It’s been a while since I last posted here. In that time, I’ve wandered further than I ever expected, both in travel and in how I approach creativity. The past couple of years have been about exploring new places while also returning to some old favorites. I made
antarctica
Antarctica - Ushuaia and heading to the Drake Passage Whew, after a day that didn't quite go as planned, I spent most of my downtime exploring a few spots in Buenos Aires that I hadn't visited yet, such as El Ateneo Grand Splendid. Since it was
2023
“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with
2023
2023 - Antarctica Planning - Camera Edition With a bit over two weeks to go before leaving, it’s come time to finalize my photography equipment and make sure all is ready to go. I’m looking at it in three main categories: * Bag * Camera(s) and Lenses * Accessories * Processing
2023
Ok, it’s not actually 40 days until I’m in Antarctica, but the countdown has started for when I leave. Today I was able to see the ship I’m going on, the Ocean Endeavour, on the Webcam for Ushuaia in port a day late for it’s delivery,
2023
2023 - Norwegian Escape - New England and Canada A brief pause in Antarctica planning took me on a cruise out of New York to New England and Canada for a week of relaxation and exploration. This was booked last minute for me, only a month from sail date. I’
2023
With two and a half months before I embark on a trip to Antarctica, it’s finally starting to feel real. I’ve been dreaming of Antarctica since I was in my early 20’s and fantasizing about quitting my job to work at a station there. That never happened,
2023
This year will be the lightest year I have for travel since I started my adventures, but for good reason. Just two real trips planned for this year, one in July on the Norwegian Escape out of Miami and the other going to Antarctica with stops in Buenos Aires and
2022
Planning and research for Antarctica is still ongoing, and there's a lot that I still need to figure out, but with only 51 days till the annual Christmas vacation I'm switching over to that for a little while. This year's getaway is on the
Exploring life through travel, writing, and art.
Going to Antarctica's been a goal of mine for as long as I can remember. Back in my early 20's when I was looking for some way to escape the rutt I was in I'd spend time looking at jobs that'd take
With only a month before my next trip, figured it's about time I catch up on a couple of trips from earlier this year. Brief posts to be sure though. Early in March I was daydreaming and looking into cruises on NCL to use up some of the
This will be a mostly pictorial post, I'm not going to spend much time discussing this cruise. There were some fantastic parts to be sure and overall I really enjoyed this trip, however given the port intensive nature of it and the state of the world with omicon,
Now that the protocols for getting into Barbados and onto the ship have been released the reality of what all needs done is setting in. It's not that there's a lot, but everything needs to be done in a fairly short timeframe, during finals week, and
For the last several years I've been taking a solo trip for Christmas, the last one being a back to back trip on the NCL Breakaway out of Port Canaveral. Absolutely one of those trips that I thoroughly enjoyed in the moment but as the year went on
I should probably finish this before I head back in less than two weeks.... Ok, so it's taken awhile to get to the end of the trip but it's been a busy month since I moved :) This part won't be very long though, after
September of 2019 was the first time I went to CocoCay (and my first cruise on Royal Caribbean) and quickly fell in love with it. Despite my dislike of sand and beaches in general there was just something about this island that drew me in and made me want to
Ahhh, first morning of the cruise, one of my favorite moments. You've just woken up, the ship is still quiet (although it was pretty quiet all the time on this one due to capacity), and you can wander around in peace, enjoy it like it's your
Morning started a little rough, there may have been a few gin and tonics the evening before, so even though I called it a fairly early evening when I woke up I was a little under the weather. A nice shower and a bottle of water with some propel powder
Ahhh, nothing like writing your entire post an accidentally deleting it. Oh well, to start anew and make it a bit more concise! If you haven't seen it, the intro to this cruise is here [https://www.joshgates.org/adventure-of-the-seas-initial-plans/]. There are some changes to the schedule since
I have a preference for black and white photography. There's something about it, the focus on the quality of the light, shapes, tonality, maybe because it harkens back to a different era of photography or maybe because, at least for me, it's easier to focus on
Having a year and a half without really going anywhere, and a large part of that stuck completely at home, has given me plenty of time to think about what I wanted to bring when I started traveling agin. How am I going to balance my desire to minimalism, desire
