Niall Doherty 1 Speaks to me a little different every year. This line stood out watching it tonight: “Plenty of time you’ll be alone. When you’re different like us, it’s gonna be that way.” No tears this time around, maybe because I wasn’t actually watching alone. But after everyone left, I sat myself down and had a …
1 The best thing about spending the winter is in Amsterdam is being in Amsterdam. The city remains magical, just a bit colder and less leaves on the trees. Cycling around this evening the sky was all lit up pink and orange and reflected in old canal-side windows. I passed a girl walking and smiling …
1 Reading words from Malcolm X. He writes about that deep-rooted racism he grew up with, whites looking at him like he was a pet rather than a human being. They weren’t bad people necessarily; they just didn’t realize how fucked up their beliefs were. Makes me wonder: what fucked up beliefs of my own am …
1 Spent four hours on a client project today, freelance web dev. That nets me $240 in a single afternoon, pretty good going. That said, I’m phasing out such work so I can focus on creating my own digital products (ebooks and courses). There are plenty of web developers out there who can do what …
1 You know what’s scary for me now? What’s scary is that I’m all out of excuses. The past few years I could blame all that overland travel for getting in the way of big business success. Now I look ahead at a long and empty stretch of work days and weeks and months, time …
1 Today the old streets are colored by ten thousand rainbows, some flags even adorning church towers. My heart smiles to see gay couples walking hand in hand without a care in the world. On a bridge on Utrechtsestraat, there’s a canal parade passing under. I peer over the crowd in time to see a …
1 I haven’t been sleeping a lot this week, mind too excited with the upcoming launch of this guide teaching people how to work online and travel the world. I lie awake at night with thoughts of how to make it better, come conscious an hour before dawn with an idea of something else to …
1 It’s been a long day. And beautiful. I awoke to a full moon and a quiet house in Ireland, and now, 24 hours later, I’m in Amsterdam, falling asleep to the flicker of candlelight and the sound of rain on the rooftop. Through every interaction today, I’ve felt this city opening its arms to …
1 When people ask which is my favorite place I’ve been, I answer that my two favorite cities are Amsterdam and New Orleans. But after just two days in Barcelona, methinks I’ll be adding it as a third. I could get lost in these gothic streets for years, eating tapas, admiring stone, wiling away afternoons in hidden coffee shops, spots of sun …
On September 30, 2011, I left my hometown in Ireland to embark on a 3.5-year trip around the world without flying, eventually closing the loop on May 16, 2015. Along the way I visited 37 countries, crossed the Pacific Ocean on a cargo ship, and wrote a book. The Route By The Numbers Without airplanes …