A Brief Retrospective 3/4 of the way Around the World
So, I've been traveling for over 6 months with under 3 to go on a trip around the northern hemisphere. I'm currently sitting in Valence, France, and I thought it might be good to share the ever-lengthening spiel I've been verbally spewing to people asking me for the short story. There will be a non-fiction adventure novel published after I return to the states with the ever-glorious details, but here's a taste. I have posted blogs about only the first four countries, but I will at some point likely give a taste of each in future blog posts. Until then, here's an impromptu summary to this moment:
I started my trip in South Korea, where I presented a paper I wrote about the past, present, and future of Silent Disco. From there, I decided it was best to continue west, since I'd just flown about 25% around the world already, coming from Austin, Texas. My idea was to stop and visit old friends and sleep on couches and spare beds all the way around the world until it led me back to Austin. My destinations were based on three factors. If I already knew someone that lived there, it was on the list. There were also a few "must see" destinations along the way, which was the second criteria. You know, like, those places that you've always wanted to go, but they were too far away, or you didn't have the time, but now you're within a reasonable plane ride. The third list of destinations were provided by the universe. A large chunk of these were places where I was trying to get from point A to point B, but the day I bought my plane tickets, there was a connection. I decided to stop at connection points.
This philosophy of travel led me to a place to which I had never previously considered for my second stop, the Philippines. I fell in love with the place and the people, and decided I could someday live there. I could have probably done just that, but the journey, of course, was only beginning. I moved on to Hong Kong to visit a grade school friend, and I was treated to seeing things I would have never imagined, such as a wonderful island trek just a short ferry ride away.
My fourth country on the trip was Singapore. Again, I only stopped there because it was a cheap connection, but it was worth it. I hung out with many different people I'd just met face to face for the first time for a good taste of the city. I even had a few intensely awkward moments with a guy yearning to come out of the closet.
After Singapore, I moved on to Vietnam. This was a country that was not on the originally projected itinerary, but I was instructed by some Austin friends with whom I was going to meet in Thailand that they wouldn't be able to make it in July, but perhaps August. Since I had a month to burn, Viet Nam seemed like a cool place to burn it. I was delighted by the soup (but they don't call it soup; that's too generic a word). I met some of the truest and most wholesome people I'd ever met in my life. With them, I enjoyed the beaches, mountains, and culture of Da Nang, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City, Cu Chi, and Da Lat.
My sixth country was another "connecting flight:" Malaysia. I stopped in Kuala Lumpur for a long weekend and squeezed the city, the Muslim culture, and a bit of nature into two days with a great host that specialized in adventure travel tours. While I was there, I was in a temple that gave me a fortune-telling prediction that I would have a bout of tough times, but I'd be through it. It manifested in my next few stops, and some great stories ensued in the weeks that followed. To round out Malaysia, I stopped in Kote Bharu on my way to the Perhentian Islands, where I imbibed the nature of this pristine tropical paradise.
My seventh stop was the magical and mysterious country of Thailand. I arrived south in Phuket. Then, I got my Scuba certification in the middle, on the island of Ko Tau (with brief stops in Ko Samui and the "full moon party" island of Ko Phangan). After that, I was north in Chiang Mai to explore the surrounding mountains and waterfalls, as well as bask in the feng shui of the central square of the city. On the way was a night in Sukhothai, and I wrapped up Thailand with a weekend in Bangkok. My friends from Austin that were supposed to meet me never made it, but I did get to see a different friend from Austin who was coincidentally traveling at the same time. This is just one of many synchronicities provided by the universe on this amazing journey.
Next up was India, to visit a colleague that worked with me at a previous software development gig. He lived in Bangalore, but to get there, I stopped in Kolkata, because that's how IndiGo could get me to Bangalore from Bangkok. There, I hung out with some really cool homeless kids, and then a film producer that lived in the penthouse of a high rise on the south side of town. It was quite a colorful city, and I of course got the shits after enjoying the street food and chai with milk. I eventually made it to Bangalore, where I subsisted on a diet revolving around Dosa. My colleague helped me hire a driver, who took me through the many cities and villages of Karnakata, followed by a weekend in Goa, which was by far my favorite place and time in India. After this, I visited a lineage guru that practiced Siddha Maha Kundalini Shaktipat Yoga in New Delhi, and I meditated with him several mornings in a row. At one point, I had a psychedelic experience without drugs.
From there, my ninth country was the UAE, where I stopped in Dubai for a long weekend. That place is a trip. I mean, an indoor ski range in the desert, where the outdoor temperature is around 50 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit)? C'mon. A building that's almost 1km tall? Are you kidding me?
Manifesting my intention for some quality time in the middle east, I spent a solid couple of weeks between Jordan and Israel. The most notable blow-your-mind moment from that leg of the trip which didn't involve a girl was definitely the Dead Sea. Petra was pretty cool too. Oh yeah, and the beach at Tel Aviv is the shit! Amman and Jerusalem aren't too shabby either, to be honest.
Coming to cover a dozen countries, I arrived at the one named after a bird, Turkey. Consciously, I didn't have much thought to visit the place, but between recommendations from friends and some subconscious draw, I knew I might be spending more time there than I thought. Originally planning to only spend about a week exploring Bodrum and Istanbul, I lengthened my stop to be almost a month. Details of the adventures (which were a plenty) will be withheld until the book, but I also released a Guided Meditation Treks album in the meantime to keep the focus on my higher self, which is really what this trip was about to me on some level.
For lucky 13, it was a stop in Greece, where I spent a few solid days in Athens with some lovely hosts that celebrated Halloween with me. I had a nice picnic in one park where they arrest you if you are there after dusk, and I spent a few moments in another park where they openly smoked weed... as in... that's all people really did in this park. Still not getting enough nature time, I spent two nights on the island of Hydra, south of Athens in the Agean sea. It was delightful. Being the first time in months I was staying alone in a place where I didn't know anyone, I communed with the sea.
I then flew to Milano, Italy for a long weekend visiting another grade school friend. That place has more pizza joints per block than Pittsburgh. A long weekend is not enough time for Milano, simply because you can spend a month taking side trips from there. I feel like I only had enough time to dress up like a terrible towel and eat gelato.
Nonetheless, the trip must go on, and I landed in Prague, Czech Republic. I heard from multiple friends how Prague was a great place, and it didn't disappoint. However, another reason I flew into the Czech Republic was because it was only a train ride away form Slovakia. I wanted to make it Eastern Slovakia to find the hand-written birth record of my grandfather and relatives on the family tree still living there. On the way, I stopped in Brno, Czech Republic; Vienna, Austria; and several stops in Slovakia: Bratislava, Kosice, Presov, Hummene, Medzilabocre, and a few small villages on the way. I eventually found myself at my family reunion speaking through a translator.
For my 18th country, the Universe's Secret Synchronicities delivered me to Krakow, Poland for four nights. Once again, I lamented that it wasn't enough time to explore this amazing good-vibes place. However, I made the most of my time as I played piano in multiple bars, ate perogies, and drank some really good liquor.
The next stop was Madrid, Spain, where my silent disco paper came full circle. Things are still under wraps for this one, but the universe essentially manifested a way to bring together my professional life in software development with my passion for music within my experience in world travel. Details are still emerging, as this was just about a week ago.
So now, I sit at country #20, France. I'm hanging out in the kitchen of an old coworker from a job I had in Austin 3 or 4 years ago. I'm in Valence, a small town on the Rhone River known for its wine. It's a nice little town, and I've been exploring it by foot. I still have another week and a half here to explore in between nerding out on the computer for various projects like this blog and my book.
Next week, I go to Morocco for a month. I will be spending the Christmas and New Year's holidays there with some old friends. I am very excited to get in to warm weather again, as I have been a bit entrenched in Europe in December. In Austin right now, it's like 26c/79f. I'd imagine the Sahara Desert might be livable this time of year. I'm also excited for green tea with mint!
Upon completion of my Moroccan tour in January, 2014, I will take a 5 day hiatus to Amsterdam, Holland. I am stoked to go back there. I love that place. I wrote about it when I was in college, and I've been back once since then. My goal is to meet and stay with locals this time.
After this, I'll make a brief stop in Reykjavik, Iceland, hoping to see the Northern Lights. It was on the way back to America from Amsterdam, so I figured I should spend a couple nights since it's on the way. It's gonna be cold, but I'm sure there will be eye candy, even though it will be pretty much dark the entire time.
The final country of this trip will be my home country of the USA. After a long weekend in New York City, I plan to reconnect with my roots in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: family, old friends, yinzers. I'll be definitely working on my endeavors electronically in the mean time. It can get boring living with your parents, but I love them. Though I haven't yet bought my departing ticket from there back to Austin, I'm thinking that living with them for about a month seems reasonable. The last time I lived with my parents it was 3 months between my sophomore and junior year of college, when I was 19. I made a firm decision at that point I would no longer be living with my parents.
This should bring me back to Austin around late February 2014. I'm not exactly sure what the future holds from there, but there's plenty of ideas brewing and irons in the fire heating up as I write this. Surely, a band will be involved. The universe provides.
I started my trip in South Korea, where I presented a paper I wrote about the past, present, and future of Silent Disco. From there, I decided it was best to continue west, since I'd just flown about 25% around the world already, coming from Austin, Texas. My idea was to stop and visit old friends and sleep on couches and spare beds all the way around the world until it led me back to Austin. My destinations were based on three factors. If I already knew someone that lived there, it was on the list. There were also a few "must see" destinations along the way, which was the second criteria. You know, like, those places that you've always wanted to go, but they were too far away, or you didn't have the time, but now you're within a reasonable plane ride. The third list of destinations were provided by the universe. A large chunk of these were places where I was trying to get from point A to point B, but the day I bought my plane tickets, there was a connection. I decided to stop at connection points.
This philosophy of travel led me to a place to which I had never previously considered for my second stop, the Philippines. I fell in love with the place and the people, and decided I could someday live there. I could have probably done just that, but the journey, of course, was only beginning. I moved on to Hong Kong to visit a grade school friend, and I was treated to seeing things I would have never imagined, such as a wonderful island trek just a short ferry ride away.
My fourth country on the trip was Singapore. Again, I only stopped there because it was a cheap connection, but it was worth it. I hung out with many different people I'd just met face to face for the first time for a good taste of the city. I even had a few intensely awkward moments with a guy yearning to come out of the closet.
After Singapore, I moved on to Vietnam. This was a country that was not on the originally projected itinerary, but I was instructed by some Austin friends with whom I was going to meet in Thailand that they wouldn't be able to make it in July, but perhaps August. Since I had a month to burn, Viet Nam seemed like a cool place to burn it. I was delighted by the soup (but they don't call it soup; that's too generic a word). I met some of the truest and most wholesome people I'd ever met in my life. With them, I enjoyed the beaches, mountains, and culture of Da Nang, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City, Cu Chi, and Da Lat.
My sixth country was another "connecting flight:" Malaysia. I stopped in Kuala Lumpur for a long weekend and squeezed the city, the Muslim culture, and a bit of nature into two days with a great host that specialized in adventure travel tours. While I was there, I was in a temple that gave me a fortune-telling prediction that I would have a bout of tough times, but I'd be through it. It manifested in my next few stops, and some great stories ensued in the weeks that followed. To round out Malaysia, I stopped in Kote Bharu on my way to the Perhentian Islands, where I imbibed the nature of this pristine tropical paradise.
My seventh stop was the magical and mysterious country of Thailand. I arrived south in Phuket. Then, I got my Scuba certification in the middle, on the island of Ko Tau (with brief stops in Ko Samui and the "full moon party" island of Ko Phangan). After that, I was north in Chiang Mai to explore the surrounding mountains and waterfalls, as well as bask in the feng shui of the central square of the city. On the way was a night in Sukhothai, and I wrapped up Thailand with a weekend in Bangkok. My friends from Austin that were supposed to meet me never made it, but I did get to see a different friend from Austin who was coincidentally traveling at the same time. This is just one of many synchronicities provided by the universe on this amazing journey.
Next up was India, to visit a colleague that worked with me at a previous software development gig. He lived in Bangalore, but to get there, I stopped in Kolkata, because that's how IndiGo could get me to Bangalore from Bangkok. There, I hung out with some really cool homeless kids, and then a film producer that lived in the penthouse of a high rise on the south side of town. It was quite a colorful city, and I of course got the shits after enjoying the street food and chai with milk. I eventually made it to Bangalore, where I subsisted on a diet revolving around Dosa. My colleague helped me hire a driver, who took me through the many cities and villages of Karnakata, followed by a weekend in Goa, which was by far my favorite place and time in India. After this, I visited a lineage guru that practiced Siddha Maha Kundalini Shaktipat Yoga in New Delhi, and I meditated with him several mornings in a row. At one point, I had a psychedelic experience without drugs.
From there, my ninth country was the UAE, where I stopped in Dubai for a long weekend. That place is a trip. I mean, an indoor ski range in the desert, where the outdoor temperature is around 50 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit)? C'mon. A building that's almost 1km tall? Are you kidding me?
Manifesting my intention for some quality time in the middle east, I spent a solid couple of weeks between Jordan and Israel. The most notable blow-your-mind moment from that leg of the trip which didn't involve a girl was definitely the Dead Sea. Petra was pretty cool too. Oh yeah, and the beach at Tel Aviv is the shit! Amman and Jerusalem aren't too shabby either, to be honest.
Coming to cover a dozen countries, I arrived at the one named after a bird, Turkey. Consciously, I didn't have much thought to visit the place, but between recommendations from friends and some subconscious draw, I knew I might be spending more time there than I thought. Originally planning to only spend about a week exploring Bodrum and Istanbul, I lengthened my stop to be almost a month. Details of the adventures (which were a plenty) will be withheld until the book, but I also released a Guided Meditation Treks album in the meantime to keep the focus on my higher self, which is really what this trip was about to me on some level.
For lucky 13, it was a stop in Greece, where I spent a few solid days in Athens with some lovely hosts that celebrated Halloween with me. I had a nice picnic in one park where they arrest you if you are there after dusk, and I spent a few moments in another park where they openly smoked weed... as in... that's all people really did in this park. Still not getting enough nature time, I spent two nights on the island of Hydra, south of Athens in the Agean sea. It was delightful. Being the first time in months I was staying alone in a place where I didn't know anyone, I communed with the sea.
I then flew to Milano, Italy for a long weekend visiting another grade school friend. That place has more pizza joints per block than Pittsburgh. A long weekend is not enough time for Milano, simply because you can spend a month taking side trips from there. I feel like I only had enough time to dress up like a terrible towel and eat gelato.
Nonetheless, the trip must go on, and I landed in Prague, Czech Republic. I heard from multiple friends how Prague was a great place, and it didn't disappoint. However, another reason I flew into the Czech Republic was because it was only a train ride away form Slovakia. I wanted to make it Eastern Slovakia to find the hand-written birth record of my grandfather and relatives on the family tree still living there. On the way, I stopped in Brno, Czech Republic; Vienna, Austria; and several stops in Slovakia: Bratislava, Kosice, Presov, Hummene, Medzilabocre, and a few small villages on the way. I eventually found myself at my family reunion speaking through a translator.
For my 18th country, the Universe's Secret Synchronicities delivered me to Krakow, Poland for four nights. Once again, I lamented that it wasn't enough time to explore this amazing good-vibes place. However, I made the most of my time as I played piano in multiple bars, ate perogies, and drank some really good liquor.
The next stop was Madrid, Spain, where my silent disco paper came full circle. Things are still under wraps for this one, but the universe essentially manifested a way to bring together my professional life in software development with my passion for music within my experience in world travel. Details are still emerging, as this was just about a week ago.
So now, I sit at country #20, France. I'm hanging out in the kitchen of an old coworker from a job I had in Austin 3 or 4 years ago. I'm in Valence, a small town on the Rhone River known for its wine. It's a nice little town, and I've been exploring it by foot. I still have another week and a half here to explore in between nerding out on the computer for various projects like this blog and my book.
Next week, I go to Morocco for a month. I will be spending the Christmas and New Year's holidays there with some old friends. I am very excited to get in to warm weather again, as I have been a bit entrenched in Europe in December. In Austin right now, it's like 26c/79f. I'd imagine the Sahara Desert might be livable this time of year. I'm also excited for green tea with mint!
Upon completion of my Moroccan tour in January, 2014, I will take a 5 day hiatus to Amsterdam, Holland. I am stoked to go back there. I love that place. I wrote about it when I was in college, and I've been back once since then. My goal is to meet and stay with locals this time.
After this, I'll make a brief stop in Reykjavik, Iceland, hoping to see the Northern Lights. It was on the way back to America from Amsterdam, so I figured I should spend a couple nights since it's on the way. It's gonna be cold, but I'm sure there will be eye candy, even though it will be pretty much dark the entire time.
The final country of this trip will be my home country of the USA. After a long weekend in New York City, I plan to reconnect with my roots in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: family, old friends, yinzers. I'll be definitely working on my endeavors electronically in the mean time. It can get boring living with your parents, but I love them. Though I haven't yet bought my departing ticket from there back to Austin, I'm thinking that living with them for about a month seems reasonable. The last time I lived with my parents it was 3 months between my sophomore and junior year of college, when I was 19. I made a firm decision at that point I would no longer be living with my parents.
This should bring me back to Austin around late February 2014. I'm not exactly sure what the future holds from there, but there's plenty of ideas brewing and irons in the fire heating up as I write this. Surely, a band will be involved. The universe provides.
