Egypt Part II

Able to dodge Aladins attempts to allow him to arrange our further travels in Egypt and, after witnessing his behavior in response to our resistance, we had one last final straw with him when we caught him in a series of lies regarding his last ditch effort to do us a "favor" and save us a hassle by acquiring train tickets: Wanting to head south to Aswan our pal told us he'd hook it up, to call him after a few hours to confirm he had the tickets, and to take the evening to relax before the late departure overnight train. Anxious to escape his clutches we humored his friendly side, confirmed he had the tickets when we later called (Lie #1), and planned to meet him outside his shop after dinner. Over tea he went on to explain that the train that evening (which before was no problem and he told us over the phone he had the tickets for us for) was now full and that the only way to get on the train was through his "special black-market source" that would charge a "small" commission! This, according to Aladin, was the only way and best priced ticket out of Cairo (Lie #2)... in his mind he was our only hope. Hmmm. Well, we were smart enough to say no, thank him for his help with the jeep safari, and at last part ways to find our own path... until halfway down the street when, with a tap on the shoulder, he was suddenly behind us and ready to negotiate the rock bottom black-market price he quoted us just minutes before! At this point I had had enough and told him straight up that we weren't fools and to basically leave us alone. He got the message and finally Aladin was out of our lives... Well, maybe not just yet...

On our own Danica and I proceeded into the city, down onto the metro, over to the train station, and up to the ticket window to find out what we'd hoped was the real story. Like most things in Egypt, the concept of organization or standing in a line to wait your turn is non existent... After wiggling through a mass of men and, fighting to gain the attention of the clerk behind the window, we discovered that indeed the night train that evening was full but that the next night had seats available for the standard price. We bought them and extended our stay in Cairo till the following day...

Our transport to Aswan started with another jaunt through the metro lines to the train station and being subjected to the chaotic security lines and checkpoints along the way. While waiting for our train we proceeded to watch a local train (which tourists are not allowed to take) pull up
and witness the craziest spectacle of a mass of bodies filling every available square inch of the doorless, windowless, orderliness-less train car... I swear it looked like a prison train and, as it started moving, it did not prevent even more masses of bodies from stuffing their luggage and them selves through the window openings or dangling off the side of the doorways! Madness.

After all the craziness in the countries capital city we were happy to wake up the next day in The Nile Valley and our stop for a few days in the city of Aswan. Located along The Nile, Aswan serves as a starting point for the compulsory police escorted convoy to the temple of Abu Symbol and a popular place to catch a multi day felucca (traditional Egyptian river sailboat) down current towards The Valley of The Kings and the city of Luxor. Here pictures are worth a thousand words and I share the following to convey the shear majesty of the temple:

 A visit to the Temple of Isis on the island of Philae, a traditional Neubian Village on Elephantine island (where Danica got a Henna tattoo), and Lake Nasser (the largest man made lake in the world created to manage the annual flood waters of The Nile) rounded out our site seeing in the area. Though the temples are spectacular, navigating through Egypt is not easy traveling and we looked forward to escaping the dusty dirty streets for a few days of sailing along The Nile...

Our Felucca ride down the Nile started blissfully while docked along the river bank but, as if it was possible for anything to go smoothly in Egypt, the smooth sailing ended when we were stopped by the river police, turned around, and told that we couldn't proceed beyond a certain point because our trusty captain had not properly gone through the procedures to obtain the permit! Instead of sailing down river we tacked back and forth between the police station dock and down stream becoming more intimately acquainted with the certain small stretch of river and similarly more confused about what was transpiring between the police and our crew. It was still nice being on the water and chatting with the small group of travelers aboard but non of us expected to be "stuck" in front of Aswan for 24 hours only to find that our crew was arrested, boat confiscated, and we had to switch onto a smaller vessel with a whole new crew! Ahhh... That's Egypt for you!

After our adventure in denial... I mean, on The Nile... We arrived with new friends bonded together by the experience to the city of Luxor. Known as the hassle capital of the world, you couldn't walk more than a minute without a friendly "Hello my friend, where are you from..." or "Felucca ride? Best price my friend..." or "Carriage? I give you good price... 10 Egyptian Pounds.... Okay 7... 5... 3" or the constant honk, stop, and stare of a driver offering you a "tax" (taxi). Buying anything from a meal to some crackers entailed the negotiation game as well which had continued to be very wearing but, now after a couple weeks in the country, was now almost comical to play. Being from Hawaii and looking "like Egyptian" helped as well :)

With our energy and interest in more ancient ruins fading, Luxor was the place we chose to end our site seeing by paying visit to the burial sites of generations of Pharaohs in the fabled "Valley of The Kings." Taking a short ferry ride across to the West Bank, Danica and I hired some rickety old bikes and peddled our way the 15 kilometers through the desert heat to the valley past the ruins of several other temples, sugarcane fields and alabaster factories. I had little expectations for what the tombs had to offer but was quickly amazed by the quality of the preservation of not only the carved hieroglyphics but, more impressive, the colors of the paint used to adorn the carvings. It is hard to imagine but nearly all the temples and ruins we see in Egypt were at one time colorfully ordained... Though some have structurally survived the sands of time, it is the colors that are often missing and forgotten. In the tombs of The Valley of the Kings you are transported back in time and see the depictions in a state that seems as though they could have been completed just a short time before.

(Unfortunately, photos were strictly prohibited inside the tombs)

Thoroughly "ruined out" it was time for some r & r in one of the worlds best dive sites in Dahab along the coast of The Red Sea....

Egypt Part I

Only one word comes to mind to describe my arrival to Egypt - Chaos! Fresh off a 12 hour overnight bus (which got me back to Istanbul from the southern Med coast in Turkey) I was greeted outside the exit door of the airport with a slew of "friendly" Egyptians clamoring for my attention and competing to have me be a passenger in their taxi. I had heard that traveling around Cairo by public transport was a daunting task but none of my experiences to date had prepared me for the chaos that awaited... My hostel had even mentioned an airport pickup but, without being able to establish a wireless internet connection, I was unable to communicate my arrival time and left to my own devices to get from point A to point B.

My first two hours in Egypt went something like this: Ignore the new guy every ten feet asking where he could take me in his taxi... Locate the unmarked and dodgy looking airport shuttle bus... Board the airport shuttle bus with a mob of Egyptians cramming themselves in... Wait for an arbitrary amount of time for the bus driver to decide to drive when he deemed the bus (standing room only with people clinging to the doors) full and ready to proceed... Enjoy all the senses (sights, sounds, & smells) of standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a bus navigating through the trash filled dusty streets of Cairo... Be clearly aware that you do not yet know a lick of Arabic... Pull up to the bus station outside the airport... Exit the bus in the same manner as boarding with the added obstacle of just as crazy a mob of people trying to squeeze in to enter the bus as the mob of people exiting... Find Bus 111 without knowing a lick of Arabic... Board new bus in what you now realize to be 'the Egyptian way' as previously described above... Hope and pray you are on the right bus going in the right direction... Stare out the window at the sights & sounds of 17 million people trying to coexist in a tightly packed city... Somehow communicate that you want to go to the metro... get dropped off in the middle of the city with no signage guiding you to the supposed metro... Wander around wondering how you allowed this to happen to yourself AGAIN... Find the metro and risk life and limb crossing the street to get to the entrance... Decipher the secret codes required to read anything that in Egypt is remotely meant to aid none Arab speakers find their way... Board and exit metro in 'the Egyptian way'... Pop out onto the street in one of the busiest squares in the city... Ignore the new guy every ten feet (Instead of offering taxis, touts are now shop owners) on the sidewalk offering you a tea to come and look in their shop... And, at last, find your accommodation in the poorly marked building with the strange entrance at street level!!!  Though well into my travels now and, having had my fair share of uncomfortable situations, it is still touching down in Cairo that is without a doubt been the biggest culture shock to date!

Tired, sweaty, and hungry, I was now smack dabb in the real Middle East and in yet another, albeit extremely, foreign place. Finally arriving to my hostel I was greeted by the familiar face of my German friend Danica (whom I had originally met while in Positano, Italy, crossed paths with again in Greece, and had planned to meet up with when discovering we'd both be traveling in and around Egypt at the same time) and happy to shower and grab a bite to eat.

Upon arriving in a new place its best to take your first day or so to simply get your bearings and recover from the fatigue of traveling. After spending my first new day in Egypt regaining some sanity in the confines of our hostel and, after "talking story" (discussing for you non Hawaiians) with Danica, her Canadian friend Rob, and an American dude named Dominic, Danica and I  sketched out a rough plan and route to travel around Egypt. Our first goal was to get out of Cairo and head west - into the middle of the desert for a jeep safari and camping adventure in the picturesque White and Black deserts surrounding the Baharyia Oasis. And, Dominic had 'just the guy' to help us sort out how to get there...    

Dominic had traveled Egypt quite extensively several years before and iterated to us what we heard from other travelers and were quickly learning ourselves... Everyone in Egypt wants, can, and will try to sell you something! Though traveling independently, Egypt is also quite large and getting places takes traveling long distances and coordination. Because there are no set itineraries or prices in Egypt (anything you want can be arranged) and, because of the vast network of security (armed police and check points throughout and along the roads), traveling independently in this case meant first negotiating where you wanted to go and what you wanted to do.  The trick was finding an Egyptian we could trust and whom could arrange for us a desert safari at a fair price (fair being the key word here!)...

I first met Aladin inside his papyrus shop opposite a shisha bar down a narrow city street. With Dominic's recommendation and, after Rob & Danica enjoyed a successfully arranged and reasonably priced day trip/camel ride to the pyramids, we turned to Aladin for help. Over Egyptian tea we got acquainted with one another and came to an agreement on the cost/plan for a three day/two night excursion into the desert wilderness. And, to enhance our adventure even more Aladin told us he'd like to join us! It sounded great... A trusted Egyptian along for the ride sharing with us the REAL Egypt.  

Setting off we left the craziness of Cairo behind and bussed out to the Oasis. A few hours later we were greeted in Baharyia by Wagdi (our local driver), invited to an authentic meal in his mudbrick house, and geared up the jeep for our drive into the desertscape. Well, long story short, suffice it to say that everything about the safari was amazing except for our "pal" Aladin! Starting out friendly enough Aladin throughout the few days became excessively abusive towards Wagdi, strange in his questioning of our future travel plans in Egypt, controlling in our discussions around the campfire, and pushy about trying to "help" us arrange the next leg of our trip while we were yet trying to enjoy the present. His presence aside, the desertscape was impressive: the outerworldy shapes in the White desert, mountains of the Black desert, shooting star filled night sky, visitation by a fox in the night, simple but tasty traditional foods, and watching camel trains go by!

Back towards Cairo it was my turn to see the pyramids of Giza and The Great Sphinx before Danica and I hoped to board a train towards The Nile Valley. In Egyptian fashion Aladin brought me to his friends teahouse just outside the gate before accompanying Danica back to the city. Immediately after Aladin and Danica left it was apparent Aladin had something up his sleeve and the shop owner slowly but firmly attempted to help me arrange a couple hour tour/camel ride in and around the pyramids... All I wanted was to walk through the gate and walk around on my own. After getting really fed up with all the tricks and touts I fought my way to the ticket counter and inside just in time to enjoy the last hour of daylight and sunset over these colossal structures!

A taxi back to Cairo revealed Aladin had one more trick up his sleeve... But by now we were onto him and aware of what it was going to take to navigate through Egypt...

Walk like an Egyptian

No time to write about Egypt yet... but, here's a preview for you of photos of my adventures so far...!

Turkish Delight!

Europe collides with Asia where the modern West clashes with the traditions of the East in the land of kababs, hamams, and muslim culture!  I almost skipped Turkey because of the desire to rendezvous with some friends during their trip to Israel... the prospect of exploring the Holy Land with friends from home sounded great but it would have cut my time short in Greece and forced me to skip Turkey all together. When their schedule changed, the impact on my timeframe didn't make sense, and, Turkey was back on my list of destinations!

After a little bit of convincing (sweet talking) I was able to have my scheduled flight from Athens to Tel Aviv redirected to Istanbul and landed into another completely foreign world and the biggest culture shock to-date; I certainly was not in Kansas anymore!

After a couple days of walking the city streets, seeing the sights (The Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Basilica Cisterns, etc.), and partaking in some local cultural practices (i.e., Hamam - traditional Turkish Bath) I found my bearings in this predominately Muslim world and sketched out a gameplan to head to some of the more natural wonders in the south of the country. A good first homebase for exploring what the south of the country had to offer was the city of Fethiye and I set off on a 12 hour overnight bus...

The plan as to spend a few days around the town and then arranging to board a Gulet (traditional Turkish sail boat) and sail along the coast of the Turkish Riviera for several days. Unfortunately, as they say... 'life is what happens when you are busy making other plans'... and the last Gulet of the season had sailed the day before my arrival! Darn. I was still in Fethiye and happy to be out of the city. I concluded to proceed with my jaunt along the coast overland after spending a few days as planned around the area.

A few days turned into another night and another night and before you knew it I ended up staying for a week! I became friends with the staff and the few other guests staying at V-Go Hostel and enjoyed the amazing food prepared by the cook (Ramazon), trekking amongst the ruins (abandoned City of Kayakoy) in the mountains near by, taking a day cruise to the "12 islands" off the coast, exploring the tombs carved into the rock face of the mountain above, and getting absorbed in an Islamic community.

Sometime between my 3rd and 4th day I was given a turkish name by Ramazon ("Menten"), ate in the back with the rest of the staff and offered an invitation to sail as part of the crew on a sail boat down the coast to attend a Turkish wedding! It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up and one of those times when you realize that plans aren't always all they are cracked up to be :) Along with some other guests, we boarded the magnificent yacht and motored down the coast. Our small group consisted of Silvia from Spain, Hannah & Rory, Paul, and Maddy/Angus/Amy/Elyse all from Australia along with the boat crew of Captain Orhan, the joke loving Amat, and quiet vodka drinking Murat.

Paul and I had the pleasure of assisting with making lunch dowwn in the gally during a particularly topsy turby portion of the voyage and somehow survived boiling water and cutting vegetables while getting tossed to and fro. We set anchor for the night in a beautiful cove and awoke the next morning for a quick dip in the majesty of the Mediterranean. By the time we reached the town for the wedding festivities we had all bonded as friends and were sad to leave the confines of your home on the water. Arriving on land though we were greeted as honored guests and got (what felt like) the turkish version of the "red carpet treatment" complete with food and smiles!

Wedding are a big deal in Turkey and it is customary to invite the whole town (traditionally by delivering, of all things, a pair of socks to each household!). The wedding festivities included a feast complete with tons of amazing food dishes, a pre-ceremony party where the men and women separate to drink and dance at their own respective parties, as much Raki (Turkish Spirit that tastes like licorice and is about 50% alcohol) as you could drink, a bon fire, crazy music, and fireworks. They also have a tradition of firing off rounds from their revolvers into the night sky while dancing drunk around the bon fire... that was an experience that you don't soon forget!  I had arrived to Fethiye as a guest and left as part of the family :)

Parting ways with the V-Go crew (Orhan, Sinan and Sesar), Rory & Hannah and Paul and I traveled together to the beach and the treehouses of Olympos! As if time in Turkey couldn't get any better we were suddenly in another amazing landscape set amongst ancient Roman ruins, staying at a place offering some of the best meals I've had, and enjoying each others company as we spent a couple lazy days recovering from all the wedding fun. Now the off-season, we enjoyed evenings sitting around the campfire and talking with the few other guests with Mt. Olympos (from where the Olympic games gain their name) looming in the distance... including the familiar faces of a Canadian family. But, where did I see them before? We got to talking and I realized I had read their blog (http://4intheworld.blogspot.com/) about their Around the World Trip several months before! It got even stranger when they told me they had also read mine! How ironic.

A couple days later and who comes strolling don the path? Three Aussie girls I was bunked up with during my time weeks before in Athens! You realize just howw small the world is when, of all the places one could be, and times they could be there, you rendezvous with others in such a way!  Turkey was simply, as the name of the local sweet is called, a DELIGHT! 

I was no longer in the western world... and it was time to dive even deeper into the East... to the land of the Pharaohs and meeting up with another fellow world vagabond.  Ancient Egypt as next...

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!