A hidden gem - Smith's Beach in Turks and Caicos

We have snorkeled in most Caribbean and Atlantic nations, and I have to say my favorite spot in the Caribbean is Smith's Beach on Providenciales in Turks and Caicos. We stopped here on our way to the airport on our last day in Provo, and I still regret leaving that great aquatic morning experience. It really has three great things going for it:   

1. It is hard to get to and thus abnormally empty relative to the quality of the reef/beach. This also makes it an intrinsically rewarding place to stumble upon.
2. It is a very healthy reef with a ton of aquatic critters.
3. It is located close to world class Grace Bay

Show up with a mask and some fins and have at it. We saw a few turtles and a ton of interesting fish and reef formations. This would be a perfect place to do a mid day picnic with some treats from  Graceway Gourmet. I will give detailed directions at the end of this post.

Grace Bay in Turks and Caicos

First cold day of Fall fell upon Atlanta today, and I could not help but wish I was in Turks and Caicos.  Good lord that place is awesome. Here are some of my shots of Grace Bay by Provo in Turks and Caicos.

Dancing with ghosts at Tikal in Guatemala

In the 19th century, a gum sapper by the name of Ambrosio Tut stumbled upon an ancient city deep in the jungles of Guatemala. The Mayan are on full display here and the ethereal quality of their forgotten and refound ancient glory runs deep. There are temples to explore and the jungle still holds more secrets - there is no doubt. Hidden beneath roots and under soft Guatemalan soil is a forgotten world that has slowly emerged. We can let go of the past, but sometimes the past does not want to let go of us. A gripping place.

Pacaya Volcano Guatemala

Even the Guatemalan volcanic highlands are within Coca Cola's grasp 

Giant robot in Tokyo

Towering over a massive mall, smoking from the shoulder like a badass

The edge of the future, Portugal

Some people stare as the explorers leave.

Antigua, Guatemala - the best place in Guatemala

Guatemala is an incredibly underrated country, often passed over for Belize, Costa Rica, and Mexico. But. There is an immense amount of culture and beauty within Guatemala. Nowhere is this more evident than in Antigua.

Like a town lost in time on a cloud, Antigua feels aloof to the modern age. Impeccably charming, safe, and enticing, every corner brings an excitement with it. Curious buildings and hallowed out ruins and preserved artifacts of colonial brilliance conspire to create an unreal collection of a place in time. It feels like the past effortlessly disregarding the present. It looks like something out of a remembered dream, just passing by as you pass through.

Before the rain

About 3 or 4 years ago, I was reading a book on photography, and this one part in the preface has stuck with me ever since. The author told this story about how he was taking pictures in NYC early in his career and at one point during the day, he suddenly realized he was a photographer. 

Now I like this on a few levels. First, I like the idea of someone having a cathartic realization that they finally "are" something. Like this guy took a ton of pictures for years and years, and finally after taking just one of thousands and thousands of shots, something changed within him. He went from taking pictures to being a photographer. I also like the idea that if you work hard enough, and keep at it, you can eventually become what you want to become. 

It is why we do the things we do, but this realization is rarely so before and after or binary. The realist in me believes it grows slowly like a tree. The romantic in me wants to believe something can just change. That one day, you go one step further and are never the same.

I waited for this moment to happen to me. I wanted to be a photographer, but that shot never came. I wanted to be a writer, but no word pushed me suddenly to realization. But today, while balancing a thousand things, and trying to do a thousand more, it hit me. I am an entrepreneur. It happened on a Friday night, while people were going out and there was a certain excitement in the air on Ponce in Atlanta. I was in the FedEx parking lot wrapping a box in shrink wrap, writing an exec summary in my mind, hoping I would remember to capture the moment somehow. Suddenly things felt different, I was busier, but calmer, and everything slowed down. 

When did Noah build the ark?

Eating at At.mosphere in Dubai - the world's tallest restaurant

 

Dubai is a city of realized hyperbole. It has the tallest building in the world, man-made islands shaped like the world’s continents, and a restaurant high high above the towering skyscrapers below. At.mosphere, a restaurant in Dubai’s towering Burj Khalifa, provides a dining experience with a view reminiscent of glancing out the window of a plane. It is preposterously thrilling to savor a plate of foie gras 122 floors above what appears to be the world’s largest game of Sim City developing below, spreading out into open desert.

Reaching At.mosphere involves a few steps absent from most dining arrangements. First, one must enter the tallest building in the world, approach a sleek metal elevator, and make a very important choice that is really no choice at all. Only one option exists in the elevator – floor 123. With no stops to make on the way up, the elevator travels with a speedy transcendence that feels just a few technological steps removed from teleportation – 33 feet per second. In the time it takes a middle school graduate to read this paragraph, the doors swing open to reveal a spiral staircase leading to the restaurant one floor below.

The Burj AL Arab is okay by me

Long before Dubai began showing up at the bottom of fashion advertisements along with Paris, New York, and Tokyo, it was all sand and ambition. It was once simply desert and an idea. An “if you build it, they will come” on the most massive scale. Build it, they did.

As the years piled on, Dubai transformed. The skyscrapers grew like weeds in an untended lawn. Any doubt that the city was primed to be a world class destination was responded to with the sonic roar of hundreds of buildings rising from the ground almost overnight. Ready or not, here it comes.

Today, the hotels in Dubai have more stars than the milky way. The roads run smooth and are stocked with fluorescent hypercars and murdered out Mercedes Gelandewagens. Construction cranes sway in the gentle Arabian breeze next to impossibly tall buildings. The malls have ski slopes and aquariums with neat little Guinness World Record plaques. Man-made islands shaped like palm trees maximize beach front real estate just offshore. It is a place where the compendium of engineering knowledge has been plundered, nudging the limits of man-made extravagance into open space. Engineers come to Dubai to test the pliability of steel, the outrageous whims of architectural imagination, and the possibility of solving impossible problems.

And it all began with one building – the Burj Al Arab.

Three magical days in Bagan, Myanmar

Bagan is an ancient city. Thousands of temples, pagodas, and stupas unfold across the dusty plains as if they have grown here organically from the ground for millenia. It is a place that feels older than time. The ambitions of this primeval capital are evident in every direction. The sheer number of ancient structures is at once baffling and awe-inspiring. No place on earth reflects this grandiose quality of scale as much as Bagan.

Top 10 types of travel theft (and how to be safe)

In many large cities of the world, thieves hunt travelers from the shadows. They watch you take pictures at monuments, eat tapas at an outdoor cafe, and if you are unlucky, they will follow your steps with excited eyes as you fall into one of their traps. A few years ago while visiting Quito, thieves dumped a bucket of crap on me from a rooftop and then jumped me for my camera. It was
horrible.

Fear-mongering aside, travelers are chosen as targets because they are not completely in tune to their surroundings. Maybe you are jet lagged, or you just ate a dangerous meal that has left you weak with intestinal anxiety, or you are lost in an uncomfortable part of Paris – these are all circumstances where you are in a vulnerable state and therefore a target of thieves. Like hyenas hunting for weakened game, thieves seek out confused tourists and map clenchers with wayward eyes.
These crooked opportunists have many breeds: child gangs in Italy looking for sincere mid-westerners, Vietnamese on scooters scoping for a wallet in an extended hand, and fake European police officers searching for rubes to shake down. While your trip will likely pass without incident, it is ideal to be prepared. If you know what to look for, then you can watch for danger signs and situations to avoid. Being a safe traveler is being a smart traveler. Here are ten common hustles to watch out for.