Wednesday, 22 March 2017
Monday, 20 March 2017
What Lies Ahead: Upcoming Blogs, Projects, and More!
Hey travel lover!
I know it’s been super quiet on the blog and social media over the past month and there’s good reason for that! Today, I wanted to give a little update on the going on behind the scenes and what to expect in the coming months!
First, fret not, there are a ton of new articles coming! I sent seven first drafts off to my editor yesterday for a read. One will go up Thursday and, after that, I have content to take us into May! I’m super proud of the new posts! Upcoming articles include how to experience 1920s Paris, what’s the best hotel booking site, the cheapest way to get around Southern Africa, how to be an au pair, how to create themes when you travel, a new long post on budget travel, tips for the upcoming European travel season, and a lot more.
So get ready!
But why the lack of blogs/replying to comments/social media?
First, I moved. Not out of Austin but to a new apartment with a friend so that took up a few days, especially since it was in the middle of the famous SXSW festival, when most of the roads are closed.
Second, that’s another reason why I’ve been behind. I had friends in town and gave two talks during the festival and, basically during SXSW, you just don’t get anything done since there are so many events to attend!
Additionally, we are short staffed at the hostel so I’ve had to bee there a lot. We’re currently looking for a manager and a few volunteers so if you’re interested in a free place to stay and hanging out in Austin, email hello@hkaustin.com for more information! (Note: We do NOT sponsor visas and inquires about us sponsoring your work visa will just get deleted!)
And, while blogs haven’t been happening, a lot of other stuff has:
1. I’m currently on the Nomadic Network tour doing a series of events and talks around the country. Be sure to come to one of the events over the next few weeks! You can click here to find out where I’m going and how to join! (If there’s a waitlist, don’t worry! We’re opening more spots and people keep dropping out!)
2. I launched/wrote a lot of new destination guides so that consumed a lot of my time! (These take awhile to create!) Be sure to check out the new guides to Malta, Laos, South Africa, Finland, and Czech Republic, and Poland! (If you feel I missed anything, let me know!)
3. Finally, what has been consuming a lot of my time, is a new book proposal! I’m looking to write another book this year and I just wrapped up the proposal! I’m not going to share what it is about yet but it will be very different from my last one (and something not found on this blog)! Fingers crossed!
Coming up, besides new blogs and the Nomadic Network tour, I’ll be doing tours in May and June!
We’re keeping busy over but a lot of more great stuff is coming soon!
– Matt
The post What Lies Ahead: Upcoming Blogs, Projects, and More! appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.
from Nomadic Matt's Travel Site http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/upcoming-updates/
On Dating After Long-Term Travel
As he strolls up to me in the park, I’m relieved — he looks just like his picture and he’s wearing a nice outfit. I admire the whimsical navy-on-pale-blue paisley shirt, the slim dark pants, the warm leather shoes. He leans in for a brief, gentle hug.
It’s the most innocuous of first dates in Manhattan — a walk in the park followed by a coffee. No mind-altering substances, no major financial investment, and easy to escape if it comes to that.
After a stroll on this gorgeous spring day, we sit down at a cafe. We’ve gone through the pleasantries and talked about where we grew up, our families, the train wreck that is the 2016 election. Nothing about jobs, or how we spend our time, but that’s about to change.
“It’s so cool that you’re a digital nomad!” he exclaims.
I pause. I don’t tell anyone what I do for a living until the third date at least — the best option when a quick Google search could lead you to MY ENTIRE LIFE SINCE 2010. “What makes you think I’m a digital nomad?”
“I searched for ‘digital nomad’ on the site and your profile popped up!”
And then it hits me — under the “What am I doing on a Friday night?” tab, I put a list of wacky, whimsical activities in New York. Cocktails with friends. Coming up with new, awful phrases for Cards Against Humanity. Karaoke in Koreatown. The odd warehouse party in Brooklyn. And yes, some quiet nights on the couch with Netflix.
(Let’s be honest, though — on Friday nights I’m far more likely to be cleaning my apartment while listening to podcasts.)
And then I remember that I had listed digital nomad networking events on there as well. Why had I even written that in the first place? Most of my work-ish events revolve around entrepreneurship more than remote work. (Okay, let’s be honest again — most of my work-ish events are getting together with other travel bloggers, drinking copious amounts of wine, and gossiping.)
So that’s how he found me.
“I think it would be amazing to live in Thailand for a year,” he says.
I nod with a smile. Here we go. The travel conversation. Where I must strike the balance between being knowledgeable and not a know-it-all, experienced but not emasculating. The struggles that every straight woman faces when out on a first date. “Thailand is great. One of my favorite countries.”
“I haven’t been, but I want to go so bad!”
“You’ll love it,” I reassure him.
“Just — all that food. I hear that Thai food is so much better in Thailand than here. It’s so different. And it’s so cheap!”
“True. You can get a great meal for two bucks. Or even less.”
“So when you were traveling for five years, did you ever live in Thailand?”
“No. There was one point when I wanted to.” Large swaths of 2011, mostly. “It’s good temporarily, but ultimately, the bad outweighs the good for me.”
“How could you not want to live there?” he asks. “Thailand has everything!”
“Well, nobody ever talks about the downsides.”
“Like being so far away? I could live with that.”
“Yeah, that’s one thing. And it’s annoying being in the opposite time zone all the time.” I pause. “Do you really want to know about the bad stuff?”
“Yeah. Tell me.”
“It’s hard living in a culture that’s not your own, particularly when you don’t speak the language and especially when you’re in an Asian culture. The expat communities are great, but people are always arriving and leaving, and it’s hard when you’re constantly saying goodbye to your friends.
“And most people end up in Chiang Mai,” I continue, “because it’s the cheapest spot in Thailand that also has Western amenities and decent internet. And it’s a great city, but a lot of people think they’ll be on the beach and it’s a long way from the beach. Two hours of flying if you’ve got the cash, much longer by train or bus. Great food in Chiang Mai, though. Oh, just know that Thai food is full of sugar. Fruit shakes, too.
“And there’s this idea that Chiang Mai is full of brilliant entrepreneurs, and there are a few of them, but for the most part it’s full of people who can’t afford to live anywhere else. So you think you’ll be doing this amazing networking, only most people haven’t figured out how to make much money yet.”
His face falls.
“I mean, you never know,” I say, quickly backtracking. “I never rule out anything. I could go live in Chiang Mai for a few months if I wanted to reduce my living expenses and funnel all of my money into the business. And I’d still get foot massages every day. Seven bucks an hour.”
“What if I lived by the beaches instead?”
“They’re good. The really beautiful ones are remote, though. And it’s much more expensive there.”
“Cheaper than here, though.”
“Yes. Much cheaper than here.”
“And just imagine the quality of life — you can run on the beach every morning, you can work on the sand and watch the sunset every night.”
“Careful with that!” I laugh. “That’s one of the biggest myths — no one actually works on the beach. You don’t want sand in your laptop.”
“And I hear Thai people are so nice! Just, you know, the kind of people that would give you the shirt off their back. It must be the Buddhist thing. People are calm and happy.”
I smile tightly. “Yeah. I like Thai people a lot.” Though the words of a Singaporean bartender in Koh Lanta echo in my head: “You nice to Thai people, they’re nice to you three times. You FUCK with Thai people, they FUCK you three times!”
My date shifts in his seat and sighs. “Well, I can’t go to Thailand yet, anyway. I need to stay in this time zone for my job.”
“Oh. So you’re a remote worker?”
“I can work from anywhere as long as I can be on their schedule.”
“Ah. That’s cool.”
“Have you been to MedellĂn? I hear it’s so great there.”
“No, not yet.” (Though I would a few months later.)
“I hear it’s the most beautiful place in Colombia,” he tells me. “Just — it’s supposed to be a beautiful city.”
“Mmhmm,” I reply, biting my tongue. When most men talk about the beauty of MedellĂn, it’s not the city they’re talking about.
“There’s just one thing,” he says. “Why do you live in New York when you could live somewhere so much cheaper?”
I’m ready for this question. “Why would I live anywhere else if I could live in New York?” I say, tilting my head with a smile.
“Yeah, but you get so much more for your money everywhere else!”
“I don’t know,” I tell him. “I think I get a lot more here. My friends. The culture. Networking. A major flight hub. I’m just a bus ride away from my parents. Everything happens here.”
“You have a bigger chance of being shot to death in New York.”
“That is true.”
“And the healthcare system is so bad.”
“Agreed, it’s awful. I couldn’t come back if it weren’t for Obamacare.”
“So what makes New York so much better?”
“New York is everything and everything is New York.” The words tumble out of me; I’m surprised at how much I like them. “I’m never going to be bored in this city. There’s always something new to discover. And lately I’ve been feeling an urge to work to make my country better.”
“I don’t know. I just think Thailand is a much better place to live.”
“Well, maybe for you,” I offer. “At any rate, I spent five years traveling the world and I chose to settle down here. Plus, there are crazy milkshakes in New York. And 90s parties. And tacos.”
He lights up. “A lot of people go to Mexico! I hear Playa del Carmen is the place to be. It’s so cheap and it has a great expat community. And so much good Mexican food.”
I smile.
“What’s wrong with Playa del Carmen?”
“Oh, nothing — I just have a ton of friends there.”
“Digital nomad friends?”
Why does this phrase always make me cringe? “Yeah. They work online.”
This guy is nice. A little mansplainey for my taste, but this first date is far from the worst.
Dating is weird in the world after long-term travel. Mention your travels in an online dating profile and you’ll attract a lot of people who would love to travel but haven’t yet and see you as the catalyst. Mention your desire to settle down and you’ll attract a lot of people who aren’t into travel at all. “I’ve traveled a lot but I’m content being more settled here” isn’t exactly a category.
I’m grateful to live in New York, though, home to many driven, entrepreneurial, creative people, even if they’re always searching for something better. If my suburban friends’ OkCupid matches are any indication, things are far worse in sparsely populated areas.
It just goes to show that sharing common interests isn’t enough — you also need to be on the same timeline. It’s not enough to enjoy travel to the same kinds of countries, or to be able to work from anywhere. One person wanting to live abroad and the other being content in New York is a fairly big dealbreaker.
“So.” He plays with his empty coffee cup. “I don’t know if you have somewhere to be, but do you want to get a drink?”
I’m certain that this guy isn’t a match. A drink won’t change that. We’ll loosen up, we’ll tell more stories, we’ll say goodbye for the evening, and if he wants to go out again, I’ll let him know kindly that I had fun hanging out but I don’t think we’re a romantic match.
But it’s not like I have anything to do. I’ve already cleaned my apartment and listened to my podcasts.
“Sure,” I say. “Let’s get a drink.”
from Adventurous Kate http://www.adventurouskate.com/on-dating-after-long-term-travel/
Sunday, 19 March 2017
How to Upgrade Lightroom
With each new release of, Lightroom requires specific changes to the database, also known as a “catalog”, that must be carried out in an upgrade process before the newer version of the software can be used. While the process of upgrading the actual software is pretty straightforward, there are some important steps one needs to take to make sure that the Lightroom catalogs are upgraded successfully. If you are scared about upgrading and have not done it in the past, this guide might assist you in this process. The good news is, Adobe allows keeping both the newer and the older versions of Lightroom on the same machine, which means that you can continue to use your old Lightroom catalog if anything goes wrong. Once you are fully satisfied with the upgrade, you can then remove the old version of Lightroom, along with the old versions of catalogs. In this article, I will guide you through the process of upgrading Lightroom to the latest version.
1) Download and Install The Latest Lightroom Release
Whether you are using the standalone / retail version of the software or the Creative Cloud (CC) version, once you purchase the latest version or become a CC subscriber, you should have access to download the latest software release. If Adobe releases a new major version, you should get notified either via the software itself (you can also check Help->Updates within Lightroom), or through the Creative Cloud app. Download and install the latest version of Lightroom – the process is typically very easy and straightforward. Once Lightroom is installed make sure that it did not wipe out your existing Lightroom version (which can sometimes happen with the CC version), in case you want to continue using it. If you find that your older version is removed in CC, fire up the Creative Cloud app, then navigate to the “Apps” tab and click the “All Apps” drop-down that sits next to “Find Additional Apps”, as shown below:
From there, click on the “View Previous Versions” link, which should reveal the options to install the older version of the software. You can then click the “Install” button that will reveal older available releases for you. Select the release you were on, which will install it on your computer.
2) Back Up Your Existing Lightroom Catalogs
Before you upgrade Lightroom, it is always a good idea to locate every catalog you have and back it up to a place other than your computer (ideally to an external back up drive). All you have to do is find the actual catalog files with the .lrcat extension and back them up. You don’t need to back up all other files and sub-folders like “Previews.lrdata”, because those folders just contain thumbnails of images that you can re-generate later. Plus, if you back up the whole folder, it will take significantly longer than backing up the single catalog file. If you do not want to go through the hassle of regenerating thumbnails later, you can back up everything – the choice is yours.
3) Upgrade Your Lightroom Catalogs
After everything is backed up and the latest and greatest Lightroom release is installed, you should see its icon on your desktop, start menu or within the CC app. Go ahead and launch Lightroom, which will bring up a dialog box warning you that you need to upgrade your existing catalog. Unfortunately, this is something you must do and not just for the latest catalog you are working on – you will have to upgrade every single catalog you are planning to work with in the future. Personally, I prefer upgrading every catalog rather than just the latest one, because if anything fails, I want to know about it upfront. Sometimes Lightroom updates are quite buggy and if something does not work out during the upgrade, it might be worth waiting until Adobe releases a fix before fully committing to the new version. When going through the catalog upgrade process, you should see something like this:
Lightroom will typically place the upgraded catalog in the same folder where you have the original catalog and will preserve the folder structure and the file name (by default, it will add a “-2” to the catalog name as shown above). You can either keep it in the same folder, or you can move it to a whole different folder structure. I typically just leave the folder structure the same and clean up the folder later (more on that below).
Next, simply hit the “Upgrade” button to start the upgrade process. The speed of the upgrade process will depend on the number of pictures in your catalog, your computer’s processing power and your storage speed, but typically should not take more than 5-10 minutes, unless it is a major overhaul with a lot of changes to the database and your catalog is large.
4) Make Sure All Images are Available and Visible
Write down the total number of photographs in your upgraded catalog, then close the new version of Lightroom and open the older one. Look at the total number of images in your older catalog and make sure that the numbers match. Close the older version of Lightroom, open the latest one back again and then go through some random images and see if they are opening up and you can see all your prior edits in them. If you upgraded the catalog in a different folder than your original, you might need to wait for thumbnails to regenerate. If you previously created a lot of 1:1 previews and you do not want to lose them, another option is to copy the Previews.lrdata folder to the same folder where your upgraded catalog resides. This way, Lightroom can continue using the older preview files and 1:1 renders.
5) Review Collections and Presets
Make sure that your Collections and previous Presets are all preserved. Lightroom typically shares the same preset folders, so those should work by default, but it does not hurt to check anyway. If the upgrade was successful, custom Collections and your Keywords should be visible as well:
If anything is missing, something probably went wrong during the upgrade process. Personally, I never had to manually migrate any of the presets and collections before and I have been upgrading Lightroom since the original version.
6) Process Version
Another thing to check is the Process Version – sometimes Adobe will deliver changes to the core functionality of the software and the only way you can reveal those changes is by upgrading to the latest and greatest process version. I wrote a detailed article on Lightroom Process Version, which I highly recommend that you give a read, as it is an important topic. Don’t just mass-upgrade all your photographs to the latest process version, because it might drastically change your existing edits and make your images look completely different.
If you have more than one catalog, repeat steps #3 to #5 for every Lightroom catalog that needs to be upgraded.
Good luck and please let me know if you have any questions!
The post How to Upgrade Lightroom appeared first on Photography Life.
from Photography Life https://photographylife.com/how-to-upgrade-lightroom/