and then invited family members, thinking they probably wouldn’t come. It ended up being 50/50 family and friends and was such an awesome memorable time.

(Photo is a cool cliff view from Funchal, Madeira)

CruiseSheet

And… I’m in the business of cruises! AI programming became amazing in 2025 so I finally nailed down some features I’ve always wanted. Mainly the cruise ship tracker and the port guides. The port guides are so good that they’re basically the only thing I check when I go to a new port. I didn’t work a ton of hours, but AI helped me get some great leverage and get good results. The business has grown a little bit YoY, but not tremendously. That’s ok— I’m happy to have the site I like instead of the most profitable site.

Island Progress

Speaking of places I go that are totally surrounded by water… 2025 was an amazing year for the island. We had some really memorable and fun trips and got a lot done. We now have indoor running hot and cold water, power, and internet (internet may have been last year, can’t remember). My cabin has also come along nicely and is 100% waterproof and has two decks, one screened in and one open. I love spending time there and already can’t wait to get back there this spring.

Photo is my cabin

Art

I was on a tear ten years ago buying art, but I hadn’t bought too much since then. This year I got two art pieces that I had been hunting for for years. The first is a ceramic piece by Yu Tanaka. Todd waited outside at her show in Tokyo so that he could be the first in and we could buy sculptures before she sold out. I also got an oil panting by Károly Lotz, who is my favorite Hungarian artist.

Photo is the Yu Tanaka sculpture. It’s ceramic, not cloth.

Art of Watchmaking

My Rolex had started to be a bit fast (10 seconds a day). I was about to take it in to get it fixed and then I thought… why don’t I try to fix it first? If I break it more, I was going to get it fixed anyway. I had to buy this wrench that’s so small that you can’t see the jaws with the naked eye, and used it to adjust the two weights on the balance wheel. It worked! I honestly couldn’t believe it.

Photo is me working on it. I couldn’t get a picture of me with the wrench because the slightest tremor could break the watch.

Family

This was an awesome year for family. I spent a ton of time with my nephew, and every year he’s more fun to interact with. Family members came on a cruise with me, came to the island, and met me in Japan. Since covid I had fallen out of visiting my dad’s side of the family, but I spent some great time with them this year and am already planning to see them again this summer.

My grandfather loves hearing about my travels and random real estate purchases, but he’s 95 and doesn’t travel anymore. This year I had the idea to buy a Quest 3 to record my spaces and then let him put it on and look around. He was absolutely blown away and can’t wait to see more. So much for extra space in my backpack.

Friends

I made a couple of new friends this year, including one who introduced me to the world of board game conventions. I could write a whole blog post about that. I spent a lot of quality time with my existing friends, both in Vegas and on trips all over the place. I also went to a middle school reunion and reconnected with a few of my favorite people from then. My middle school was a really special place with special people, and it’s been so fun to see who they’ve become. I met one of them and his family in Chicago after the reunion, and another and her family came to visit in Vegas.

Chicago

My wife and I bought a place in Chicago. I thought i was done with more home bases but I spent a week in Chicago and was just blown away by how awesome it is. I’ve been enjoying the museum, the ballet, the symphony, kayaking on the river, the food, the architecture, and just walking around a beautiful city. Of course I mainly like that it’s an opportunity for me to do projects. Now I am really done buying new places… It’s already too hard for me to visit all of the places I have as much as I’d like to.

Photo is me kayaking in the Chicago river.

Travel

Other than cruises, it was a pretty normal travel year. I went to all of our properties 2-3 times and went to some new places. My favorite new place was Poland. Both Krakow and Warsaw were amazing, and I look forward to spending more time there. We visited the salt mine outside of Krakow and I thought that was one of the more unique things I had seen all year. I’m now up to 99 countries visited, which is the most annoying number to be at. It’s such a pointless achievement and yet when you’re at 99, all you think of is going to one more country so you can never think about the number of countries you’ve been to again. 

Photo is a church inside the salt mine.

The Future

I have very few goals these days, especially stuff that won’t happen automatically. I’ll visit at least one new country and get to 100. I’d like to do more cool trips with family members and friends. The Chicago apartment needs a lot of work… The bulk of it is done, but a big bathroom remodel will come some time this year. I’d like to write more blog posts than last year. I think a lot about becoming more active on X, starting a podcast or youtube channel, etc. I’ve spent the past year trying to deprogram myself from being so frugal with some success. Hopefully I’ll continue down that path. Other than that… more of the same would be great. I’m a lucky guy with a great life and great people in my life.

How was your year? Every year I ask for people to send me a recap of their year. I’d love to hear how you did with your goals, what you did this year, what you hope to do next year. I read all of them and if you send me one I search to see if you sent me one the year before and I re-read it. Also if you want me to blog more, tell me what you’d like me to write about.

Hope you have an amazing 2026!

###

Main photo is a view of our campsite near the hot springs. You can see the tents in the bottom left. The title is Bye 2025 in Polish.

A lot of my complaints about Tesla are still true. I really hate that the interiors use fake leather everywhere. The touchscreen isn’t as bad as I expected, but I would love to have more physical buttons. And if it weren’t for one factor, I’d say that the cars are overpriced.

That one factor is Full Self Driving. Less than a year ago I predicted that in ten years self driving wouldn’t be good enough to do point to point. I am already totally wrong!

If you haven’t driven a Tesla on FSD 12 or later, you have no idea how amazing it is. A friend of mine in Vegas is a proud Tesla owner, and every time there is a new version of FSD, he insists that I try it. Up until version 12, it terrified me. I borrowed his car for a road trip to Utah once and my family was so scared by its driving on version 11 that they kept asking me to turn it off. Then I borrowed it on version 12 and it drove me all the way across Vegas, through construction, with zero scary moments.

My new car was on 13, not the newest version 14 (because the car dealership didn’t have it on wifi to get updates), but from the dealership in Arizona I typed in my address in Vegas and it just started driving. I cannot believe how competent and confident FSD is. In a busy dealership parking lot with cars and people moving everywhere it gracefully wiggled its way out, made some unprotected left turns, and got onto the highway. Other than choosing higher speeds than I’d choose (I adjusted later), it drove so perfectly that I actually forgot that I had to look at the road. I felt like a passenger in my own car, and felt safer than when most Uber drivers drive. Truly astounding.

It added a stop for a supercharger on the way. It pulled off the highway, drove to the supercharger, and backed into the spot! I didn’t tell it to do that, it just did it. Then I just plugged the plug in (it figured out my account and payment) and it started charging. It charges at a rate of 1000 miles per hour! So in five minutes I got another 85 miles of range, which was enough to get home. The supercharger experience is honestly one of the best commercial interactions I’ve ever had.

My wife’s car was at the airport and it couldn’t quite figure out how to get to the random parking lot it was parked at, but other than that it drove the rest of the trip perfectly.

I bought a 2023 Model S with AI Hardware 4. I did a lot of research and considered every model, but I chose this one for a few reasons. It has the best interior of all of the Teslas. I’d still say the seats are well below a BMW or Mercedes in terms of comfort and feel, but the wood trim looks nice and the minimal interior where everything is controlled from the screen isn’t as bad as I expected. The glass moonroof is cool. I got the cream interior and even though I don’t like the material, it looks good.

It’s all wheel drive, which is sometimes required to go up the mountain to go skiing in Vegas.

The car is absurdly fast. I didn’t get a Plaid version, but it’s still faster than most Ferraris. That’s pretty wild. Cargo space is great.

I like that the car looks totally unimpressive and you’d never guess it is (trying to be) fancy or fast. In that regard it reminds me a bit of the VW Phaeton, which I’ve always thought is one of the coolest cars ever made.

The 2023 model S has a range of about 400 miles! Even with some miles and wear on the battery, it still has much more range than the newest Model Y.

The phone key works incredibly well. You walk close to the car and it unlocks and the handles pop out. Walk away and it locks.

Really though, all I care about is that it can drive itself. No hands on the wheel, just looking out the front most of the time, and it feels like you have a chauffer. As I finished my five hour road trip last night (with zero fatigue), I realized that it doesn’t feel like a car to me— it feels like a totally new product. At the risk of a bit of hyperbole, it feels something like going from a horse and buggy to a car.

Part of what convinced me to buy the car is that the robotaxis use the same AI hardware. That means that within a year there’s a good chance I’ll be able to send the car from my house to the airport to pick me up, which is really the dream.

Anyway, now I’m one of those annoying people who may not be able to stop talking about Teslas. At the very least, ask to sit in the driver’s seat of a friend’s Tesla who has FSD 12 or later. Experiencing it as a passenger is cool, but it feels totally different when you’re sitting in the driver’s seat. The self driving is so good now that I think it’s insane to choose any other car. And there are also some pretty good deals to be had.

FSD 12 can run on Hardware 3 (HW3) and is absolutely good enough to be worth an upgrade from a normal car. FSD 14 requires HW4, and I think it’s worth paying the extra money for it if you can afford it. I’d rather have the worst HW4 car than the best HW3.

###

Photo is someone else’s Model S but mine looks exactly the same.

Gear post IS coming. I meant to take the photos at Thanksgiving but didn’t have the chance so now I have to schedule a trip to get them taken properly. It’s going to be a good one!

—

I have now probably finished the first half of my life, so I thought I would try to condense the most important lessons I’ve learned so far into a format that may be useful to you as you grow up. My fear is that you’ll make the same mistake that I sometimes made, which is that you will hear advice, believe it doesn’t apply to you, and then a decade or two later realize it actually did apply to you. Maybe ignoring advice like that is part of growing up, though.

The reason I believe that my advice will be useful to you is primarily because I arrived at most of these conclusions by myself through experimentation and trial and error, and have also been able to successfully translate that advice to other people through coaching. Also, anecdotally, I think I have the best life I could possibly imagine, largely because of the lessons I’ve learned. Your ideal life will look different from mine, but I think the underlying principles will hold true regardless.

My first piece of advice, which will undermine all of the following advice, is that you should listen to a large number of people and make your own decisions based on all of the information you learn. So even though I’ll be happiest if you just do everything I say to do, and I’m completely convinced that I’m correct, the truth is that no one is completely correct and you’ll benefit most by exposing yourself to the best ideas of many people and analyzing them yourself.

At your core, your goal should be to be the best version of yourself and to share that person with the world. Almost everyone, at some point or another, makes the mistake of trying to conform to a generic ideal of what a person should be. This isn’t just a difficult game, but it’s a game that’s impossible to win. No matter how hard you work towards reaching someone else’s goals for you, you will never reach your own. Discover what is important to you and work towards that.

Maybe the most direct piece of advice I’ll give in this letter is to never drink, use drugs, or smoke. This is also the piece of advice I’m most scared you’ll ignore, because most kids will experiment with it, and without the benefit of decades of life experience and seeing different paths people take, it’s very hard to understand why it’s bad. In school you’ll be given many reasons not to do these things, but they miss the most important reason not to, in my opinion.

You shouldn’t drink, smoke, or do drugs, because these things give you results that you haven’t earned. In the short term this is great, but in the long run it makes you lazy and incomplete. For example, drinking can make you act more confidently. When you act more confidently, you will almost always get better results. But alcohol doesn’t actually make you confident. And, in fact, it can make you less confident because you never build the skill of confidence. Every effect of these drugs is to receive a feeling that you haven’t “earned”, and every time you do it you become less able to create that feeling naturally. When you are young you can’t tell the difference because someone who just starts drinking hasn’t missed out on a lifetime of learning actual social skills, confidence, etc., but over decades the effect compounds and people who casually use these substances often become unable to function normally without them.

The counterargument would be that some people use these things in moderation and receive some of the benefits with none of the downsides. This is true. My response would be that you are still better off not needing them and that it’s very risky to assume that you’ll just happen to nail that compromise. All of the substances I mentioned are fundamentally addictive and there’s just no point in taking that risk. You should take risks in your life, but they should always be risks with very high payoffs and manageable risks. Alcohol, smoking, and drugs are the opposite— they offer very limited upside with nearly unlimited downside.

On the subject of risks, you should take a lot of risks when you are young. In particular, if you’re inclined to start a business you should do so. If you put all of your money into a business and fail, it’s very easy to just start again. Try ten of them with enough diligence and you’ll have one be successful. You’ll also find a lot of peers in the same position, so it’s fun to learn and try things together. As you get older you have more to lose and less time to recover, so you’ll be more reluctant to put it all on the line. When I was in my twenties I assumed I’d have the same attitude in my forties, but I definitely don’t.

I’d like to convince you to invest money young and let it compound, but I’ve found it’s almost impossible to understand why this is important and how well it works until you’ve seen it work for other people. And even more difficult is to convince you that when you’re old enough to enjoy the money that it will still matter. When I was a teenager I remember being totally unable to fathom being forty, and not really caring very much about my forty-year-old self. But time flies and I’m incredibly grateful for the sacrifices I made when I was younger that have paid off in the meantime.

The argument, though, is this: any money you invest at 20, will be worth about 4.5x when you’re 40 and about 32x when you’re 65. It can feel like those ages don’t matter or that you’re so disconnected from them that there’s no point in considering them, but when you reach those ages and the sum of your decisions has shaped your life, you’ll either be very glad or regretful for the decisions you made.

You will find competing pressures to impress different people. You want to seem cool to your friends, attractive to girls, like a good son to your parents, etc. Sometimes these pressures compete with each other. Your friends may think it’s cool for you to sneak out, but your parents may be disappointed if they catch you. It’s best to seek to impress only yourself, mostly because you have to live with yourself 24/7 and it’s hard to fake things to yourself. In the meantime, you’ll probably find that by impressing yourself you end up impressing everyone else by accident, because it’s rare to find someone who seeks only their own validation. This is especially impressive to people who are busy trying to impress other people, which is almost everybody.

It’s hard to imagine what the world will be like when you read this advice. Technological change has been the defining factor of my generation, and with AI just now becoming mainstream, it seems that this change will only accelerate. In a world where technology dominates it’s good to be involved in it and to understand it, but outsized results will be had by focusing on universal skills that others have forgotten. Learn social skills, learn to be an interested and interesting person, learn to have empathy and kindness. Learn technology too, but you’ll find that both in your personal and professional life, these soft skills are rarer and therefore more valuable.

The people you are around will end up being one of the biggest factors in the quality of your life. This is less obvious when you’re young because you’re just around people all the time. As you get older you have to be a good friend for people to want to be around you. Being a good friend and having good friends are the biggest assets you can possibly have in your life. The easiest way to be a good friend is to be interested in your friends lives and to be there for your friends even when it isn’t convenient for you. If you say you are going to be somewhere or do something, follow up and do it. If a friend entrusts you with a secret, don’t share it. If a friend needs your help, offer it without expecting anything back.

I’m the kind of person who can rattle off advice all day, but I think if you just do these things you’re guaranteed to have a great life and to make the lives of those around you better. I’m excited to see the person you become!

###

Picture is me and my favorite little guy on his first island trip!

The gear post should come in December this year… I think it’s the best one in many years, with tons of new stuff most people have never heard of!

On the last day of the convention one of Michael’s friends picked us up to show us around the city. I had no real impression of Chicago prior to this. I had been a few times in the past, but only in the winter which didn’t lend itself towards exploring the city. The way he talked about Chicago was how I talk about Las Vegas. He loved his city and was excited to tell us about all of the hidden sides to it that we weren’t aware of.

He took us to Pequod’s pizza. I love pizza, but am generally not a huge deep dish fan. Pequod’s was amazing. I had never had deep dish that good before, and I literally thought about the pizza about five times a week for the next six months. 

After talking about this pizza for half a year, my wife and I finally found some time to go to the city together on a one day layover before another trip. We ubered to Pequod’s (it was good, but not quite as good as I remembered), walked around the city and went to an amazing pinball arcade.

Chicago is a strange city. It’s the third biggest city in the US and no one I know has ever mentioned it. Everyone talks about SF, LA, New York, Miami, Austin, etc… but none of my friends ever seem to go to Chicago. And yet… I think it’s a lot nicer than those cities. The river runs through downtown, with bridges every block or so. The skyline is incredible. The food is great. It’s in an interesting geographic location, not that far from the east or west coast, with great flights to Europe and Asia.

And… the real estate is absurdly cheap. If there’s one thing I can’t resist, it’s real estate that is underpriced. I wasn’t sure if I’d actually buy a place there, but either way my wife and I wanted to spend more time so we booked a week-long trip and contacted a real estate agent.

We had a great week in Chicago. The Art Institute is one of the best museums I’ve been to, and the only one that elicited an audible “oh my god”, by both me and my friend as we walked into the Monet room. Qiao Lin was the best hotpot I’ve ever had (and I spend a lot of time in China), and Au Cheval is perhaps tied for best burger. We saw the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia Festival, which is an amazing outdoor symphony hall. The architecture was, to me, more interesting than that of any other US city, especially when seen from the river on an architectural tour. I even met up with a reader (hi Noah!) at Living Water, a surprisingly good tea house that appears to be a boba place when you look it up online.

All of our condo showings were at the end of the week. The night before I started doing the math on it and realized that it doesn’t actually make sense to buy a place there. The taxes and HOA fees are so high that financially it makes a lot more sense to go visit several times a year and stay in a nice hotel. I didn’t want to cancel the showings, but I went into them thinking, “Too bad… I wish the numbers made more sense so that I could actually buy a place in good conscience.” My wife was campaigning for just staying in hotels and said if I wanted to buy an apartment I could do it by myself.

The first three units were okay. If I were actually moving to Chicago I’d be happy in any of them, but in each case I had to admit that staying at a hotel would probably be just as good, if not better. The fourth was better and I felt like maybe I could convince myself it would be better than a hotel, but I knew I was stretching.

The last was a wildcard. The images online made it look terrible, but the location was amazing and so was the price. As soon as we walked in, we saw something that you couldn’t see from the listing— the view. My wife, previously quite uninterested in buying, turned to me and said, “I think we should buy this one together”. I went out on the balcony and realized there was no way I could avoid buying the condo. It was just too good, and with the view it was much better than any hotel room we could get. 

As we returned the keys to the front desk I took a glance at the visitor log. Other units for sale in the building had maybe one visitor, but this one had five. We put in an offer immediately, and were told that there was a competing offer. In my estimation the unit was actually worth about 20-25% more than the list price, so I was worried that we were about to get into a bidding war. I don’t quite know how he pulled it off, but our realtor managed to get it for us for under asking. I looked up historic prices in the building and couldn’t find a single one of this size that went for this price.

The next day I went to do the inspection myself. At first glance many of the systems like the fridge and AC seemed to be broken, but it turned out that they actually all worked fine. I was totally prepared for a major renovation, but it turned out it only needed cosmetic fixes. It was being sold by a trustee of an estate, who I believe never had it inspected or even cleaned, so my theory is that the seller and any other buyer assumed it was much worse than it was.

We closed a few days ago and in a couple days I’ll go to the condo for the first time and start getting to work.

The best part of having properties all around the world is getting to know places in a much deeper way than I could if I just visited. I went to the island twice in the past month and was reflecting on what a unique privilege it is to get to know the community there. When we arrived our neighbors gave us a basket of homemade baked goods and vegetables from their garden. When we went to dinner the waitresses remembered my name and asked what projects we were doing this trip. The lady at the hardware store told me about her trip to Vegas because she knows I live there. 

I’m really looking forward to getting to know Chicago. It feels like a massively underrated city with a ton to offer, and its strengths and weaknesses complement Vegas perfectly. Vegas’ biggest weakness is the lack of fine arts, but Chicago has that in spades. It’s freezing in Chicago in the winter, but Vegas has great winter weather. Vegas has a brand new powerhouse hockey team, Chicago has one of the original six teams and is rebuilding with one of the hottest rookies in almost a decade. Vegas has a very small walkable downtown, Chicago goes on forever. It’s also a ~3.5 hour flight between the two cities, which is just under my threshold of long flights. If I look a month out, round trip flights are mostly under $100, with several days in the $39-50 range. 

I know I’ve said it before… but I think this must be my last real estate purchase. Between Hawaii, Vegas, Chicago, Budapest, Tokyo, and the island… I’m going to need longer years.

Any Chicago recommendations? Do you live in Chicago? I may do a meetup there at some point.

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Photo is the skyline from the First Lady architectural tour. It’s rare that I’d say a tourist thing is a must-do, but that tour definitely is.

My next sentence was originally, “now is one of those times for business”, but the opportunity is actually much broader than that. Now is one of those times for… almost anything.

Right now you can multiply your individual effort by at least 10X in many different fields, and very few people actually realize this or are doing it. You can get ahead right now, but that window will close over the next year as everyone one else catches on (or hires/subcontracts people who have caught on).

A few months ago when cohesive good quality video generation first made it to my feeds (and I assume I was late to it since I don’t really care about video generation), I called a friend in a panic. In high school he made a pretty awesome documentary about us camping out for Star Wars, he went to USC to study film, got an internship at a major TV show, etc. Then… nothing, even though he always wanted to make movies.

Hey, I said, you can make your own movie now! He’s technical, so he could easily figure out how to make an entire movie, or at least a short. Invest a little bit of money and a lot of time, and he could have made the first AI movie! The bar for making a movie now is ostensibly pretty high… but the bar for making an AI movie is probably pretty low. I’d make a movie, release it everywhere online for free, hype up the fact that it’s the first fully AI movie… and now you are a famous filmmaker. What doors does that open?

Almost exactly one month ago I tried Claude Code for the first time. It’s software that can interact with your computer and your codebase to complete tasks for you all on its own. I typed in something like, “Make a visualization of a cruise ship’s path over the year”. I figured it would ask me some questions and then make a table that showed what port the ship was in each day. Instead it found the credentials to my database, went in and looked at my data, and built a site where you could choose one of the ships and it displayed its path on a map with a color-coded trail and detailed information below. My jaw literally dropped and I just kept saying, “Oh my god…”. Even being technically savvy and already using AI for some coding, I had no idea it was this good.

Since then I have made the same amount of progress that a dedicated Tynan would have made in 1-2 years, and probably more progress than I’ve actually made in the past 8 years. 

One month ago, CruiseSheet was still running on bootstrap and jquery. I had been wanting to move to tailwind and native javascript, but it was a daunting task. If you don’t understand what that means, the gist is recoding every single part of the site that the user sees. The few times I started ended up being so frustrating that I tabled the project. With Claude I completed it in a week and also redesigned almost every single page in the process. Oh, and while I was at it I optimized every aspect of the site for both SEO and speed. 

Not only would that one job take me months… I just didn’t want to do it. It’s a slog, won’t immediately improve the business, and frankly I don’t have to do it so I didn’t. That’s one of the magic parts of AI— it does the parts that you really don’t want to do, so work feels like only doing the parts that you enjoy. I’ve worked 12-16 hours most days over the past month but my memory of that is mostly watching YouTube videos, browsing the web, hanging out with my friend on a cruise, and checking in on Claude every 5-10 minutes. I’ve also spent hours just thinking about what I want to build, rather than worrying about how difficult it would be.

Work is also much more satisfying because every single day CruiseSheet can really become whatever I want it to be. I’ve always wanted to have a port guide that I would actually use… three days later I had one. I wanted to make a cool visualizer to see where all of the cruise ships were at any given time. Done. I can’t even remember all of the things I’ve done in the past month because I’m moving so fast. Maybe more than anything— I’m proud of the site again. I’ve always been proud of making a site that shows the best deals, but the look and feel and performance of the site had become dated and atrophied over the years. Not any more!

I’m not too focused on competition or even on making money, but… has any other cruise site made this much progress in the past month? I doubt it. And I’m going to keep working on it every day because there’s really nothing I’d rather do. By the time other companies figure out that they could be doing this too… I think I will have lapped them. As I write this post Claude is working on generating deck plans for every single deck on every single cruise ship. 

I use coding as an example because it’s what I’m doing, but there are opportunities in really every field. You can generate images, video, text, and automations using n8n. You can have ChatGPT or Claude come up with strategies to use those tools. You could literally go from having an idea to making your first sale in a day.

My guess is that people reading this will fall mostly into two groups: people who are already doing it who will think, “Yeah, obviously… I’ve already been doing this for months” and people who aren’t doing it who will think, “Yeah, but its probably not actually that good”. I was in the latter camp a month ago. If you’re there, you should at least spend a day and see what’s out there. It’s wild.

Not only are these tools powerful, but they’re actually usable by normal people now. Up until a month ago every line of CruiseSheet was hand coded by me. In the past month I have maybe coded 50 lines total out of thousands of lines that have been made. Some technical understanding has been helpful, but you really don’t even need to know the code anymore. There are other tools like Lovable and Replit that require zero knowledge.

There are very few moments in a lifetime with opportunity this extraordinary. The last one was Bitcoin/crypto (which I also happened to write about very early https://tynan.com/bitcoin/), and the one before that was probably the internet boom, which also changed my life. Even if you don’t think AI can help you… you should look into it because I bet you have no idea what it’s capable of.

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Photo is Shoshone falls in Idaho. My wife and I did a road trip from Vegas to Seattle a couple weeks ago. First time in an RV since I sold mine!

I made a bunch of blog-like posts on my X account with the idea that I might post blog posts there instead of on the blog. My first post got a ton of traction and I was encouraged… subsequent ones got less. We’ll see. Follow me there just in case.