Ricky Shetty's Blog, page 5

The Charm of Chile

Argentina is alluring, Bolivia is beautiful, and Chile is charming! We had the chance to spend 3 weeks in Chile visiting San Pedro de Atacama, Santiago, and Valparaiso traveling overland from Bolivia into Chile and then into Argentina. Chile is a loooong country so it takes a loooong time to get from North to South so plan for really loooong bus rides or be prepared for some flights. We love travelling fully overland as much as possible but we had to bear with some night buses to get to our destinations. I managed to get a lot of work done for our upcoming Digital Nomad Mastery – Virtual Summit on the bus rides plus got to listen to some inspiring podcasts! 1) SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA  San Pedro de Atacama was a beautiful town although quite expensive (especially when you come from dirt-cheap Bolivia)…it’s quite touristy so you have to get away from the 5 blocks of tourist-craziness to appreciate the town. We did the free walking tour from the Main Square. The stars are spectacular at night and a lot of the tour companies offer Astronomy Tours in the evening as well as Desert Tours to the surrounding Hot Springs and Steaming Geysers. Chile also has a weird 3 prong electric outlets so be prepared to buy an adaptor when you arrive (even our international multi-plug did not have the 3 prongs). From San Pedro, it was a long 23 hour bus ride into Santiago 2) SANTIAGO What an amazing city! We stayed at a beautiful Airbnb right in the centre of the city. It was only 2 blocks walk from Plaza de Armes (the main city square in Santiago) and had an amazing view of Santiago…plus some spectacular sunsets! Santiago has some talented Street Performers and Buskers (we especially loved the Drummers)! Check out all the videos below of the Santiago Street Performers! Santiago also has the tallest building in all of South America as well as some cool Cable Cars and Funiculars. Plus, we got to celebrate Halloween (Rianne as Minnie and Ryan as Iron Man) and Ryan’s 4th Birthday in Santiago (at Happy Land). Great memories of one of the most dynamic cities in South America! 3) VALPARAISO Valparaiso was a gorgeous city aesthetically with 40 plus hills. They call it the cultural capital of Chile. To get around you can ride one of the 15+ funiculars. To really appreciate the city, […]

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5 Kickstarter Products that Make Travelling Easier

This is a guest post by Tim Chan, a cheerful pessimist who is always thinking. He is the principal and marketing strategist at Coracle Marketing. Tim and his wife, Olive, blog together at www.timandolive.com and live with their 2 daughters near Vancouver, Canada. Tim is excited to be part of the team launching the Veego Stand, a light, portable, attachable laptop stand, available on Kickstarter now. — Travelling has many rewards, but it comes with its unique set of challenges. I’ve had the privilege to travel to France, Spain, Morocco, Israel, India, Thailand, Singapore, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Japan, Panama, Mexico, and across North America. And as my very travel-seasoned friend Ricky Shetty of Daddy Blogger will tell you, travelling well is a skill that is developed with practice. When it comes to travelling, I’m grateful for designers and inventors among us who create new products to help us out. Kickstarter is a great place to find innovative ideas and helpful gadgets that make travelling easier. If you travel frequently or are often on-the-go, you’ll want to check out these new products currently available on Kickstarter: PAXTER | Smart Travel / Gym Container For Hygiene Products When I travel, I like to bring my own shampoo, soap, and conditioner, because you never know what’s available where you’re staying (especially if you’ll be staying in multiple locations). But it’s a hassle having multiple bottles to carry around. The PAXTER is a compact way to transport your personal hygiene needs. It includes three refillable compartments for liquids, ideal for products such as soap, shampoo, and conditioner, as well as one waterproof compartment and one special toothbrush compartment. Instead of having to carry around multiple bottles and bags, the PAXTER makes it easy to take everything you need when you travel. MYMUG | The Last Mug You’ll Ever Need. 100 Year  Guarantee! I always bring a travel mug with me, because sometimes it’s hard to find a place to get a drink. When travelling I need a travel mug that’s spill proof, doesn’t break, and keeps my hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold. And it would be nice if it’s microwaveable and dishwasher safe. MYMUG is all these things. MYMUG is a sleek looking travel mug that feels like ceramic but is made with a composite material that is virtually unbreakable. They’re so confident in the design and material that it’s guaranteed for a century! […]

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The Beauty of Bolivia

Our journey to South America has brought us to Brazil, the Guyanas, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and now beautiful Bolivia! We arrived in South America in April 2017 and have been spending 3-4 weeks in each country (depending on the country size and how much we like the country/city/area). We are now at 11 out of the 13 countries in South America with only 2 more to go (Chile and Uruguay)! Here’s a deeper dive into our recent trip to beautiful Bolivia: 1) LA PAZ La Paz has a spectacular setting in the midst of a valley surrounded by the majestic Andes mountain range. La Paz is the highest altitude capital city in the world so it’s quite hard to breathe and you definitely need a few days to acclimatize. We did a few unique things in La Paz including seeing the famous Cholitas Women Wrestling (kind of like American WWE-Style Entertainment Wrestling). We also did the Green and Yellow Cable Cars and an informative walking tour of the city. La Paz has the highest and longest Cable Car System in the world. 2) SUCRE After La Paz, we took the night bus to Sucre which had another spectacular setting in the midst of the mountains. The drive to Sucre was pretty remarkable so make sure you have your camera ready to capture the scenery from the bus. Sucre and Potosi are both UNESCO World Heritage Sites so make sure you visit both of these cities! We did not have much time in Sucre so we just walked around the old city, checked out the Central Market, and took a local bus to see the main sights. Then it was off to Potosi for an overnight stay! 3) POTOSI Potosi was once the richest city in the Americas! Yes! Richer than NYC, LA, Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, etc. It’s definitely past its’ heyday but still has a strong economy based around mining. Unfortunately, kids under 12 years old are not allowed on the Mine Tours so we had to skip seeing the actual mines this time around. Instead, we stayed in the Old City walking around, trying local food, and enjoying the beautiful views. Make sure you try out the Fried Bread cooked by the local Street Vendors – yum!! 4) UYUNI We took the 4 hour bus trip from Potosi to Uyuni and slept overnight in Uyuni. I’m […]

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Digital Nomad Mastery – Virtual Summit

We are excited to announce our upcoming Digital Nomad Mastery – Virtual Summit at the end of November. It was this time last year that our family was still in Vancouver, BC, Canada (in the midst of a gloomy winter). We were dreaming and desiring to travel the world. The key is to move from dreaming to doing. Finally, that dream came true on Dec 6, 2016 (Our Dream Day) – the day we followed our dreams to travel the world. Since December of last year, we have taken our kids around the world visiting 4 continents and almost 20 countries. Our focus has been South America (having visited 12 out of the 13 countries so far. Only Uruguay left to go). Overall, I’m at 73 countries on 6 continents. Now that our travel dreams have come true (well, a lot of them…still a lot of travel dreams still to fulfill) my goal is to inspire people to travel more. One of the major obstacles people face is lack of money and lack of time. Therefore, we created a series of different products and services as well as lots of resources on our Digital Nomad Mastery website to help aspiring and new digital nomads including: 1) Private Coaching 2) Mastermind Groups 3) Online Courses 4) Podcasts  5) Virtual Summit Having recorded over 300 podcast episodes with travellers from around the world, we have been super inspired by all the real-life case studies of people who have made full-time travel a lifestyle instead of a vacation or a short-term trip. There are certainly lots of challenges associated with the digital nomad lifestyle which we will cover in-depth on our upcoming summit. The focus of the Virtual Summit will be MAKING MONEY ONLINE (MMO) since having multiple streams of online income allows you the 3 big freedoms (Money Freedom, Time Freedom, Geography Freedom). My wife and I recently compiled a list of over 100 ways to make money online as a Digital Nomad. We will be sharing this resource with all of our Summit Attendees so stay tuned. WHY DID WE CREATE THIS SUMMIT? Well, there are a few reasons: 1) FILLING A NEED The definition of an entrepreneur is someone who solves a problem for people at a profit. Entrepreneurs fill a need or void or gap in the marketplace. Being a serial entrepreneur, I am always looking to solve problems that I see. […]

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Digital Nomad Mastery – Podcast

We started our blog on Dec 6, 2012. Here we are 5 years later, not just blogging, but this year, we launched our Digital Nomad Mastery Podcast too!! We recorded our first episode on May 20, 2017 and here we are writing this blog post in October having recorded over 300 episodes in only 5 months!! It’s similar to the start of our blogging journey when we wrote blog posts for 365 consecutive days. It was a Daily Blog for the first year and it has been almost a Daily Podcast for our first 6 months of podcasting! I really enjoy Podcasting as it’s a LOT easier than Blogging. You just need to organize the schedule with the interviewee and then push start and stop broadcast when recording the show on Google Hangout. We keep the video version on YouTube and put the audio version on iTunes. We also put the podcast links on our blog so we can reach people through different mediums (written, audio, and vide0). Some of the lessons learnt from interviewing over 300 guests: 1) People usually are willing to be on your show At first, I was afraid that no one would like to be on my podcast. Or, I would only get family and friends but nobody well-known or famous. That was definitely my own inner critic talking as I have had multi-millionaires and major travel influencers on the show including John Chow, Yaro Starak, Casey Fenton, Gary Arndt, Erin Bender, and more. 2) People have a lot to teach you I was surprised how open and transparent people have been on the show…much more than I expected! They share some of their biggest struggles and lowest points in their lives very openly with our audience. Also, our guests share their very practically, their strategies of how they make multiple streams of  income as digital nomads. 3) People love to listen to your show Another big fear I had when we started was that nobody would listen to our show. Well, over 1,000 people have already watched or listened to the episodes and we have got several 5 star ratings and reviews. Best of all is when I get a personal or private message thanking me for how good the show is and how much they have learnt from the interviews. Here’s some of our favourite episodes so far: 1) Episode # 1 – The Launch of […]

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Visiting Machu Picchu – A Dream Come True!!

What is at the top of your Bucket List? For me, it’s been Machu Picchu for several years now. I’ve seen dozens of pictures, videos, blog posts, post cards, and documentaries. Every time, I saw one of my Travel Blogger friends take the Iconic Picture of themselves, I wondered if I would ever get there or would it just stay a dream? The thing about dreams is that they can stay as mere hopes or wishes unless you take dramatic and decisive action! Having been to 72 countries on 6 continents, sometimes you get bored of seeing church after church or temple after temple or museum after museum or mountain after mountain. However, Machu Picchu is a unique site unlike any other on this planet! Being there in person was super super impactful on every level: spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical. In fact, I was in tears a number of times as I couldn’t hold in all the joy and happiness associated with the feeling of having a dream come true! There are 3 major ways to get to Machu Picchu: 1) Trekking – the classic way to get to Machu Picchu is to do the Inca Trail or several other trails. However, since we are traveling with toddlers and a baby, we decided to take Peru Rail. Maybe one day we will come back with our kids and all of us will do the Inca Trail together. “Right, Rianne, Ryan, and Renzo?”  

Travelling Overland from Lima to La Paz with Peru Hop

Greetings from La Paz, Bolivia! Over the last 3 weeks we have been traveling overland from Lima to La Paz with Peru Hop and Bolivia Hop. Here’s the breakdown of our trip: 1) LIMA TO PARACAS We left Lima super early with a pick-up by Peru Hop at our hostel in Miraflores (the major tourist hot spot in Lima). We were very impressed by the punctuality of our driver, the cleanliness of our bus, and the friendliness of our guide. It was definitely an impressive first impression! 2) SLAVE TUNNEL TOUR NEAR LIMA  Less than 1% of all visitors of Peru know about the Slave Tunnels. That’s why we loved our visit so much, it’s off-the-beaten track, very educational, and extremely emotive…especially when you hear about the poor living and working conditions that African Slaves faced during the Spanish Colonization. 3) BALLESTAS ISLAND TOUR IN PARACAS  We booked the Ballestas Islands Tour as it’s called “The Poor Man’s Gallapagos.” Even though we were in Ecuador last month we had to skip Gallapagos since we want to extend our travels for as long as possible. 4) DUNE BUGGY AND SAND BOARDING IN HUACACHINA Since our kids are quite young (5, 3, and 1), they weren’t able to do the Dune Buggy Tour for safety reasons. However, I jumped at the opportunity as I love Dune Buggies! 5) NAZCA LINES IN NAZCA We opted to climb up to the Lookout Tower to see 2 of the famous and unsolved mysteries of the Nazca Lines! I still can’t believe that these lines have withstood the test of time and the environment! 6) COLCA CANYON TOUR IN AREQUIPA Did you know that the deepest and second deepest canyons in the world are both in Peru? In fact, the Colca Canyon is twice as deep as its’ more famous brother The Grand Canyon! Unfortunately, wife was suffering altitude sickness but the kids and I had a great time. 7) MACHU PICCHU & SACRED VALLEY TOUR IN CUSCO  Machu Picchu has been on the top of my Bucket List for so long and finally my dream came true! I was so emotional that I was literally in tears as I made a video sharing about my experience! It’s one thing to see pictures, videos, blog posts, postcards, and documentaries but to be there in person to experience the majesty of Machu Picchu is truly unforgettable. 8) […]

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Visiting Every Country in South America

At the time of writing, we are in La Paz, Bolivia. We first entered South America in April 2017 and our goal was to visit EVERY COUNTRY in South America by December 2017 (that’s 8 months to do 13 countries). Well…the good news is that we have already finished 11/13 countries and only have Chile and Uruguay left to go! We spend an average of about a month per country (longer for the bigger countries and shorter for the smaller ones like the Guyanas). It’s hard to pick favourites but definitely Peru, Colombia, and Brazil are at the top! So, here’s a rundown of our trip to South America so far in chronological order! 1) BRAZIL  We spent 6 amazing weeks in Brazil starting off in Sao Paulo and then heading to Iguazu Falls and then volunteering at Chain of Love near Port Alegre and then traveling all the way up the East Coast/Atlantic Ocean from south to north stopping at Florianopolis , Balneario Camboriu, Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, Vitoria, Salvador, Recife, Natal, Fortaleza, and heading off our trip in Manaus to visit the Amazing Amazon Rainforest! 2) ARGENTINA Since we saw the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls, we had to cross over to see the Argentinian side too since 80% of the falls lies in Argentina. It was a great day trip with a lot of hiking to ensure we saw as much of the falls as possible. One of the highlights was doing the Boat Trip which went right under the falls and soaked us fully! We are planning to head back to Argentina after Chile to see the rest of the country! 3) PARAGUAY Did you know that Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil are all visible from the Meeting of the 3 Frontiers. It’s a pretty impressive site as you can see all the countries from one spot – I have yet to see another place in the world with a similar panorama of 3 major countries. We decided to do a day trip to Paraguay to meet up with my friend Wakko who took us to the 3 Frontiers vantage point in Paraguay. 4) FRENCH GUIANA I’ve been looking forward to the Guyanas particularly because not many tourists go there and I love going off-the-beaten-path. French Guiana is definitely a unique part of South America as it’s technically part of the European Union, the local currency is the […]

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Exploring Ecuador

After spending 6 weeks exploring beautiful Colombia, we crossed over to Ecuador by bus. Once we hit the border, we took another bus to the nation’s capital of Quito (the second highest capital city in the world after La Paz, Bolivia). For the first and only time in South America, the currency is in US Dollars because of an Economic Crisis. It definitely felt weird to be spending USD while in South America paying for stuff in the small stores, restaurants, hotels, buses, and taxis. Here’s all the things we saw and did during our 3 week stay in Ecuador: 1) QUITO Quito was a beautiful city and we stayed in the historic area right on La Rambla. La Rambla Hostel was very welcoming – it was hard to say goodbye to the amazing staff. They had a delicious yet pricey restaurant on-site and the hostel was in the perfect location walkable from all the major tourist attractions! We also did a Walking Tour of the Old City and took a taxi up to the Virgin Mary Statue (called “The Winged Virgin of Quito”) at sunset for an amazing view of Quito! Here’s a video tour of our hostel in La Rambla: 2) THE EQUATOR The Ciudad Mitad del Mundo is about 30 mins from Quito. Most hostels have a Half Day Tour for only $10 USD which includes transport back and forth. You have to pay the entrance fee separately. I quite enjoyed seeing the attraction as they have several very interesting “Scientific Experiments” showing the unique Coriolis Effect at the Equatorial Line. You can see a famous Shrunken Head and learn about traditional Ecuadorian Culture while visiting. 3) OTAVALO  Did we really need to see another market? The more you travel, the more you get tired of seeing churches, temples, plazas, mountains, and markets. However, Otavalo is on a whole different level. It’s the largest outdoor market in all of South America and all the vendors wear traditional Ecuadorian clothing which adds to the magical ambience. Instead of doing a day trip, I recommend coming up on Friday night and sleeping overnight and then maximizing your Saturday at the market. There is also an Animal Market just outside of the main town. Here’s a video tour of our room at Otavalo overlooking the world-famous outdoor market: 4) BANOS  Banos meaning “to wash yourself” in Spanish and the town […]

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The Beauty of Colombia

Colombia: our FAVOURITE Country in South America so far! After 7 months of continuous travel, we needed a break. Of course, travel is a rush and there are so many benefits and joys. However, it’s easy to suffer burnout…especially when traveling with young kids. So, we decided to take a much need 1 month vacation from our vacation by setting up base in Medellin (The Digital Nomad Hot Spot of South America). 1) BOGOTA We spent about 1 week in Bogota staying in the area called Candelabra. Unfortunately, for the first few days, we were suffering from altitude sickness so we took the local remedy of Coca Tea, drank lots of water, and rested and recovered. We also did a Walking Tour of Old Bogota, saw the new Spiderman: Homecoming movie, and took the Cable Car up to Monserrate. 2) MEDELLIN What an amazing city!! We absolutely fell in love with Medellin…especially because it is called “The City of Eternal Spring.” It’s not too hot (like Santa Marta) and not too cold (like Bogota) but it’s just right (just like the Goldilocks and the 3 Bears Story). We were also lucky enough to be in Medellin during their annual Flower Festival. We tried La Bandeja Paisa (“The Medellin Tray/Plate”), the local delicious cuisine. We also ended up taking all 3 Cable Cars, the Street Car, and the Metro. The final thing we did before we left was organize my very first Digital Nomad Mastery international workshop! 3) GUATAPE  What a view! It took us over 600 steps but it was well worth it for the spectacular view of the lakes below! It’s a man-made lake system. The town of Guatape is quite beautiful too with gorgeous murals along the cobblestone streets. Our kids loved taking the auto-rickshaw from Guatape to the Rock (called a “Moto-Taxi” by the locals). I recommend staying overnight and enjoying the trip rather than rushing back and forth on a day trip from Medellin. 4) CARTAGENA Cartagena is a eye-warming UNESCO World Heritage City on the Caribbean Coast. I loved the vibrant Colombia Flag-themed & coloured women selling products near the big Time Clock. We had a short time here so did the Horse Carriage Ride around the Old City as well as a 3 hour Tour of the New & Old Cities visiting the memorable & well-kept Traditional Fort and seeing the Spaniard-built walls. It was quite hot compared to […]

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