The Luxpats

Category: Destinations

  • Playa del Carmen: Our Toughest Digital Nomad Landing

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    luxpat
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    I’m not sure why we thought landing in Mexico would be easy. Perhaps because Playa Del Carmen has a large expat community and a tourist industry kitted out to accommodate travelers. Perhaps because we assumed (incorrectly) that at least as many people would speak English in Playa Del Carmen as do in Thailand, or Croatia. Unfortunately,…

  • Wish You Were Here: Zagreb Emergency Room

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    luxpat
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    In the Sveti Duh emergency waiting room, the lights are off and the fans are on. This feels appropriate for a late Sunday afternoon. Most of us don’t want any more light or heat than we’ve already had today. Sunday emergencies should be as informal as natural disasters; should leave us free to pace, or whisper, or sit…

  • Solo Parent Travel Tips and Tricks

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    luxpat
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    We survived! In fact, this trip with my son was the easiest solo parent travel I’ve ever done, despite a few delays and setbacks. See below my high level takeaways and a few specific tips on solo parent travel. Read our next installment for the play-by-play, or our first installment for packing and preparation. Solo Parent…

  • Missed Connections in Budapest

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    luxpat
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    Budapest has character. It has gargoyles and leafy hidden walkways between the busy streets. It has the Danube, separating Buda and Pest. You can ride the tram from one side of the city to the other, gazing down upon the silvery Danube as you cross, for little more than a dollar. On our first tram…

  • It’s Not You It’s Me, Koh Phangan

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    luxpat
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    Koh Phangan, we need to talk. No, things have been going great, but I’m not in a good place right now and I think maybe– No it’s not that. You’re one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever met. I mean your coconuts…WOW. Your beaches are stunning, and I love that thing you do with…

  • Wish You Were Here: Penang, Malaysia

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    luxpat
    in

    It’s 10 p.m. and our street in Penang is stirring to life. The two girls on the corner have been chopping vegetables and heating big pots of frying oil since early evening. They’re settling into the rush now, stirring, dishing, carrying plates, taking money, coaxing the smells further and further out of the pot and down the…

  • Wish You Were Here: Huay Tung Tao Lake, Thailand

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    luxpat
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    Winter never touches Thailand. From November through February, Thailand’s cool season is a perfect summer of endlessly sunny days that peak in the upper eighties. Chiang Mai is blessedly devoid of the shirt-sticking humidity Bangkok is known for, and so going to Huay Tung Tao lake is a lot like going to a lake back…

  • Wish You Were Here: Nara, Japan

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    luxpat
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    It is winter in Nara, so the light that falls on Tōdai-ji temple is peach colored and hazy with wood smoke from the black steel carts that roast sweet potatoes for tourists. We are among the temple tourists, and we’ve also come to feed the messengers of the gods, liminal deer who inhabit the Nara temple…

  • Coworking in the Tavern of the Seas

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    travelingpm
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    Cape Town has long been a destination on many travelers’ bucket lists. Named the best place in the world to visit by The New York Times and Telegraph in 2014 for its picturesque views of Table Mountain and Lions Head, Big-5 game parks within a few hours’ drive, and a peninsula peppered with semi-private beaches,…

  • Where Are You, Gary? Have You Killed Anyone Yet?

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    luxpat
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    It was Valentines’ Day. David and I didn’t have plans, but that wasn’t unusual. Holiday celebrations are a luxury of the settled. We’d spent the past three months so disoriented by this land of opposites, by driving on the wrong side of the road and by Christmas in the summertime, that holiday traditions felt like…