{"id":7,"date":"2008-11-28T06:45:25","date_gmt":"2008-11-28T13:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/?p=7"},"modified":"2008-11-28T10:53:49","modified_gmt":"2008-11-28T17:53:49","slug":"traveling-is-like-sex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/traveling-is-like-sex\/","title":{"rendered":"Traveling is like sex"},"content":{"rendered":"

In one of my travels, a backpacker once told me: “Traveling is like sex. \u00c2\u00a0If you’ve never had it, you don’t miss it. \u00c2\u00a0If you have, you spend all your waking hours thinking of how you’re going to do it again”. \u00c2\u00a0That pretty much sums up the past 6 years– figuring how I’m going to do it again.<\/p>\n

Since my last round-the-world excursion, traveling has gotten significantly easier. \u00c2\u00a0There is WIFI everywhere, 3G phones abound, and remaining online is a cinch. \u00c2\u00a0However, life has slowed down a bit, I got married, and traveling takes a tad more planning. \u00c2\u00a0Be that as it may, it doesn’t mean we’re not constantly scheming ways of taking off.<\/p>\n

Yano is finishing grad school, so traveling is limited to short vacations and the occassional Christmas excursion. \u00c2\u00a0This year is different, and we’ve already booked a flight to India: for a month. \u00c2\u00a0It’s not nearly enough, but enough to warm up the engines. \u00c2\u00a0Plus, it’s an actual vacation, no carting a laptop looking for internet cafes.<\/p>\n

In anticipation of the trip, we’re getting in the mood through\u00c2\u00a0Couch Surfing<\/a>, an on-line community of travelers opening their homes to each other. \u00c2\u00a0You leave references of people where you’ve stayed, and of guests you’ve hosted. \u00c2\u00a0There’s a vouching system, and a system where those who are most trustworthy, and have hosted the most show up at the top of the list while searching for a destination. \u00c2\u00a0I’ve yet to see negative feedbacks, but as everything in life, common sense goes a long way.<\/p>\n

Yano has been doing clinicals for 3 consecutive days in San Juan, and the 2.5 hour drive (each way) has been killing her. \u00c2\u00a0We decided to try couch surfing locally, and she stayed with a host in San Juan. \u00c2\u00a0Apparently, Puerto Rico is full of couch surfers. \u00c2\u00a0The experience was amazing; Amy was a fascinating host, and in her 6 months of hosting has befriended dozens of travelers. \u00c2\u00a0She has enough stories to keep you entertained through numerous train rides.<\/p>\n

Amy in turn, referred a couple from Ireland\/Poland our way. \u00c2\u00a0They’ve been staying with us for a couple days, and we keep convincing them every day to stay one more day. \u00c2\u00a0It’s been a week. \u00c2\u00a0Cathal makes the best Irish bread, and is a cook to boot. \u00c2\u00a0Cathal and Roxi are on their first stop on a year and a half adventure around the world, financially made possible by couch surfing.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"We
We took Cathal and Roxi coffee picking in a local plantation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Couch Surfing makes traveling economically feasible through expensive countries like the US, Puerto Rico, and western Europe. \u00c2\u00a0Plus, you get to spend time with locals, not businessmen drinking margaritas in a bar. \u00c2\u00a0If you want to meet locals, absorb the culture, and do so cheaply: there are few better alternatives.<\/p>\n

Couch Surfing: creating a better world one couch at a time!<\/p>\n

p.s. 17 days until India<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In one of my travels, a backpacker once told me: “Traveling is like sex. \u00c2\u00a0If you’ve never had it, you don’t miss it. \u00c2\u00a0If you have, you spend all your waking hours thinking of how you’re going to do it again”. \u00c2\u00a0That pretty much sums up the past 6 years– figuring how I’m going to … Continue reading Traveling is like sex<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions\/13"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quesejoda.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}