This day for history

8 November, 2014 | Living in Georgia | 0 seen

At first- I am too tired and wordless to write a 500 words/day minimum word post.

Second - decided to stop cycling in unsafe streets of Tbilisi.

Third - my blog cracked 20,000 unique visitors in total (counting since October 2013)

Forth - yesterday seems affiliate sales generated me more than $100

There are days we should be happy about our existence and complain less about things we don't have. Though, something bad almost happened today with me. I decided to take it as a lesson to be more thankful for every day I m living on this planet.

P.S. Learn that I have reached age of Saturn Return.

Take care!

Road to Andorra

6 November, 2014 | Travel guides | 10 seen

During our one week trip in Spain, region of Catalonia, we did a lot of driving. We drove almost all around Catalonia, stayed at lovely Costa Brava townlets - and you know what? It's more than enough with one week - and you are sick and tired of completely identical seaside town lets. They are nice, they are charming... but if you need more - go away from those charming town lets with beautiful seaside views.

At least we did so - after another charming tay at lovely resort town of Sitges, we decided to head to Andorra. Drive to Andorra from Barcelona (or Sitges) will take around 2hours. Here is some picures I managed to capture:

Road to Andorra

Spectacular roads in Spain

Flag of Catalonia

Road signs directing to Andorra

Tunnels in Spain

Mountainous road

Mountains

Manor 

Drive to Andorra

Lake

Town let close to border of Andorra

:)

Andorra La Vella

Streets of Andorra

Andorra  is a sovereign landlocked…

How Amazon Affiliates get paid in Republic of Georgia - Part 1

5 November, 2014 | Living in Georgia | 156 seen

How participants of Amazon Associates program are getting paid in the Republic of Georgia by a bank check is a blog series I originally made at the end of 2014 / start of 2015 while struggling to redeem my first bank check issued by Amazon,

Although it's still technically possible to withdraw bank checks in Georgia, at the end of 2016, I flew to the US and opened a bank account there, see: How To Open A Bank Account in the U.S., As A Non-resident Non - citizen, Wells Fargo Bank

For complete series of my adventures while living in Georgia with Georgian banks and checks from Amazon, please see:

• How Amazon Affiliates get paid in the Republic of Georgia - Part 1
• How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 2
• How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 3 - Waiting 40 Working Days
• How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 4 - Bank Commission Fees

I have a feeling this will be a long and fun experience on how to get paid in the Republic of Georgia by Amazon Associates checks :)

…

My Online Income Report - October 2014

4 November, 2014 | Blogging | 11 seen

Welcome to my monthly income report - this time covering month of October 2014.

In brief:

Things kinda went wrong - after 2 great months with Amazon Affiliate, October earnings decreased, not tragically, but decreased.

• In total I earned $142.81, what is a -50.28% decrease if compared to previous month ($287.25)
• $142.81 makes average $4.6 a day

Thus, my earnings in month of October decrease by around a half, it still managed to became a second best month, in terms of online income

Obliviously I started to wonder - why does income this month is lower - and if honest I didn't find a good explanation. I have just one assumption - October was a slow month for retail sales, why? Have no idea! Maybe in October people have less money to spend?

See - there is nothing wrong with traffic to my blog, it even increased for 42% in month of October, so I cannot explain this with lost traffic. Even clicks to Amazon increased sharply, but conversation rates decreased from…

Sitges - a Popular Resort Town in Spain

2 November, 2014 | Travel guides | 15 seen

During our Spain trip, we visited many interesting towns and places, like town of Girona, Salvadors Dali museum at Figueras, charming stone building town Peratallada, Begur, Roses and Cadaques and other. Now was turn for a popular resort town of Sitges, located close to Barcelona.

As usual I don't pay much attention for a new exploring object before visiting it - and it was fun latter to learn that Sitges is not only popular resort town in Spain, but it's a very popular destination for gay and lesbian travellers from all over the world. Well - quite an interesting fact about this town :)

I didn't pay much attention is there much gay/lesbian travellers (Seen some of them - like men kissing in the beaches and so on). What I found - Sitges probably is popular destination for surfers as well - seen pretty much surfers here (Maybe gay and lesbian surfers? )

No offense on LGBT people!

So did we stayed at a pretty nice hotel Globos at Sitges.

If honest, all those costal towns looks the same for me, but you may have other oppinion, so here are few pictures I did take in Sitges

Beach at Sitges

…

Blog Traffic Report - October 2014

1 November, 2014 | Blogging | 7 seen

This is already my 13 blog traffic report. This one is special for me - this month report compares my blog traffic with first month when I started to blog one year ago.

October 10, my blog celebrated one year anniversary - in case you are interested to find out more - what is the feeling after one year of blogging every day - you might find that post interesting.

Now let's see how my blog performed on month of October:

Blog traffic October 2014 (source: Google Analytics)

• I got 4785 unique visitors, what is a 42.24% growth compared to September traffic
• I have managed to attract 1421 more unique visitors if compared to previous month
• 4,785 visitors makes 154.34 user a day, what is up by 42.22 a day (previous 112.13)

Now lets see, how my precious blog traffic compares to those one year ago:

Blog traffic comparison October 2013 vs October 2014

Well... is there anything much to add, to describe image above?

It's 12,169% growth if counted by unique visitors. Some pathetic result…

Hotel Globos Review in Sitges, Spain

31 October, 2014 | Hotel reviews | 19 seen

One of the things I like about hotels is not to plan a stay at hotel before. No bookings, no planning. Just pass by, if you like it - go into it, and ask for a room and price. The best of this is bargain.

So did happened this time, after we arrived from Peratallada, a nice medieval town to resort city of Sitges, close to Barcelona. Turns out with spontanous decissions I have not only stayed on hotel I liked, but I have visited one of the most gay resort cities in world. 

Price for a room at this hotel: EUR 55

Here comes the pictures of Hotel Globos, hotel we find close to sea:

Bedroom at Hotel Globos

Balcony at hotel Globos

Bedroom at hotel Globos

Bathroom at hotel Globos

Seaside view from hotel Globos at Sitges

Balcony at Hotel Globos

Mojito at hotel Globos

In overall - modest hotel for reasonable price with close to sea location, but a little bit walk distance from city centre. Rooms were clean. 

The Los Globos Hotel Sitges, a charming hotel which is open the whole year…

Peratallada - a Charming Stone Building Town in Catalonia, Spain

30 October, 2014 | Travel guides | 39 seen

When we left a charming hotel in Begur, we straight headed to a little and charming medieval town of Peratallada, which is located some 22 km east of Girona, and some 15 km west of Begur.

Here are 22 pictures I made at this lovely town:

Road to Peratallada

Peratallada

Medieval streets of Peratallada

Medieval streets of Peratallada

Medieval streets of Peratallada

Catalan flag on streets of  Peratallada

Peratallada

Bicycle on streets of Peratallada

Property for sale on Peratallada

Peratallada streets

Peratallada Town square

Restaurant at Peratallada Town square

Restaurant at Peratallada Town square

Balconies at  Peratallada Town square

Waiting for coffee con Leche

Lavender on table

Peratallada

Peratallada streets

Peratallada streets

Loca Fruta

Peretallada

Tourist sign

Hotel Es Cel de Begur Review in Begur, Spain

29 October, 2014 | Hotel reviews | 10 seen

On our third Spain trip day we stayed overnight at one of the interesting hotels I have ever stayed - Es Cel de Begur Hotel at Bergur.

We booked this hotel on Booking.com it offered a huge savings, instead of paying EUR 400 we paid for room with partial sea view and bed with baldachine EUR 81.

Well I doubt the actual value for this room is EUR 400, it's more some booking.com neat marketing trick. But price EUR 81 for such a hotel room in such an amazing place with partial, but still sea view - is a value deal.

Well we ordered few coffees con leche (Coffee with milk in Catalan) and a supper onsite's restaurant, so total bill was EUR 131. No regrets at all.

N.B. Though this place offers free onsite parking - the drive to it, will be...lets say, pretty adventures :) Leave me a comment, if you have tried that road :)

Enough talking, here is the pictures:

Es Cel de Begur Hotel bedroom

Baldachin at Es Cel de Begur Hotel

First time had a sleep at Baldachin

Baldachin at Es Cel de Begur Hotel

Bathroom at Es Cel de…

Salvador Dali Museum in Figueres, Spain

28 October, 2014 | Museums | 144 seen

In our second day trip to Spain we visited Salvador Dali Museum located in town of Figueres.  I can tell you just one - This has finally happened - had heard so much about this great place before and now I actually visited it.

There are not much words I can use to describe this fabulous museum in Figueras, instead I can offer you 16 pictured from this place (Originally there were 43 pictures, but 2 years latter since originally created this article, I reviewed both article and pictures and made some post-processing for photography in Adobe Lightroom). Now, I feel a bit sorry about myself I can't travel back in time and capture much much better photography, as back then (2014) I was just like another typical tourist flash lighting around with my point and shoot camera. Sad.

But the story is about Salvador Dali, or more precisely about his works and museum in Figueras, so let's leave it as it is, and I will definitely return here for another photography session.

Salvador Dali Museum building at Figueras

The Dalí Theatre and Museum, is a museum of the artist…

Best Budget Laptops for Under $300 in 2023

27 October, 2014 | Laptop Reviews | 7 seen

In today's digital age, having a laptop is almost a necessity. Whether you're a student, a freelancer, or a professional, a reliable laptop can help you accomplish your tasks with ease. However, high-end laptops can be quite expensive, which can be a burden for those on a tight budget. Thankfully, there are plenty of budget laptops available on the market that offer great value for the price.

In this article, we will discuss the 10 best budget laptops under $300.

Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links to Amazon, which means that if you decide to make a purchase through these links, I may earn an affiliate income. Please note that this does not affect the price you pay

Hotel Tarongeta Review in Cadaques

26 October, 2014 | Hotel reviews | 10 seen

We stayed at hotel Tarongeta in Cadaques in our second day trip to Catalonia, Spain.

You can read my photo article - covering Cadaques here.

Choice of Tarongneta was made spontaneous and all agreements regarding accommodation was made on site, not using any third party booking services (thus, I must admit I found this hotel on booking.com before we arrived at Cadaques)

This hotel offers few benefits - free parking on site, located in centre of Cadaques. The price? EUR 55 per night (I guess could bargain it down to EUR 40 with ease).

Nothing fancy - just great location and free parking.

Bathroom at Hotel Tarongeta

Bathroom at Hotel Tarongeta

Bedroom at Hotel Tarongeta

Bedroom at Hotel Tarongeta

Bedroom at Hotel Tarongeta

Rooms come with TV and free High Speed internet at hotel Targoneta

Corridor at Hotel Tarongeta

Sign right next to entrance at Hotel Tarongeta

Vestibule at Hotel Tarongeta

Set in picturesque fishing town of Cadaqués, the family-run Hotel…

Exploring Catalonia: from Roses to Cadaques

25 October, 2014 | Travel guides | 62 seen

On our second day on Catalonian trip, we left Girona and headed to Roses (Girona municipality) and after a short 5 minute stay at Roses we headed to Cadaques (Girona municipality).

I decided to stick with motto: one picture can say more than 1000 words, and here you have - 30 pictures I took during our trip Roses, Girona - Cadaques, Girona.

Beach at Roses, Girona

Roses, Girona

Literraly after 5 minutes here at Roses beach we decided - there is no need to dig deeper in this beautiful Spanish/Catalonian seaside town, and we turned our car around to head to Cadaques. I guess it's all about spontaneity. Sorry Roses in Girona - I will come back some other day.

On the road to Cadaques

Scenic views

Rocks at Cadaques

Turns out - somewhere near these rocks were Salvador Dali house museum - well, it was hard to find it among those rocks...

Cadaques bay

Instead of Salvador Dali house museum we got nice seaside views

Cactuses on cliffs

Cadaques bay with boats

Boats at…

Hotel Ultonia Review in Girona

24 October, 2014 | Hotel reviews | 37 seen

During our first day on our Catalonia trip for a first night, we stayed at Girona - Hotel Ultonia.

For a start I must admit - I wanted to book another less expensive hotel, but that was out of city center - so hell, for a sake of a couple of bucks we decided to book something valuable in the city center.

But to keep up with the costs - I found it's more affordable if you are using hotelclub.com rather booking.com. Basically, it works like this  - what on Booking costs in Euro's, the same on hotelclub costs in dollars. And if you are a currency geek - you will understand me - it's 25-30% cheaper.

Now - enough talking, show me the pictures:

Corridor at Hotel Ultonia Girona

Bathroom at hotel Ultonia Girona

Bathroom at hotel Ultonia Girona

Bathroom at hotel Ultonia Girona

Flat Screen TV at Ultonia hotel Girona

Unfortunately, all the channels are only in Spanish.

No English, not to say Russian. I even considered to complain regarding this - I really enjoy watching 1st Russian channel at hotels. And 1st channels has a great offer for those hotels,…

Catalonia: First impressions of Girona - Cathedral of Girona, Jewish Quarter

23 October, 2014 | Travel guides | 14 seen

This probably will be a long photo article, with few comments on each of the photo.

It was my first time visiting Spain, and stop of Girona came just right after we landed in Barcelona, rented a nice Renault Megane car from Fire Fly company. During this trip I only started to recognize what is Catalonia - not any more an abstract term for me - it's real place with real folks and attractions there. 

So here are few shots from Girona, Cathedral of Girona and Jewish Quarter (probably last two are main attractions of Girona)

Scooters on streets of Girona

Green Overpass

Funny Vehicle on streets of Girona

Balcony with flowers at Girona

View to Girona Cathedral

Girona street view

Girona Events desk (Actual on October 19, 2014)

Catatonia's Flag

Scenic streets of Girona

Scenic streets of Girona

Backyard of Girona's street

Scenic street of Girona

Garden close to Girona's Cathedral

Cathedral of Girona from distance…