ARTICLES
5 Best Places to Go Heli-skiing
Furthermore from Equinox, March 2017
A round-up of the best places to find powder via helicopter. (Furthermore from Equinox, March 2017)
ENTRIES FROM THE GLOBAL TRIP BLOG CHRONICLES
Fugu Me
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted September 26, 2004
DAY 337: One thing I never expected this Blog to do is actually have influence on the course of The Trip; usually a travel Blog is just a report on stuff that happens without ever actually being a part of the story that it is telling. Of all the incredible things The Blog has done for me, one was introduce me to new people, faithful readers of my (mis)adventures. (At the time of writing, I believe there are more readers that I’ve never met than people I know — and even more if more of you SBRs would speak up!)
One of these unknown Blogreaders — neigh, Blog Hogs — was Liz, who opted to be on “The Trinidad Show” by inviting me to her home in Japan, a country I always wanted to go but wouldn’t unless I had a place to crash since it’s so expensive. Liz, a Canadian ex-pat from Windsor, Ontario provided me that place to crash in her humble apartment in central Tokyo, which she shared with her Japanese husband Hiroshi. She told me to come on over so she could play host for me — she even had episodes of The Amazing Race saved up for me to watch. She also entertained my idea that one night we’d go out for fugu, the poisonous blowfish immortalized in an episode of The Simpsons, a food that could kill you if not cut and prepared properly due to its inherent natural presence of tetrodotoxin. (There is a 50% fatality rate according to an FDA report. Some regard eating fugu as playing the culinary equivalent of Russian Roulette.)
We Gonna Rock Down To Electric Avenue
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted September 27, 2004
DAY 338: Japanese technology can be seen all over the world, from a mobile phone in a remote town in Africa to a big home theater in Chicago, USA. Chances are that the very computer you are using right now to read this very Blog has some Japanese parts in it, if not all Japanese parts. Japanese technology has put the “modern” in “Modern World” as many everyday indispensable things originate from the electronic über-companies that are based in Japan, particularly Tokyo. In fact, Liz’s apartment was just across the street from the backside of Sony World Headquarters, with a windowless R & D wing guarding so many secret prototypes like a secure fortress — you couldn’t even park you car on the street outside.
Things to Do When Your Wallet is Missing
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted September 28, 2004
DAY 339: People came from the left, right, north, south, east, west, northwest and north north west. Everywhere I turned there was another person speeding along on two legs trying to get somewhere. I stood in the middle of the random chaos and just observed with no rush of my own, spinning around and shooting them all with my camera. From above it probably looked like a game of Asteroids or something.
See No Common Sense
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted September 29, 2004
DAY 340: Tokyo is a huge sprawling metropolis with the area of 2,187 sq. km., almost 400 times larger than a football field. With so many buildings spread out over such an expanse, it’s no wonder Tokyo was chosen to be the battlefield for Godzilla and all his monster movie enemies. It’s so big that it is often called “Mega-Tokyo” in Japanese sci-fi anime films.
Inner Child
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted October 03, 2004
DAY 341: Slurping your noodles in a restaurant in the Western World isn’t exactly proper manners, but in Japan it is actually encouraged; the intake of air is supposed to enhance the flavor of the them. Slurping is something that I believe is an intrinsic habit of human nature — it is upbringing in a non-slurping society that trains us not too. In Japan it was great to get back with my inner slurping child; there’s something about it that just gives you that innocent unrestricted sensation that kids have before they get too old. Eating soba noodles the Japanese way made me feel blended in with the locals, until I was told I was resting my chopsticks on the wrong thing.
“Uh, that’s an ashtray,” Liz informed me.
Goldilocks and The Three Bowls
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted October 03, 2004
DAY 342: Of all the amazing technology in Japan, I must give honorable mention to the advancements in the toilet industry. Yes, the Japanese even use technology to make the daily experience of taking a dump easier. When I first arrived at Liz’s apartment’s bathroom, I was already amazed that even without the integration of an electric device, the Japanese figured a way to improve the toilet: after flushing the toilet, the water that fills the tank for the next flush doesn’t come straight from the pipeline. Instead, it goes to a faucet of a sink atop the tank so that you can wash your hands with fresh water — from there, the sink drains into the tank, resulting in an added conservation of water.
Sensory Overload
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted October 03, 2004
DAY 343: I am probably a bit biased when I say this, but I think my generation, the generation whose childhood took place in the 1980s, is the best generation. It was in the 80s that the video game revolution began, when an Atari 2600 or ColecoVision was on the top of every boy’s Christmas list, when visions of sugarplum game cartridges danced in our heads. Yes, you can blame us for being that first generation that would rather play video games than do a boring thing like reading or taking out the garbage. Why do anything else when you could switch your switchbox on the back of the TV from “TV” to “GAME CONSOLE” and play a game like Atari’s Combat, where you could fire a non-descript looking shape that was supposed to be a tank with such a force that it knocked the other non-descript shape all the way to the other side of the screen?
Searching For Godzilla
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted October 05, 2004
DAY 344: I never really realized how much Japanese pop culture had become world pop culture until I got to Japan. From video games to anime films, Japan has contributed many things to international pop culture, and none is bigger (at least in size) than the big monster known as Godzilla.
School Day
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted October 06, 2004
DAY 345: Liz’s job in Japan was a corporate trainer and English teacher for businesspeople. Most of her clients were Japanese businessmen and businesswomen who needed to learn English for their employers, to reach a particular rating by the Foreign Services Institute so that they could communicate overseas. Most companies required a rating of 2.2 to 2.4 (on a scale of 0.0-5.0), which was fairly okay. (By comparison, George W. Bush scored a 3.4 and Bill Clinton scored a 4.2.)
Indoor Fun
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted October 07, 2004
DAY 346: Typhoon season in Japan occurs during the change in climate around the coming of autumn, from about August to October, much like the hurricanes that hit the Caribbean and the eastern seaboard of North America. Unlike the American hurricanes, which are given plain American names in alphabetical order (“Albert,” “Bobby,” “Chris,” etc.), typhoons are simply given plain numbers in Japan in ascending order. That Wednesday, “Typhoon 21” was on its way up from the South China Sea and on through southern Japan.
Live-Action Japanimation
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted October 07, 2004
DAY 347: Voltron. Pokémon. G-Force. Yu-Gi-Oh. Speed Racer. Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave for the past fifty years (without a TV), you must recognize at least one of these titles (each one representing a decade since the 1960s). They are the titles of some of the more popular cartoons to be exported out of Japan and into the screens of American television, after being redubbed into English.
Bullet Time
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted October 08, 2004
DAY 348: “I’m quite envious that you’re going to Kyoto,” Liz confessed to me at the dining table that morning. She had lived in Japan for five odd years, but had never made it out to tour the former Imperial capital. I supposed Liz exhibited the same behavior found in most people — to not tour the home country. (Besides, a flight and a week’s stay in Thailand was cheaper than spending a weekend in Kyoto.)
Zen and The Art of Bicycle Maintenance
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted October 08, 2004
DAY 349: Kyoto is the other must-see city (aside from Tokyo) for anyone with a short amount of time in Japan, according to the 1997 Lonely Planet guide. “More than any other city in Japan, if you care to seek it out, Kyoto offers what all westerners long for of Japan — raked pebble gardens, the sensuous contours of a temple roof, the tripping step of a latter-day geisha in pursuit of a taxi.” The center of the Japanese empire was based in Kyoto from the 7th to the 19th centuries, and in that time many classic buildings were constructed to serve the rulers, the people and the religions they believed in.
The Japanese Connection
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted October 09, 2004
DAY 350: When I was on a tour to ride camels in the Sahara desert of Morocco, I met a young Japanese guy in my group named Muzza. He, along with the cartoon philosophical Vancouverite Sebastian and others including myself, rode camels into the sunset, slept in a Bedouin camp and climb big Saharan sand dunes. My times with Muzza were short but he gave me his contact info and told me to get in touch with him once I got to Japan.
A Castle Tale
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted October 10, 2004
DAY 351: Osaka, as Lonely Planet says, is a big modern city concerned with money, food and drink but “if you go looking for beauty, [it] will surely disappoint.” However, when I got off the local JR train (cheaper than taking the bullet train from Kyoto since it was less than an hour away), I found Lonely Planet to be the disappointing one — their Osaka street map neglected to label any of the streets, and I just got lost. Really, what’s the point of a map if there are no street names on it?
Fahrenheit 8/6
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted October 10, 2004
DAY 352: August 6, 1945, 8:14 a.m. It was a clear, sunny day over the city of Hiroshima, a city that prided itself as a center of education. People of the Saragakucho district, a vibrant neighborhood of actors and artisans, were going about the beginning of their day like any other — kids went to school, adults went to work. One person’s anecdote of that beautiful morning started, “A dragonfly flitted in front of me and stopped on a fence. I stood up, took my cap in my hands, and was about to catch the dragonfly when…”
The Critters of Miyajima
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted October 12, 2004
DAY 353: One of the iconic and most photographic structures in Japan is the Ohtorii Gate, a bright orange gateway marking the entrance to the Itsukushima Shine on Miyajima Island. This island was a daytrip away from Hiroshima and I decided to check it out at Liz’s suggestion. Besides, with all the post-A-bomb peace memorials in town, I was getting a little “peaced out.”
Farewell Surprise
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World"
Posted October 12, 2004
DAY 354: Whispers were going back and forth between Hiroshi and Liz. They wanted to take me out for dinner for my last night in Japan, but they wanted the location to be a surprise.
Maybe it’s sushi. Maybe it’s yakitori. Or maybe it’s something cool that I don’t even know about.
I saw them come to a consensus. “We’re going to give you a taste of home,” was Liz’s only clue.
McDonald’s? Starbucks? Oh wait, are we going to that Denny’s down the road? Surely it can’t be Denny’s. Right?
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ABOUT ERIK R. TRINIDAD
When he’s not making a living as an interactive/motion designer or playing with fast food, Erik R. Trinidad is a travel writer, blogger, video host and producer focusing on adventure and culinary content. His work has been featured on National Geographic Intelligent Travel, Adventure.com, Discovery.com, Saveur, Condé Nast Traveler, and 
Hyenas Laughed at Me and Now I Know Why, which also includes the work of Tim Cahill, Doug Lansky, Jennifer Leo and Rolf Potts. He has also referenced his travel experiences in his solo book, Fancy Fast Food: Ironic Recipes with No Bun Intended.
For over ten years, Erik has traveled to the seven continents of the world — from Timbuktu to Kalamazoo — with a curiosity for exotic foods and a thirst for adventure (and writing material). In his travels, he has been mugged at knifepoint in Cape Town, extorted by corrupt Russian police on the Trans-Siberian Railway, stranded in tornadic storms in the American midwest, and air-lifted off the Everest Trail by a helicopter that was thankfully paid for by his travel insurance. But it hasn’t been all fun; he has also donned a tuxedo amidst the penguins of Antarctica, paraded with Carnival-winning samba school Beija Flor in Rio, run for his life at Pamplona’s “Running of the Bulls,” cage-dived with great white sharks, gotten shot point-blank in the stomach in Colombia (while wearing a bulletproof jacket), and above all, encountered many people around the world, including some Peruvian musicians in Cuzco who learned and played “Y.M.C.A.” at his request. He loves the irony that, after everywhere he’s been, he has never been to Mexico.
Erik writes stories and news articles when he’s at his base camp in New York City, and continues his blog when he is on the road — provided he’s not occupied tracking down lost luggage.
Additional news/article clippings at ErikTrinidad.com.
See Erik talk about travel in an American Express ad:
Read about Erik in this feature article from Filipinas magazine by National Geographic Traveler Associate Editor Amy Alipio.