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The Creature of Seat 27E…

Over the last few years, I’ve found myself on planes quite often traveling to my various points of the globe. Most times, I’ve been lucky to meet some really cool people on flights. Even some REALLY cool people. Sometimes, I meet nobody at all. And yes, I’ve also met some incredibly annoying people as well.

But nothing, I tell you, NOTHING could have prepared me for the evil, insanity incarnate that I was about to experience on my most recent flight from Orlando to Los Angeles. What was supposed to be a rather uneventful five and a half hour afternoon flight would no doubt become the ultimate test of patience, tolerance, and will. (more…)

Schedule updated through April 30th 2012!

The schedule is now updated through April 30th, 2012. We apologize for the delay on posting it. We have had a tremendous amount of early requests and inquiries, and have been trying incredibly hard to satisfy everyone!

There is still a very small amount flexibility available on some dates. So please let us know if you have any particular needs regarding dates! We will still do everything we can to make the schedule work for everyone as much as possible. Trips are filling up FAST! So book as early as possible to get the dates you want!

May’s schedule is next and should be up within the next few weeks. Please feel free to submit a reservation for preferred dates in the meantime. We’ll do everything we can to make it happen!

Pop, and mastering fear….

So, that time of year rolls around again, the anniversary of Pop’s death. It’s been six years now, and I still wonder if I will ever get through one milestone unfazed. I always seem to think that the “next time” it will be easier or less taxing, but it just doesn’t seem to happen. At least not yet. 🙁

Anyway, here I am, going through my usual introspective grieving period that I have now grown fairly accustomed to. I start looking for some inspiration on what to write about regarding Pop. On one hand, I have to be grateful for these milestone periods I go through regarding my parents. Because it seems to be the sole force that makes me have to sit down and write. (more…)

Great new header graphics, by a rapidly improving Mietsie! :)

One of the spiffy new headers by Mietsie! 🙂 (just refresh any page to see the others!

If you’re noticing that the site has a bit more “splash” and some new visual life on it, it’s thanks to a new series of headers that Mietsie back in Belgium made over the last couple of days. They are a refreshing and welcome update to the tired. old, amateurish ones I made a couple of years back when I was bored, probably a little intoxicated, in need of a hobby, and trying with obvious futility, to be artistically creative. :/

For those of you who don’t know Mietsie, she’s someone who goes way back with me since this whole Andiamo thing started. She’s the cousin of Raf, who was my first crew on Andiamo when she left Mexico under dark clouds in late ’04. Over the years, we’ve been through a lot fun, crazy, happy and sad times.

She was involved in a horrific car accident last November. Her car was broadsided by another car going at full speed when she was on her way home from a friends’ get together on a late Saturday night. The car’s full impact was directly on the driver’s side door. (more…)

The Road to Nowhere….

Chunks of road... gone...

While I was gone due to a friend’s medical emergency in Belgium in late November/early December, the rains came down on Panama. And down, and down. So much so that by the time I had returned, many parts of Panama were underwater. Floods in the low-lying areas, mudslides, landslides and massive erosion in the highlands. The extent of the damage and havoc was, in a word, devastating. (more…)

The Beautiful Chaos of Havana, Part 2…

Rainbow over El Malecon - click on any photo to see the full Album on Facebook!

Part 1 can be found here.

After a few days in Havana, I discovered myself getting vaguely comfortable with how daily life worked. The routine was both basic and comfortable. Have my breakfast, usually consisting of some pressed black-market ham and cheese, and some rather dry toasted bread. Get the espresso pot going with some of Karen’s good black-market Venezuelan coffee. I’d then walk over to the living room and click on the rather large flat-screen and watch some state-TV news, which was usually all that was on during the morning.

Unfortunately it was quite boring and a bit on the sugar-coated side. If you were to believe all the feature stories, Cuba’s government was: actively patching up all its potholed roads; fixing schools; installing traffic lights in dangerous intersections; and ensuring that all citizens have adequate transit service to and from work. (more…)

Intrepid ‘Andiamo’ from Phil’s Eyes.

Great shot by Phil, check out more on his FB album by clicking the link!

This is one of many future contributions Phil will be making to the Andiamo Blog. I’ll be setting up his own section on the site once he builds up a bit of an article count…

Tony invited me to pitch up in Panama and see if i could help with running some of his sought after trips. I’m Phil, Philip Morris, as in the cigarettes but not part of it! Done some sailing and a bit of world living & travel. Panama is good. Panama is different. Its in that crazy sort of untamed way that you LIKE to see when you need to escape from too much civilisation. So…also…getting your gear together and charging out to Andiamo for an island break heightens this appeal. (more…)