Pho is an unsung breakfast food. That’s right, I said breakfast food. While a hot bowl of noodles says cheap lunch to the average westerner, it says good morning to millions of Asian from all over the Pacific.

Have you had pho before? It’s fresh, light, and mild in flavor. It’s chock full of fresh veggies and comes with a plate covered in bean sprouts, jalapeños, cilantro, and purple basil. It’s filling without being greasy, and it’s easy to make. Unfortunately though, most Pho places aren’t exactly open for breakfast. So I had to settle for brunch on a sunny Saturday when I took the long walk down Mt. Vernon to Pho King.

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My love of pho was not disappointed. In a complex known for great food — Bombay Curry, Del Merei Grill, and Pizzaiolo neighbour Pho King — Pho King is right at home. A big bowl of Pho Chay will run you about $8, steep for pho but of course pretty reasonable by Arlington standards. It’s fresh and tasty though, and comes out piping hot. I personally appreciate how they don’t skimp on the limes, my favourite part of pho for the splash of brightness it adds.

The rest of the menu is rather lackluster, but the pungent broth and the chewiness of the tiny noodles more than make up for the place’s other shortcomings: minimal decor, ultra-utilitarian service, and a distinct lack of English proficiency. Still, I don’t expect a food like pho to come with pomp and circumstance; pho has always been a food of the masses. So whether you’re a pho connoisseur or looking to try a beloved variety of noodle, Pho King is a decent place to start.

There are plenty of gear reviews out there for backpackers, but not a lot out there for jetsetters. We aren’t endless nomads, but we pack like them. We have hubs from which we escape out to far flung destinations, and we’re ready for anything, but we don’t need to bring the kitchen sink. Out of all the videos I’ve looked at over the years, I’ve yet to come across a good packing one. So I made one myself. It’s a bit long, but you get the idea. We’ll start with the clothing.

Clothing:

1 pair thongs (Rainbows)

1 pair mary janes (Me Too)

1 pair canvas shoes (Sanuk)

2 pair socks (Smartwool)

2 t-shirts (Uniqulo QuickDry)

1 tank top (Holister)

1 oxford (Northface)

1 raincoat (Mountain Hardware)

1 dress (polyester)

1 pair jeans

1 pair shorts

1 pair athletic pants

1 sun hat

1 weeks worth of undergarments

Ladies, please, I beg you, stop with all the extra nonsense. I know you want to look good, we all want to look good, but you have to make some concessions. Why? Because there won’t always be a porter to carry around your bag. Expect stairs in subway stations and expect small luggage racks on the train. Prepare for rain and prepare for long hauls to the hotel. You should always be able to carry your own baggage, and if you plan accordingly, it should be no problem when you have to carry it with you all day. Start counting every item in terms of ounces and you might find you “need” a lot less.

I am bringing a lot of electronics, and that’s okay. I’m planning on doing some work on the road, and for me, work requires a large arsenal of materials. It’s heavy, but that’s a price I’m willing to pay to have my entire studio essentially mobile. I do have a few rules though that keep me from bringing all my gear. If my trip is over ten days in length, I’m allowed to bring my laptop and my dSLR. If it’s under ten days, I just make do with my Stylus Tough and my iPhone. That way I never worry about documenting everything as I go, I just do it when I return. Over ten days, and I need to keep in contact with the rest of the world. It’s a pretty good system.

Electronics (full list including those not in video):

laptop and powerbrick (15″ MacBook Pro)

portable hard drive (500GB 7200rpm LaCie Rugged)

wireless router and Cat5 cable (airport express)

waterproof rangefinder (Olympus Stylus Tough 6000)

dSLR and extra battery (Canon 30d)

extra lens (10-22 extra wide)

tripod (Joby Gorillapod)

headphones (Bose QuietComfort 2 and iPhone earbuds)

mp3 player (iPod 160GB Classic)

journal (Moleskine lined)

wireless mouse

reading material

travel documents

toiletries

To me, this packing list seems like a lot, and to be honest, it’s a lot more than I usually bring anywhere. To most people though, this seems sparse for a month long trip. So how does one manage to live for an indefinite period of time on so little? By buying it there. It’s a three step approach. 1) Don’t bring if you can easily buy. If, instead of preparing for every occasion by bringing something for each occasion, you were to bring only what you couldn’t easily buy there, you could significantly lighten your load. Think of it as paying 400¥ for the convenience of not having to lug around your own. For example, I’m going to buy an umbrella and shampoo when I’m in Japan rather than worry about checking them in my luggage. 2) Do without. Don’t bring an evening dress just in case you need to go to a fancy restaurant. Chances are you can get by without that cocktail dress. You’re going to Paris for ten days, do you really need that face cream or can you live without it for a week? Don’t bring when you can buy, and don’t buy when you can borrow, and don’t borrow if you can do without. For example, I rarely bring guidebooks, since most hotels or guest houses have maps and offer recommendations. You can probably rent a hair dryer at the front desk. Rest assured that if you really need it, you can find it. 3) Bring multi-purpose goods. Don’t bring anything that only does one thing. Bring items that you can mix and match to satisfy many needs rather than many things that each suit one. For example, I bring shoes that I can dress up or dress down. I bring cameras that can also take video, and mobiles that can check email in a pinch. My body wash even doubles as laundry detergent. Most importantly though, I make sure I bring clothes that are high-performance, so they may fit in well as city clothes, but they hold up well when I take them to the hiking trails, and I wait until something gets worn through to replace it. That way I cut down on my load but am prepared for everything.

In addition to the usual suspects listed in the video above and the text below, there are a few other odds and ends that I consider travel musts. They’re pretty unassuming, but I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if I don’t always end up using them.

Dr. Bronner’s 18-in-one Castile Soap
Dr. Bronner might have been crazy, but his all purpose castile soap is a godsend for us travellers. With just a small three-ounce bottle of the stuff I can go for two months without any other toiletry. It’s olive oil based, so it won’t dry out your skin, and it’s mild and safe enough to use on anything and everything, and it’s non-allergenic, organic, free of additives, and comes in a varietal of flavors. Essentially castile soap is an ultra concentrated soap you can use to clean floors and counters, faces and hair, clothes and dishes, bodies and teeth, and pretty much anything else that needs cleaning. If you can’t find Dr. Bronner’s anywhere, go for the biodegradable CampSuds available at any sports/outdoor store or camping catalogue, and you can stop searching for shampoo, body wash, laundry detergent, dish soap, disinfecting wipes, and other liquids in general.

Vaseline
Few people truly understand the wonder of this petroleum product. For under a dollar, a tiny tub of vaseline will last you the better part of a year and it functions great as a lubricant for squeaky doors and chairs, a super strong balm for chapped lips and skin, a protective barrier for cuts, scrapes, and burns, as a means of keeping dirt and dust out of the eyes, as a water repellant for goods that need to stay dry like matches or swiss army knives, or even as a fire starter in a pinch. This stuff is invaluable, especially for cold-weather travel.

Microfiber Pack Towel
The microfiber pack towel is about the size of a hand towel but absorbs enough water to dry off your car. This thing is small, super lightweight, ultra absorbent, and will air dry in the space of two hours. As Douglas Adams taught me, I always know where my towel is and I never leave home without it. He was right too, because there are an infinite number of uses for a capable towel, from beaches in Australia to sento in Japan, from avoiding towel rental fees in Italy to cleaning up spills in Mexico, and everything in between.

Liquid Bandage
I do allow myself one other liquid/gel, and that is liquid bandage. There are some things my trusty mini roll of gaff tape (a cloth tape as strong as duct tape, but leaves no residue and reflects no light, another must-have for longer term travel) can’t mend, and when gaff doesn’t do the trick, liquid bandage inevitably does. Think of them as your one-two punch combo of repair. Liquid bandage can mend the fiddly bits otherwise impossible to suture: things like knuckles, zippers, behind the knee, thread snags, calluses, hair cracks, and the like. Plus liquid bandage disinfects before it hardens, and is fully waterproof for every body cut and gear gutting the road can dole out.

Airport/Airmac Express + Retractable Cat5 Cable
This one is an invaluable tool for the flashpackers. I don’t always use it, but there are many hotels I stay at where a hardwire ethernet connection is free, but the cable rental costs money. Many places simply don’t have wireless, and if you’re travelling with others, fighting over who gets to use the internet gets old. Enter the Airport Express, a square piece of plastic that, when wired to the internet and plugged into the nearest outlet can turn any land line into a wireless network. It even remembers settings from plug in to plug in so your internet-ready devices will be connected the moment you plug it in. Pair it with my retractable ethernet cable, complete with adaptors that turn one cat5 outlet into two, or can turn a male-male cable into a male-female or female-female cable, and you are a serious travel hacker.

Surge Protector
Most of us have more than one gadget these days, and there are never enough outlets available to charge everyone’s gear. I always travel with a surge protector for a few reasons. Firstly, I never know where my next working outlet will be, so I fill up everything I can with juice when I find one. Secondly, some countries have highly unreliable internet and a twelve dollar investment is well worth protecting the things I use to support myself. Lastly, whether I’m waiting in an airport or attending a convention, staying at a hostel or a hotel, there are many times when other people brick block your outlets. Having a surge protector helps you make an awful lot of friends in these very situations. I even rented out my extra outlets once for magazines on a particularly long layover in Fiji.

(And for the Ladies) The Diva Cup
Google this, google it now. This is a product made for travellers, hippies, and yuppie business women alike. You, like me, may have heard horror stories but I am here to tell you firsthand that any horrors you’ve heard are false, and any hesitation you may have will pale in comparison to the benefits of using this one little device. There are so many reasons to switch, I could write an entire post about it, but in an effort to not turn off all of my readers, I’ll stop here. If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them directly via email. Otherwise, the internet offers many more success stories to convince you dropping the $40 is well worth it. And boy is it.

A cursory glance at the menu will reveal one an only one option. Do not be distracted by the myriad toppings on the table in front of you, or the cheery staff trying to convince you cold noodles are the best choice. Do not get caught up in deciding how you’d like your noodles cooked, since Hakatatenjin will cook them to order. Do not spend forever debating whether you want the thin, somen-like noodles, or the slightly thicker spaghetti-esque noodles. Do not be afraid to pay the extra 50¥ it costs to dip that ladle into the vat of pickled eggs and call one your own.

Or rather, do. Do all of this. Do, because you are at Hakatatenjin Ramen in Shinjukugyoenmae and any carb coma you might induce can be averted by a long stroll in the massive park nearby. You are safe, so go ahead and put on those extra pickled ginger shreds, and go ahead and finish off those menma. You’re in good hands.

Hakatatenjin Ramen is serious black pork ramen for seriously hungry patrons. In a country where hundreds of noodle shops line nearly every street, it can be difficult to pick one out of the crowd. Hakatatenjin’s boisterous staff and dirty yellow awning are tell-tale signs that old-school quality is not far behind, something so often amiss when it comes to the more modern, vending machine ramen spots. Even harder to find is service like this, with a staff that will try to make you giggle no matter which language you speak, and a policy that will dish up more noodles when you’ve finished your first batch for the same price.

大きな地図で見る

Ah and the noodles are why you’re here, aren’t they? The thinner, chewier cousin of the dime a dozen ramen chains in Shinjuku come in a tangled mess, compacted into the bottom of a chipped, cereal bowl. But the soup packs a flavour stronger than any cocoa puff or lucky charm, and when all is said and done you may find yourself never wanting to leave. If only that thick soup with beads of fat swirling round the surface could stretch on forever you could call Hakatatenjin home, because for all intents and purposes, when you’re here, you are home.

Hakatatenjin Ramen（博多天神 ラーメン）
Nearest metro stop: Shinjukugyoenmae

Every city divided by an important riverway has a south bank whether it goes by that alias or not. But even now, when a river as infamous as the Thames of London, once the lifeblood of the city, retires itself to little more than a historical artifact and a pleasant landscaping element, a certain richness is lost. I was sure that South Bank would be an irreverent part of the city, like so many other neighbourhoods that easily dismissed the river. Yet my day in South Bank convinced me that the Thames does not lay by the wayside in London, rather is given a place of prominence, a cultural reminder that the city has a lot to be thankful for.

The London Eye draws tourists from far and wide, and its 3.5 million visitors per year prove the largest ferris wheel in Europe is definitely worth a visit. And that’s just the start of South Bank’s bounty. Passing over one of the Thames footbridges will start you off on an epic walk along South Bank, where you’ll pass pubs, eateries, theaters, museums, and so much more.

The Queen’s Walk is one of the best walking tours of London that takes you straight past the Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s famous Globe Theatre. It’s positively chilling to think that underneath the renovations and constant upkeep, the very cobblestones you’re walking upon have been trafficked by thousands of residents, visitors, and passing businessmen for thousands of years. This site has been here since medieval days and you may be standing where some royalty or author stood years ago.

And then the walk dead ends at Borrough Market, a hub of fine food and specialty sundries. You don’t have to be of the foppish sort to enjoy the goods on display here, whether it’s the myriad flavours of Turkish delight that tickle your fancy, or the endless array of seafood curries that curl your toes. Either way you’ll find something to indulge in at the market.

After I tired me feet from walking and wore out my eyeballs from staring, it was time to sit on the outdoor patio of the many pubs lining the river, enjoy a pint or a Pimms cup, and take in the glory that is South Bank.

1. Automatic Backups. The OS has an automatic backup utility built into it called Time Machine and it’s pretty slick. Always protected, all the time.

2. Easy data management. If you pay the mac store reps $89 they’ll migrate all your info over from your old computer to your new one. Once you go mac, you can use the built-in Migration Assistant to move your info from your old mac to the new one with the click of a button.

3. Macs require no maintenance. They don’t get viruses, they don’t require defragmenting, they don’t need security software, and every utility you need is already included in the software. The only thing you’ll need to buy is Microsoft Office. The OS doesn’t come with stupid trial software (called bloatware) and you’ll never have to reinstall your OS. No bluescreen of death, ever. They’re just a hell of a lot more stable and secure in general.

4. All the compatibility issues of yesteryear are no longer issues. Macs can read any PC-formatted drive, they can read any open file format (.doc, .xls, .pdf, anything you can think of). PCs on the other hand, can’t read mac-formatted drives. And if you really really needed to, the new macs are intel based, so you could install windows on your computer as a dual-boot (but really, why would you? OS X is so much better!). The mac store reps call it Boot Camp.

5. These puppies are wicked fast. Scary fast. Snow Leopard, the OS is lightweight and the machines are so locktight. When you buy Apple, you’re buying a brand, yes, but you’re also buying a format. So everything Apple makes is custom built to work with everything else Apple makes. PCs are cobbled together by competing manufacturers and so you get driver problems and hardware incompatibility issues, but because Apple makes every component in their computers, it all works seamlessly inside that little silver case. This means it will all work seamlessly with your iPod too.

6. They last forever. I had a roommate that had her mac laptop STRUCK BY LIGHTNING and it still ran for four years. Mine is going on six years old and it still runs great. It just couldn’t keep up with the demands of HD video playback, a notoriously resource intensive codec and for work, I really need to be able to edit HD in real-time, without waiting around for stuff to render. I’ve converted my old mac into an entertainment system. I got a free OS upgrade, a free battery replacement, and lots of patient genius representatives that spent a good two hours trying to figure out why my USB bus suddenly stopped providing enough power to spin a 7200rpm drive (they fixed it, by the by).

7. Freebies. The Apple summer deal is going on, so if you buy this month or next you’ll get a lot of freebies. A free printer, a free iPod Touch, a rebate on MS Office, they do a lot of summer deals at the apple store and god damn if the iPod Touch isn’t a really fun little machine. Think of all the travel you do!

8. They’re incredibly usable. They’re just fun. They come standard with a lot of really fun features and you can do anything you want right of the bat really easily. You can make movies, download music from iTunes, stream netflix, record your own songs, make photobooks, all sorts of fun stuff. They’re pretty, they work well, and most importantly, they’re easy to use. The biggest thing you’ll have to learn how to deal with is using the command button (the cloverleaf) instead of the ctrl button. Other than that, almost everything else is the same nowadays.

9. Mac developers are awesome. We’re a passionate bunch, and the cocoa development group is incredibly dedicated to creating awesome, well-formed, elegant programmes and solutions. They’re so much out there that’s mac only and near-perfect software. The Panic team has some amazing applications, Daylite changed my life, and everything from Adobe to Skype is just so much prettier on a mac. The devloper base alone is reason to switch.

10. They’re cheaper. No joke. If you put a Sony Vaio, a Gateway, a Dell, and an Alienware PC with the exact same speeds and specs side by side, you’ll find Apple’s version is actually a better value. Sure you can’t get a mac for cheap, but you also can’t get a bad mac. I can find several $400 laptops that, pardon my french, blow chunks and are impossible to use. But even the $700 mac mini, the cheapest mac you can buy, runs like a dream. That’s what I call value.

There’s more too, the amazing possibilities it allows, the premiere software it offers, the de-facto status among creative professionals, but for now, 10 reasons are enough. You fanboys and girls out there, any other important reasons I’m forgetting?

I wrote last year about the wonders of my herb garden and the glory of Virginia’s summer produce. I find myself in the heat of another fertile summer where my farmers market is once again bursting at the seams and the lady that sells goats cheese knows me by name. What a glorious position I’ve come to be in.

Still, I wanted more. I’ve come to appreciate ingredients as much as I appreciate the dishes I make, and this year finds me considerably more informed on the subjects of agro-industry than the last. I’ve joined a small circle of gardeners, and on my last trip to London, I found my fellow tourist patrons were not summertime couples or vacationers from Europe, but elderly British garden ladies out to gaze at the lilac. To be honest, I liked it. But more on London later.

Back to Virginia, where the sunshine and rain a’plenty had me believing that this was the year I should try my hand at gardening. So I did. I started a vegetable garden in my mother’s back yard. I had help of course, but I cleared the beds and aerated the soil and pulled the weeds with my own two hands. I planted the seeds and watered the seedlings and soon I will be picking the fruit of my labours. It’s a downright magical experience to see something you planted as a tiny seed pop up and become as tall as you. My sense of wonder regarding the food we eat has been redoubled.

I fear I’ve become a hippie. Maybe it’s the pull of the sustainability-minded sensibility I’ve adopted, but the garden is just the start. I find myself reading labels more critically than ever before, switching to the fabled 18-in-1 castille soap, eschewing paper products and kitchen disposables, traveling by bicycle when it isn’t raining out, and frequenting farmers markets and organic grocer’s exclusively. I’ve learned a lot in this transition, where I’ve discovered that growing up my equally hippie mother had a few good points or two. I’ve realised that what I do really matters. I’ve completely changed how I live my day-to-day life. All because of a single little squarefoot garden.

I’ve got a few pepper plants, a bunch of tomatoe plants, and an assortment of other root vegetables here and there. What’s really come up into the sunlight for me though has not been my okra or my squash, but the deep network of fellow gardeners I had no idea ran so far underground. This garden won’t bear enough food to feed me for a week let alone a summer, but the passion I’ve picked up along the way will sustain me for years to come. Even the one dinner of beetroot I eat will be a reminder of how precious the food I eat really is. It started with a garden today, and maybe a compost heap tomorrow, and hopefully a better future in the days that follow.

Beautiful Friday evenings call for long walks by the Potomac, which is exactly what I did this weekend when I took a stroll along the 18 mile Mt. Vernon bike trail.

Washington DC’s Cherry Blossoms are in bloom so I head down to the tidal basin, picnic in hand, to host my own hanami party. It’s of course not on the scale of the sakura in Japan, but it’s a neat little walk all the same.

My first experience with otaku culture and a little primer for those not in the know about Japan’s best known subculture. I attended Oni-Con anime convention in Houston, Texas and have a surprisingly good time talking to various cosplayers and fellow Japan-o-philes. Even if the scene isn’t your thing, give this video a shot. It’s an interesting look at a seemingly strange pastime. Enjoy.

I get juiced up on the java as I do a coffee shop crawl in Houston, Texas, frequenting four great stops in the same neighbourhood. Not sure which coffee shop is for you? Not to worry, I give you the skinny on all the spots in the heart of the city no matter your needs, from tea and coffee to brunch and lunch and great meetups and outdoor patios. It was an afternoon well spent.