wanderlust amy

“I thought you quit your job to move to Europe and never coming back.”

amynet — Wed, 11 May 2011 07:39:37 +0000

I’ve just returned to work this week. Many of my colleagues who didn’t know anything about my 1-month vacation in Europe were shocked to see me back and thought I had actually quit my job and never coming back from Europe. Being in 4 different countries in 4 days had led to the worst jet-lag I’ve ever experienced.

It’s been a week since I returned home and I still feel like I’m in Italy, except waking up to a bigger room. I had been traveling for 8 days in Italy without any itinerary and destination in mind, not planning which city to visit until I’m at the train station. At Cinque Terre I thought I was going to sleep under the stars since there were no accommodations available to book online before heading there. Turning up in different city without any plan and accommodation was quite fun. Except that adventure ended with a car crash. I will never let an Italian man drive me again.

What have you learned from your travels?

amynet — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:42:17 +0000

I was asked this question in an interview for my current job.

Honestly, if there was anything I learned from my travel it would be to end relationship with people who are not good for me, who aren’t true friends.

Only the tourists visit Alcatraz

amynet — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 08:00:45 +0000

This map confirms my belief that only tourists visit Alcatraz. It’s a pretty useful tool to find out where to mingle with the locals and avoid the tourist traps. There are avoid-the-tourist maps of other cities as well.

2010 in review

amynet — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 00:16:05 +0000

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,600 times in 2010. That’s about 4 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 30 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 38 posts. There were 2 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 2mb.

The busiest day of the year was August 23rd with 64 views. The most popular post that day was Europe iPad travel app.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, iosdevcamp.org, iphonedevcamp.org, couchsurfing.org, and alphainventions.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for wanderlustamy, coto del valle pueblo ingles, wanderlust amy, pueblo ingles, and amy wang ieurope.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Europe iPad travel app August 2010

About November 2009

Snowing in Southern Spain March 2010

Photography July 2010

Recipes November 2009

The neatest itinerary

amynet — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 06:50:59 +0000

The neatest itinerary I’ve ever seen.

Traveling without staying in hotels (alternative to hostelling and couchsurfing)

amynet — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 08:01:41 +0000

I doubt I’ll be traveling anytime soon since I’m settling down, but I will still travel from time to time.

I also will not want to couchsurf as much as before when I travel again.

Although couchsurfing was fun and I met some really genuinely nice people, it can be extremely exhausting and time-consuming to coordinate everything.

For people who travel in group and/or need privacy, I learned about several alternatives to couchsurfing from other non-couchsurfers.

The sites for those alternatives are:

And a listing from an article that appeared on the Sunday edition of New York Times, July 18th, 2010:

Sofa, so good

AIRBNB.COM

AirBnB.com, founded in 2007 in San Francisco, is the largest of this new generation of social B&Bs and has the most user reviews.

Where: About 5,378 cities in 146 countries.

Accommodations: Air mattresses to entire villas.

Price: In New York, from $10 for a room to $3,000 for a loft.

ISTOPOVER.COM

IStopOver, founded in 2009 in Toronto, specializes in big events, like this summer’s World Cup in South Africa.

Where: Mostly North America, Europe and South Africa.

Accommodations: Apartments and houses.

Price: $10 to $8,000 a night.

CRASHPADDER.COM

Founded in 2008 in London, Crashpadder.com operates mostly in Britain, with a surge expected during the 2012 Olympics in London.

Where: 898 cities, including more than 1,000 listings in London.

Accommodations: Bedrooms to houses.

Price: From £15 (about $21 at $1.43 to the pound) a night, plus £3 booking fee.

ROOMORAMA.COM

Founded in 2008, Roomorama.com focuses on higher-end properties, especially in New York City.

Where: 36 cities, including more than 1,000 listings in New York.

Accommodations: Bedrooms to houses.

Price: From $30 to $5,000, plus an 8 to 12 percent booking fee.

You can read the rest of the article here: http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/travel/18couch.html?ref=travel

Update: Europe iPad travel app just won the most innovative iOS app award tonight!

amynet — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 06:53:42 +0000

The travel app that I worked on won the most innovative award at the iOSDevCamp 2010 tonight. Sweet! It’s a work in progress and we finished the app in 2 days for the public demo. I named it iEurope at the last minute. I worked with a team of super-talented people for the app and this was my first time at the hackathon. Sometimes I felt so “outnerded,” to quote one of the designers at the event!

Europe iPad travel app

amynet — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 18:34:42 +0000

I’m currently at iOSDevCamp2010 in San Jose, CA working with a team on developing an iPad travel app for children. It’s a 360 panorama of different European countries with audio changing as a different country appears. The app is not finished yet, but stay tuned!

Here’s a screenshot of the app:

Team Members:
Creative: Ivan Torres, Amy Wang
Programming: Daniel Pasco, Scotty Allen

30 things to do before turning 30

amynet — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:27:20 +0000

As the WordPress homepage uploaded, my eyes caught a blog post titled “That Special Book in My Life.” I immediately thought about The Spanish Apartment, a French movie I watched soon after my college graduation. Being 22 at the time, that movie made me decide to forego lucrative corporate jobs in order to pursue my passions.

That movie is very relevant for people in their twenties. And it’s sequel about the main character’s life as he enters his 30′s is even more relevant to those who’s been out of college for several years. As I watched the sequel, The Russian Dolls, I can’t help but think about what I have accomplished in my 20′s. That movie, coupled with an article about a Harvard alum, prompted me to make a list of 30 things I want to do before I’m 30. I was 25.

Now 3 years later, as I’m nearing 30′s and showing signs of gray hair (let’s just blame it on medical school stuff and lack of sleep), I have completed almost everything on the list. I found myself rushing through them all, even more so after a near-death accident and I was not able to enjoy them as much. In the midst of crossing things off on my list, I have forgotten to stop and smell the roses. It’s the journey that matters, not the destination.

Taking a break from traveling

amynet — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 06:50:38 +0000

I’m completely exhausted and I need to stop traveling temporarily. I got into another accident soon after I returned from Seattle. I always get into one soon after traveling. I have been feeling like Jimmy Stewart in The Rear Window. Yes, that’s how bad my injuries are. I really want to return to Europe this summer to see my friends. Hopefully I will be able to walk normal again soon.