Q & A

It has been a welcoming surprise to have garnered so much interest in my travels through this blog.  While I suspect there are many of you who secretly follow by not commenting or interacting, I am greeted with many comments and email inquiries relating to my posts, pictures, stories, etc.  In many ways the words shared validate the reasons I decided to undertake this journey in the fırst place... it is, however, the questions many ask that I enjoy and look forward to the most as it shows a personal interest in what I am experiencing and provides me the opportunity to relay my own interpretation of these experiences along the way!  Here is a sample of some of the questions I have encountered followed by my reponse... You may find one of your unasked questions in the mix:

• Do you get lonely traveling alone?  When you are in Paris and surrounded my numerous happy couples making out you can not help but wish you had someone to squeeze.  But traveling alone has its advantages: there is no one to debate with and you can make a gut decision to do something and go somewhere on a whim.  You are forced to interact with people, find common ground, and make friends.  There are less barriers when people find you are traveling solo and opportunities come about to stay with people or partake in an event that would not have occured otherwise.  Often times you realize that in reality you are not alone all that much! 
• Are you homesick?  I go through bouts.  The fırst 5 weeks or so weren't even an issue.  Then, from time-to-time, you really miss having people you are close to around, dream about your own bed, your own shower, desire not to always be packing/unpacking, and (for me) start going stir crazy when its been weeks since you've had the chance to surf!  It is tempting to think about cutting it short and migrating back home when you're on a long haul but then the next day you fınd yourself somewhere magnificent and all is good in the world! 
• Where is your favorite place so far?  It would be both unfair and impossible to answer this.  Every place is special for a reason; be it a friendship forged, natural wonder explored, or experience had. 
• This must be costing you a fortune... How can you afford to do this?  You might think you have to be independantly wealthy to undertake such a trip!?!  While there are some initial fixed costs (i.e. airline flights, gear, etc.) you would be surprised just how cheaply you can travel.  Between hostels, couch surfing, & homestays (and eating street food) you can pull off Europe for an average of 50 USD per day.  And the rest of the world is cheaper!  Do the math and compare that to your budget at home!  I even have come across a few travelers who are experimenting by traveling for short periods with no money at all - relying on the hospitality of people for food and a roof over their head.  Contrary to what people may think it doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg :)
• What/where do you eat?  Surprisingly many hostels in Europe offer free breakfasts.  And if you are at a homestay then food goes without saying.  I typically take full advantage of anything free (water included), snack often, and only have one large meal per day.  Every culture has its version of fast food (think Pita Gyros in Greece and Kebaps in Turkey) and street food is local, fresh, and cheap.  Still, you need to partake in at least one great restaurant meal in each country to experience and taste the flavours of the place.  The rest of the time make friends and hope you get invited home for dinner! 
• How do you stay healthy?  Walking so often everyday for miles you stay relatively fit although I find I am much softer in places!  A problem though is getting stiff and so I have tried to incorporate some stretching and or light yoga into my daily routine to combat this.  When I have a room to myself for a bit I wıll also do some push-ups and other exercises.  How your body and stomach react to the changes in environment and diet is different from person to person and you live with whatever happens.  Fortunately so far, apart from a flu bug in California, I have avoided getting sick!
• Any travel tricks picked up along the way?  I have many!  I have rigged up a string attached to my coin wallet that loops around my belt and insures my money can not get pickpocketed.  I also carry with me a false wallet with an old credit card and some small cash in the event someone decides to try and mugg me - they'll get some small money and I'll be ay-ok.  Because I am traveling so light I never have a guidebook with me so I've made it habit to check out the calendars and postcards on display at shops when I arrive somewhere new as my first step in formulating a plan of what to see and do!  I also have found that I am developing a ''travelers intuiton'' when it comes deciding what bus to take, where to go/eat, and who to appraoch.  These are just a few. 
• How is your gear holding up?  Are you happy with your pack/shoes/etc.?  Any thing you'd wish you brought but did not?  The short answer is - my few things are holding up great so far, I couldn't have made a better choice on my pack/shoes/etc, and I should have brought a netbook or iPad (working now on acquiring one).  Also, a pair of jeans, while not on the ''pack light list,'' should have been included for Europe.  I am going to do a subsequent blog addressing this topic more thoroughly.  Stay tuned.

Hope, if nothing else, you got some entertainment value from this Q & A!?!  Keep the questions coming :)

Top 10 Things Witnessed on Public Transport

After many rides aboard the various forms of public tansport available around the world (i.e. train, plane, automobile, ferry, bus, taxi, mini-bus, metro, donkey, etc.) I have experienced some wild rides and borne witness to some, how you say, ''interesting'' sites!  Here is a list of the Top 10 (in no particlar order):

1. Stereotypical nerdy guy who walked onto the subway playing wıth his Yoyo and went on to display his mad skills for about 5 stops -- New York City Subway, New York
2. Old man farting loudly as he dozed off to sleep.  On one occassion he woke himself up! -- Bus from Bath to Ambleside, UK
3. Lady talking (arguing the majority of the time) continuously for 5 hours straight.  Who would be crazy enough to be listening on the other side of the phone I could only imagine -- Bus from Lisbon to Lagos, Portugal
4. A pickpocket attempt gone wrong with the end result an older gentleman timingly shoving the would be thief out of the subway car just as the doors closed -- Metro in Bacelona, Spain
5. Various couples making out with little or no regard for modesty.  Gay couples not excluded -- Worldwide
6. Lady would be Cougar who couldn't stop looking at me wıth a devilish smile and exclaiming ''Muy Guapo, muy Guapo!'' -- Train in Seville, Spain
7. Kid attempting to train hop and getting busted by the train conductor.  He was chewed out, heavily fined, nearly arrested, and shamed to say the least. -- Train to Paris, France
8. Drivers flirting with the lives of their passengers while navigating the very narrow and windy roads that cling to the cliffs above the coast.  The clearences at fast rates of speed are sometimes mere inches! -- Busses on the Almafi Coast, Italy
9. Donkey passing gas at eye level no more than an arms length away while riding up hill. -- Therasia Island, Greece
10. Watching a larger gentleman attempt to sit on one of those playground spring ride-on animals while waiting to catch a taxi.  His backside was flat on the ground.  It's a real shame I didn't have my camera! -- Cinque Terre, Italy

Three Month Recap

As shared and documented in past posts (see 'Whats the Plan?') there is a element of curiousity hardwired into my personality that produces an overwhelming desire to explore, seek to discover, and learn.   For many years I dreamed about the idea of taking one year to ''travel around the world'' to quench this innate desire and see what lie beyond the shores of familiarity.  Yet, it was not till one year ago that the idea evolved into an opportunity and the opportunity into the actions required to actually make it a reality.  If I close my eyes and bring myself back to last summer that voice inside my head sounded something like this:

''Well Nathan, here we are!  We are living a pretty comfortable life here on Kauai.  We have many friends... our loving family close by... some excellent career opportunities... and a lifestyle that affords us the chance to enjoy nature, socialize, and exercise nearly everyday through the medium of surfing!  We have some great routines.  We have fun.  We are healthy.  We are comfortable.  But, we are also curious!  Not completely content.  And, probably a bit underchallenged with this comfortable life we have created for ourselves.  NO, we are definitely underchallenged!  Our close friends are married.  Many growing their families or wıth different priorities than our own.  We turn 30 this year... we are getting old!  We are underchallenged.  There is a BIG world out there.  The economy is bad and there is no lucrative work.  Even if there was... we are getting old!  And, we are underchallenged.  Time to go away... leave comfortable behind and face some challenges and see what happens...''

With that, and completely against my nature, I shoved off with little more than a skeleton plan of linked one way tickets getting me from continent to continent around the world with little or no knowledge of my actual plans and, particularly, the foreign countries I had hoped to visit.  Figuring my path would be forged by information gained through contact with locals and other travelers along the way, I may have been a little overly optimistic!  Now... here I am... living what I had set out to do!  Traveling in such a way (while easily romaticized in our minds) is, as many of my fellow travelers would agree, no picinic.  As with anything there are up sides and down sides.  Good elements and... lets call them... 'more challenging' ones!  But through each challenge there lies a reward on the other side: the reward of growth.   At this juncture I share with you the following excerpt from my personal journal as I reflect on the ups, downs, and all arounds of my fırst three months on the road...

''From the beaches of home in Hawaii to the strip malls of California, California to the shores of the East Caost, the East Coast to the rolling green pastures of the UK, up from London to the mountains of the Scottish highlands, Edbinburgh to the Atlantic swells in Portugal, Portugal to the tapas of Spain, Spain to the city Paris, France to the streets of Amsterdam, The Netherlands to Munich, Germany thru the Alps to the land of the Romans in Italy, Italy across the Sea to the craddle of civilization in Greece, and now Greece to where East meets West in Turkey... I have covered a lot of ground in the time I have thus far been traveling!  Met many interesting people (expats, locals, and travelers alike).  Become profficient at traveling by plane/train/automobile/bus/ferry/donkey/etc.  And, learned enough of the languages of the countries I have visited to make it through (I've made it this far haven't I?).  Looking back there may have been better ways to have planned my route, spent my money, and managed my time... I could have probably done without Amsterdam, it would have been easier had I brought a computer, I may have had more Gelato than I should have,...but NO... no ''should haves'' or ''could haves'' or ''would haves''.  Ah, the paradox of choice: the impulse to lament over decisions of the past rather than look ahead at the future!  It is only now that I believe I am truly hitting my stride as a quote-unquote ''World Traveler.''  Finding my own pace and realizing what it takes not only to get from point A to point Z but, to enjoy everything inbetween.  To travel the world is one thing... to be a World Traveler is another;  that is a big tag that comes with time, experience, and maturity.'' 

It has been over three months now since I sold most of my possessions, took a sabatical from work, rented out my house, and left my island home on Kauai to set out and travel the world.  I've done my best to take full advantage of this ''once in a lifetime opportunity'' by embracing the chances to see many new places, meet many new faces, and partake in a host of various adventures along the way.  I have beheld some amazing sites and spent long hours in transit.  There has been much fun & excitement as well as  frustration and dissappointment.  Gained appreciation for culture and times were I felt disengaged from what ws going on.  Friendships rekindled and new friendships forged.  Challenges faced.  Challenges overcome.  Crossing of paths with many good people and a few bad apples.  Some opportunities that couldn't have been willed and circumstances that I would have not chosen to face.  It was been an interesting ride so far and, no doubt, I have gained much through my experiences already with much more waiting down the road.

This journey is just as much a trip through my mind and heart as it is around the globe.  While it is easy to see a photo of myself standing amongst a beautiful landscape or building it is the gained knowledge that I know is much more valuable.  This knowledge, I am confident, will resonate with me for a long time and, I believe, much of what I am learning will not manifest itself till later in life; thru a revisitation of one of these locales, re-acquaintance with a friend made along the way, or life circumstance that has yet to be foreseen.

Never give up stoking your curiosity.

Gobble gobble

By way of special request I am working on piecing together some thoughts recapping my first three months abroad: my thoughts & feelings including the ups and downs and all-arounds, the day-to-day activities involved with eating\planning\making friends, practical travel advice regarding gear, travel tricks picked up along the way, and more random musings from deep wıthin the recesses of my whacky brain!

In the meantime... here is a sample of images captured in Turkey:

The last is of me wrapped up after my Hamam (traditional Turkish Bath) and looking very much ready for the Middle East!

Tsipouro!

After two full weeks enjoying and meandering my way down the coasts of Italy I had had my fıll of pizza pasta, and gelato and was ready to make a hop, skip, and jump from Italia over to Greece.  As a frınge benifit of having my Eurail Pass (which I used for train traveling around Europe) the ferry from the port town of Bari, Italy to Patras, Athens was free.  But though free in cost, it was not so in time!  After a long 2 days and a walk, bus, ferry, train, transfer train, ferry, bus, train, metro, sleep, taxi, ferry, and van ride I found myself exhausted but contently eating yougurt filled pita wraps on Santorini in the Greek Isles! 

Santorini is one of the more well known islands and famous for its architecture, sunsets, and volcano.  Though heavily trodden my tourists during the peak summer months it is now the start of the off season and consequently less crowded.  In fact, it was nearly dead!  The people take full advantage of the peak months by working non-stop without a day off for 7 months straight... then close up shop and move off the island or chill out the other 5 months a year.  Arriving during the transition afforded me a smoking deal on the cost of my accomodations (10 Euro per night), activities & food, and gave me the opportunity to relax and reflect on my last 3 months away from home and travels throughout Western Europe.

Originally planning on spending just a couple days on Santorini and island hoping to another locale before heading to Athens I stayed put and spent 5 days exploring all the nooks and crannies of the area:  On day one I hired an ATV 4-Wheeler and drove all over the island from coast-to-coast, shore-to-peak, and end-to-end getting a bearing on the place and mapping out places to explore further in the days after.  Trekking to the ancient city ruins of Thia, taking in the sunset view from Oia, naps on the black sand beaches of Perissa, and eating Pitas was how I passed the time!

My last day included a short boat trip and tour of the sunken volcano crater, a swim in the salt water Hot Springs, a donkey ride up the adjacent island of Therasia, and a near death experience with the driver back to my accomodations from the boat port!  Along the way I met my first fellow Hawaiian travelers (Royce from Oahu and a honeymoon couple from Waimea), a Canadian girl (named Jenny), and two students from Pennsylvania on exchange in Greece (Lauren and Larissa).  We were travel buddies for the day and scored sunny skies, excellent Gelato, and each others company :)

Back in Athens it was time to see the Acropolis and celebrate my BIG 30th with some familiar faces from home (Kanoa & Sonya Chung)!  The Chungs had been on a visit to the Holy Land of Israel and, though I had hoped to rendezvous wıth them there (did not coordinate with my schedule), we caught up in Athens.  Admiring the Acropolis, visiting the ruined Temple of Zeus, and accompanying them on their hunt for authentic Greek sandals made for a great couple days.  We shared some excellent meals and the one in particular on my birthday evening at Gods Restaurant (I ate here three nights in a row after getting a suggestion from a local and making friends with the staff) will be well remembered - birthday bonuses included chocolate cake and a round of glasses of Tsipouro (it will put hair on your chest let me tell you!).

After getting my hands Greecie it was on the road again... and the beginning of the transitiıon from the Western part of the world to the Eastern via Turkey!!!

Pita pita

A long 2 days and a walk, bus, ferry, train, transfer train, ferry, bus, train, metro, sleep, taxi, ferry, and van ride away from Italy and I find myself now eating yougurt filled pita wraps on Santorini in the Greek Isles! 

Here's a teaser before I get a chance to make a proper bolg entry down the road! 

As famously written by J.R. Tolkein - "Little by little, one travels far."

PS

Bear in mind there are many more photo's in my Picasa Web Albums available for you to view by simply clicking on any of the thumbnails on the right side of the screen!  Enjoy. 

Italian 4th Course - Positano

In my opinion dinner is best planned around dessert... choose what sweet you need to leave room for and make your entree selection accordingly!  In Positano, along the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy, I found just that... sweet place, sweet people, and sweet times :) 

Did I mention the famous city of Pompei (frozen in time by the ash poured upon it by the violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79) was on the way?



And then... the beautiful coast... Positano is much less known than the town of Amalfi (from which the coast bears its name) and is consequently much less touristic although has everything you need to soak up the joys of Italy.  Including amazing treks:

The beach (although it is more cobble stones than sand):

And great people (like Carla and Cosimo - a brother and sister that ran the hostel I stayed in), "that guy" from the resturant next door that kept us entertained, and the other travelers staying at Hostel Brikette.  It seemed that the flavours of Positano attracted the same kind of travelers and everyone at Brikette shared in each others company in a way I found 'unique' so far during my hostel stays along my travels!  Positano will have a fond place in my heart and, to me, represented the best Italy had to offer... It was a dessert that knocked your socks off :)

Italian 3rd Course - Roma (Rome)

After wetting my appetite with some time back in nature in the Cinque Terre it was time for the main course - Roma (Rome)!  The train ride down provided for a transfer and couple hour layover in Pisa... just enough time to see that leaning tower we all know & love and snap a few shots...

I looked forward for along time to the day I got to visit the ancient sites of Rome (with thoughts of The Gladitor movie) and see them in all their splendor.  And, while the sites did not dissappoint, I have to admit the city itself did.  Albeit for the ancient sites within, Rome could just as well have been any other overcrowded city in the world.  But oh were the likes of the Colosseum, Vatican, and city ruins impressive and awe-inspiring!

Not to mention the famous (I don't know exactly why) Spainish Steps, Pantheon, and Trevi fountain.

After two full days of tramping around the city streets I had about done all the site seeing and dealing with street peddlers I could handle and, based on some recommendations, headed for a day trip just outside the city to visit some ruins away from the crowds.  Ostia Antica:

And, "ruined" out, plotted my course back towards more mellow locales and the shores (or cliffs rather) of the Amalfi Coast!