Since embarking on my Catalan language learning journey in Barcelona two years ago, I've grown curious about the areas outside politically-defined Spanish Catalonia where the language persists. One of these regions is known as “Catalunya Nord” or Northern Catalonia, a region in Southern France which hugs the Spanish border. This region in Southern France hugs … Continue reading Searching For Catalan In Perpinyà (Perpignan)
Author: David William Rosales
Good and Boring Bike Share Names
After traveling to dozens of cities, I’ve developed a curiosity for the names of various city bike shares. If you’re not familiar with bike shares, they are public bicycle rental programs that allow you to pick up a bike from one station and return it to another. When I lived in New York, I had … Continue reading Good and Boring Bike Share Names
We Need More Bricks
Note: This originally appeared in my newsletter in March, 2024. If you like what you see, you can subscribe here. Hello friends, Greetings from dreary, beautiful London, England. I’m in a cafe this morning in a lovely off-the-touristy-path neighborhood called Stoke Newington. London’s public transit and biking infrastructure is so much better than New York’s, … Continue reading We Need More Bricks
How I Live Without a Car In The US (And Why I’ll Never Own a Car Again)
I haven’t owned a car for five years, since I was 20 years old and lived in a small town in Vermont. My foray into car-free life began when I moved to New York City. I loved how active my everyday life became as I swapped driving for walking and biking. Every excursion out of … Continue reading How I Live Without a Car In The US (And Why I’ll Never Own a Car Again)
26 Hidden Costs of Cars: How Car-Dependency Hurts Your Wallet, Your Health, And The Planet
I’ve lived car-free for five years. My entire 20s I've lived without a car. The first three years, I lived in New York. Yet, over the last two, as I've traveled around the world, I've survived in some of the most car-dependent places in the world. I’ve seen the much of the best of public … Continue reading 26 Hidden Costs of Cars: How Car-Dependency Hurts Your Wallet, Your Health, And The Planet
My 16 Tips to Thrive on The Greyhound Bus (Yes, Thrive)
Thanks to The United States’ combination of lackluster train infrastructure and miserable flying experience, there often simply aren’t great choices to get places. Is the Greyhound bus our savior? No, absolutely not. Yet, despite the Greyhound’s reputation as as a last resort option, I’ve taken it several times (not as a last resort!) over the … Continue reading My 16 Tips to Thrive on The Greyhound Bus (Yes, Thrive)
My Amtrak Roomette Review: Overnight From Pittsburgh to Chicago
My girlfriend and I took the Capital Limited Amtrak in a Roomette overnight from Pittsburgh to Chicago. This train began in Washington D.C, and we hopped on at midnight eastern time in Pittsburgh and got to Chicago around 8:30 central time. This article covers my full breakdown from our experience so that you know everything … Continue reading My Amtrak Roomette Review: Overnight From Pittsburgh to Chicago
Meet Art Halfway
In today’s short-form world, the content flooding our feeds seems to focus on “hooks” and “accessibility.” I think poet Mark Strand got this right, decades before the emergence of TikTok or Instagram. “If you try too hard to be immediately comprehensible to your audience, if you give too much to the moment, you’re also giving … Continue reading Meet Art Halfway
7 Urbanism and City Design Lessons from Medellín
I visited Medellín, Colombia in both 2023 and 2024. Once notorious as the epicenter of the drug cartel era under Pablo Escobar in the late 20th century, Medellín's narrative was dominated by violence and chaos. It was often called “the murder capital of the world.” Since then, Medellín has redefined its image. Today it’s one … Continue reading 7 Urbanism and City Design Lessons from Medellín
I Was a Digital Nomad in Medellín and I Have Thoughts
If you’re a digital nomad, you’ve probably heard a fair amount about Medellín. Especially for North Americans, it has become a digital nomad hotspot. I’ve been living without a lease for two years traveling the world, and I've been down to Medellín twice, both in 2023 and 2024. Here are some inside tricks, the good … Continue reading I Was a Digital Nomad in Medellín and I Have Thoughts