Gadling

Yikes! I promised to write, by last week, about my favorite MP3 player to travel with, and then I didn't.

In the span of 8 days I visited the island of Miyajima off the coast of Hiroshima, went back to Tokyo, stayed on an island called Yakushima off the southern coast of Japan for four days, and then moved to Taipei, Taiwan. Not much time to write.

However, I'm now settled in the Da-an district of Taipei with a couch and an internet connection, so it's back to business.

And today's business is a gem of an MP3 player, the Creative ZEN.

There are two things that make this the best current MP3 player for a serious traveler, as well as a few nice touches that seal the deal. Let's focus on the big ones first.

I'm a gadget junkie by any definition. When I planned my year long trip around the world, I literally spent more time considering the gear I brought with me than I did planning which countries I'd go to.

But hey... if you're well prepared, you're ready for anything, right?

For the first ever episode of Gadling Gear, I thought it only appropriate that I cover one of the most useful and perfect gadgets in my travel bag: Etymotic Research ER-4P headphones.

Let's get the obvious out of the way - these things have incredible sound quality. They reproduce sound nearly perfectly, a feat that would literally cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars with a home stereo system.

So, if you like hearing your music at higher quality than you've ever heard before, these are your headphones.

But beyond that, these just happen to be totally perfect for us traveling folk. Why? Because they block sound way better than the competition.

The past two days have been extremely rainy here in Tokyo, which means that hanami, or flower viewing season, is over. The rain has pulled all of the delicate blossoms from the trees, lining the sides of the streets with thin carpets of white flowers.

The blossoms are still in season further North, so pretty soon I'll be heading up there to show visiting friends the majesty.

Until then, here are some pictures I took of the blossoms in Yoyogi Park.

Today at Bergstrom International Airport in Austin, Texas, a terrorist managed to get a two full quarts of Pantene Pro V shampoo past security.

Security experts from the TSA simulated possible scenarios in a contained environment in Washington and found that the amount of shampoo brought on-board could potentially work everyone's hair into a thick, foamy lather.

"The exact outcome of this attack would depend on how many passengers were bald and the amount of time the terrorists spend massaging each passenger's scalp," explained Todd Iceton, director of Infinite Justice at the TSA. "Our preliminary estimates indicate that this could be a dangerously clean and fresh smelling situation."

Last year the TSA decided to lift the ban on fluids and allow each passenger to carry liquids in three ounce containers as long as they fit into a quart zip-lock bag. Some critics worried that this new policy could possibly make travel too convenient, especially to convenience-loving terrorists.

"We... ummm... as people should forsee this as a great nation," remarked President Bush, "I washed my hair for one this morning and my heart and prayers are with the brave Americans in Iraq and on this plane."

The plane is still in the air and is scheduled to land in LAX at 1:30pm today, April 1, 2008. A fire truck with a special tank full of very dirty water will be waiting on the runway to douse the passengers as soon as they land.

I'm not going to lie - I am a karaoke aficionado. Back in Austin, TX I hosted karaoke every week (mainly so that I could cut the line whenever I wanted) and I invented something called Tazeroke.

I knew that they loved karaoke in Japan, so I was pumped to sing when I arrived here. However, after a trying conversation with the girl behind the desk of a karaoke establishment, I had a shocking realization.

All of the karaoke here is in private rooms.

There are no karaoke bars with stages and random patrons to bask in your superstar glory. And for us Westerners, that's what karaoke is all about - being a rock star for three and a half minutes.

Some research revealed one exception to this national rule. In Roppongi, on the third floor of a building tucked away on a little side street there is a place called "Fiesta." You'd never find it if you didn't know it was there.

Last night my friend Todd and I had the honor of being guests of Shintaro Mimura, the director of Fiesta. And let me tell you - this is karaoke at its finest.

I no longer have a simple answer to the question, "Where do you live?", so I usually launch into an explanation of exactly what I'm doing. I almost always get the same response.

"Wow. I wish I could do that."

But here's the thing: almost anyone can do what I'm doing. Despite being a much more interesting lifestyle, it's not particularly difficult or expensive.

This is the story of how I became a modern day nomad, and how you may become one too if the idea appeals to you.

I quit my job a year ago. It was a great job by any metric, but something about sitting inside on a computer on sunny spring days seemed wrong. What was I doing with my life?

A couple months later I was free. I wrote a book about my knowledge and experiences gained from living with the most famous pickup artists in the world, and I began selling it.

I still had to work, but my work was totally mobile. My book was sold online only. I could write from anywhere, take care of customers from anywhere, and make phone calls from anywhere.

This led to questions like, "Why am I living in Austin?", which led to questions like, "Why am I living in the U.S.?", which led to questions like, "Why pick just one place to live in?"

And so the idea was hatched. I'd pick six different countries to live in, and would move every two months.

Introducing Gadling's most gangsta blogger, Tynan:

1) Where was your photo taken? It was taken in the tiny Waterworld-like island of Rio Sidra, Panama. Our guide abandoned us to do coke after causing us to miss the only flight out, so we explored the island and made friends with the kids.

2) Where do you live now? I'm a nomad. At this very moment I'm in Tokyo, but I move to a new country every two months or so.

3) Scariest airline flown? None scary enough, really. When other people start digging their nails into the random passenger sitting next to them, I'm fantasizing about constructing a Swiss Family Robinson style village on the island we'll crash on.

4) Favorite city/country/town/place: I'll reluctantly say Tokyo because it makes me feel like I'm living in a utopian future, but I have so many favorites that it's really tough to decide. Which of your kids do you like the best?

5) Most remote corner of the globe visited: Isla Robinson in Panama. The whole island is small enough that you can run around the perimeter in 2 minutes flat, and their only source of power are three hodgepodge solar panels hooked up to a couple of car batteries.

6) Favorite guidebook series: I tend to avoid guidebooks and instead just wander around, meet people, and ask them about their city. However, I have to admit that Lonely Planet guides are pretty fantastic.

7) You may become the leader of any country in the world. What country and why? How would you rule?
I would take Bermuda. It's conveniently close to the US, absolutely gorgeous, has people who wear hilarious shorts, and has a good reputation.

I would rule with an iron fist, crushing all those who uprise against me, and would immediately rename Bermuda "Tyland" or "Tynan Island".

8) Other jobs? I had one of those once, but it got in the way of living life and going out and seeing all of the amazing things in the world.

Now I work exclusively online. I sell the dating book I wrote, Make Her Chase You, and I also wrote some site optimization software called Conversion Doubler.

9) Have you ever had an unexpected layover? What did you do? Yes. I once got stuck overnight in Newark. For some reason the airline gave free hotel rooms to international travelers, but not us domestic peons.

I made friends with a kid who was flying internationally and he offered to let me sleep in the extra bed in his room. He'd never been to New York before, so we had the airline switch us to later flights and we had a good time checking out Manhattan.

Over dinner he told me that his hobbies mainly involved stealing things and that he was escaping from gangsters in Florida who wanted to kill him. When my wallet and kidneys were still where I left them in the morning, I was relieved.

10) Favorite foreign dish? Every month I'm 100% vegan for every day but one. On that last day I go out and try something my country-of-the-month is known for.

Eating Kobe beef in Kobe is a magical experience, both because of the quality of the food and because of the meticulous preparation by the chef. Each sliver of garlic gets individually flipped for even browning.