No More Region Lock (Kinda)

First, the good news: the old concept of region locks on physical media is gone. This means if you buy a PS4, say, in Hong Kong, you’ll still be able to play PS4 games that come from the US or Europe. The only thing you need to keep in mind is languages; make sure the games you buy have English. One sure way to do that is to buy versions from your home country and have them delivered overseas.

That’s not to say there aren’t any region lock mechanisms in place, though. The way Sony locks you in to a specific region is through your PlayStation Network account: if you have, say, an American PSN account, you’ll only be able to buy Store items and redeem codes that are valid for the U.S.

For instance, it means that if one of your games comes with a Japanese code for some downloadable extra, you won’t be able to redeem that code unless you have a Japanese PSN account.

No More Power Adapters

Second bit of good news: just like modern laptops, all PS4 consoles work on 110-220V out of the box. This means you won’t need a power adapter to bring it back home and plug it in: all you need is a plug adapter.

Keep in mind Sony doesn’t officially endorse this, but it still totally works.

The Circle-Cross Situation

Now for the bit of bad news… If you purchase your PS4 in Asia, you’ll have to contend with two button schemes.

Consoles sold in Asia (including China, Korea and Japan) use the Circle button to confirm and the Cross to cancel. This is the opposite of Western systems, where the Cross means confirm (“X marks the spot”) and the Circle means cancel.

Where it gets tricky is that Western games, even when played on an Asian console, will use the Western button scheme of Cross to confirm and Circle to cancel. So when navigating the PS4 menu you’re using Circle to confirm, then will have to switch to Cross when entering a U.S. game.

There aren’t any solutions to this problem, either. You can change the button mapping in the Settings menu, but that just means you’ll be using Cross to confirm in the PS4 menu and Circle in U.S. games! There’s no way to make that scheme consistent across the board.

It took me a few days to get used to it, but this is probably the biggest argument against buying an Asian PS4 if you’re going to play U.S. games. Be warned.

Buying Credits Abroad

Let’s say you’ve bought your PS4 in Asia and have a PSN account back in the U.S., linked to a U.S. credit card. If you’re buying a console, chances are you’re living abroad and getting paid in local currency. So is there any way to use a local credit card instead of spending your funds back home?

The answer is yes, kinda. What you can do is purchase cards for your home store online. Since you’re purchasing online, there are no restrictions to what payment method you use to make the purchase. Make sure you purchase the right card for your PSN account, because otherwise you won’t be able to redeem the code!

For online credit purchase, I’ve found PC Game Supply to be very reliable. You get the code within five minutes, and you can immediately redeem it in your PSN account.

For example, I have a Canadian PSN account but live in Korea. Since I want to use my Korean bank account to pay for Canadian credits, I go to PC Game Supply and purchase Canadian credits there, then pay using my Korean PayPal account. Of course, that means I get to pay exchange fees from PayPal.

Note that some of these online credit retailers put a cap on how much you can spend in a month. PC Game Supply is capped at around $350 US.

Downloading Games

One of the most fantastic aspects of the PS4 is the ability to download games directly to your hard drive. As per Sony’s requirements, all PS4 games have to be available for download. This saves me the major hassle of having to order U.S. games from abroad, then wait for the games to arrive. Since I live in South Korea where the Internet is dirt cheap and blazing fast, I can have, say, Fallout 4 or Uncharted 4 downloaded to my hard drive in less than an hour.

As I explained above, you’ll only have access to the PlayStation Store that corresponds to the location of your PSN account. This means if you have a U.S. account, you’ll be able to purchase all the U.S. content as if you were back home, but none of the Korean content.

So, Is It Worth It?

Buying a console abroad has become easier than ever with the changes Sony has made to their console’s region lock logic. Combined with the ability to download games straight to your console, there’s not much of a difference anymore between bringing a console with you from home, or purchasing it abroad. The only annoyance, and frankly it’s a major one, is the Circle/Cross inversion on Asian consoles. I’m fine with it now that I got used to it, but I could see this being an argument against buying your PS4 system abroad.

Do you own a PS4 system purchased abroad? Are you looking to purchase one? Share your experience or questions in the comments below!

The post Can You Buy a PlayStation 4 Abroad? appeared first on The Way of Slow Travel.

Oaxaca is a great town if you want to experience the “real” Mexico away from the resorts. There’s a lot of things I’ll miss about Oaxaca, and, admittedly, a few I won’t. Here’s what I’ll miss the most.

I’ll miss the food and the markets.

Oaxaca’s signature dish: mole negro

Oaxaca has a reputation as a spectacular foodie city. Now, this might surprise some people considering Oaxaca’s reputation, but day to day, it’s not the best dining experience in Mexico. It was harder to find decently-priced, amazing meals here than it was in Xalapa or even Puerto Escondido. But where Oaxaca truly shines is in its markets, which offer a wide variety of local, small-scale products, some of them prehispanic and truly unique.

Adding to Oaxaca’s reputation is a slew of high-end dining experiences in the Centro that combine fusion cuisine with the staggering variety of unique local ingredients. I tend to prefer smaller, unassuming joints, so aside from the occasional splurge, I mostly stuck to my fabulous neighborhood market and its comedores. But when I did splurge, I sure understood what gives Oaxaca its stellar reputation, even among Mexicans.

I’m gonna miss the mezcal, especially the cheap kind.

The treasure trove: Unión de Palenqueros de Oaxaca

Mezcal is a unique Mexican drink that’s ubiquitous in Oaxaca. “Mezcal” encompasses most distilled spirits made from the heart of the maguey or agave plant; tequila, made from blue agave, is technically a mezcal, although it is by far the most industrialized of the lot.

If you’ve never tasted unbranded mezcal from a plastic jug, then I’m sorry, but you’ve never tasted real mezcal. I’ve tried a few allegedly “high-end” brands of mezcal, and I hated most of them. As with many things in life, the best stuff is the simplest. See that woman selling unbranded mezcal bottles for five bucks a liter at the market? That’s the good stuff!

A great spot to sample a few mezcales in Oaxaca is the Unión de Palenqueros de Oaxaca. If you want to try something truly unique, ask for the mezcal de pechuga auténtico. This potent liquor is made by suspending a turkey or chicken breast in the still, which completely “melts” away in the process!

I’ll miss the people.

The Mexican people is Mexico’s greatest treasure, and it’s certainly true of Oaxaca. I’ve always felt “taken care of” in Oaxaca. I feel as if the people around me care for my well-being, and will look after me should something happen. It’s not to say every single person you meet is nice, but the good people vastly outnumber the bad.

One thing that exemplifies this for me is the practice of saying provecho! (“enjoy!”) to other patrons as you exit a restaurant. Where else in the world do you greet other clients as you exit a commerce? Part of this practice is just Mexican manners, but I’ve had so many people wishing it to me with genuine warmth to know it’s not just a rote saying.

I’ll miss excursions outside the city.

The waterfall in Arroyo Guacamaya.

Whether it’s going on market runs, exploring artisan villages, or going looking for mushrooms in the sierra, every single time I’ve stepped outside of Oaxaca proper has been a magical experience. The city itself is nice, but the surrounding pueblos are downright magical. The food is stellar, the air is fresh, and the people are amazing.

I’ll miss the Día de Muertos celebrations.

No festival around the world has moved me as much as Día de Muertos. Beyond the colorful imagery lies a profound celebration of life and a peaceful acknowledgement of death. It’s truly moving to see the altars prepared by loved ones, and to soak in the communal celebration of life and death that takes place around this time. There’s something deeply calming and reassuring about the way people in Oaxaca approach death: not as something to be suffered through alone, but shared among loved ones.

To be frank, though, there are some things I won’t miss.

No place is perfect, of course. In the hope of helping prepare anyone who wants to settle in Oaxaca (and to get a few things of my chest), here’s the stuff that I won’t miss:

I won’t miss the treatment of dogs.

Now, there are a lot of kind-hearted Oaxaqueños who genuinely care for animals and want to improve things. I really hope they succeed, because some people here are just awful to their dogs.

It’s a shock especially when you come from somewhere like Thailand, where people genuinely care about animals, including strays. Here, though, many owners seem to think a dog is a glorified house alarm that doesn’t need companionship. It makes for lonely, miserable dogs who spend their days and nights barking for scraps of attention.

I sure won’t miss the water shortages.

Water delivery!

Oaxaca has big water supply problems, to the point that pipas (water cistern trucks) that make home deliveries are a common sight. Houses typically have an underground cistern that fills up the two or three times a week (if you’re lucky) that municipal water comes in.

Even if you’re in a good neighborhood, chances are at some point during your stay, you’ll run out of water. There’s not much you can do about it except tough it out. It sure makes you appreciate a steady water supply, though!

I won’t miss the busted-up sidewalks.

“You wanted to go for a walk? Tough!”

Helene and I are inveterate walkers: walking is easily our favorite mode of transportation. Unfortunately, outside of a few select streets in the Centro, Oaxaca isn’t much of a pedestrian city. From what I can gather, each house is responsible for their segment of the sidewalk, leading to innumerable steps and gaps along the way.

I tried running in my neighborhood at first and quickly gave up after a few face plants. One of the problems is the big cement slabs they use to build sidewalks here: these quickly shift around or get pushed up by tree roots, leading to near-invisible “steps” that will trip you up in a second.

We still managed to walk around as much as we could, but I’m not gonna miss nearly killing myself once or twice a week. Oh, and I look forward to the lavish luxury of pedestrian crossings.

Overall, though, I had a great time.

The good largely outweighs the bad. I’ll miss Oaxaca, especially my friends and the fabulous produce at the market. It’s been a fantastic nine months that I’ll never forget.

¡Gracias por todo, Oaxaca!

Did you travel or live in Oaxaca? What did you think?

The post 5 Things I’ll Miss About Oaxaca (and Some I Won’t) appeared first on The Way of Slow Travel.

It’s a good read; check it out!

Go Green Tip #109: 8 Reasons Why Slow Travel Is Better

The post Green Global Travel on Why Slow Travel Is Better appeared first on The Way of Slow Travel.

The one point I find myself in disagreement with Abbie is on voluntourism. I think there are plenty of great ways to give back to a community, but voluntourism itself is not such a great venue. This Guardian article explains the problem. Instead, Slow travel is a way to dodge the problems of voluntourism by getting involved in a local community in a more meaningful, personal way. For instance, one can apply for a posting with UN Volunteers and join development efforts that are more meaningful and impactful.

But all in all, it’s a quick, interesting read. Abbie does touch on the fact that you don’t need months of vacations at a time to travel Slow. She also touches on issues of sustainable tourism, which I think is a good point to touch upon.

The post Pink Pangea on Why Slow Travel Is the Best Type of Travel appeared first on The Way of Slow Travel.

The rest of Phil’s site is worth a look, as it’s filled with advice for the novice and experienced traveler. It taught me a thing or two about travel blogging, too. Check it out!

Interview with Daniel Roy of “The Way of Slow Travel”

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