How To Dress When Traveling Through Latin America

Throughout my book The Global Dating Revolution, I give a lot of tips and advice for those of you that will take the leap into International Dating and actually travel abroad to see what the women are like in other countries.

On Page 250 of The Global Dating Revolution I give the following tips on dressing while your traveling through Latin America. I feel most of these will be applicable to Eastern Europe and South East Asia as well:

Don’t dress like a tourist, with shorts, loud Hawaiian shirt and camera around your neck. Dress casual or business casual with a nice pair of khakis, jeans and either a nice button down shirt or nice t-shirt. Dress for your body type. If you’re very thin, you might want to wear more then one layer, and don’t wear clothes that are too loose fitting. By the same token if you’re a husky guy, no horizontal stripped shirts and nothing that’s too tight:

In my book The Global Dating Revolution, I give advice on where to go to meet foreign women, and how to go about doing so. I outline all the obstacles and challenges, and give you step by step instructions so you can meet amazing foreign women through international dating. You can find out more about my book, plus all the bonuses by clicking here

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Why Time Can Be Your Biggest Allie With Foreign Women

When your traveling abroad and you get to a new country or city it takes a little while to adapt to your surroundings. Some people adapt in a week, but others take longer. It also takes time to build up a social circle, make new friends and learn your way around. For all of these reasons I always recommend at least three weeks in one location.

One perfect example is getting to know the night life. Usually when you get to a new city you won’t know what the best hang outs, bars, and clubs are. Most cities have places that are THE places to go on certain nights. Even if you ask the locals, taxis, or people you meet on the streets, the reality is that this information is usually hit or miss. Some people will send you the places THEY like, but they may not necessarily be the best places to meet single foreign women.

This is where persistence and time comes in. Make a note of where you go on what night, and how good the environment is. Ask the people that work there what the best nights are, ask the people inside the bar the same thing, and make a note. As time goes on you’ll be able to find the best spots on each night, and you’ll be able to find the best weekend hang outs. If you’re lucky you’ll find these spots in the first week, but sometimes it takes up to three or four weeks on constantly going out to start to find the really good places to meet single women.

Don’t move around too much. Stay in one place, get to know it, make friends, and be persistent. Sometimes things don’t start getting REALLY good until the last week. Although I recommend at least a three week stay in one place, if you can swing more then three weeks, then by all means do so.

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A Little About Medellin

Medellin has the natural setting and weather of various other Latin American and Central American cities. The two things that differentiate Medellin from the rest is the vast transformation it’s had over the past 20 – 30 years, and from a man’s point of view, all the beautiful women.

Once known for being home to arguably the most powerful drug cartel ever known, the Medellin Cartel, lead by Pablo Escobar called this nestled valley city home. Since those times Medellin has seen a renaissance. Safety has improved greatly, the weather is still splendid, yet today you can find hotels, apartments and other accommodations in the city that have all the amenities you would find anywhere else in the world.

Medellin is the type of city that can cater to back backers and businessmen a like. Within the city you can stay at one of the many hostels or rent a luxury apartment with ease. Medellin boasts of good food, good weather, friendly locals, great night life, and many tourist attractions including the “la piedra del penol”.

The Women

Within Colombia, Medellin is known among Colombian men for it’s beautiful and marriage material women. Many Colombians from all over Colombia have been known to say that the when it’s time to settle down, they’ll do it with a “Paisa”, the local term that refers to the women of this region of the country.

Although the culture of the city and the city itself has changed a great deal over the past 15 years, you eyes will not deceive you, when you walk down the Poblado Avenue. The sexy women of Medellin can be seen prancing around the city streets throughout the day. Because of Medellin’s climate, the local women find a local walk refreshing as well as good exercise.

Medellin has become the fashion capital of Colombia and probably one of the hottest fashion focal points in Latin America. Twice a year, Medellin hosts two international fashion events that bring in some of the top fashion names in the world. It’s not surprising that Medellin has become famous for it’s fashion because the women of the city sure know how to dress and look their best.

The Weather

The city of Medellin has an average annual temperature is 22 °C (72 °F), and because of its proximity to the equator, its temperature is constant year round, with minimal temperature variations. Temperatures range from 15 °C (52 °F) to 30 °C (86 °F). Because of the pleasant springlike climate all year, Medellín is known as ‘La Ciudad de la Eterna Primavera’ or ‘City of the Eternal Spring’. Exercising, walking, pool activities, and other out door activities can be done all year due to the nice constant spring like weather.

EL Poblado

El Poblado is a large section of city that hosts some of the best hotels, malls, restaurants, bars clubs and casinos in town. If you’re going to Medellin you’re most likely going to want to stay here, at least if you’re a first timer. Most of the hostels in Medellin are located in this section of town close to the famous “Parque LLeras” pronounce “Yeras” (seen on the picture to the left). The blocks surrounding this small park have the highest concentration of bars, restaurants and clubs in the entire city. Most of the best hotels, and hostels are also within walking distance of the park.

How To Access Your Online Accounts While Traveling Abroad

Accessing your online accounts including banking and email accounts from hotel lobbies and internet cafes can be a good way to get your information stolen. You can never trust other peoples computers, you never really know how good the security at any given location might be. I’ve only gotten my information stolen one time and that was in the Dominican Republic when I used the computer in the hotel lobby.

If you’re planning on traveling and you’ll need to access your online accounts I recommend you take these few precautions just to make sure your information doesn’t get stolen by some keylogger, or some packet sniffing program installed on some foreign network.

Always use an https:// before the intended address. If you need to access your gmail account, use https://www.gmail.com instead of just http://www.gmail.com. The HTTPS means that the connection between the web browser that you’re using and the website you’re accessing will be encrypted, and if anyone happens to capture the network traffic, your information will be safe. But this step doesn’t safeguard you from keyloggers.

There is really no way to defeat a keylogger effectively. The only thing I recommend to be 100% sure your accounts are not compromised is to access your bank accounts only via phone. Most banks have international numbers you can call, but it’s not hard to reach the 1800 customer service numbers from foreign countries. Wherever you are, just ask how to call the United States, or whatever country your from, and they’ll give the codes to dial before you enter the number. In this way you avoid access your banking accounts from an infected computer.

Email is a different story. You won’t be able to access your email via phone, but what I recommend is to set a temporary password before your trip. Use this password while traveling and accessing your email from computers abroad, and then change the password as soon as you get back. If you’re traveling for an extended period of time, I would suggest changing the password every two or three weeks, or every month at the most. Although changing the passwords might seem like hassle, it only takes two minutes and it can give you piece of mind and save you headaches in case you do use a computer that was compromised with keyloggers or trojans.

I would also the the same for chat clients. If you’re going to be accessing chat clients abroad you can use a temporary password while chatting and never share personal information such as account numbers or other important identifiers over chat programs while traveling abroad. As with email you can change your password once you get back home.

Finally, remember to always close all sessions including email and chat. And if you know how to remove cookies or clear private data, do this as well before you leave any computer you might be using.

What if you have your own computer?
If you bring your own laptop, and you run good security on your laptop including a firewall and antivirus, then things will be much safer, all I would suggest then is to access HTTPS urls only.

Five Things Cuba Is Famous For

I’ve wanted to visit Cuba for some time now, but it’s not easy. Hopefully Obama will remove the travel restrictions for American citizens that want to travel to Cuba. The minute they do, I’m heading over! The picture on the left is a picture of the coastal boulevard in La Havana. From all of the pictures I’ve seen I imagine that La Havana, Cuba’s capital, looks a lot like Cartagena, Colombia, maybe a bit more worn down but a very similar architecture. Anyway, for anyone that doesn’t know too much about Cuba, here are five things Cuba is famous for (Havana should be in this list, but I’ll save that for when I actually visit).

#1. It’s cigars. Cuban cigars are known worldwide as the best cigars. As the best they are also very expensive. Cuban cigars have been called the forbidden fruit because of their distinctive flavor and aroma. The Cuban government controls all cigar production in Cuba. Cuban cigars are made from tobacco, fillers, and wrappers grown, made, and manufactured in Cuba. Cuban cigars are for the most part hand rolled by master cigar rollers known as torcedores. Torcedores are considered artists in their field and are respected highly in Cuba and around the world. Although Cuban cigars are considered the best in the world they are illegal in the United States.

#2. It’s Fidel. Fidel Castro has been a polarizing figure for decades. He is at the same time loved and hated by many. Fidel Castro came to power in 1959 as a result of the Cuban Revolution against U.S. backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. After the overthrow of Batista in 1959, Castro took charge of the military and soon became the next dictator of Cuba. From 1959 through 1960 Castro began to make sweeping changes throughout Cuba. Castro nationalized all industrial businesses, made agriculture into a collective community, and took control of all American-owned businesses. It was also during this time period that Castro began to cut times with the United States and form an alliance with the Soviet Union. Although Castro denied being a communist, he had effectively transformed Cuba into a communist country.

#3. It’s rum. Cuban rum just as Cuban cigars is among the best in the world. Cuban rum has been called the spice of life with its smooth but strong flavor. As with Cuban cigars, rum is illegal in the United States because of the trade embargo that was enacted in 1962. Cuban rum is made from the sugarcane by-product known as molasses. This process of making rum was brought to Cuba by slaves from Africa. Cuba was the main supplier of rum in the 1700’s and today the most common brand of Cuban rum is Havana Club.

#4. It’s dancing. Cuba is famous for its spicy and sexy Latin dances. Picture in your mind moving passionately across the dance floor as you step in time to the beat of your dance partner’s rhythm. Cuban dances are about passion and immersing yourself into the story of the dance. The word Salsa was created in New York, however the dance originated in Cuba. Salsa combines a mix of the Danzón from the French, the Rhumba from Africa, and the Són of Cuba. The Cha-Cha-Cha also originated in Cuba. The Cha-Cha-Cha is similar to the Mambo and gained fame in the early 1950’s. The Cha-Cha-Cha is more sensual than the Salsa and can be more complex with its many rhythms.

#5. It’s baseball. Baseball is more than just America’s favorite past time. It is one of the most played sports in Cuba with a long and rich history. Baseball was brought to Cuba sometime around 1860 by Cubans who had studied and played along side sailors in the United States. Some of the greatest baseball players in the world are of Cuban Heritage. Cristóbal Torriente, Martín Dihigo, and José Méndez are all in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Cubans have played baseball in just about every nation where baseball exists in the world. Not only have Cubans played abroad but many baseball greats from other countries have gone to Cuba to play as well.

Ten Ways To Avoid Stomach Problems And Diarrhea When Traveling

When you’re traveling abroad if your not careful you could end up with stomach problems, travelers diarrhea, a stomach virus or worse. In order to avoid these common problem it’s important to know where to eat, what to eat, and what to drink. Here are the best tips you’ll find so you can keep your stomach safe and enjoy your trip without running into stomach problems:

#1. Eat at places that have a lot of clientele. Always eat at the busiest restaurant or place you can find. A busy restaurant is a good sign of good food and satisfied clients. The fact that other people are eating there in great numbers says something great about the food, and service. But there’s more to this approach then just this. A busy restaurant also means that the food is fresh. Busy places are making money, and they don’t need to save yesterday’s unsold food for tomorrows clients, as some of the emptier places may do. Always eat at the busiest locale, and if the place is empty definitely avoid it.

#2. Make sure your food is cooked properly. Get everything well done. You might like your steak rare, but why take the chance? Make sure you get all your meats cooked well. Try avoiding uncooked foods. Extra caution should be taken with shellfish and some sea foods.

#3. Wash your hands. Make sure you wash your hands every time before you eat. It might be a good idea for you to carry around a small pocket size hand sanitizer and keep it in your pocket.

#4. Don’t eat already peeled fruits and vegetables. This one is self explanatory.

#5. Drink bottled water, and don’t drink tap water. In some countries you can drink the tap water, but make sure you boil it before you drink it.

#6. Watch out for the ice. Ice is usually made from the tap water so if you want a cold drink put your drink on ice, but don’t put ice in your drink.

#7. Don’t eat at street vendors and food carts. I generally advise not to eat at vendors who stand out in the middle of the streets. Sometimes you might be starving after a night out and you might want to try some shish kabobs from a local vendor, I’ve done this myself, but I make sure I don’t do it often, and that I get my food very well done. Also remember tip #1. If you’re going to eat at one of these street vendors, eat the busiest one.

#8. If it tastes funny, don’t eat it. When your traveling food will taste different, but sometimes there’s something your taste buds tell you about the food. When in doubt listen to your gut. If it tastes too funny, trust your gut and don’t eat it. If you want to be nice about it, just tell the staff to wrap it up to go, and dump the food when you leave.

#9. Boost your immune system. Make sure your helping your immune system by taking a multi-vitamin, vitamin E, vitamin C, and Zinc. Regular exercise and adequate sleep also helps boost your immune system.

#10. Avoid eating when drunk. If you’ve had a lot to drink try to avoid eating. When you’re drunk sometimes you might not care where you eat, or what you eat, you’ll probably also forget tips 1-9 and you might not even be able to tell if the food is good or not. This is a sure fire way to stumble your way into some food that can get you sick.

American Wing Man Vs. Foreign Wing Man

If you’re traveling abroad you might be wondering if it’s better to get a local wing man/guide or go with your American buddy (or Austrailian/Canadian/etc.)? There are benefits to both and also downsides.

Money
The American wing man will gladly help you pay for expenses, drinks, or anything else where the cost was shared. The foreign wing man may be more strapped for cash and may be less inclined inclined to help with the bills. Some might even expect you to pay for everything. You should probably iron out the details of who’s paying for what with your foreign wing man, but just know that he might not have as much cash as you do.

Time
The American wing man will generally be on time, and show up when asked. Foreign guys are less use to rigid schedules, and being on time in general.

Women
Foreign guys might not be as aggressive or use to approaching women out of the blue like some American guys that are use to the American type of bar and club scene. Foreign guys rely more on their social circle and friends to meet the women they date.

Also there may be a chance that your foreign wing man has an ego problem. Some foreign guys do have ego problems because they’ve had it easy with the opposite sex their whole lives, and they let it go to their heads and think it’s do to their great looks or skills with women, and that is has nothing to do with where they live.

Also foreign wing men will be much more picky about who you hang it with and where you hang out and also who you approach and date. Foreigners are much more sensitive to social classes and usually hang out in places that cater to their social class. With an American wing man on the other hand you won’t have the worry about this problem, you can date women from any class or approach women from any class without having to worry about how your wing man feels about this.

Picking Locations
The foreign wing man has the upper hand here as he will know where the best places are to meet the local women. He also has the advantage of already having a large social circle of his friends and relatives. Although now and days picking locations is getting much and much easier with the information available on the Internet. Still there’s nothing better then a local to give you the inside scoop on a destination.

Language
One of the greatest advantages of a foreign wing man is that he will know the language. This will help with negotiations, haggling, and any where else where conversation is needed. Your foreign wing man can also educate you or pickup the local slang, which is a part of the dialect in every region, and even changes from city to city even within the same country.

One possible drawback of a foreign wing man in this area is that he might not speak your language well (most likely English). And if you don’t speak his, there could be potential communication problems.

Safety
The foreign wing man will know where to go and where no to go. Having home field advantage he’ll be able to avoid situations where safety might be an issue. This is another one of the great advantages of having a foreign wing man when you travel abroad.

That’s pretty much it, the most ideal situation is probably to have a well traveled American wing man who’s fluent in the language and a veteran traveler. One of the best benefits I’ve found of traveling in packs with other American’s is sharing the costs of things. But adding a local guy to the mix and getting a small group going wouldn’t be bad idea either.

Top Ten Ways To Live, Work, And Travel Abroad

A lot of people gawk at the thought of traveling oversees to meet foreign women, or simply just to take in new experiences, cultures, food, music and life. For some people traveling seems something far and distant, too much of a hassle, and sometimes too expensive. So how can you make traveling easy and natural, maybe even part of your life? I’ve made a list of some of the top ways you can travel, and even live and work abroad.

Work remotely from home
With technology these days it’s very possible for many people to start working remotely either for their current employer or by providing their own professional services from home. Once you take things remote, you can easily then travel to any place that has an Internet connection and bring along your laptop to work from the road. This is by far one of the best ways to travel extensively, and make money at the same time. Take a quick peek at websites like guru.com or freelancer.com just to see what type of services are being offered by remote workers from all over the world, as well as from all over the U.S.

Get a job on a cruise ship
Cruise ships are great ways to travel and make some money at the same time. Cruise ships usually hire people for 3-6 month stints, so you get a nice amount of vacation time after you do your time on the ship. Food and lodging will be free and you’ll get a salary. You also get to explore different places when the ship docs at various locations.

Get an oversees job
Multinational companies often offer jobs oversees for qualified individuals. There are various websites like latpro.com and monster.com where you can search for opportunities to work abroad.

Get a job that involves a lot of traveling
A job that includes a lot of travel could offer your opportunities to stay abroad for decent periods of time. Jobs within marketing or product divisions of companies looking to expand into Latin America or the other pro-male regions are good places to look. Jobs within the hotel industry or tourism industry are also great places to find jobs that let you travel.

Get transferred
If you already work for a multi-national, look for opportunities to get transferred abroad within the company. Look within your company website to see what opportunities might be available abroad.

Do a semester abroad
If your still in college I would suggest doing a semester or preferably two semesters abroad. You can even study in countries like Brazil. I wish I had known this when I was in school!

Volunteer
There are various websites on the Internet that offer you the opportunity to travel while volunteering. Cross Cultural Solutions is just one of these websites, but there are many others. Just do a good search for “volunteer abroad” + “the country or region you are most interested in”. These are great ways to give back and contribute to society as well as get some travel experience. Another benefit of many of these programs is that they pay for everything.

Take a vacation
Save up vacation time, sick days, and personal days and pile them up together to take a long vacation abroad. I always recommend at least two weeks as the minimum stay. But three to four weeks would be best if you can swing it.

Get a job in the military
The military might be another way to consider traveling abroad, BUT I’m not sure of how one would go about being stationed in Colombia as opposed to Iraq or Afghanistan! I do always meet veterans and guys who have been in the military who start to travel while they do their service and then end up moving abroad, or traveling extensively after they leave the military.

Take a sabbatical
If you’ve worked somewhere long enough, chances are you may have the option to take a sabbatical. Look within your companies policies and see if they have any policies for sabbaticals. A sabbatical usually involves you taking time off from work (sometimes even with pay, or at least a percentage of your pay) for up to six months to a year. If your company doesn’t define any policies for sabbaticals then you may have to inquire with your managers or human resources.

Why Foreign Girls Make The Best Tour Guides

Traveling is all about immersing yourself in the culture, the people, and the way of life you experience through your trip. It’s easier to get immersed in the real culture with the help of the locals.

The locals will be able to safely guide you through your trip in a way that will allow you to more easily experience the real culture of a place. The locals know where the real parties are, they also know where some of the best food is in town, they know that Thursday night is good here, and not there, and they know how to get local bargains on just about everything from hotels, to taxis, to food, to shopping.

Whether you travel around with a local guy or girl doesn’t really make a difference. But since we’re men, our local guide might as well be a stunning foreign woman.

There’s nothing better then getting to know the real people and real culture with the help of a foreign beauty. A behind the scenes look into a different culture can be eye opening, life changing and memorable.

But it gets even better. All of these beautiful foreign women will be more then happy to show you around for free. They’ll welcome you with open arms and make sure your safe at all times. They’ll also help you with negotiating prices with the locals and if they know English, they’ll also help with the translations.

Some of you might like to rough it out on your own, and discover things for yourself, but keep in mind there’s always the option of hiring your free tour guide who can give you a behind the scenes look that you may never have seen without her.

Until Next Time,

Dan DeLa Cruz

Your Citizenship – Your Ticket To Romantic Freedom

If you’re reading this you’re probably a guy that lives or use to live in one of the wealthy, industrialized nations of the world. Like Australia, USA, England, Canada etc. One thing that you probably never stopped to think about is how powerful your citizenship is, and how much we take this for granted.

You see, there are millions of people across many countries who can’t travel outside of their country without soliciting a visa. For example, there are millions of people who solicit tourist visa’s to travel to the United States, every year, but the visa’s are limited and many people never get them because of this limitation and the strict requirements that need to be met.

You and I don’t have to worry about this. We can travel throughout the world with 100 times less restrictions then millions and perhaps billions of others. I’ve traveled to over a dozen countries and I’ve only had to solicit one visa, which was the visa to travel to Brazil.

Even the Brazil visa was really easy to obtain. It took me one whole day a trip to New York and $100. It isn’t that easy to get a tourist visa to the USA. Paperwork in foreign countries can take far longer with many more obstacles then we’re use to.

So take advantage of your citizenship. As a citizenship of an economically prosperous nation, you have free reign to travel to many countries throughout the world with just your passport, no other paperwork needed.

Don’t take this for granted. There’s probably billions of people who would love to be in your position.

To top it all off, many of the countries which will never require you to do any paperwork are countries which are filled with attractive foreign women who would be eager to meet a guy just like you.

If you think about how easily we can travel throughout the world, compared to citizens of other countries, it’s really amazing and it makes it very possible for us to take our dating global.

It doesn’t get any easier then this. Just imagine if you had to wait in line and fill out tons of paperwork and go through all this hassle just to travel to some of these places. It really would make this a lot harder, and the fact is that all you have to do is buy a plane ticket and get your ass on that plane!

Later,