Me

This is a bit more of a sartorial topic than what I usually write about, although not the first time I’ve discussed clothing for travel. Yes, it’s been quite some time since I’ve written anything on my blog, but this is the topic that came to mind to discuss.

It’s been a few months since my last trip, however I have been doing a lot more business travel post-pandemic than I had been prior, when most of my travel as a digital nomad was to destinations I chose purely for personal reasons. As such, my travel wardrobe has gone through quite a bit of change, as I need to be presentable when giving talks at conferences, meeting with customers, or attending other business functions. That means no more flannel shirts and hiking pants made with technical fabrics, which while durable and great for travel are far too casual for my purposes now. For those of you who have spent some time with me, you also know I prefer to travel very light while not compromising in any way on quality, I truly want the best of everything.

My name is Tyler Duzan, or more formally Mr. Tyler T. Duzan.
My nickname is tristor. This site you're on, entitled Wandering in Wondering, is my personal website as part of the IndieWeb
If you need to contact me, please encrypt your messages using my public key.

I am many things, but perhaps most of all I am a life-long learner. I aspire to become a renaissance man, although I see the journey ahead as being long (and a whole lot of fun). My interests are fairly broad, and I tend to pick up new hobbies and interests often, delve deeply into them, and then file them away to make room for the next.

Introduction

This year definitely is operating under some new restrictions. With COVID-19 still looming and vaccinations not yet distributed widely, it’s important to keep in mind keeping social distance and staying out of doors. That said, I’m sure I’m just like many people in my desire to get out of the house. My girlfriend and I decided that instead of gifts this year we’d plan COVID safe experiences for Valentine’s Day.

Howdy all,

It’s been one year since I wrote my last update on the blog. I am hoping to become more active in the near-term future as I’m in progress (albeit slowly) of migrating my site to a new server so I can expand it by adding new sections to cover my interest in cars/racing and cooking. In the process, I’m also planning on reducing my time on social media and likely removing my Facebook account.

Howdy all,

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted an update to my blog. As you might have gathered from that I’ve been busy and kind of forgot about writing for awhile.

I originally had a huge post planned to kick things off again with all sorts of ideas, but instead I’m just going to write something that’s a bit word salad in the organization that comes to mind, and we’ll see how long it is when I get to the end.

Many of my fellow remotes have already written something about their experiences during the year and come to some conclusion about the meaning of it all. The honest truth for me though is that I don’t know what it means to me yet. My experience was very different from most of the people in our group, and yet I can’t help but see that some of the things I’m slowly coming to conclude align pretty strongly with others. I wasn’t at any of these epic parties mentioned in so many other posts, I’m absent from almost every group photograph, I even ended up missing the last day and the big farewell event. Yet, at the same time, I never felt like I was missing out. No FOMO at all. I explored the cities and countries we were in, met locals, broke far out of my comfort zone, and left with a bevy of stories which I will carefully hold to myself.

Happy New Years!

First of all, welcome to 2017. 2016 was an interesting year for me in many ways and a really positive experience, I hope the same can be said for all of my readers. I’m writing this from my apartment in Bogota, Colombia as I begin Month #8 of Remote Year - Darién.

When I think about last year and what sort of theme it represented in my life, I can only categorize it with the term “Discovery”. This last year I had started a new job, I had started remote working full-time for the first time, I had learned a new programming language, operating environment, and industry. In that mix, I also decided it’d be the perfect time to travel the world and meet a whole bunch of new people in places I’d never been before. In short, last year was largely about discovering the world, seeing things in a new light, and through that lens also discovering things about myself.

Super short update. Tomorrow is the big day I fly out. Between flight time, layovers, and time zone changes I will be traveling for 26 hours straight. Leaving 8AM from San Antonio, Texas, USA to arrive in Prague, Czech Republic at 10:30AM (or thereabouts) local time. 7 hour layover in JFK, 8 hours to time zones, and the rest is in the air.

Illness Update

I’ve basically fully recovered at this point. I do have a bit of lingering congestion and an occasional throat clearing or cough, but I’m doing pretty well. My ENT has prescribed me additional round of anti-fungals so that I can definitively get rid of the infection. I’ll probably try to find an ENT in Prague and follow-up while I’m there just to confirm that the infection is gone.

This is going to be short, just a quick update on how things are going.

Illness Update

The medication I am taking has caused some bad side effects. I’ll spare the details, but I think I may have it under control. I am following up on Monday with the ENT specialist to check everything out, and then I am going to get my Hepatitis B booster this week assuming I am safe to do so. My illness hopefully is coming to an end, because I’m about to hop on a plane.

So, it’s almost time to depart. Just 10 days left in the US, and I’ll be on way for my trip and off to meet 74 strangers (hopefully soon to be some friends) to gallivant around Europe and South America. It’s a bit daunting at this point and definitely feels real. Honestly, I don’t feel like I have enough time left to do all the things I need to do so my anxiety is in overdrive. Nonetheless, the time has come.

I apologize I haven’t posted the later parts of my Macbook setup instructions yet. I ran into the chicken-and-egg problem of wanting to use my new Macbook to write my posts. I am happy to report that I am now writing this post on my new Macbook and it’s to a point where I can start writing the rest of the article. I will do that later on. First though, a quick update regarding trip preparations.

Itinerary Update

First, before I get into the rest of what I’ve got sorted out this week for my trip, the itinerary has changed for Darién. The Remote Year staff reached out to everyone who has been accepted to Darién to notify us of the change earlier this week, citing safety concerns about Turkey and Bolivia. The new itinerary is below:

1. Prague, Czech Republic
2. Belgrade, Serbia
3. London, UK
4. Lisbon, Portugal
5. Rabat, Morocco
6. Valencia, Spain
7. Mexico City, Mexico
8. Bogotá, Colombia
9. Medellin, Colombia
10. Lima, Peru
11. Córdoba, Argentina
12. Buenos Aires, Argentina

Preparing to Travel

When I left you last week I was still figuring out insurance, waiting on my US Passport to be sent to me from renewal, and considering my options for some other essential items for travel.

I’m in!

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve been accepted to join Remote Year as part of the Darién cohort starting on June 1st, 2016 in Prague, Czech Republic, and returning to the US in June of 2017. I’ve been looking forward to doing international travel and participating in the digital nomad lifestyle for many years, and since I now work remotely its presented the opportunity to make that dream a reality. I’m overjoyed to be part of what is surely going to be an epic experience.