Author: michael

How to get last minute tickets for Machu Picchu

November 2, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Note: I wouldn’t actually recommend this method, but in desperate times…

I’m currently on a trip to Peru, Mexico, and the US, with the first leg in Peru to check out Lima as well as Machu Picchu. Due to poor planning, I failed to reserve Machu Picchu tickets in advance, but was able to scramble and get last minute tickets anyways! I’ll detail below how I did it.

Machu Picchu is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world, and there’s lots of information. You’re highly recommend to reserve your tickets ahead of time, especially in the peak season of May through September, either through the official government website or through a guided tour. There’s also good information on what kind of ticket to get, such as this blog. I was being a bit lazy about planning my trip, and I was going during the shoulder season, so I didn’t bother looking until about 3 weeks ahead of time. Continue reading →

EDC China 2023 Review: Music, Mud & Memories

October 17, 2023 / / 0 Comments

EDC China 2023 was held recently on October 2-3 over the Chinese National Holidays in Suzhou. This was the first time EDC had been held in China since a 3 year hiatus from the last edition in Guangzhou due to the pandemic. I’m a big fan of Insomniac and EDC, having been to EDC Las Vegas 7 times. As I live in Asia and already had a valid Chinese visa, checking out the festival was a convenient decision. Continue reading →

Starting a newsletter for life in Asia

October 10, 2023 / / 0 Comments

As some people may know, I moved to Japan in early 2020 and I feel like I’ve successfully established myself. I’ve also spent time in Taiwan throughout the years and am starting a phase of splitting my time between Tokyo and Taipei so that I can explore my roots. These two places are a great base to explore Asia from, and I’ve been frequently traveling all around. Thus, I’m starting a new blog / newsletter for practical guides for life in Asia that will be separate from DEM Flyers content, though travel tips will still be cross-posted here! I would greatly appreciate any support. Continue reading →

Surviving Tomorrowland Winter

March 16, 2023 / / 1 Comment

Last year in March 2022, I went to Tomorrowland Winter for the first time! And now this year I am going again in a few days! I’m a fan of snow sports as well as music festivals, and having been to the summer version of Tomorrowland a few times, I thought this would be the perfect festival. And it was a blast, though there were a few rocky edges.

Where and when?

Tomorrowland Winter is held in the beautiful ski resort town of Alpe d’Huez in the southeast of France, in late March. The first edition was held in 2019, but then 2020 and 2021 were canceled due to COVID. Tomorrowland has a 5 year contract with Alpe d’Huez, so it’s safe to say the next few years will be held there. The event goes on for a week – you can either get a 7 day pass for the whole week or a 4 day pass for the latter half of the week. Most of the main DJs will be in the latter half of the week, and I didn’t want to spend a whole week there, so I opted for the 4 day option. However, this year I’m going for the full 7 days. Continue reading →

Work on the Shinkansen with special office cars

January 31, 2022 / / 0 Comments

Prefacing that Japan is not open to foreign tourists currently, but this post is for future reference. The coronavirus pandemic affected Japan heavily, like many other regions in the world, but along with it came the rising trend of remote work. In response, several Shinkansen bullet train operators in Japan started providing a remote work train service.

For example, the Tohoku, Joetsu, and Hokuriku Shinkansen trains, which service Kanazawa, Niigata, and the Tohoku region of Japan started an office car service. In the office car, passengers are explicitly allowed to make phone calls and join online meetings from the train, which are activities normally discouraged on trains in general in Japan. There’s no extra charge for this service, you just need to explicitly reserve a special car on the train. You should be able to reserve this with the various JR Passes as well, either the nationwide pass or the JR East Pass. I haven’t ridden this myself, but you can read more details here: https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2021/11/e3350c504173-jr-east-launches-bullet-train-office-cars-amid-telework-demand.html Continue reading →

Using United Travel Bank funds with corporate discounts (e.g. FoundersCard)

January 13, 2022 / / 1 Comment

If you’re like me, you freshly loaded up your United Travel Bank with your eligible Amex cards in the new year to use up the associated travel credits. Say you’ve also signed up for FoundersCard to get the discount on United bookings. United says that you can’t use Travel Bank funds to book when using corporate discounts, but is that correct? When I go through the booking flow on the web, that’s the case: Continue reading →

Practical tips for margin lending with Interactive Brokers

January 2, 2022 / / 2 Comments

Recently I’ve gotten into margin lending as a form of leverage. Why would you want to do that? This great post from Mr. Money Mustache goes into how it works and some reasons why you might want to do it. But mostly, the interest rates are incredibly low (a base rate of around 1.1% which adjusts based on interest rates), so it’s a fast and cheap way to get liquidity to put to other uses. To me, I consider it safe as long as you aren’t using it to spend or invest beyond your means, and are just taking advantage of the low interest rates. For example, to get liquidity from your equity without selling it off and incurring capital gains taxes, or to get liquidity during a market dip to buy at the dip without selling existing equity. Personally, I am using margin lending to earn a much higher interest rate (19.5%) with Anchor Protocol, or the other day I needed to meet a capital call and funds were being too slow to transfer from other sources. Continue reading →

Applying for a Taiwanese Passport

November 6, 2021 / / 0 Comments

I recently obtained my Taiwanese Passport (台灣護照) for the first time. Growing up in the US as a Taiwanese-American in a fairly Taiwanese area, I never really thought about my identity until adulthood, when I began to fully embrace my background. Obtaining my passport is milestone along that journey. Technically, I don’t have the full rights of a Taiwanese citizen just by holding a passport, the status is called a National Without Household Registration. It would require obtaining household registration and then staying in Taiwan for some period of time to gain those full rights. Also, technically due my parents being Taiwanese, I was always a national, and this is just officially establishing my identity. As the United States does not forbid dual-citizens, and claiming your Taiwanese passport is not the same as naturalizing, which would require giving up your original citizenship, this is possible. Continue reading →

Going from Taiwan to Singapore on the Air Travel Pass

April 15, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Recently, on my way back from Taiwan to Japan, I stopped for a week in Singapore to see friends and co-workers, and no quarantine was required! I used the Air Travel Pass, a travel green lane to enter Singapore that is open to the following countries as long as you have been there for the last 14 days (subject to update, check https://safetravel.ica.gov.sg/atp/requirements-and-process for the latest requirements): Continue reading →

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