Blog du Wren

Sleeping Around 2022-2023

While I totally concede that it is rather silly, I get immense joy from my Sleeping Around data-keeping project. Keeping the data is just half the fun; the other half is analysis! So, as is my yearly wont, here is my partially scientific and partially objective dive into the past year's worth of Sleeping Around data.

In looking at the daily visualization, I've kind of been thinking I might be starting to move back to my more standard distribution of nights of roughly 1/3rd each for home, housesitting, and travel. I was surprised to see home accounting for more than half. While I know a data scientist should be impartial, I found myself a little let down. I feel this project encapsulates my life and I guess I was hoping the data would say my life is more exciting than it is. But maybe there's more to be seen if we dive deeper.

# of housesitting houses	7	Up from 4 last year, but all repeat clients (albeit from many years ago)
# of states (other than WA)	3	NY, CT, IN
# of countries (other than US)	6	Poland, Czechia, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, England
# in car (/airplane/train)	8	1 on a plane, 7 in my Chevy Cruze
# on boat	7	That Danube cruise
# in hotel/hostel	28	All but 6 were abroard
# in tent	1	Only my 6th night in a tent since 2015*

Observations:

Housesitting is highest since the pandemic, but still at half of pre-pandemic average
This is the first year since data keeping began (15 years ago!) that a trip to Portland didn't happen
That domestic travel number is unprecedently low. Maybe I'll have to conjure up some reasons to go on some adventures this year
Speaking of adventure, I'm pleased to see the # of international nights is as high as it is for the second year in a row. I'd very much like to see that continue.

Thank you for bearing with me during this yearly tradition. Like I say all the time, I feel this data encapsulates my life, in a way, so an analysis of it is like an analysis of me. I guess that's what passes for soul-searching for me; I find the pie charts quite helpful.

Tuesday August 1 2023

File under: data

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Financial Recap of Europe 2022-23

Like I do, here is a recap of the cost of my recent trip to Europe. Overall, it was more expensive (per day) than many of my trips (for reasons we'll touch on below), but still quite reasonable. I share it here not only as an entry into this ever-growing data repository of my life, but also to perhaps be* helpful to others who might be looking to travel and want tangible financial data to help inform them.

A few notes before we get to data:

Money was harder to track this trip than previous ones. For one, Della and I used to keep a dedicated financial journal with every penny we spent traveling. I was tempted to bring that same journal with me this trip but feared losing or ruining it. As a result, my records are less precise.
Also adding to the "harder to track" column was this was the first trip I relied so heavily on my credit card. Bopping between 5 different currencies made this much more convenient. Online booking of lodging which I sometimes used PayPal with also led to more dispersed records.
I actively tried to penny pinch less on this trip, occasionally treating myself to hotels instead of hostels, public transit instead of walking, and indulging in food opportunities more than I have. That said, I'm still a super cheapo, but I'm less of a cheapo than I used to be.
For purposes of categorization, I split up the 7-day Danube cruise ($825 total) into lodging->45%, food->30%, transportation->15%, and entertainment->10%. This was the easily largest expense of the trip (outside airfare), accounting for ⅓ of [non-airfare] costs yet only being ⅙ of time. (I'm still glad I did it, though.)

Flights	$1233	Seattle->Krakow, Prague->London, London->Seattle. Had I bought a simple rountrip, I could have shaved $500+ off the cost, but the flexibility one-ways give was desirable this time around*
Lodging	$832	13 nights with a room to myself (average $45/nt), 9 nights in free volunteer dorms, leaving 15 nights in shared hostels (average $16/nt).
Food	$750	Average ~$22.5/day when accounting for board provided when volunteering. That number probably skews high from cruise portion of food. Also of note, very few hostels/hotels had included breakfast.
Long Distance Travel (excluding flights)	$270	Trains/buses around Europe, portion of cruise (as noted above), ½ of my bike rental (with the other half going in entertainment)
Short Distance Travel	$55	Public transport, including to/from airport state-side, 3 all-day passes (Vienna, Budapest, Prague), Heathrow->London round trip ($15!), etc.
Entertainment, etc.	$450	Stonehenge, Vienna circus, cinemas, castles/museums, salt mines, other ½ of bike rental, souvenirs, postcards/stamps, cruise entertainment portion, public baths
Other	$50	Money exchange fees, public toilets, leftover currency, laundry
Total	$3640

Like I mentioned at the top, the per day cost of this trip (~$93) was higher than many trips ($65/day for Camino/Africa 2021, $96/day for both Della and I combined for Indonesia 2019, $70/day for a transatlantic cruise/Portugal/Morocco 2013). I suppose when you account for inflation, less penny pinching, and the not having the travel partner "discount"*, it's not too bad. And for what I got—6 weeks in Europe, a chance to volunteer, a cruise down the Danube, some perspective on my life, a much needed escape—it's a bargain.

Sunday January 29 2023

File under: travel, data

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Sleeping Around 2021-2022

Another year, another blog post recapping where I've been sleeping, or, as I look at it, a snapshot of my life. This year's data completes my 14th year of knowing where I slept every night, all of which can be seen at any time by clicking "Sleeping Around" in the header. (If you want access to just this year's data, it can be found here.)

Initial impressions: it's about what I expected. I'm somewhat surprised by the low prevalence of housesitting. And, of course, I always like having that "At Home" percentage lower (which, in my mind, equates to out doing more fun stuff.) I really like seeing the full 15% in the International Travel slice. But overall, very little in the way of surprises. Let's take a closer look.

# of housesitting houses	4	One new client
# of states (other than WA)	8	OR, IL, ME, MA, NY, CT, CA, CO*
# of countries (other than US)	3	Spain, Senegal, The Gambia
Longest stretch away from home	56
# in car (/airplane/train)	6	Only 4 nights in a car (all the cruze), with the other 2 on planes
# on boat	1	I really like this category and hope to see it higher next year
# in hotel/hostel	57	Includes 2 nights at Bates, but since I had to pay to sleep in the dorms, it counts. Also to note, about half were in dormitories (i.e. non-private rooms)

I say it every year, but doing this data recap helps me understand my year that was. Armed with that better understanding, I'm currently thinking about what the next year might hold. I've got hopes, ideas, and goals. If any of them come to fruition, I'm sure you'll hear about them here.

Sunday August 7 2022

File under: data

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Financial Recap of the Camino and Africa

On of the things that I do upon returning from a trip (besides looking through photos and sharing stories IRL) is to wrap my head around the costs of the trip. This helps me see the big picture, after so much attention paid to whether that albergue is worth €2 more than this one or if I'm the kind of guy that pays for taxis rather than taking public transport. And I really like knowing. So without further ado, here's what my recent trip to do the Camino de Santiago and then some R&R time in Africa cost.

Camino de Santiago	[1] all money spent between arriving to Saint-Jean-Pied-a-Port until leaving Santiago [2] averages calculated over 34 days [3] money was spent and recorded in euros so ATM fees and conversion calculations create slight margin of error
Sleeping	$525	$15.50/night average	Albergues averaged $12.25/night but my 6 nights (2 along the trail, 4 in Santiago) in solo rooms (averaging $30/night) upped it a bit
Food	$540	$16/day average	Granted, I lost 20 pounds partially from skipping many many meals so most people probably had a higher food cost than this.
Other	$59	$1.75/day average	Most days, I had no Other costs at all. Examples of this were postcards/stamps, entertainment (cinema/museums), souvenirs. This, I think, is definitely anomalous, as I was there just to walk, not do stuff.
Total	$1100	$33.25/day average

Africa Senegal/Gambia	[1] all money spent between arriving in Dakar, Senegal until leaving Banjul, Gambia[2] averages calculated over 17 days [3] ATM fees and money conversion costs might add ~3% to these numbers.
Sleeping	$367	$21.50/night average	A few of the hotels came with a free breakfast, which is worth noting (as that would skew the balance of food to sleeping ratio). Also of note, I did splurge on a $55 hotel which skews the average a bit
Food	$237	$14/day average	This includes not only meals, but snacks and beverages which includes bottled water, a daily expense. ?Also worth noting, it includes a lot of shrimp :)
Transportation	$106	$6.25/day average	This doesn't include flights to and from. It is mostly a lot of taxis, both intra and interurban with a boat ride or two thrown in. Also of note, Senegal's transportation costs were quite a bit higher than Gambia's, though mostly because the distances travelled were much higher
Other	$120	$7/day average	$50 of this was a COVID test required to fly back to Europe and $20 for a visa, which essentially means only $3/day for things like cinema, national parks, museums, etc. I mostly just walked around, ate, and looked at stuff.
Total	$830	$49/day average	As always, average cost per day during travel is so much a factor of how much you move around and how long you say (allowing the 1 time costs like visas, covid tests, etc. to be more distributed)

Flights	[1]all one-way flights [2] almost always found via skyscannet.net
Seattle to Pamplona	$450	This was bought somewhat last minute (3 weeks out?) so a better price could easily have been achieved.
Santiago to Dakar	$455	I had my Madrid to Banjul ($260) cancelled not long before departure (due to Morocco totally shutting down, where I was to layover) so had to scramble this together piecemeal
Banjul to Seville	$237	Middle of the night flight that ended up getting delay which caused me to miss a connection, but still a pretty good price
Seville to Chicago	$318	I was surprised (and proud) to find such a great deal from Europe to the States smack in the middle of the Christmas rush
Chicago to Bellingham	$0 (on standby)	It's good to have friends who work for airlines. But flying standby 1) during the holidays 2) when flights are cancelled left and right due to covid staff shortages and 3) when weather puts whole airports out of commission isn't advisable. I made it only by the skin of my teeth.
Total	$1460	From super far corner of the US to small town in Spain to Africa to Spain then back to the US, all one-way flights, all bought last minute-ish, I think that's not bad. Yeehaw for skyscanner.net and lots and lots of searching time.

Other	All the in between costs that did not make it into one of the above tables
Spanish COVID test	$45	Require 1 day before re-entering the US, so even though I had one from 2 days previous, another one was necessary. And the cost was more than it might have been because it was a Sunday (Spain's national day of everything being closed) and the day after Christmas.
Hostel in Chicago	$32	My fancy flying had me layover in Chicago for the night so I grabbed a cheap hostel via hostelworld.com. They falsely advertised the price so the cost was higher than I had bargained for. Please don't use their service as unethical businesses don't deserve support. The hostel, Found Hotel, was complicit so should be avoided as well.
Taxi from Pamplona to Saint-Jean-Pied-a-Port	$109	This is an expense that could be avoided/minimized if I wasn't doing the camino in the off season (as there is a cheap bus that makes the trip)
Other other	$45	Food at airports, minor costs at my 2-day Christmas in Jerez, Spain, etc.
Total	$231

In grand total, I spent $3,621 which comes out to about $65/day all inclusive. I'd say that's a small price to pay to have an experience of a life time that gave me new perspectives on myself (the Camino) and a glimpse into how others live in a totally different part of the world (Senegal/The Gambia), not to mention a long overdue visit with a college friend (Jerez, Spain).

(P.S. I know that travel is about more than doing it as cheaply as possible. And I know that caring less about money while traveling is something I need to work out. This analysis is a tool to help me do that. And I would have said more about all that, but this post is long enough as it is.)

Sunday January 9 2022

File under: travel, data

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Sleeping Around 2020-2021

Frequent readers of BdW know that July 31st represents the end of my Sleeping Around year, this past year being the 13th of which I've kept data on where I've slept every night. Traditionally, I've used the end of the year to summarize the data, identify trends, etc. And while circumstances hardly make any comparison meaningful, consistency brings me calm, so here's the data and what jumps out to me.

The continuing pandemic and the loss of my life, work, travel, and adventure partner led to a record number of nights at home, 274, more than the 4 years spanning 2015-2019 combined. Also, for the first time in Sleeping Around history, there wasn't a single night of international travel.

# of housesitting houses	7	Two new clients
# of states (other than WA)	4	OR, IL, ID, MT*
# of countries (other than US)	0	Here's hoping this is a number that isn't repeated anytime soon
Longest stretch at home	67 days	Even though it was a record number of days at home, it didn't beat least year's record of a 99-day streak
Longest stretch away from home	12
# in car (/airplane/train)	26	Exclusively in a car, exactly half in the van and half in the cruze*
# in hotel/hostel	10	Including Airbnbs

Other observations:

This year saw the first time sleeping in a real tent (not glamping in the Jordanian Desert or a tropical paradise casita) in over 5 years. Comfort-wise, I can see why we faded it out, but it was nice to be reminded camping has its merits.
I'm somewhat surprised car-sleeping has maintained a presence. Not having a minivan makes the confines a bit tighter, but Terry the Cruze is performing admirably and having a guaranteed place to lay my head at night wherever I end up has been very nice.

Who knows what next year's Sleeping Around wrap-up post will hold. I have hopes and fears for it, but as I was reminded this year, everything can change in the blink of an eye. I guess I'll take it as it comes and do the best I can.

Sunday August 1 2021

File under: data

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One Year of Trivia Data

As I mentioned back in January, I've been keeping a database of all the trivia nights I go to (or my regular team attend without me). We've now reached the 1 year point on the data and I'm like a pig in shit analyzing it. I think I really missed my calling in life: data analyst. Anyway, I wanted to share some of the fun stuff I've found. I'll try not to data you to death.

Partial list of Trivia Prizes
October 1, 2013 - Sept 30, 2014

$2030 in gift certificates*
242 beers (or beer equivalent*)
25 pieces of glassware
21 CDs
12 lbs of chicken wings
4 onions
4 rolls of toilet paper

In the past year, I've attended 118 trivia nights at 16 locations (mostly bars) in 5 states and international waters, though the vast majority of them were my local 3 goto spots (previously covered here). That's a lot of trivia, averaging more than 2 events per week.

And while I'm in it mostly for the fun, the prizes aren't bad either. A compilation of the prizes we've won is ridiculous. From the inset, you can see that we did quite well for ourselves. And in addition to that, we had some real great one-off prizes: kayak tours, bike lights, Star Wars Trilogy on Laser Disc. But there were also some real doozies: finger painting of Steven Tyler by 9 year old, mini cupcake machine, a gift pack of variously-sized googly eyes.

As the prizes seem to suggest, we're not bad, winning about half the time. Of the 141 events in the year, we logged 70 1st place wins, 34 2nds, 16 3rds, and 22 non-top 3 finishes. At one point in the year, we had won so many consecutive weeks at one bar that when our team was announced, from the back of the bar came the shout "Nobody likes you". Good times.

The data has much more to reveal, like per capita winnings as a possible metric of contribution, but I won't bore you with that. Instead, I'll just keep nerding away until it is time for me to go to another trivia :-)

Thursday October 2 2014

File under: trivia, data

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Trivia Database

Pub trivia (or trivia of any kind, for that matter) is becoming a pretty big part of my life these days. I do my darnedest to attend the three local events (as covered here) and always try to hit up new spots whenever I travel. It's fun. It's engaging. And it can be pretty dang lucrative.

Well, as is my way, I decided to start tracking me and my team's showings just for kicks. Not only will it be neat to look back at how we did, etc., but it will serve as a way to track winnings. At one spot alone last year, we earned an estimated $2000 in gift certificates. Not bad for a bunch of nerds.

Much in the same way I keep my sleeping around online, I've put the trivia data up as well, just for yucks. You can check it out here.

Take that NSA. No need to bug my phone or e-mail. I've got it all laid out nicely for you right here on my blog.

Friday January 10 2014

File under: games, data

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