Author Archives: gregflopez

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About gregflopez

I'm a traveler, independent business owner and I enjoy solo motorcycling and mountain biking. I like snow skiing when I get a chance and I'm here to share some experience.

Skiing on a budget in the US

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I have two words for you: Flagstaff, Arizona.  Yes, I know it’s not one of the big names in skiing, but if you’re on a budget and also you’re an intermediate or beginner skier, Flagstaff is a great place to go.  I’ll break down the details for you, and as soon as I’m done, you’ll be convinced!

It’s great for a beginner or intermediate skier.  Snowbowl, which is the ski resort in Flagstaff, only has one gondola (well, gondola-combination) high-speed lift.  It takes you to a black run (don’t ask me for the run names, I am not good with names of any kind) and there’s an option for a double-black.  That’s it.  The rest of the runs are either blue or green.  So, if you’re an expert skier, Snowbowl may not present enough of a challenge for you.  But if you’re an intermediate or beginner, you’ll enjoy a good day.

It’s a budget destination.  Here’s what you do:  You fly into Phoenix, and if you choose carefully and book in advance, flights to PHX can be had for the $200 RT range from many East US destinations.  Cheaper if you’re in the West.  Then drive to Flagstaff, which is about 2.5 hours north of PHX.  Combine the skiing with some hiking in Sedona, and, well, I don’t have to tell you – it’s an outdoor paradise!  Rental cars are usually cheap in PHX, running some $30-$40 per day.  Rent your skis in PHX or even in the city of Flagstaff.  A basic set is around $25-$35 per day.  Book your lift tickets way in advance, and if you can go on a weekday, it’s like… A LOT better.  Not only is it way cheaper, but you’ll have no wait on the lifts and plenty of falling-down space on the runs.  Lift tickets can be had for as cheap as $30 to $50 on weekdays, purchased 2-3 weeks in advance.  Book a hotel in Flagstaff; a good hotel can be had for $50-$80 per night.  

To sum up your trip, if you book in advance, you can have a ski trip for less than $500 per person for a couple of days… and that’s pretty much all you can do in Snowbowl.  There’s not enough runs to make it interesting for more than one day, two, tops.  If you want to spend more time, drive just south to Sedona or even to Phoenix and take on one of the amazing hikes that can be had in the Phoenix area.  Or enjoy a spa day.  Sedona has plenty of spas but it’s touristy as f*ck and expensive, so only do so if you’re wanting to splurge.  

But if you stay in Flagstaff, not only is it not so touristy, but there are plenty of places to eat for any budget.  It’s a college town, so the night life is pretty solid, and there’s plenty to taste as it relates to beer.  During the winter it’s not such a pretty town due to the trees not having any leaves, but there are pretty lights everywhere.

All the pricing I’m giving you is based on the 2021-2022 season, which has been a crazy one, cost-wise.  Nonetheless, Snowbowl and Flagstaff are affected by the economy just as much as other resorts, so if prices do rise, they will also rise in other parts, like Colorado or Utah, so Flagstaff remains a budget destination.  Let me know if you’ve ever been there and what your thoughts are (yes, I know food at the resort is quite expensive, but the pizzas are pretty good, and isn’t food expensive at all resorts?).  Bon voyage!

Intentions

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There’s a lot you can write about intentions.  “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”, they say.  “He/she did bad things but they had good intentions.”  So what I’d like to propose today is that intentions are more highly developed in highly-developed organisms such as humans, and understanding intentions is one of the lubricants that helps our society function and us understand each other.  I will only scratch the surface here, and to do so, I’ll begin with some examples.

A falcon will dive toward his prey, usually another bird in flight, and the falcon’s heading will not be where the prey is now, but rather where the prey is likely to be when he strikes.  If he were to aim for the prey exactly where it is, the falcon would miss every time.  He has to anticipate where the bird will be, so he can be at the same place at the same exact time, guaranteeing him a strike.  Likewise for most hunting animals as they chase their prey.  In a sense, they are estimating their prey’s intentions, of where they are headed.  Or are they?  Could it be just instinct that they have learned over millennia, among other instincts such as where to strike (for the kill), what prey to take on and what not, etc….?

Consider a situation where a co-worker gives another co-worker what she thinks is sugar to sweeten their coffee, but it’s actually poison.  The unsuspecting co-worker dies of poisoning at the hands of their co-worker, who had no idea they were giving them poison, thinking it was sugar.  Or what if the co-worker gives the other co-worker a packet of poison, expecting them to die of poisoning, but what they actually give them is sugar, and nothing happens?  Those are two extreme cases where the intention is clearly very important.

Have you ever been in stop-and-go traffic, and you are watching a car on the adjacent lane just ahead of you, and you can tell they want to merge to your lane, without them giving you any signals?  They don’t state their intentions by turning on their blinkers.  They don’t open the window and wave for you to let them in.  The car might not even be moving, but you KNOW that, as soon as a gap opens in front of you, they will merge?  And as soon as you leave a large enough gap, they merge in front of you.  How can you tell by just looking at the car, what their intentions were?  

These are just a few examples of how we, as humans, can sense others’ intentions without having clear cues.  I don’t know if this is something we are born with, a way to intuit what others are thinking of doing, but some of it is learned.  Maybe we already come with the proper hardware (a complex brain) predisposed to accept social programming on how to figure out someone’s intentions.  I think this is part of what gives us social or emotional intelligence, something not all of us have in spades.  Some of us have more practical, or intellectual intelligence and we’re not as quick to catch someone’s intentions.  But regardless, reading intentions is something that I think separates us from other species.  What do you think?

The Pseudo-Social

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I don’t fall for this phenomenon that much anymore.  i don’t think I’ve ever had, but I’m sure I practiced it more in my earlier years.  Of course I’m talking about the pseudo-social phenomenon.  This is where one participates in activities that have a practical base (raison d’ etre) at the surface, but the roots are pure social interaction.

Consider:  A friend says he/she is having trouble with the computer.  They say it’s acting funny and they don’t know what to do.  Because you’ve more computer knowledge in the social group, you get the call asking for assistance.  You ask some relevant questions but alas, because the computer’s owner is not computer-savvy, he/she cannot give you clear information to diagnose the problem over the phone.  So a personal visit is scheduled.  No hurry, whenever you can.  A short time later (a day or so) you visit said friend and within a short time you fix the problem or decide it’s beyond your knowledge base and suggest he/she contact a professional.  Either way, you stay and have dinner or go out, have some drinks, join other people, and merriment ensues.  You spent a good 15 minutes on the actual problem and 5 hours on the social call.  On balance, the social took much more so overwhelmingly it should be considered a social event; but started with a practical reason.

So why is it that I don’t fall for this anymore.  Many reasons I can think of can be the cause.  Firstly, as we get older, we learn to be more self-sufficient.  So the occasional friend who has computer problems will likely just take it to a computer shop and have it fixed instead of bothering other people.  Secondly, people are more busy than ever. They’ve all these pseudo-appointments to deal with.  Most business is self-inflicted but it takes real time, so there’s less pseudo-social time.  Third and most important; I just have many less friends.  I don’t know why it is, but younger people tend to be more social.  As we get older we just don’t care that much anymore.  A couple of friends will do, and no more.  I should get more pseudo-friends, become more pseudo-social, and I’ll be more pseudo-busy.

Experimenting on yourself

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Over the years I’ve tried some things to try to change something about me.  I mostly take what I consider to be the most basic and logical approach, which is not what a lot of people use.  This last year was a particularly interesting for me as far as experimenting, and so I shall fill you in on what I did and my observations.  A warning:  I will discuss some bodily functions so if you’re a person who is so shallow as to never… ok, never mind… but be aware that I will discuss some things in detail and you may or may not find to be, shall we say, “dinner conversation”.

An aside:  Yesterday I played golf with one of my friends, and as we usually do, we go get a beer and some non-healthy food afterwards.  He didn’t have anything, just water, because he said he had to go see his trainer afterwards, at the gym, because he is trying to lose weight.  I asked him: “When I think about losing weight, I don’t think about going to work out somewhere, I think about just eating less…”. He looked at me like I was crazy.

And with that, let’s talk about the first experiment I ran on myself, and that is, the “one meal per day” fasting diet.  “OMAD” for short.  As I do with everything I try, I do a lot of research (this usually involves watching some YouTube videos and then reading what’s available on the internet, from credible sources).  So, starting in April, 2021, I went on an OMAD.  I can’t say it was hard.  The first day I did not eat for 2 days, I didn’t find it that hard.  And I lost 10 lbs in 2 months.  I still do some fasting, but this time I don’t eat for like 12 hours, but that’s just the way I eat, it’s not for trying.  So, the positives is, that, yes, it works.  Eat whatever you want, but only once per day and you’ll lose weight.  You need a strong will for that, but it gets easier after the first week.  I didn’t think I did, but it turns out I have a pretty strong will naturally; what seems easy for me seems to be extremely hard for many people; they fall prey to their desires pretty quickly.  Now for the bad part: I think I got a hernia from doing this.  Now, I can’t be 100% sure, because I’m not a doctor, but the causality seems fairly direct.  So, when you don’t eat solid food but once a day, you also tend not to go to the restroom to do #2 for days.  I was going potty like, once or twice per week.  But when I did, it was, shall we say, pretty “hard” to get stuff out.  And it involved squat sitting and a great deal of effort, and as it turns out, the muscles you use when trying to, you know, do #2, are the same ones that get stressed and can give you a hernia.  I went to the doctor in July and September and told him about the bump I get in my groin area and he said it’s a possible hernia.  And I can’t explain how I got it otherwise, other than the effort associated with this diet.  So, there you go, learn from my mistakes, and if you do do (pun intended) an OMAD diet, be sure and have some sort of stool softener or laxative of some sort to help things through.

I watched a documentary about our largest organ; our skin.  Then I researched a bit more and made a decision to experiment on myself in October, 2021.  The experiment involves not using soap when showering, at all.  So, it’s now 2022 and since October 2021 I haven’t used any soap.  Well, I should say I’ve used a bit of soap only on some affected areas as I shall explain, but other than that, no soap on my body.  The background is that your skin is like a wall built of mortar and bricks, and when you wash, soap contains a bunch of stuff, plus its surfactant properties, that strips away at the mortar and some of the bricks in your skin.  Plus there are loads of beneficial creatures in your skin that when you use strong chemicals it throws the balance off your skin and creates skin problems.  So, after you wash, you inevitably feel the dryness of the skin based on what you just did to your skin, and then you need moisturizer to relieve the itchiness.  So, just as the OMAD experiment, I though, well, if you just don’t use soap you don’t cause dryness and then you don’t need the moisturizer.  So after 4 months of not using any soap, I can report mostly positive news.  My skin feels great!  In fact, it’s never felt better.  I strongly recommend doing it, with some caveat: mind your armpits.  Especially if you eat some spicy food.  That’s where I’ve had to use soap and deodorant (by the way, I also didn’t use deodorant for a while as well).  So, use deodorant but not anti-perspirant; that stuff is BAD for you.  

So there you have it.  I have a natural strong will and I’m able to run some experiments on myself and monitor the results.  What about you?  Have you done any things that are not conventional in order to achieve results?  How do societal conventions pressure you into convention?  Or do you not care that much about what others think and just run your own course?  What have been the results?

Do you relate?

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I’m often asked for advice on stuff and I try my hardest not to give anyone advice, for many reasons which I won’t go into in this blog (but will on others, so stay tuned).  One thing that keeps coming up when you give advice or opinions (which are the same, really, it just depends on whether you are asked for your opinion or if you give your opinion of your own initiative) is the criticism of me from the “advice-receiver”.  That is, that they feel you’re either unqualified for or cannot relate to them and so your advice is not valued.  Mind you, this only happens when you’re not confirming their opinion already; if you’re giving a dissenting opinion.  Of course, if you’re just affirming what they believe, there is no friction at all.  Let me expand on what I mean.

Sometimes I give opinion on something my brothers do as they raise their kids.  For example, if the kids are constantly being fed junk food and candy, I tell them that it’s probably not a good idea; that they should try to teach their kids to eat healthy.  Of course, this opinion is often met with a “you don’t have any kids, so that makes you unqualified to give any advice about kids”.  As if common sense isn’t enough.  Other times, someone has a lot of trivial things on their mind and it’s making them crazy and mentally-blocked so they can’t move forward.  So you give them advice on how to handle the situation; just ignore the trivial stuff and buck up and make the hard decisions.  “Oh, but you don’t understand; you have no empathy for other people and so you can’t relate to what I’m feeling and that disqualifies you from giving me advice on the matter”.  

It’s like, in people’s minds, someone who isn’t in their same situation can’t be qualified to give them advice.  Or sometimes you ARE in their same situation, and that disqualifies you from giving them advice, because, if your advice were any good, you’d not be in that same situation yourself.  You can’t win.  So when people seek advice or opinions, more that anything they’re looking for confirmation of what they already believe or know.  And your advice in that situation is pretty much worthless.

And don’t get me started on those times you give advice to people, especially if it’s complex advice, and they only do part of what you tell them (the easy part) and don’t do the hard parts, and when it blows up in their face, they blame you for following your advice.  And so, can you relate?  How do you handle when someone ask you for your “honest opinion” or for “advice on something”?  Do you just give them a kind confirmation of what they want to hear, or do you give them your actual opinion and risk alienating them?

Stoicism and handling challenges

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I’m a firm believer that there are no bad experiences in life, only good experiences, provided we learn from them.  I often like to tell the story about the time I was in an Ukrainian hospital, suffering from a swollen and painful throat infection.  I was there for 4 days and had to have a minor (but painful) surgery.  I did not get to do the things I planned to do on the trip because of this, but I paint the experience as a very positive one.  It is because of this suffering I endured that I was exposed to the kindness and generosity of the Ukrainian people at the hospital and others who took care of me.  I saw how they treated a fellow human being so well in a time of need that I count this as one of my best traveling stories.  

In that light, I have always believed that challenges are often presented to us as a test to see how we fare.  I personally don’t believe in just meeting the challenge, but going further and using the opportunity to be better, do better, or achieve a better result.  For example, one time my flight was cancelled and so I was presented with the challenge.  How do I get home?  Rather than dwell on the unjustifiable reasons why this would happen to me, my mind sets out to working on how not only can I meet the challenge (handle the cancelled flight) but maybe even find a way to improve on it.  Can I get another flight, plus get some flight credit?  Can I get onto another flight, but maybe get upgraded to business class?  There are many examples of challenges I’ve been presented where my first thoughts are not with feeling sorry for myself and complaining loudly to anyone who’ll listen, but rather my mind turns to work on how not only can I solve the original problem but also come out ahead somehow.  It’s like a game that’s been presented to me, and I like to win at games.  Who doesn’t?  

I have seen many situations where some challenge is thrown at people, and they just seem to wallow in the despair of the moment, and focus on complaining about the problem and why did it happen to them?  Me, my mind gets to work on figuring out solutions and rarely does it make me sad or upset.  That’s the withholding of emotions Stoicism teaches you.  But I think it’s also a personality trait.  How do you handle challenges?

Fly cheaply

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My friends are often flummoxed by how cheaply I’m able to travel.  There really isn’t a big secret, I tell them, just some common-sense rules… however, for some reason, people aren’t very keen on following these simple rules, and as a result, cannot seem to travel so cheaply.  Here are some examples of flights I have taken, and their cost, for a round-trip flight:  MIA-PVG $395, MIA-PHX $88, DFW-SYD $450, MIA-MXP $380…. Anyway, there are a lot of ways to travel cheaply, but today I’m just going to focus on flights and how to get better prices.

Firstly, and I cannot emphasize this enough, you have to be FLEXIBLE.  This means you can pick the days you travel far in advance, 1-2 months for domestic travel, 1-4 months for international.  This is by far the biggest issue people have because of their availability and feasibility of taking time off.  Often, you will have to travel mid-week. It helps if you don’t have a 9-to-5 with limited time-off options.

Secondly, you have to be COMMITTED.  This means choosing a place, flight, hotel, etc… and STICKING TO IT.  You cannot be wishy-washy about it.  You’ll get the best deal when you book and sometimes pre-pay, but you CANNOT CHANGE YOUR MIND.  This seems like an easy one for me, but, apparently, it’s very difficult for many people to do what they said they were going to do.  If you’re traveling in a group, EVERYONE needs to be committed, otherwise, don’t do it.

Thirdly, use the Google Flights website, learn all the tools available for you to search.  One I especially like is the “explore” function, where you can just move around the globe and look at pricing.  This is a great way to discover new destinations that you otherwise hadn’t thought about.

Lastly, especially for international travel, have all your documents updated and ready.  Especially during and after the pandemic.  Trying to update your passport or some other document will take ages and will cause you to miss your flights.  Also, make sure you are able to travel where you want to go; check your visa requirements, etc, etc…

This is just an extremely short and simple summary of what you need to do to book cheap fares.  There are many other considerations that will allow you to save money, and they all start with your flight selection.  Things like arrival or departure times (can you reach your hotel via a $5 metro fare, or will you have to shell out on a $50 cab ride because you arrived at 1AM?).  Or did you buy the cheapo fare and now you have to pay for carry-on luggage or checked bags (don’t forget the return trip!) when you could have bought a more expensive fare on another airline but bags are included?  Consider the cost of the ENTIRE trip, not just the flights.  I’ll cover more details on other aspects of traveling on another blog.  Happy traveling!

Missed connections

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Stop me if you’ve heard this one before:  You’ve been on a trip, enjoyed new sights and experiences, and have throughly enjoyed yourself.  It’s the night before your return day and you go out to have some dinner or something and take in the sights and sounds of the place you’ve been for the last few days one last time, and then you meet someone.  And you hit it off. She’s (or he) funny, she gets you.  You don’t exactly know where the connection might lead but you know she’s open to exploring the city with you.  Problem is, it’s your last day there and tomorrow you’re flying back home.  What do you do?

Or, likewise, it’s the night before a long trip,  It can be for business or pleasure, no matter.  But you meet someone and you feel like you hit it off and you want to pursue it to see where it goes.  But you’re leaving for an extended time tomorrow, and the only way to keep in touch is to get her number and text and/or call while you’re away.  This has happened a few times, so you already know what’s going to happen.  The first day or so, you text back and forth, as much as the time difference and situations allow.  But then the texts get sparser and less frequent, there are calls but not enough to keep the connection going.  And a few days before your return, you’re down to almost no communication; it has withered away.  Had you been in the city, you could have gone out for coffee, spent some face time with the person, and really nurtured the possible connection.  But because you left right after you met her, it was like a dying plant from the get-go; you couldn’t keep it from withering away.  

That is one of the realities of the frequent traveler.  If anyone has any ideas that are not the expected advice such as “make it a point to call every day”, or “make her feel special by sending flowers whilst you’re away” or whatever, then please post them.  There is one big factor at work here, in that BOTH people need to want the connection to work really badly; and in my example, only one person knows they want it, but you can’t be sure what the other person wants.

Going solo

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I looked up “introversion” on Wiki, one of my constant sources of information, and determined that, whereas I have some introvert qualities, I also have some extroversion in me.  It sounds like I’m psycho-analyzing myself, and I am, but it’s for a purpose.  The purpose is to understand what is going on as I travel the world solo.

There are definite advantages of traveling solo.  You move at your own speed.  You do what you want to do, when you want to do it.  It’s easier to clear customs and you can take more less-traveled routes (this takes into consideration if you’re traveling with a woman).  But socially, there are disadvantages.   It’s harder to have someone take your picture.  And you tend to take more pictures of things and less of people next to things.  Some people look at you funny and wonder why you are alone.  You also feel funny being alone and not be able to share your thoughts about the things you’re seeing with anyone.  That’s probably the biggest disappointment.  

Being an introvert traveling alone can be difficult.  According to the definition, these are the things I have that would fit the definition of introversion:

– Gain energy when alone, lose energy when with others.

– Have little interest, but any interest they show can be high.

– Consider only deep relationships with others as “true friendship” (I take this to mean that introverts don’t develop superficial friendships)

– Need silence to concentrate, do not like when they are interrupted.

– Are better than extroverts in coping with tasks requiring attention.

– Find it easier to read than with conversation with others.

– Work at the same level regardless of whether they are praised or not.

– Have difficulty remembering names and faces.

– Take pleasure in solo activities.

– Tend to be more reserved and less outspoken in large groups.

– Are more analytical before speaking.

– Tend to acknowledge more readily their psychological needs and problems.

– Are the mostly misunderstood for being arrogant, social outcast, or even freaks; they may be shy or reserved but not antisocial.

There are others which I don’t fit, so let’s say for the sake of argument that I am not 100% introverted.  Still, I feel that I’m in an introverted role when traveling alone.  I must be, otherwise I won’t cope well with the lack of a partner.  It’s not such a bad thing; I was born without a partner and likely die without one.  It’s not that I wish it, it’s just that it’s unlikely that my eventual partner and I will succumb to death at exactly the same time.  I guess it will be better if I go first, but then I’ll feel really bad leaving her alone.  If she goes first, I’ll be lonely and likely die within a short time.  Again, I’m not wishing this, it’s just what researchers say happens.  

When I read this some time in the future, I’ll think that I’m crazy for putting these thoughts down on paper.  I’m sure I’ll be more an extrovert at some point and look back at this seemingly dark period in my life.  But it’s the dark periods in your life that make you appreciate the light ones.  Who knows where I’ll be and who I’ll be with.  It’s elemental and (unstoppable) that I will be somewhere else, but not with someone else.  Just as it is impossible to change who I’ll be.

Married guys v. Single guys

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(this is from a blog post dated February 13, 2011)

Life seems to be getting more and more confusing for me.  Maybe I should explain that.  As I get older, I find more things to think about; specifically, about whether I’m a person destined to live a married life.  I did some introspecting and I came to the conclusion that I am a married guy type.  I think I was destined to get married and grow old with someone.

That seems to be the conventional way of thinking, but two things I heard today caused me to pause and reflect.  I should add that I also had this conversation with my wife last night (Saturday, Friday 12th – I know the date does not match to the entry) as we were driving back home from our “date”.  I mentioned to her that I believe my natural state is one of being married.  I could not have said that a few years ago before I met her.  I think 10 or 15 years ago I was enjoying life and I didn’t think about being the “married guy”.  But it happened, I’m glad it did, and now I think I’m in that stage.  

I should explain what I mean by “married” v. “single” guys.  Married guys have a certain personality that allows them to couple with a woman.  We are one-woman men, and we are most handy around the house.  We also consider relationships with women to be long-term.  There are many single men out there who are destined to be married, just waiting for the right one to come along.  Conversely, there are lots of single who just want to stay single because they enjoy single life so much.  There are also married single men.  These are the guys who marry but are always looking at other women.  They just happened to marry someone who either accepts their “transgressions” or is strong enough for the both of them and keeps them in check.  But left alone in the wild, these guys find single life more comfortable.  They like to flirt with other women, go out and party, and drive fast cars or bikes.  

This morning on CBS Sunday Morning I saw a story on how many more men and women are remaining single.  The figure was something like 59%; that’s almost half the population.  So it seems that remaining single, for whatever reason, is very culturally accepted for us.  On the other token, the business of weddings is booming.  How to explain that?  It seems that many people are marrying more than once, and sometimes ultimately finding that single life is more to their liking.  

At church, this morning’s message on the homily had to do with adultery.  According to the bible, if a man divorces his wife and causes her to commit adultery, he is an adulterer as well.  I didn’t understand this part, and maybe I got it wrong but that’s what I remember the message being.  Also, according to the bible you’re not to even look at another woman with desire because that is committing adultery.  And one can’t marry a divorced woman because that’s adultery as well.  It seems that most anything you do if it’s not having sex with just the one woman in your entire life is considered adultery.  And adultery’s a sin.

So I’m left wondering who I am.  First, I’m a person with needs.  I have needed the companionship of women ever since I can remember.  I haven’t usually been able to identify with them, talk straight with them, understand them, communicate with them, hear them, watch them, desire them, and all other sorts of things you do to/with women.  But I have always known that I am meant to be with one of them.  My mother had a lot to do with it, I guess.  So that’s my nature.  Second, I’m also a religious person and I agree about what the church believes as it regards to adultery.  I wish I had the one woman and that I was happy with her for my entire life.  But I cannot control how she or any other woman would feel about it.  And society and culture are powerful forces which guide our decisions.  Because of that, I’ve not been able to make good decisions that allow me to stay with one woman.  In the end, I’m pretty sure I want and need to be with a woman.  I’m a “married” guy.  I’ve been single, then married, then single again, then married, then separated.  But I know in the end I’m meant to be with one person to grow old with.  Here’s hoping.