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Showing posts from September, 2018

Expense Tracking on the Road

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So, I've been on the road now for just over two years. And like most of us travelers, I have a monthly / daily budget that I try to stick with. When I first started traveling I was writing down everything in a notepad and trying to put all my spending into a spreadsheet. But this was cumbersome and I got lazy. Soon I was traveling without any idea of how much money I was spending, or how much left for each month. I realized that I needed a better system for keeping track of my money so I went searching for an application. What I found was a plethora of apps. Most of the apps I tried have similar features. Setting a budget, adding expenses, a graph of some sort. All of the apps were free, but with a paid option to remove ads and add features. I didn't find a single application that was 100% free with all the features I wanted. In the end I ended up with an application call "Trabee Pocket". Here's why I like it, how to use it, and how it compared to other app

Condors and rivers

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The further south you go in Peru the more remote things get. Leaving Cusco I headed to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru. Riding out of the valleys and mountains, the landscape transformed to a lifeless high plain with rolling hills as far as the eye could see. These are the moments you hope you don’t have any bike problems. There is nothing here. There seems to be some new construction happening in the south as well. A new road, not on the map was one of the only options. I’ve learned that digital maps are not always the best idea. As I would find out later on my out of Colca Canyon. Halfway to Arequipa I stayed in a simple town for a night. Most of the towns here in the south are quite depressed. They are stops for truckers and travelers, but offer nothing more than a bed for the night. Arequipa is an oasis in a desolate land. The city sits in a small valley and is the only green patch in a 100 miles. The city had one of the nicer plazas I have seen in some ti