Hey everyone, welcome to ContemporaryNomad.com 2.0, an updated and upgraded version of our website with many new features which will make it easier for you guys to follow our travels, access our content, and share your opinions on the site.

First of all, notice that the register and login have been moved to the upper left-hand side of the page. New features include:

Signing In through your Facebook Account

That’s right, you can now log in to ContemporaryNomad.com using your Facebook account. When signing in, simply click the new Facebook button to integrate your account and allow for easy Facebook access to our site. When you comment or contribute to our site, your Facebook avatar (little sqare picture) will appear next to your comment. Don’t worry, your standard login and password will continue to work as well, you don’t need a Facebook account to access our site.

Support for Gravatars

For those of you who want to continue using your standard accounts, you can add your avatar (little square picture) through the Gravatar service. It’s easy and it will work with other sites as well. Just remember to sign up using the same email address that you used here.

New Twitter Page and Facebook Fan Page

We’ve created a Facebook Fan Page, which will allow Facebook members to view our Facebook content as well as share their pictures and content with us. In addition, we’ve set up a new Twitter Page under the account name Cnomad to tweet our latest discoveries, travel tips, recommended web content and more.

New Menu Leading to Archived Content

We have improved the menu, which now leads into better archives of pictorials, videos, 360 panoramas, and articles. Everything should be much easier to access now.

Improved Pictorials

We have improved the pictorials (galleries), which are now viewed through a Lightbox viewer. Within the pictorial, click on a thumbnail to open the larger version of the picture. When you move the cursor over the expanded picture, you will be able to read the caption. Move the cursor over the right side of the picture to reveal the “Next” button or over the left side to reveal the “Back” button. Click in the surrounding transparent black area to close the picture/viewer.

Improved and Updated Maps

Our Map of Featured Content and the TnT Tracker have been updated and improved. Click away.

Extended RSS and Atom Feeds

For those of you who want to view our site through a news reader, we are now publishing our complete blog posts including pictures through the RSS and Atom feeds. This will also allow you to integrate our syndicated content into your sight as well. But don’t forget to come to our site to enjoy our permanent collections of pictorials, videos, 360 panoramas and articles.

Give us your Feedback

Let us know what you think of the new site. Much of this upgrade required changes to the underlying programming (far too much of which had to be accomplished in one 12-hour stretch). If you discover any glitches, technical problems, or typos, please let us know either here in the comments section below or through our contact form.

Here’s to the next phase in ContemporaryNomad.com.

I love California and I’m seriously going to miss it, but expensive, pre-booked return flight tickets have a way of forcing you to stick to a particular departure date. Family, friends, the beaches, the sun, the Mexican food – oh, the tragedy, don’t make me leave

Being nomadic most of the time, there is true joy in plopping down on the couch with a pizza and watching a DVD. The thrill of not packing or moving, not being sandwiched into third world buses has made California the perfect vacation from vacation.

But it’s time to get back on the road. So, it’s back to Bangkok to continue our adventures. Stay tuned, the explorations have just begun!

When I talked about the ESTA scheme in Welcome to America, I was bothered by the lopsidedness of the reciprocal visa procedure.  Now, Congress has gone a step further. It just passed the Travel Promotion Act, a law which is supposed to promote the United States as a travel destination. Part of this program will be financed by imposing a $10 fee on tourists from visa-waiver countries whenever they renew their ESTA registration. Basically, ESTA is a visa in disguise. So much for the visa-free travel between the United States and the European Union.

Slapping an annoying new $10 fee and a load of confusing bureaucracy on tourists doesn’t seem to be the brightest way to “encourage” tourism. If you are American and you think this doesn’t affect you, think again. Visa waiver countries are sure to retaliate with a similar system. Oh, will the bureaucrats ever learn? If this is the government’s way to promote tourism, just imagine what they’ll do with health care!

I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard that Americans have no food culture. Apparently, the whole nation lives on hamburgers and doughnuts. But it’s SO not true. They also eat microwave dinners and frozen pizzas. Clearly, we Germans are so much more sophisticated with our sauerkraut, bratwurst and “real” black forest cakes. It should be obvious that our culinary preconceptions of other countries are almost always wrong, and they are especially wrong when it comes to food in the United States.

What exactly is American food? Well, it’s like asking what an American looks like. There’s no one answer. America is a complex melting pot of ethnicities, a hodgepogde of different cultures and customs. And the food across the country is as varied as the people are.

From New England clam chowder in the East, to sausage and shrimp jambalaya in the South, to wild Alaskan salmon in the Northwest, to Navajo fried bread in the Southwest, there’s no ONE American food. It is more like a blend of European, native American, Asian, Caribbean, and African foods.

Once considered regional specialties, these and other dishes have since been adopted and adapted all over the country. With California being a trendsetter in creating fusion cuisine, new and exciting combinations are popping up all the time. Care for the spicy Thai burger L.A. style, avocado and grapefruit salad, or sushi with jalapeno?

Yes, you will have to look beyond the KFCs and Burger Kings if you want to try anything other than fast food. Take your time and have some real American food. It is so worth it.

For those unfamiliar with American food, here are some of my favorite dishes:

• Chicken fried steak with scrambled eggs
• Buffalo burgers (much healthier) and steak fries
• Creamy butternut squash soup
• BBQ pork ribs, greens, black-eyed peas (with bacon) and sweet potato pie
• Banana nut muffins
• Biscuits and gravy
• Fish tacos with a side of black beans, tortilla chips, and guacamole
• Key Lime pie
• California rolls with lots of wasabi
• Roast turkey with cranberry sauce, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie

You can find more information on regional specialties and scrumptious recipes on About.com.