2026 Singapore, Bali, Tokyo Trip Report I visited Singapore and Bali with a quick stop in Tokyo in May 2026. It was my first time in Singapore and Bali, and my second time in Tokyo (third time in Japan overall.) As is standard for the trip reports I post here, this entry is heavily focused on logistics (flights, accommodations, getting around, etc.) [!example]- Table of Contents Flights Entry…
Travel Maps and Charts Flights Taken - links to flight logging/map profiles, with some data import/export talk States and Countries Visited - more maps Resources Ubigi vs Airalo vs Roamless - comparing various e-sim options when traveling internationally; includes referral codes for discounts Trip Reports I'm anticipating these trip reports will be heavily focused on logistics (flights,…
Ubigi vs Airalo vs Roamless Jotting some notes on my experiences with various eSIMs when traveling internationally. Background My main phone is an iPhone 16 with Verizon Visible as my primary carrier. My previous/backup phone is an iPhone SE (2020), though it doesn't currently have a cell phone plan and I use it wifi/data only. Both phones are unlocked. Both my main phone and previous/backup phone…
Flights Taken No longer travel for work, now just travel for fun. Flight logging and maps I have all my air travel from 2005 to present logged and mapped in a few places: MyFlightPath profile - prettier visualizations OpenFlights profile - the o.g. I also use Flighty, but it's an app, so tougher to link to a current profile MyFlightPath and Flighty are both relatively new to me and I'm still…
States and Countries Visited A little noodling with Google Charts GeoCharts to visualize the countries and U.S. states I've visited (so far!) At this point, I've done a lot more domestic (U.S.) travel than international travel but I'm hoping to tip the scales more in the other direction moving forward. States Visited [?] : Highlighted on this map: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado,…
Now Still in Vegas, where after an unusually mild winter, it's been a semi-normal spring? I went to France and Portugal earlier this year, I'm leaving on a trip to southeast Asia this week, and I have another 1-2 international trips planned for later in the year. That will be 3-4 international trips this year when I originally thought on maybe 2? I do have the scheduling flexibility to support…
2026 Marseille & Portugal Trip Report I visited Marseille, Lisbon and Porto in February-March 2026. As is standard for the trip reports I post here, this entry is heavily focused on logistics (flights, accommodations, getting around, etc.) [!example]- Table of Contents Flights Mobile data Local transport Hotels Touristy things Drinks and Eats Cash Laundry Returning Home ✈️ Flights At the end of…
2025 in Notebooks Think I'm giving up on the idea of posting a regular "Techo Kaigi" (see 2025 Techo Kaigi for the last one) and will just post on the notebooks I actually did use, moving forward. I wound up with 8 planners/journals/notebooks in play over the course of 2025, though not all at the same time and some were, ahem, short-lived: Midori 5 year diary - I'd started this diary in May 2020…
Stationery I've always kind of been into stationery, but my interest as an adult started in earnest around 2011, mostly with journals, pocket notebooks, gel ink pens and eventually pencils. I got into fountain pens in 2019, mere weeks after returning from a trip to Tokyo... which turned out to be fortuitous timing for my wallet! 😅💸 Fountain Pens Desert (Island) Fountain Pens - aka my favorite…
Reading Back in the day, I would read 50-60 books a year and blog little reviews/summaries about each one. I don't expect to return to those days, but I do still want to share a little bit about what I've read. 2025 I only read 16 books this year, a recent low for me. I also did not finish 7 books, which is a relative high. On reviewing my list of books I read this year, I realized that the…
Technical Site Notes I've been intrigued by statically-generated sites, and as sort of an experiment, decided to build the latest iteration of my personal website using markdown files managed in Obsidian and published via the Obsidian Digital Garden plugin . Below are notes on how I built the site, in part for me when I undoubtedly start wondering why or how the heck I did something! [!caution]-…
2025 Australia Trip Report I visited Sydney, Hobart, and Melbourne in October 2025. This was my first visit to Australia! As is standard for the trip reports I plan on posting here, this entry is heavily focused on logistics (flights, accommodations, getting around, etc.) [!example]- Table of Contents Flights Mobile data Local transport Hotels Touristy things Drinks and Eats Shopping Cash…
Tinkering Notes for when I undoubtedly start wondering how/why I set up something the way I did. Website Technical Site Notes - for this website! mostly describes Obsidian and Obsidian Digital Garden config and tweaks Embedding Maps and Charts with Google Charts - using Google Charts to generate the visualizations and Google Sheets to store and update the data
2025 Kyoto Trip Report I visited Kyoto in February 2025. This was my second trip to Japan and first time in Kyoto. As is standard for the trip reports I plan on posting here, this entry is heavily focused on logistics (flights, accommodations, getting around, etc.) [!example]- Table of Contents Flights Airports Mobile data Local transport To and from the airport Around Kyoto Hotels Touristy things…
carol's notes on various topics that interest me Recently Updated Pages 2026 Singapore, Bali, Tokyo Trip Report updated Jul 14, 2026 Ubigi vs Airalo vs Roamless updated Jun 26, 2026 Flights Taken updated May 20, 2026 States and Countries Visited updated May 15, 2026 Now updated May 4, 2026 Recent Social Media Posts Using the handy bsky embed for now until I get my local bsky+mastodon mechanism set…
Desert (Island) Fountain Pens My very first fountain pen dried out quickly and turned me off fountain pens for years. My second fountain pen was such a positive experience in comparison that at first I thought my first fountain pen must have been a dud... but then I realized that I've been living in low-humidity environments [1] and certainly that's a factor in causing some fountain pens to dry…
2025 Techo Kaigi I first heard the term "Techo Kaigi" on the Stationery Cafe podcast a few years ago. As described in The Penguin Post , a Techo Kaigi is "a review meeting (Kaigi) you hold with yourself (or friends) to talk about planners and journals (Techo) that you’ve used and what you plan to use for the next year." Reflecting on the planners/journals I've used and how I plan to use them is…
About After ~15 years of blogging on mostly php/mysql platforms, my interest has now been piqued by statically generated sites. I was looking for something more lightweight since I definitely don't post as much as I used to. This particular site's built on markdown files published from Obsidian using the Obsidian Digital Garden plugin. For more details, see Technical Site Notes . This site's not a…