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ASH Travel - Amber Hoffman

Amber Hoffman

My Experiences - Thus Far

Svalbard Spain United States of America Antarctica South Georgia Falkland Islands Bolivia Peru Ecuador Colombia Venezuela Guyana Suriname French Guiana Brazil Paraguay Uruguay Argentina Chile Greenland Canada United States of America United States of America Israel Jordan Cyprus Qatar United Arab Emirates Oman Yemen Saudia Arabia Iraq Afghanistan Turkmenistan Iran Syria Singapore China Mongolia Papua New Guinea Brunei Indonesia Malaysia Malaysia Tiawan Philippines Vietnam Cambodia Laos Thailand Burma Bangladesh Sri Lanka India Bhutan Nepal Pakistan Afghanistan Turkmenistan Tajikistan Kyrgyzstan Uzbekistan Japan North Korea South Korea Russia Kazakhstan Russia Montenegro Portugal Azerbaijan Armenia Georgia Ukraine Moldova Belarus Romania Bulgaria Macedonia Serbia Bosonia & Herzegovina Turkey Greece Albania Croatia Hungary Slovakia Slovenia Malta Spain Portugal Spain France Italy Italy Austria Switzerland Belgium France Ireland United Kingdom Norway Sweden Finland Estonia Latvia Lithuania Russia Poland Czech Republic Germany Denmark The Netherlands Iceland El Salvador Guatemala Panama Costa Rica Nicaragua Honduras Belize Mexico Trinidad & Tobago Puerto Rico Dominican Republic Haiti Jamaica The Bahamas Cuba Vanuatu Australia Solomon Islands Fiji New Caledonia New Zealand Eritrea Ethiopia Djibouti Somalia Kenya Uganda Tanzania Rwanda Burundi Madagascar Namibia Botswana South Africa Lesotho Swaziland Zimbabwe Mozambique Malawi Zambia Angola Democratic Repbulic of Congo Republic of Congo Gabon Equatorial Guinea Central African Republic Cameroon Nigeria Togo Ghana Burkina Fassu Cote d'Ivoire Liberia Sierra Leone Guinea Guinea Bissau The Gambia Senegal Mali Mauritania Niger Western Sahara Sudan Chad Egypt Libya Tunisia Morocco Algeria
Map Legend: 14%, 37 of 263 Territories
 Possible stops on the MP 
 Must Haves for the MP 
 Places I have visited 


ArgentinaAustraliaBelgiumBrazilCanadaCambodiaChinaChileIrelandFranceGermanyHong KongIndonesiaItalyJapanJamaicaLaosLuxembourgMacauMoroccoMexicoMalaysiaNetherlandsNew ZealandPortugalQatarPuerto RicoSingaporeSpainSwitzerlandThailandUnited KingdomUnited StatesUruguayBritish Virgin IslandsVietnamVirgin Islands

Its the new world version of a giant map on my wall with pretty colored push pins - and way more portable. This shows where I have been, where we plan to go for the M.P. - the guaranteed stops and the hopeful stops, and it does not even scratch the surface. Happy Travels.


After having a very early mid life crisis, one might say a quarter life crisis, I decided to take a one year sabattical from my big law firm job to travel the world, to eat great food, to experience different cultures, to relax and live.

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The MP Route
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Show: Points Route
Map Title: The MP Route
Map Notes:
Chicago-Los Angeles-Sydney-Melbourne-Hobart-Port Douglas-Brisbane-Hervey Bay-Brisbane-Christchurch-Kingston-Milford Sound - Te Anau - Queenstown - Wanaka - Haast Beach - Fox Glacier - Nelson - Abel Tasman - Nelson - Picton - Wellignton - Bulls - Taupo - Auckland - Whakatane - Rotorua-Auckland - Bangkok - Luang Prabang - Nong Khiaw - Bangkok - Phnom Penh - Siem Reap - Phnom Penh - Sihanoukville - Kampot - Rach Gia - Ho Chi Minh City - Hue - Dong Ha - Hue - Ha Noi - Halong Bay - Ha Noi - Hoi An - Ho Chi Minh City - Mui Ne - Ho Chi Minh - Ha Noi - Bangkok - Phuket - George Town - Kota Bharu - Pulau Perhentian Kecil - Kuala Lumpur - Singapore - Melaka - Kuala Lumpur - Bali - Singapore - Washington DC - New Jersey - Hong Kong - Shanghai - Suzhou - Shanghai - Chongching - Yichang - Wu Han - Xi'an - Beijing - Ha Noi - Dong Ha - Hue - Phu Quoc - Hoi An - Ha Noi - Singapore - Tokyo - Kyoto - Osaka - Tokyo - Washington DC - Buenos Aires - Cordoba - Mendoza


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Joined on: October 12th 2008
Last Login: November 22nd 2009

Blog Entries: 64
Photos: 1017
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Blogs & Travel Journals

by ASH Travel, order by Date newest first.

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View From Our Room
View From Our Room
Not too shabby.
Heading Out of the City In Chile we tried to do two things: Easter Island and Patagonia. We were unsuccessful at both. We had no interest in Easter Island until our friend Justin planted the seed. Then we spent about a month trying to get airfare, but Lan has a monopoly and can charge ridiculous prices for the five hour flight out into the Pacific. We hoped for some last minute fares, but it looked like it would cost about $1000 a person round trip for about a five to six day stay. That was just not in our budget. [View Full Entry]

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5013 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 21 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: November 22nd 2009 | 18 Views | [diary=454472]

The Hostal on the Hill
Paragliders
Another Paraglider

The View of the Andes
The View of the Andes
On the Chilean side, once we were back on the bus.
10,000 Feet Up We boarded a bus in Mendoza, Argentina to Santiago, Chile early in the morning on Sunday. We took the higher end Cato bus, but I did not feel like it was high end. We were in the kids’ section in the rear, a group of English backpackers behind us and a young South American couple who insisted on playing songs from their cell phone for everyone to hear. I had to ask him to turn it down. Also, the bus steward (think a bus version of a flight attendant) was totally rude. But, the noise and disruptions [View Full Entry]

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3818 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 17 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: November 19th 2009 | 40 Views | [diary=454467]

The Road Down into Chile
The City on the Hill
Colorful Valpo Houses

Achaval Ferrer
Achaval Ferrer
A mighty fine and fancy feeling winery.
Mendoza - Malbec and More Before arriving in Mendoza Eric’s friend Jessica introduced us to Marcelo, who organizes wine tours in the area around Mendoza. We were not sure of our schedule before getting there and by the time we settled on a date to arrive in Mendoza Marcelo was booked, but he arranged for us to take a tour with one of his friends. The evening we arrived, Marcelo stopped by the hostel to introduce himself and ensure that we were okay doing our tour with his friend, David. Marcelo made a wonderful first impression tryi [View Full Entry]

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5195 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 26 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: November 11th 2009 | 98 Views | [diary=451517]

Cellar at Achaval Ferrer
View of the Andes
Septima

Our early morning walk from the train station to our hostel showed us the wonderful side of Argentina that we did not see certainly in Buenos Aires, but also did not really see in Cordoba - cleanliness. Mendoza is on a grid system with a five main plazas that are pretty immaculate - with benches, working fountains, and early in the morning, city employees cleaning the park. During our twenty minute walk we saw two street sweepers, which reminded us of home and the cleanliness of Chicago. Before we even entered the hostel we concluded that we liked Mendoza. We booked [View Full Entry]

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3424 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 18 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: November 7th 2009 | 87 Views | [diary=451472]

Plaza Independencia
Typical Tree Lined Street
Don't Tell Tobi

Oktoberfest
Oktoberfest
We just missed it by a few weeks.
Wurst and Oopma After the excessive noise in Cordoba, we needed a break. We needed quiet. We needed tranquil. So, way earlier than we felt like waking up after our fiesta at the hostel the night before, we headed to the minibus station and boarded a two hour bus to Villa General Belgrano. VGB was settled by survivors of the German battleship Graf Spee. VGB is a small town of about 6000 residents and has a decidedly German feel, although most young residents no longer speak German. We knew we had just missed their Oktoberfest celebration by almost two weeks, [View Full Entry]

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1056 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 6 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: November 3rd 2009 | 89 Views | [diary=450190]

Funky Man
Me and a Troll
Troll Store

The View
The View
The angry lumber jack in our room, staring at me every night.
Food - an Argentinean Obsession When we left Buenos Aires, we boarded a double decker bus headed to Cordoba, towards the west of the country. We were expecting a ten hour bus ride and purposefully chose a day bus versus a night bus so that we could see the countryside. Well, imagine a ten hour bus ride through Texas. Or Kansas. Or Oklahoma. Same Same. It was flat, dry, with straight roads, some horses and cows. For over ten hours. We were fairly exhausted when we arrived, but were excited to be in a smaller city, even though Cordoba is [View Full Entry]

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3307 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 14 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 31st 2009 | 94 Views | [diary=449667]

Cafe Con Leche y Dos Medialunas
Little Pink Iglesia
Saint in a Truck

How to Spend 48 Hours Without Doing Anything We left our hotel in Osaka around nine am on Sunday 11 October. We took two subway lines to reach the main train station. From there we hopped a bullet train back to the Tokyo main train station. Then, we took the airport express train to the Tokyo Narita airport for our 4pm flight. After a twelve hour flight, we killed about six hours in Washington Dulles airport with some friends who came to visit us. It was still Sunday. Around 10pm, we boarded a flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina. After a [View Full Entry]

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3052 Words | 1 Comment(s) | 14 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 27th 2009 | 146 Views | [diary=448708]

Poor Man's Europe
The Obelisk
Pretty Fountain

The Kuidaore Clown
The Kuidaore Clown
Famous clown outside of an eight story food emporium, where Bourdain went, but it was closed when we were there.
Now, I have given great deference to Anthon Bourdain in many of my entries. We try to hit places he has been. I became frustrated when we arrived in Osaka because several of the places he went to were closed, or going through renovations, or who knows what. But, I give him credit for one thing. Osaka would not have even been on our Japan itinerary were it not for our absolute favorite No Reservations episode on Osaka. Check out the episode at And, thank goodness for the tasty tidbits on No Reservations because Osaka was our kind of town. I [View Full Entry]

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4807 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 24 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 15th 2009 | 158 Views | [diary=445177]

Giant Crab
Pachinko
Even the Man Holes are Pretty

By ASH Travel
October 5th 2009
Temples and Culture in Kyoto Asia » Japan » Kyoto » Kyoto
Train Station
Train Station
This was the outside of the train station, with a music stage.
Super Express Train We rode the ridiculously expensive super express train from Tokyo to Kyoto. It cost twice as much to take this train ride than it did to fly from Hanoi to Singapore. It took us 2 hours and 40 minutes to travel over 500 kilometers, so that was pretty cool. We could have saved ourselves twenty minutes, and paid more per person to take, I guess, the super super express train. The train was fast and clean - even the bathroom - and it ran with amazing precision. Eric was monitoring his watch to see if the train [View Full Entry]

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2847 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 14 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 13th 2009 | 110 Views | [diary=443665]

Escalators
Traditional Dress
Temple View

No Problem
No Problem
The Tokyo Subway
Sticker Shock We knew Japan would be expensive, but did not understand exactly how expensive it would be. It was even more difficult for us coming from almost 6 weeks in Vietnam. I knew that we were saying goodbye to .30 beers and $5 meals. A meal for Jackie, Scott, Eric, and I, including a ton of beers was generally around $15 at our favorite restaurant in Hanoi. This was a whole new experience. The Narita airport is 66 kilometers outside of Tokyo. No matter how you do it, it is a long and expensive ride into the city. We [View Full Entry]

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4863 Words | 0 Comment(s) | 25 Photo(s) | 0 Video(s)
Published: October 10th 2009 | 151 Views | [diary=441946]

No Smoking on the Street
Sony Street
Plastic Ramen



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