Hello everybody,
last blog post! Yes, by the time this blog is posted I am back in Somerville at good ol' Raymond Ave. Well, I am actually typing this on the flight from Honolulu to Chicago, which sadly is yet another flight on an old tired plane, this time from American Airlines' fleet. What is it with airlines using the oldest planes they have for the super-long flights? To give you an idea how old this plane is, it still has an ashtray in the armrests. Has anyone reading this ever been on a smoking flight?!
To summarize last week, not too much to tell! I spent 6 days in Honolulu, Waikiki to be exact. It's exactly how you would imagine it to be, with beautiful beaches and lot of tourists and shops. What I didn't expect however was the number of Japanese there, at any given time about 50% of all people there.
I did try some surfing (twice actually), but I have to admit that it didn't live up to my expectations. You spend a lot of time sitting around waiting for a good wave, and while the beginning part is kinda cool (catching the wave), once you're on it you are gently pushed forward. I am sure it gets more exciting once the waves are bigger, but I was already freaking out because of the number of people next to me (balancing on a piece of plastic while some dude does the same 3 feet away from you), so I didn't feel like increasing the potential danger.
Sooooo ... to summarize my trip then! I am certain some people reading this expect some deep realization that I arrived at over the months, but despite having seen far more spiritual places than I ever imagined I would (Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, you name it), this trip was for me really about seeing different countries and cultures. And of that I had a LOT :)
Would I do it again? Absolutely. That is btw me speaking, not my wallet. I will not name any numbers, but hadn't I gotten an unexpected money injection halfway into the trip, it probably would have been about a month shorter, most likely without Australia and New Zealand (which really were crazy expensive).
Speaking of money and other things measured in numbers, during the trip I (of course) needed to keep track of all those things. So, here some stats!
Total days of the trip: 162 (5 months, 10 days)
Number of flights: 23 flights
Train rides: 18 (Counting my marathon 12-hour train ride from Kagoshima to Sendai as one)
Kilometers traveled (from Google Maps): 71,051 km. Almost twice around the world!
Hours in cars/buses: Infinite
Number of countries visited: 14
Number of difference time zones: 11
Total blog views: ~4,000 (thanks guys!!!!!!)
And here the most ominous statistic, my finances:
Yes, I deleted the axis labels, because I don't want to deal with the inevitable "WHAAAAT? You spent XYZ dollars on this?!" :)
(Oh, and don't read too much into the slopes over each country. There was a good amount of pre-booking going on, making costs appear in previous countries)
Well, obviously there were countries I liked more, and some I liked less. So, here's my top 5:
1. New Zealand: Just plain amazing. Incredible landscape, very nice people, and even after spending 3 weeks there I still only saw the Southern Island.
2. Japan: Just navigating in this very different and refined culture is incredibly cool. Once again, the people are very nice, to the point that I once got walked by a convenience store employee several blocks because she wanted to make sure I end up at the place I asked for.
3. China: Amazing landscapes once again, and that interesting feeling of a culture smack in the middle of a big transition. And damn good food.
4. Australia: Maybe a bit too low on this list, but I strangely enjoyed it less than any of the above. Definitely something I will need to revisit.
5. India: That one is the interesting entry on this list. I have very ambivalent feelings about this country, but I also know that I am in very good company (since many fellow travelers said the same about it). I am very glad I went there and also spent that amount of time there, because it really is very diverse. That all said, I see it rather unlikely that I will return to it any time soon. It is a country that slowly wears you out because it pushes a lot of (my) personal limits, be that the heat, the smells, the dirt, or just the sheer number of people.
If you don't see your favorite country on this list, don't fret. With the notable exception of Jordan, I enjoyed every place I stayed at. The European countries were all too "familiar" to end up in the top 5.
Pictures, pictures, pictures. One of the things I did in Hawaii while chilling out at the hotel restaurant was to identify the best-of of my pictures. I brought it down to 120, which discounting the various travel days, is about one pic per day of my trip!
I am planning to do a I'm-back party at our place (no exact details yet) where I will show those pictures with a narrative, but obviously not everybody can come, so I uploaded those 120 pictures into my final online folder:
( direct photo link )
last blog post! Yes, by the time this blog is posted I am back in Somerville at good ol' Raymond Ave. Well, I am actually typing this on the flight from Honolulu to Chicago, which sadly is yet another flight on an old tired plane, this time from American Airlines' fleet. What is it with airlines using the oldest planes they have for the super-long flights? To give you an idea how old this plane is, it still has an ashtray in the armrests. Has anyone reading this ever been on a smoking flight?!
To summarize last week, not too much to tell! I spent 6 days in Honolulu, Waikiki to be exact. It's exactly how you would imagine it to be, with beautiful beaches and lot of tourists and shops. What I didn't expect however was the number of Japanese there, at any given time about 50% of all people there.
I did try some surfing (twice actually), but I have to admit that it didn't live up to my expectations. You spend a lot of time sitting around waiting for a good wave, and while the beginning part is kinda cool (catching the wave), once you're on it you are gently pushed forward. I am sure it gets more exciting once the waves are bigger, but I was already freaking out because of the number of people next to me (balancing on a piece of plastic while some dude does the same 3 feet away from you), so I didn't feel like increasing the potential danger.
Sooooo ... to summarize my trip then! I am certain some people reading this expect some deep realization that I arrived at over the months, but despite having seen far more spiritual places than I ever imagined I would (Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, you name it), this trip was for me really about seeing different countries and cultures. And of that I had a LOT :)
Would I do it again? Absolutely. That is btw me speaking, not my wallet. I will not name any numbers, but hadn't I gotten an unexpected money injection halfway into the trip, it probably would have been about a month shorter, most likely without Australia and New Zealand (which really were crazy expensive).
Speaking of money and other things measured in numbers, during the trip I (of course) needed to keep track of all those things. So, here some stats!
Total days of the trip: 162 (5 months, 10 days)
Number of flights: 23 flights
Train rides: 18 (Counting my marathon 12-hour train ride from Kagoshima to Sendai as one)
Kilometers traveled (from Google Maps): 71,051 km. Almost twice around the world!
Hours in cars/buses: Infinite
Number of countries visited: 14
Number of difference time zones: 11
Total blog views: ~4,000 (thanks guys!!!!!!)
And here the most ominous statistic, my finances:
Yes, I deleted the axis labels, because I don't want to deal with the inevitable "WHAAAAT? You spent XYZ dollars on this?!" :)
(Oh, and don't read too much into the slopes over each country. There was a good amount of pre-booking going on, making costs appear in previous countries)
Well, obviously there were countries I liked more, and some I liked less. So, here's my top 5:
1. New Zealand: Just plain amazing. Incredible landscape, very nice people, and even after spending 3 weeks there I still only saw the Southern Island.
2. Japan: Just navigating in this very different and refined culture is incredibly cool. Once again, the people are very nice, to the point that I once got walked by a convenience store employee several blocks because she wanted to make sure I end up at the place I asked for.
3. China: Amazing landscapes once again, and that interesting feeling of a culture smack in the middle of a big transition. And damn good food.
4. Australia: Maybe a bit too low on this list, but I strangely enjoyed it less than any of the above. Definitely something I will need to revisit.
5. India: That one is the interesting entry on this list. I have very ambivalent feelings about this country, but I also know that I am in very good company (since many fellow travelers said the same about it). I am very glad I went there and also spent that amount of time there, because it really is very diverse. That all said, I see it rather unlikely that I will return to it any time soon. It is a country that slowly wears you out because it pushes a lot of (my) personal limits, be that the heat, the smells, the dirt, or just the sheer number of people.
If you don't see your favorite country on this list, don't fret. With the notable exception of Jordan, I enjoyed every place I stayed at. The European countries were all too "familiar" to end up in the top 5.
Pictures, pictures, pictures. One of the things I did in Hawaii while chilling out at the hotel restaurant was to identify the best-of of my pictures. I brought it down to 120, which discounting the various travel days, is about one pic per day of my trip!
I am planning to do a I'm-back party at our place (no exact details yet) where I will show those pictures with a narrative, but obviously not everybody can come, so I uploaded those 120 pictures into my final online folder:
( direct photo link )