Guidebook Series
urbanish vs. outdoorsy
When it comes to traveling preferences and style, I am more of an urban traveler. I love and crave natural settings but I'm no wilderness survivalist. My Mom is a badass field geologist who has spent months at a time hammering away at rocks in Siberian steppes and Alaskan tundras and can start a campfire in a rainstorm with a box of matches. Me? My specialty is cultural analysis and communication with fellow
humans. Translation: I'd rather take my chances against, say, "tough guys" in some random metropolis than, say, arctic wolverines in some random tundra (I've been around both and can testify that wolverines are at least six hundred sixty six percent harder to negotiate with than even the most obnoxious among our own species...)
Don't get me wrong, I don't just travel to cities: I go to the countryside, hike ruins, walk trails, visit national parks, stroll botanical gardens, etc. – but these are fairly “controlled” natural settings with other people around as opposed to the open “wilderness” when it's just me against the elements.
So, what you can expect from me in this book is experience and advice on how to get around in foreign social environments, not so much surviving the great outdoors. Most of my travel skills are geared toward making the best out of social dynamics and institutions around the world: culture, language, food, making friends and staying safe.