Wadi Rum Trek

Sunset in Wadi Rum

Epic Day in Jerash

A little taste of Louisiana in Instanbul

My Balkan Addiction

I've been housing these things by the box. And now I purchase in quantities of three or four exclusively. I'm wondering if this is Paleo?

The view from Sarah's apartment in Zagreb (rainbow not always present)

Who knew it would be over two weeks?

Tracking my Trip Activity

  Being a data guy, it's fun to see what the trip has done to some of the easily captured metrics I generate just by existing. In this case, I'm thinking about my Nike Fuel Points, captured by my Fuelband.

I have June 2013 here as a reference point and then August and September (First complete calendar month of the trip) as charts to compare how active I've been on the trip (According the very flawed Nike Fuel Points system).  The Initial results are not surprising. While traveling I'm way more active. (By the way, June probably included walking to work everyday and also wodding four times a week). Thankfully Croatia  isn't included in much of September, since I think slobbing around has been my primary activity since arriving here (and drinking Istrian Wines). 

The Two Month Anniversary Post: What I've Learned

So, today, I've officially been traveling for two months. And I'm about four months removed from having a house or apartment that I can call my own. But really, it's the two month anniversary of traveling part that matters. And, its an interesting time to think reflect on what's happened and where I'm headed.

25% or so of the travel time of the trip (not including time in Miami/New Orleans in December or the time in Florida before leaving) is done. Someone recently asked me what I've learned since starting this journey. Not a bad idea to document the things I think I've learned (about myself and other random stuff) since starting this trip around the world.
Here's the current rundown:

1. I Like it Slow (really slow [ I'm only mostly talking about travel here]) - Some of my favorite moments have come from taking an extra day or two to just wander the streets of some place I've decided to linger instead of trying to tack on a new destination.
2. What people expect to be interesting isn't necessarily interesting to me (this is code for I like some pretty boring things) - Many of my highlights involve riding a bike or walking down streets in new places just jamming out to my tunes and daydreaming. I like all the other stuff too, but it's been wonderful to just walk and run and bike in new places and soak it in.
3. Speaking of which: Daydreaming is heaven - It's been so fun to just have the freedom to spend time thinking about almost anything. The specifics don't matter, but the time and freedom to ponder whatever fancies me in the moment is truly a blessing.
4. Freedom is just a few minutes/days/weeks/decisions/choices/savings/jobs away - I think it's crazy how quickly my life changed from a pretty routine-driven structured existence to one of pure freedom. It's totally confidence-boosting that whatever it is we want, we can have, and its just a few decisions or milestones away.
5. It's the people (always the people) that have made this special: It's the conversations. It's the new perspectives. The best thing about the road has been the folks. (Queue Depeche Mode: "People are people..."
6. I'm pretty resilient - There have been some moments that were challenging and that I wasn't sure would at the time would easily fade into distant memories. But they did, and I was having a blast quickly thereafter.
7. I could have planned more and maybe didn't give the first couple of months enough deliberate thought - No Biggie, but I'm committing to more deliberate use of my time for the next six months. This will include a lot of hanging out and taking it slow.  Some days I might do nothing - and I love that. But I'll be doing it because I've considered my options.
8. I both love and hate being alone - some of the best times of the trip I've been completely alone wandering the streets of Tel Aviv or some other place, without wifi and not really connected to my network. But other times, it's been less fun to not share some of the cool stuff I've been doing with anyone in the moment. Navigating this has been kind of fun.
9. I'm easily knocked off-budget - I can get pretty excited about what's going on and forget this whole I have no income thing. Just something to consider.
10. I have a lot less free time than I thought I would- I spent a lot of time thinking about all of the cool things I'd do with my free time: THREE Blog projects. Revisiting my Italian Studies. Vetting graduate programs. Underwater basketweaving. You get the point. I thought I was going to be way more bored than I have been. Just keeping up with documenting my trip here has been a challenge.
11. I'm working out MUCH less than I thought I would, but running much more than I was back home. This has been good - I think I've upped my average mileage and improved my average mile time during this trip - not too shabby.
12. I miss my Purple and Yellow Japanese Hat (Which is actually mostly red in color) - I didn't bring it on the trip because it is definitely nearing its final stages of usage. But, wow, it's weird not having access to it. It's definitely the article of clothing I've worn the most in my life to date.
13. I never don't say I'm from Miami but Live In New Orleans (lived) - I have a hard time saying I'm just from Miami and not including New Orleans. Simple, but interesting.
14. I can't wait to get to South America to speak Spanish full time for a few months
15. I don't think I'm ever going to really get over my hatred of flying - but I have grown to enjoy the odd plane drink or three and that seems to help.
16. I get lost A TON - man do I have a terrible sense of direction. It's been even more apparent now that I'm traveling with Litsy, who has a great sense of direction. I'm constantly trying to get us to go in the wrong direction. It's pretty hysterical.
17. I'm kind of obsessing with trying to get to Africa at some point soon.

The key thing I would say about the trip thus far is that I've tasted freedom and that it is  delicious, intoxicating and rejuvenating.  Here's to at least six more months of that. Here are the pics I think capture that feeling of freedom:

It's Exhilarating:

It's Calming:

It feels like accomplishment:

Plitvice Lakes National Park Croatia

Sweden: Herring for Breakfast, Sauna to Pass the Time and Connecting with New & Old Friends

It's been way too long since I've updated here - I think I've been having too much fun in Israel to really keep up with things, and I might have od'd on posting there with a barrage of content back when I was in Finland. Anyways, in an effort to stay current. I'm forcing myself to finish this Sweden entry before my shared Taxi leaves Jerusalem in 40 minutes. ON TO THE SWEDEN POST: Sweden was an excellent seven days. I actually can't believe that it was only seven days given how much it felt I connected with my New Swedish Friends and I re-connect with my Old Swedish Friends from Nicaragua.  Furthermore, I probably ate enough Herring for two weeks not one. But all-in-all, I think it's just a sign of a great experience that the time flew; but it feels in retrospect that I accomplished and experienced so much in that short burst of time.

I spent the first couple of days recovering in Stockholm from some terrible sleeps in Paris (remember the creeper in my dorm!?) and Dusseldorf. But I did manage to do a fair amount of walking through the city (and eating legit Swedish Meatballs @ Pelikan). In particular, I think the Djurgarden Island and park surrounding Skansen were a really amazing way to spend most of a day. After Stockholm, I proceeded south to Gothenburg to meet Anders and Mallin. Two amazing Swedes who took me in for five days and shared many excellent meals with me and showed me a little bit of Sweden that I couldn't have ever seen on my own. Pretty excellent to have locals host you, but much like Oostende, the level of effort that Anders and Mallin put in really increased my overall level of enjoyment of the time I was there - they showed me cool stuff and made me feel at home. Pretty amazing.

Adding to the fun in Gothenburg was that I got to re-connect with Emma and David, a brother and sister that Alexis and I met in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua a couple of years ago. We shared a great night of long conversation and many beers in Nica. I look back on that evening with a ton of fondness (the next morning, less so).  Hanging out with them again reminded me of exactly why we had such a splendid time back in Central America. I hope we get to do it again in the not to distant future - and hopefully Alexis can make an appearance. The three of us along with Mallin and Anders spent an evening grilling out in the park in Gothenburg and then hanging out at the apartment till the wee hours. Excellent stuff.

After Gothenburg, we went to a lake house near Karlstad, where we basically did nothing but sauna, grill, nap, jog, grill, snack, sauna for three days. AND IT WAS GLORIOUS. The lake is beautiful (check out the new header image for the blog- its sunset from the first night over the lake) and the company was fantastic. My first real sauna experience was incredible. I couldn't get enough. (Although when it was up to about 105 degrees Celsius, there were moments, that I could have had enough) Beyond that, the night sky above the lake was tremendous, like not many places I've seen given the little to no light pollution in the area. And of course, seeing the stars from that far north was a new experience for me. Swimming in the semi-freezing lake (for this tropical dude) after sauna is something I'll never forget and truly enjoyed. Amazing times.

After the lake house I hit up Stockholm again for it's photography gallery and a slight bit of exploring.

All-in-all, the Sweden leg was tremendous, rejuvenating, fun and special to me. Loved it. Reminded me how great people and new experiences are what its all about for me. Oh, and the weather was like perfection, apparently this is not common in September in Sweden (something Anders didn't mention in our communication before I decided to head there) but, I can't say how lucky I felt to have so many days of gorgeous weather. Good Stuff.

Here's the photo story of my time in Sweden:

The view from the Lake House near Karlstad

Me in Djurgarden

Beautiful Day in Stockholm during my walk through Djurgarden (apparently this is not common September weather in Sweden)

Guards at the Royal Palace in Stockholm (I was hoping he had to remain completely still like the ones in Buckingham Palace - but alas, he moved a whole bunch - That said I liked his outfit and booth!)

A great looking alley in the old city of Stockholm (Gamla Stan)

Saw this poster around town - not sure what it is about, but that guy does in fact look like he might be satan.

Protest during the Obama Visit (perfect timing on my behalf being there at the same time)

My first taste of pickled herring (LOVE)

Anders and the sign he used to find me at the train station, what you can't see is how he told me I'd know who he was - a t-shirt that said "Fuck it dude, let's go bowling," the first of many Big Lebowski moments throughout my time with Anders (including of course white russians)

:

Overlooking the Islands off the coast of Gothenburg, not the best lighting, but a beautiful place I needed to document

Me with Emma and David!

 

Some of the Grilling we did at the Lake House

Mallin, Anders and I before I headed back to Stockholm

"What's Next?"

The question I got the most before I started traveling was "what's next, when the trip is done?" At the time I responded with "um, no clue I'm sure that I'll be tired of the road and looking for some routine and stability." But, that was really just my best guess as to an answer that could make sense to folks and maybe be in character for me. I actually had no fucking clue as to what would be next. In fact, so much had changed in the previous few years, and so much was going to change in the coming year, that it was crazy to think that any kind of forecast I put together in May of 2013 would really be very accurate come April 2014 (My anticipated done-traveling timeframe). When I put my data-modeling hat on and examine this, I  have to accept that any attempt to forecast made today would be grossly inaccurate.

So, I'm on the road now, but "what's next?" is still the most popular question I receive once people realize for how long I'm traveling. The answer is that I don't know, there is no one answer. Looking at the past four years of my life, I had been so wrong so many times about what I thought I would want or do in the future. Like:

When I first moved to Miami from Connecticut, I never thought I'd live in New Orleans (maybe never leave Miami!). When I first moved to New Orleans I never thought the place would grow to mean more to me than just for allowing Lits and I to live in the same city. When I realized how passionately I felt about New Orleans, I actually doubted whether I would do this trip. Probably the most long-held assumption about my future was that I never would be able to describe myself as a (relatively) calm person.

But all those things happened. Even though I wouldn't have forecasted them as such. So even though I like to examine and daydream about what the future holds for me. I kind of understand it's really just a reflection of which of the concerns and joys in my life I'm thinking about at the moment. Sometimes these thoughts can be hard to reconcile. For example:

When I'm thinking about home and spending time with my amazing family and friends, I wonder how quickly I could move back to Miami. When I'm traveling, and I feel that surge of excitement that comes from discovering a new strange place, I wonder why I wouldn't keep this going for as long as possible, since it's likely to be the one time in my life when this amount of travel can happen. When I think about my life in New Orleans, I wonder why I wouldn't go back to that instantly upon finalizing my travels (sometimes sooner!). When I think about getting to know a new city and finding another place I could love as much as New Orleans, I wonder why I wouldn't try out some new place new place that I could grow to love and learn about.

Clearly there are contradictions buried within wanting or wondering about wanting all of these things at the same time. I can understand how it can be seen as potentially being all over the place, or lacking direction or that I'm constantly changing my mind about things. Well, I don't buy that. All those things can be true if I understand the following:

1. In the moment any one of these things can be true: At any given time I'm not confused or undecided, I'm actually living  in the present and enjoying the thing I'm considering at the moment. Just like I can't actually have all these potential futures simultaneously, I can't properly consider them all in one moment.
2. I love a lot of things, places, people, activities, styles, jobs, etc. I'm so adaptable and can be happy in some pretty diverse scenarios.

This used to be an area that caused me concern in a way. How is it that things could be so great when I pictured living in New Orleans again, but also so great when I pictured moving to some new place (San Francisco, I'm looking at you!) or dreaming about moving home. Well, I think its because the future is bright, wherever it ends up being, with whomever it ends up being with, It's cause I'm confident things are going to be awesome wherever it is.

I'll make a great decision when the time is right, but for right now, I can enjoy the entire gamut of possibilities and pick and choose the bits that make me the happiest to craft some future I maybe can't even imagine yet, but I'm sure will rock even more than any of the ones that have been considered to date.

Life is about tradeoffs, I'm hyper aware of that, I can't prioritize loving my family and friends from home,  and loving my life in New Orleans, and my love of exploring a new place, and my desire to maybe push myself professionally, and my desire to maybe keep this travel thing going all at the same time.

But, that's what will make whatever it is I do prioritize even better, the knowledge that I had lots of great options but decided on that future. It's in having to understand that I'll be doing this at the expense of some other great options that can be either a way to value the choices you do make even more so, or for some could be a way to generate regret. I choose to use that knowledge of tradeoffs to increase the value I place from the choices I do make.

In Paris something changed in me, for  the first time in the trip, I started thinking about extending my travel time, or at the very least not jumping right into some traditional life in April or May of next year.   That's a good fucking sign. I don't think I'll actually do that, nor do I think I actually want to do that. But, I love that organically it's coming to me to keep this going. It means I'm having a ball and I'm headed in the direction I want to be headed.

So till then, I'm going to take from this that whatever is making me happy now, I'll hold on to, cherish it in the moment, and accept I can't have it forever, but hopefully learn how to hold a piece of it with me when I do have to make that choice.

So, What's Next? Everything I want, but maybe nothing I've considered yet.

What did the Italian say to the American and the Irishman in Paris?

I arrived in Paris after a somewhat terrible travel day - leaving Oostende was easy enough (aside from saying goodbye to my tremendous hosts), but there had been some trouble on the tracks in the South of Belgium so it created a bit of a clusterfuck in trying to get to Paris. It involved taking an extra bus between train stations and changing trains one more time than originally expected and arriving in Paris about 2 hours later than I had hoped. Further agitating my zen on this day, was that the trip involved the worst bacon cheeseburger known to man in Lille, France. I know what you're thinking, how the F can something with bacon and cheese be terrible. I agree, that's nonsense and contrary to at least thirteen articles I've read in Science and The New England Journal of Medicine. But, I'll further admit that this burger was purchased at a VERY chain-restaurant-looking Irish Pub which was the only eating establishment in the train station there. I know. I did it to myself. But, seriously, how did they fuck it up - not even the bacon tasted good. And there was terrible bread. I WAS IN FRANCE AND THE BREAD WAS TERRIBLE. OK, I didn't realize that this meal had impacted me so.

Anyways, moving on. Right, I'm in Paris. How was that?

Finding my hostel was also quite the adventure. I am admittedly not great at getting around in places, and I'm pretty bad at getting a feel for which direction is which. Moreover, I'm especially bad at being able to discern places I've only just experienced for the first time. So basically, I think all corners look similar and I kind of forget which direction I am pointed in about five seconds after orienting myself in that direction. Quality characteristics for this whole trip around the world thing, I KNOW.  But, one thing I'm tremendously great at is reading maps. I can with serious confidence point at maps and points on these maps and decide which direction on the map needs to be traveled to successfully accomplish the task of hitting up wherever I need to go. Well, I've come to realize that with those three characterics combined, I'm probably worse off than if I couldn't read a map. Because the second I read my map, I'm tremendously confident of the plan of attack, but since all new buildings and streets look the same to me and because I really can't remember or understand which cardinal direction I'm heading after starting to walk, I'm just a dude who's really convinced he's going somewhere that is aimlessly wandering.

And so it went upon my arrival in the Bellevue neighborhood where my hostel was located. I had read that this hostel was potentially difficult to get to, but I had confidence in my map reading capabilities. That confidence was misplaced. I walked around aimlessly and asking Parisians about how to get to my hostel for about an hour. WITH ALL MY STUFF STRAPPED TO MY BODY. Turns out I'm carrying around 31 Kilos, which I think is like 68 pounds. Which actually didn't sound like too much to me before I've been having to carry it around all the time in three bags, my primary one being a non-trekking backpack that really isn't designed to be easy on the back and shoulders when carried as a backpack. The other two also just don't really fit comfortably on my shoulders when carrying the big duffel as a backpack. Long story long, I walked around with my awkward collection of not very functional luggage strapped to me for an hour but finally found the hostel. The first words out of the kiwi reception lady: "Can I offer you a glass of water, you look like you need it." Indeed, woman, indeed. I was drenched and looking pretty uncomfortable, and really the only thoughts in my head were: I hope I'm not on the fifth floor of a walk-up and god is it time for a beer yet.

Anyways, it worked out and I wasn't on the fifth floor, and there was no one in my room for the night yet. This I thought was a huge score (I had flashes of my time alone in the dorm in Brussels - this was not how it turned out, more on the roomie situation later). I cleaned up and hit the courtyard for a beer.

Within seconds I met Giovanni, an Italian guy living in Poland for work and actually in Paris for work as well, but staying at a hostel because he can't fathom being in a flat or hotel for over an entire week. "I'm Italian, I come from a huge family, If there aren't ten people in the room when I go to sleep, I feel lonely." Dude was full of these types of Gio-philosphy that I found hilarious and fun. We quickly were hitting it off and another hostel mate joined us. James from Belfast. Another great guy who ended up being a great companion for a weekend in Paris. Turns out the best language for all of us to understand each other in was Spanish, which I could not have been more amused by.

The three of us sat around drank beers, chatted and just enjoyed hanging out for a while then we went out to explore our neighborhood and get some grub. We stumbled upon a street that was lined with cafes bursting at the seams with Parisians. It was great there were NOT a lot of tourists were around. And we sat at Trippette and proceeded to have an excellent meal (I tried steak tartar from Giovanni's plate and hated it but, he seemed to love it) We joined a table of young french folks out for drinks on a Friday night.

My Dinner at Tripette:

We ended up staying at this cafe till closing time and got to chat with the locals a ton and really just have fun getting to know one another. It was one of my favorite nights out in memory. It ended pretty late with some dancing to rather good techno music. (Random aside: Giovanni had just come from four days at "the techno festival" - i never got clarity on which one or where, but I think many of his maxims and interesting stories started out with, "when at the techno festival, [insert life lesson in a great Italian accent here] - amusing.).

Saturday I woke up too early for being out till four am and hit up a GREAT street art tour. Turns out the neighborhood I was staying in was actually the epicenter for street art in Paris. It ended up being a great way to spend the day and I loved it. I snagged some cool pics with the good camera to be shared later. Saturday night I hung out with Giovanni and James a bit at the hostel and then headed down to the center to check out the tour at night (I Know, I Know - pretty touristy, but it's cool, terrible light show and al) Then hit up the Latin Quarter and basically walked for three hours. Tremendous good fun.

Saturday night I returned to the hostel room to find my really strange dorm mate in the same position she had been in early afternoon and the night before at four am. This woman was one weird cat. It was clear to me upon retiring to the dorm room that she hadn't left the room in well over 36 hours. Beyond that, in the afternoon she had monopolized the bathroom for about 4 hours. And every time I came back to the room to see if I could get in there. All I could here was either the shower being turned off and on repeatedly or the toilet being flushed incessantly. Over, and over, and over again. Then, when she was sitting not the bed not doing anything other than staring at the wall, she would scratch her skin in strange ways, blow on that patch of skin, and then rub it with her hand. She did this for hours. And all over her arms. Just on and on and on again. I'm convinced now she had some form of OCD but, although I really felt sorry for her, I couldn't help but be TREMENDOUSLY uncomfortable sharing space with her.  There was another girl in our room from Argentina and she also was creeped out, and informed me that the scratching woman had asked her for money twice. Disturbing. Oh and she slept on newspapers spread out on top of the sheets provided by the hostel.

Inspite of the strangeness going on in my room, Sunday was an amazing day of travel in Paris. Giovanni, James and I went to the museum of modern art in the morning (the louvre line was about 3 hours at 9:15AM). This was a ton of fun, as Giovanni has a ton of opinions about art and is kind of amusing to just hear talk. So I think the three of us really enjoyed walking around checking out strange modern art and reacting to it. It was lots of fun. After that we checked out a market to buy some food for lunch. We had a delicious picnic of fresh breads and cheeses. Quite nice. Later that afternoon I went to Montmarte for the first time and fell completely in love. Next time in Paris, I'm definitely staying there and hanging out in that neighborhood more.

The later afternoon was spent at the Centre Pompidou. This was a blast - the building itself it tremendously strange with tubing running all over the exterior of it. It was pretty busy cause if was free on that Sunday. But still very enjoyable. I am decidedly a fan of contemporary art - it's just so much fun to wonder what the fuck these people are thinking when they make these things. Excellent way to spend some time. After that we returned to the hostel for happy hour with some other travelers which ended in some drinking and snacking in the park above Bellevue. Pretty great way to close my time in Paris.

Centre Pompidou:

Next day was a travel day to Dusseldorf and aside from some light worry I would miss my train, was pretty uneventful. Much like Oostende, Paris was unplanned but ended up being a highlight of the trip thus far. Too much fun was had.

It feels like I'm on a roll.

Some of my favorite pics from the street art tour:

Brugge: Couch Surfing, Medieval Beauty, and Drinking with Australians

"In Bruges" is a movie I probably should have seen before ending up in Brugge. I remember trying to see it years ago, but passing out as I tend to do and never really finishing it. Anyways, I was asked no less than fifty times in two days about this film and about how its beautiful and fun, etc, etc. Anyways no I haven't seen the movie. Brugge was my first time couch surfing. And I was a little anxious about that. The small things that make your life easier about a hostel or hotel really became clear to me as I was on my way to Brugge. A-number-one, I didn't have a website to look to see where or how to get to Eli's place. I didn't have a name of a hotel to ask someone about if I got lost. Etc, etc.

Of course, Eli provided me with easy enough directions and I got to his place without incident. It was really easy and the concerns about getting there and how it would be to couch surf ended up being just that, only concerns (as it often is the case, actually,  always the case).

I think the thing I'll remember most about my couch surfing experience in Brugge is my initial reaction to two things. Firstly, the toilet was located OUTSIDE. It was a private little alley next to the kitchen, and you couldn't enter or leave through there or anything, but it was outside. I was like WTF, an out house? Additionally, I could tell instantly that I was deathly allergic to the attic in which I would be staying. I hadn't really even thought about that before looking into couches that I could stay on. But I learned that day.

Eli didn't have pets so it wasn't that kind of allergy, but it was a really old building and the attic was not finished and parts of it were open and so there was just a lot of stuff going on up there. Anyways, after carrying what I've decided is WAY too much shit up his tiny stair case to the attic I was pretty convinced that this couch surfing thing would be a very limited experiment on this trip. Thank god for the elephant strength allergy meds I brought along with me. :-D

So I went to Brugge because it's beautiful, and it didn't disappoint. The city is almost comically gorgeous, and it being famous for that combined with it being a bank holiday in the UK, meant LOTS of tourists. Specifically a type of loud and fat English person that made fart jokes loudly in small restaurants (this happened twice). It made things a little strange. But I enjoyed my time there.

I think my favorite  things that happened in Brugge are the following:

1. Climbing to the top of the Belfur: this was creepy as hell, it doesn't compare to the bell tower that I climbed in Sibieu in terms of sheer potential to kill me, this one was way sturdier. But it was a crazy intense climb and SUPER claustrophobic. But the view from the top was killer and I felt accomplished. After an hour and change in line for this I was happy I'd done it.
2. Drinking with Australian Chris: This was a lot of fun and unexpected. Chris is a teacher working in Italy leading bike tours and all around a super smart and fun drinking companion. I enjoyed the beers and conversation, perfect travel drinking night. Although, I presumed my time in New Orleans had prepared me to enter the world of Australian Travel Drinking again after some years away from the game. And really, it hasn't, I cried uncle twice and eventually had to just dart out to make it home at a reasonable hour.
3. Brugge at Night: It doesn't disappoint. It's gorgeous and romantic and creepy and less crowded. Really Beautiful.
4. Jerusalem Church:  A copy of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. It was beautiful and totally weird to find in Belgium

Overall, great experience, glad it was only two days, and a decent introduction to couch surfing.

Some more photos:

My attic in Bruge

Delicious croque monsieur from De Stoepa

Epic Nutella/Banana Waffle From

Loved the sign for this restaurant

This is not a blog post about Brussels

Brussels was a much needed slow-paced easily digested in five days filled with some simple joys and a fair amount of rest. Italy had left me tuckered out, so I got to Brussels and quickly enjoyed the fact that I had some quality alone time in my 3-bed dorm room, as there were no other guests for the first couple of nights. Quite pleasant, particularly since I was planning on some R&R. I think the things that will standout to me about Brussels are its tri-lingualness and the beer. I don't think I have gotten lost in a city more often than in Brussels (there was that time in Amsterdam, but seriously all those streets look the same, but I was only there a few days, whereas one would think in the five days in Brussels I could have figured some of that out), I'm going to blame the street signs that had the street names in two languages, neither of which I understood.

Anyways, this made me think about living life in more than one language. Something my hometown can kind of relate to, although I would argue the average person back home isn't a master of both languages. The Belgian folks seems to own French, Dutch, English AND German. It's kind of shocking coming from such a mono-lingual country. Obviously, with the Belgian heritage being split between its Flemish and French influences, along with the need for English and the proximity to Germany and it being the capital of Europe. This all makes sense. But still, most American's struggle with the one language. Kind of Impressive.

I think my beer experience in Belgium is by far the most interest one I've had in the history of my beer drinking. (This is a long time)

There are zillions of beers to choose from and tons of information available about each of the breweries and various styles. And honestly, it's all a little overwhelming. The top beers that I had here are the following:

1. Cantillon Kriek (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/388/1632)
2. Orval Trappist Ale (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/37/129)
3. Band of Brothers (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16320/81303)
4. Rulles Blonde (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/4663/10026)
5. Westvleteren Trappist Ale ( http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/313/1545)

The best thing about beer tasting here is how serious everyone is about their recommendations and their thoughts about what you could like. Also, Belgian Beer culture is redid, Folks were having beers at all hours. Eight AM, 10 AM, 2PM, 2AM - it didn't matter people were drinking beer. Lovely.

Other Great Stuff from Brussels:

1. The Magritte Museum - I think the Magritte museum was one of my top travel museum experiences and has pushed me to learn a little more about art, and specifically surrealism, I kind of dug what those fuckers were saying. Actually, I just think Magritte was a really cool cat, love his approach to life, even though it seemed to have bordered on Nihilism. Magritte seemed to want to create things that were inherently conflicted and counter-intuitive (This is not a pipe) but then scoffed at the idea that someone would psycho-analyze what that all meant.
2. Yoga at Sampoorna Yoga Studio - I did a bunch of much-needed and centering yoga here. The instructors were excellent and I had the most chill time. It was all gravy. Except for one class when I went to after tasting quite a few Belgian Beers the night before; I think my body was like in toxin-ridding mode, and as such I was by far the sweatiest person in the class and possibly in the entirety of the city of Brussels. The instructor gave me a few "are you ok?" looks. Kinda embarrassing.
3. Drinking Afore-mentioned Beers at Moeder Lambik - I met a great couple currently residing in the UK, Emily and Burt. Emily happened to be a beer geek and led me on an excellent beer safari. She also wants to hire me for some clean energy thing she does. Who knows, but either way a great way to spend some time and great company to have during that time.
4. Mini-Europe - Strangest little tourist trap I've ever been to - 1/20 scale recreations of the top tourist attractions and cultural landmarks from the entire continent of Europe. It was actually a lot of fun to stomp through it, but not really the most authentic travel experience I've ever had. Mad-kitsch factor.
5. LOTS of Doner Kebap - I really couldn't stomach more frittes after the first couple of days. And I hadn't had Doner in ages, and wow was there LOTS of delicious doner had here. I got myself a nice little teaser for my time in the Middle East.
6. Weirdo Flea Market on the other side of the tracks - the flea market was like hipster heaven and I had to leave the centre to get down there and it felt like I was walking around with the people. BONUS - cool African cultural masks and whatnot stores all over this area that I got to explore after the fact.
7. Meal and Beer at the Greedy Glutton / Nuet Nigenough (Which kind of sounds like not enough) - i got here on a rainy afternoon and just sat and watched Brussels go by with a bunch of delicious cheeses, an amazing Broccoli Soup and probably the best frittes I'd eaten in Belgium up to this point. Pretty great.

From Brussels it was on to Brugge.

Other Brussels Fun:

Dude outside of my dorm room one random morning

First Taste of Frittes

Manneken Pis

Budgets and Terrible Hostel Breakfasts

So, I think the biggest change in how things will be daily for me can be summarized by breakfast. Couple of mornings ago I woke up famished. I'd really not eaten dinner (vending machine chips should not count as real dinner), and I woke up ready to put on my eating pants and throw down. Well here's the thing, as the clock got closer to the nine AM last call for included hostel-breakfast; I ran out of my dorm and went down there to find what I can only describe as not nutritious and really-not-at-all-tasty "breakfast." A collection of hams that were gross (I don't really even like ham) and mediocre cheese, Some terrible looking stuff in a gravy I did not have the intestinal fortitude to try and some really old bread. Needless to say, this was not the kind of breakfast I was having while traveling with Mom and Phil, nor the kind of breakfast I would treat myself to while on a "normal trip." But, I put down a lot of that ham, and enough of that bread to keep me satiated till about  three pm.

I think this sums up one of the key differences between this kind of traveling and what most folks would consider a vacation. This breakfast didn't provide me with the health/wellness I'd like or the deliciousness I crave. But, it did give me some budget freedom for the day. And well, on that day, that's what I prioritized. So, this isn't a nine month version of what I did in Turkey last year, or the three weeks in Asia the year before, or my trip to Ecuador in the Fall. This is another beast of a thing. And this beast says eating lots mediocre ham some days is A-Ok.

Don't get me wrong, this trip is not going to be about eating terrible free food and wandering the streets in search of only free activities. But, it will be that some of the time.

Here's a summary of what I spent Thursday August 22, 2013: 

• 5 Euro  for a coffee (terrible) and a croissant (great)
• 5  Euro "free walking tour"
• 1. 50 Euro huge water tha1 wasn't enough for The whole day
• 15 Euro mediocre,  but, much enjoyed tourist trap lunch of chicken and fried cheese with a tiny glass of beer (effectively a shot)
• 11 Euro three delicious Belgium beers (worth every penny)
• 2 Euro dinner from vending machine of pretty tasty waffle and bottle of water

So, That's 39.50 euro on top of the 27 euro for the bed at the hostel.  Grand total for the day 66.50 euro or 89 bucks (.89 of a Benjamin if you're Diddy).

My budget for the entire trip is ninety bucks a day. So, I'm on track. BUT, this was a really really cheap travel day for Europe. I didn't go to a museum, eat more than one real meal or buy enough water (not that I wouldn't have bought water for budget reasons, they just don't have enough kwik-e marts here).

Anyways, It's scary to me how quickly and effortlessly the budget can be made for the day. Good thing to keep in mind,  but as I said above, I'm going to work hard not to treat this like I have some deathmarch to spending as little as possible. Cause I don't think I'll look back at this trip and be really sad if I spent a few thousand bucks more than I should have but got in all the great experiences I'd like during the year. I don't mind forgoing some creature comforts in the name of saving some pennies, but on the other side of this trip I'm going to have a lot less in the bank regardless of how I spend my days, I'm not going to be poor in the experience bank in order to try to be slightly less poor in the real bank.

PS - I'm off to spend whatever I feel like it on a movie and some more amazing Belgian Beers.

Italy: On pizza, beauty, tension and ruins...

Losing your baggage is quite the experience, I'm sure its happened to tons of people but this was my first time and it was pretty terrible. I don't think I did myself any favors by arriving being a little under the weather and having had like a total of five minutes to pack and think about packing and even think about the trip before leaving Miami. I worked until Wednesday at like six pm, and still took a work call Thursday with a flight looming in the horizon of the evening. So, the reality was I was not in my zen place before leaving. And that is my bad. I guess in four months when I have more money than I would otherwise have had, I'll look back and feel good about that. Anyways, we had no stuff for three days. And really the stuff wasn't the problem.  It was the inability to do any planning, and kind of not being sure if you had to be on call for the potential delivery of your stuff, or just being on top of the luggage handlers to see if there was any new information. Net, net, I am glad it happened, I think I had to deal with some nonsense early on and rock my confidence, in order to get my head right for the real challenges that are coming my way (India, I'm looking at you!) That said, I'm not going to glamorize these days and be like best travel experience ever! Not exactly.

It all worked out and I've learned a little bit about how I would plan for travel in the future.

So what did we do while the bags were being found or re-lost or whatever was actually happening there? Well we ate a lot of pizza and walked around Naples with one sick Iggy and an increasingly irritable Montero-contingent of the party. Mission one was to find something delicious to eat. And I think we did a pretty excellent job at that. Our Airbnb hosts glowingly endorsed a place around the corner called Pizzeria Oliva and we were not disappointed. So that was pretty excellent. Mission two was to get some clean drawers. This was more of a hurdle than one would suspect, there ended up being a flea-market type thing on the corner of the neighborhood we were staying where we were able to find some of the least comfortable tightest underwear I've ever had the displeasure of wearing. BUT, they were in fact clean. So that was good. Day two in Napoli was spent trying to find complementary clothes that could be worn while our luggage was re-lost, never found, etc.

All I wanted was a pair of shorts. This apparently was too tall an order. Not one place in the whole of Naples was still selling shorts. IT WAS NINETY DEGREES out. Which is wild to me. And just felt oh-so-un-American. I have money and a desire. How could I not get what we wanted or expected. Simple, silly American, in August we sell for the Fall. FML. So, on the clearance rack at the Adidas on via dei Umberto 1 there was one pair of shorts that were probably two sizes too big for me. But purchased they were, and worn they got. Phil on the other hand could not find anything that fit EXCEPT at the rock-bottom price of 120 euro in some deisgner boutique. Did I mention this all took about seven hours, and that I was clammy from my cold/flu/itis/contagion-virus and wearing the afore-mentioned suffocating Italian underwear (size XL, which might be a size S in the states). So this did not have any of us too please. All the while receiving no information about our baggage.

So the next day we thought we'd start our real tour of Napoli - other than the pizza, by which on the second day we were three stops deep on the tour. We slept in thankfully and got on a tour bus, about an hour in we received the news (well I called and tried to speak to a human at FCO for about an hour while on the tour to get the news) that our bags would be arriving back at FCO at five pm that day. They would deliver then after that. I asked: "When should we expect them in Napoli?" Lost Baggage Dudette: "Maybe three days time." (In a cheery voice)

So, we drove back to Roma and retrieved our luggage. I won't get into it , but there was a momentary scare where I could not see our bags in the lost luggage room. It was terrifying. Peggy had to sniff a bunch of anti-bacterial lotion just to make it through those tense moments.

So, that was that.

What have been the highlights thus far:

1. Quality time with Peggy and Phillip - I said this the last time we were in Italy and when we did our California road trip. But, its trip like these that really make me happy to have people like them in my life. Also, we should do more stuff together back home. Just, lovely.
2. Renting a Boat on the Amalfi Coast - This was pure bliss. I could not think of a better way to spend four hours
3. Pizza in Naples - I came here for the best pizza I'd ever had. I was not disappointed. Chewy, burnt, thin, amazing tomatoes, and the best buffala mozz I'd ever tried. True Perfection.
4. Wandering around and jogging in Roma - this continues to be a city that brings me joy in unexpected ways, I just love being here, and jogging in the centro storico or Villa Borhese just can't be topped. Unless it was shared.
5. The drive to Sorrento - this is not a drive for the faint of heart, or for those looking to get someplace quick in August. It was congested and it was slow and it was kinda scary. But, lord, it was beautiful
6. Dinner at Il Buco - Amazing service. The best scallops I'd ever had, and a bread basket for days.  Yes, please.
7. Hiking to Capri-town with Phil - This was an unexpected grueling workout in the peak of the day's heat. But when we got there. We were sweaty and accomplished. Also, we got to be kind of alone in Capri, which otherwise would have been pretty difficult.
8. Blue Grotto - Again, Capri is oversold and full of tourist. But, this experience was like nothing I'd done before. Well worth the wait and super weird, and of course bursting with Italian flair/culture/character personified by our boat operators.
9. Pompeii - Pretty epic. It could use some improved signage. But seeing frescos of ancient Romans doing it, made over 2000 years ago. Don't mind if I do. Also hearing the Italian tour guides having to mis-pronounce "Double Phallus" and make innuendo / double entendres in their thick accents was maybe some of the funniest shit I've ever heard.
10. The safety warning on the ferry to Capri - There was an entire section of the overview that dealt with how women should handle an emergency if they were wearing HIGH HEELs. I can only presume this is something that is only concern for beach bound or hike bound tourists in Italy. Kind of hilarious.

I left my family at the airport in Roma yesterday and put the pin on the Italy portion of the journey - It was a great time, I turned 32, and I ate my face off. I faced some travel inconveniences. But, I'm still here on the other side, excited about what the world is going to bring me over the course of the next 8 months.

Ciao.

Some parting images:

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