Traveler Profile: Rob

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Obama!

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Screen name:

Rob

Age:

Gender:

Male

If you must know:

I'm taken

Travel status:

Traveling now

Hometown:

Southern California/Singapore

Currently in:

Laos

Traveling Next:

Thailand

Favorite places I've been:

www.MomSaysImRunningAway.com

Swiss Alps, Krakow Poland, Buenos Aires, Patagonia, Nicaragua, Mongolia, Sierra Nevadas

Places I want to go to:

Singapore (for a special lady), Rent a 4x4 and drive all over Namibia for a month, Scuba South East Asia, Load up my bicycle and ride/camp my way across New Zealand, More road-trippin in the USA, India, Australia: buy a small cheap car and wander, Hike the Ozark Highland Trail, The Baltic Countries, Tanzania, to the movies alone (try it!), and any other place I get invited to. Anyone want to go anywhere?

About me:

I love to travel and take pictures; both of which are extremely expensive interests, but somehow I manage to constantly be going somewhere. I am living my life as I saw it as a child and it makes me extremely content.

Profile URL:

http://matadortravel.com/travel-community/rob

Read more about Rob

I'm fired up on:

Photography (obviously), bicycle touring, backpacking, discovering cocktails from around the world, filmmaking, snowboarding, camping, reading, cooking/eating, discovering anything new, being alone, being with old friends, being with new friends, live theatre, watching movies, and as much travel as I can fit into my life. I have always promised myself to go anywhere I am invited.

Tunes I rock out to:

Pretty much anything, I am an awful musician and I at times I doubt my ability to fully enjoy good music. Perhaps I am tone-deaf?

I do enjoy mellow jams that create a laid back vibe. Club music isn't always for me, although it does have it's time and place.

Travel style:

I travel 8-9 months a year in about 2 month sections to pursue travel photography. I once tried a long term trip alone and it wasn't for me (Perhaps with someone), I love my regular time at home because it refreshes me and gets me ready to see another place without being travel weary. I am always testing my limits both physically and mentally to know myself better. Many times I surprise myself.

Quote:

"Six billion other people can live their lives, so can you." -Myself

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." -Thoureau

"There was madness in any direction, at any hour." -Hunter Thompson

Sports I do:

Cycling, Snowboarding, Surfing (badly), Hiking, Climbing (again, badly), wandering

Favorite artist(s):

My brother Aaron (aaronpaetz.blogspot.com), Conrad Hall & Roger Deakins (Amazing Cinematographers), Ansel Adams

Favorite books:

Ayn Rand (I am a diehard Capitalist combined with a hardcore Conservationist, odd mix, I know), Paulo Coelho, Bill Bryson (of course), Gabriel Garcia Marquez, The Catcher in the Rye

Who I'd like to meet on my travels:

Lovers, Photographers, Writers and Amazing people who know why they travel.

I want to make a difference by:

By living my own life fully and being an example of what human beings are capable of when they want something. If we all did this the world would be a better and more interesting place.

Languages spoken, other than English:

A itty-bitty amount of Spanish

I felt the most immersed in a foreign culture when:

When standing on the beach in Cancun, Mexico surrounded by drunken American college students who symbolize everything I have never fit in with.

Why I travel:

To run away from the "standard life" that was prescribed to our parents. To constantly prove to myself that life is as beautiful and amazing as I dream it to be. To not be sheltered in my ideas of things and encourage my own freedom of thought.

Ideal place to watch the sunrise:

The top of a 14,000 foot mountain

Ideal place to watch the sunset:

Home sweet home, Southern California

Before I die I'd like to:

Build my own house, publish many books of my photography, Be a Cinematographer for a major motion picture, learn to juggle with some amount of skill, perfect my horrible Spanish, teach my nieces to be rational and thinking human beings, live up to the sacrifice my father made for me, learn to ride a motorcycle(check), and find a girl who is perfect (even if this takes my whole life.)(check)

Current count 2/9

Let's collaborate:

I am a travel photographer always looking for more of the same, or anyone who writes and wants professional level images to go with their stories. Publishers are more than welcome to contact me as well.

My links:

www.momsaysimrunningaway.com

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by Tim Patterson | 2008/10/10

Enjoy Luang Prabang and be sure to check out My Library - a really cool organization where students learn languages and photography.

http://www.thelanguageproject.dreamhosters.com/langproj3b/index.php?page=my-library-luang-prabang

Also, go to the Kuang Si waterfall and climb all the way to the top! There's a secret pool at the very top that is pure paradise.

Pun Pun is awesome - I'll be doing a cooking course there with www.yousabai.com from Monday the 20th.

by Rob | 2008/10/10

Don't know if I'll be there the morning of the 18th or on the 17th. I just arrived in Luang Prabang , and Ill be working my way there from here. I can definately make it out to the Pun Pun farm for a couple of days, I checked out there site and it looks pretty sweet.

See you there, and let me know when you have a better idea about the time of lunch on the 18th.

by Tim Patterson | 2008/10/10

really looking forward to meeting you in Chiang Mai on the 18th! i figure to have a late lunch at pun pun's restaurant at wat suan dok...will be arriving morning of the 18th.

any chance you can come up to Pun Pun farm afterwards?

by feliciawong | 2008/01/24

can't wait!

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by feliciawong | 2007/12/13

How about scuba-ing the Carribean with me? :)

by feliciawong | 2007/10/05

someone's pictures got featured! :)
yaaaay!

dum-dee-dum... s-i-n-g-a-p-o-r-e!

by feliciawong | 2007/08/10

weeeeeeeeeee!
can't wait to be on-the-go again :)

by NY GIRL EATS... | 2007/05/30

Reminds me of when I went to live in Spain. I was appalled at how much oil they used -- salads were literally drowning it, the lettuce leaves limp and glistening. Don't worry, though; I imagine you can use the extra fat. ;) MSG, though, yeah, that sucks.

by Ian | 2007/04/05

How much did they pay you?

by Stu | 2007/03/31

Wow man- just flipped through your pics. Simply amazing. you're one hell of a photographer. In the wise words of Ben: Well done sir.

by Ben | 2007/03/28

Incredible photos! If that slide show doesn't make you want to explore this beautiful world, I don't know... Well done sir.

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Beijing 2008?

By Rob | Location: China | 06/18/07 | Pics: 6

So in a city where you can't see the sky because of insane amounts of pollution, the greatest athletes are going to converge, next summer, to achieve their worst times and scores of their careers. How anyone expects these stars to give their best when their eyes are bleary from the particles in the air,...

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Paid Blogging

By Rob | Location: Mexico | 03/28/07 | Pics: 1

So I just return from a three week job in Cancun, Mexico where I was paid to blog the Spring Break experience (in a PG-13 way) for a major American clothing company. Has anyone else out there ever been paid to blog? Or am the first in this new form of advertising by making readers feel like they are...

2 comments | Send to Friend |

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