Introduction

I’ve recently returned from a one year journey around the world.

The biggest year of my life has passed by in a blink and now I’m back home, adrift in its memories, lessons, thoughts and reflections. It’s a bit overwhelming, but I’ve been asked more than once to share some of this, so here I’ll do my best to convey what I’ve taken from it all.

In the future, there maybe more to come. There certainly is so much more to tell! In the meantime, I hope this will suffice as a taste of my adventures and a little heartfelt thanks.

It All Began a Bit Like This

Over a year ago I had this really cool job making a movie with the most wild and talented collection of artists from all over the world. These guys are good! And that job rocked. But it WAS all encompassing and the hours were long and the schedule was pretty intense. Add in that at this point I’d been living in one place for longer than I’d previously done in my entire adult life. Like a sailor or spaceman, I was beginning to find the world I lived in to be just too small! So when the project faced completion and the question of what came next arose, a pair of slightly itchy feet led me to the kind of irrational and impulsive (brilliant???) decision-making that I seem to thrive at. Enter an intriguing and worldly girl who drops in from the sky, as she passes through my city on her own trip around the globe! Now I’d met people that had done these types of trips before and I’d occasionally wanted it for myself, but I’d never really given this any kind of serious thought. So, when we hit it off and this lovely girl offered me an opportunity to join her on HER trip (in a lilting British accent of course), I didn’t really give that any serious thought either. It was a no-brainer! So I agreed.

HA! An amazing and half-baked decision that I would never live to regret. Within the month I bought a ticket good for a year and promising to bring me anywhere my fool-heart desired, under its 27,000 consecutive mile limitations. In the beginning I coordinated with said girl. In the end, I was closing my eyes and using my finger to find arbitrary dots on a map. No place sounded less than amazing, so why not? Within the following weeks, I wrapped up at work, I got my affairs in order (to the best that I order affairs), and then I set off. Because of so many logistics, the girl left the country a good deal ahead of me, but I gave her my number so we could meet up later...

As it turned out, I wouldn’t see her again until we caught up over lunch. In London. 11 months after that!

This is just one example of why I know this: When it comes to planning, I’m a master! I think it’s important for one to recognize their strengths. And this is an incredible asset which I possess, so I’m happy. These skills would surely come in handy on my ensuing adventures!

Thank You.

Along my way I met literally hundreds of people from all over the world who saw fit to share something big or small with me. Sometimes it was simply a good conversation, sometimes a wonderful home where I could stay. It’s extremely heartwarming to me to know of all the goodness that’s out there and I cannot possibly say enough to justly express it. All I can say is that it’s impossible to talk about my trip without recognizing the people who I shared it with. Without them there would be nothing much to talk about. It was them who compelled me to go on, enriched my experience, and made it all the more meaningful. It certainly wouldn’t have been the same without them and I most sincerely thank them all!

To the Sikh and to the scientist, the pro-soccer player and the river punter. To the concert pianist and the rally car racer, the mathe-mechanic, the architect, and the movie maker. To my Kiwi Christmas family. To the photographer, the teachers, and the perpetual students alike. To the journalist and the lovely movie critic, to the Russians in Egypt and the Swedish in Thailand. To the girls from Portland, one and all. To my old friends and classmates, discovered anew. To the Swiss dudes, the New Orleans tour guide, the engineer, the accountant and his entire flat, the archeologist, the barrister, the philosopher, and to the London copper. To the youth pastor and his wife. To the girl on the boat that time. To the nurse and his family in Flagstaff, AZ, the nanny in Cali, and the German translator in Northern Italy. To the maker of quiche, who was never once a pain in my ass! To the little babushka in Lisbon who ran the hostel on the hill, to all of the lost and found souls I encountered en route, and to the professional travelers who inspired my path. To all of you couch-surfers out there, official and unofficial. Thank you!

You shared your homes, your hearts, your families and friends, your inspirations and ambitions, your meals and celebrations, your beds, sofas, futons, cots, hammocks and floors with me. I’ve never felt so welcome as I often did with you. You showed me your compassion and your generosity. Many of you started out as complete strangers and it’s through your openness that I may find you now as my dear friends. You’re in my stories and my experiences of this year. I’ve taken more from you than you’d imagine and all I can promise in return is it won’t be soon forgotten. I have you in mind as I’m passing this on!

Some Stuff to Appreciate

Extravagant lattes and street-corner conveniences aside, I’m coming to truly appreciate some things about my life at home. Following my experiences, I’m beginning to note that which I often overlooked. The drinkable water which comes right from my tap, utensils such as forks and knives, or even the toilet paper with which I wipe my ass, have ALL taken on a meaning they hadn’t had before! Sure, they mean I’m at home in a life of modernity and convenience, but they also mean I’m blessed. These small things represent something greater. They embody a life in which I’m lucky and free. One in which I go where I like, express what I wish, choose what I eat, and worship or denounce whichever god or monster I fancy. And these are all privileges that didn’t have to be.

I was extremely fortunate, to embark upon the world speaking English and holding a western passport. I never asked for permission to visit any of the places I did. At most I might have filled out a form and purchased a visa. But I can’t say the same for many I met. The friends I made in other countries, the same ones who showed me their uncompromising hospitality, may not ever get the opportunity to visit my home. Depending on where they’re from, the citizenship they hold, the lottery which takes place, and the subsequent decision of governmental departments, they may or may not be granted admittance to my country or others around the world. Until I’d found these friends, I'd never had reason to think about my own freedom.

And what of the “language barrier?” Speaking English, I found this barrier to be more often than not, simply an obstacle. Of course not everyone spoke English. But as a general rule, those I encountered spoke a hell-of-a-lot more of my language than I did of theirs! None of this is something to be proud of or sorry for. It just is. And it’s based on something as arbitrary as the place I was lucky enough to be brought up. Fortuity is relative, but I am lucky by any standards. The language I speak and the country in which I live WERE my ticket to the rest of the world. Before I had been told these things and now I know them to be true.

The Things We Lose

This year has undoubtedly been one of the most significant in my life. I met so many, experienced so much, and took from it all I could. It has been a defining one for a lot of people. Rather unfortunately, while I happened to gain, others were losing. I know too many friends that faced the loss of a parent this year. Each one makes me so profoundly sad. I cannot imagine a much greater loss in one’s life and while it may be inevitable, at this stage it still seems so untimely and that much more tragic. I lost my father when I was in college. It’s been over eleven years now and it shocks me to realize that number. He and I were close and with him went my greatest guide through life and my most loyal friend. And yet, in all of the time that’s past, the significance of that loss still hasn’t fully occurred to me. A small bit is realized with each passing milestone and notable event . The gap it has left in my life and in my heart will never be filled. What I have come to do is to maintain that space and even cherish it. This is the place in which I safely keep my fondest memories, my greatest hopes, and my favorite dreams. Now I appreciate my family like I never have before. I live each day to make them proud and to share their love. I’m certain they know this, but it still bears repeating. And while I can’t say anything to those that lost to change a thing at all, I'd like to tell them this: I think of you more than you realize, because you remind me, not just of the things I’ve lost, but of all that I still have.

Tallies Are In!

Now, for those into tallies, I have something for you. 368 days, five continents, three oceans, 18 countries, 12 states, 55,295 miles (give or take a few!), one van, and six pairs of shoes later I‘ve returned home to Portland, Oregon, USA. I flew on 18 flights to get here. I traveled by bus, train, elephant, camel, subway, taxi, trolley, tuk tuk, rickshaw, and rode in one “Vanette of Power.” I went by motorbike, motorboat, long-tailed boat, short-tailed boat, felucca, kayak, bicycle and sometimes of course on foot. I drove 8392 miles back and forth across the United States in my trusty Honda Civic, accompanied by my even trustier black Labrador.

Among the highlights of my trip, I stood on the peaks of Northern New Zealand without my pants on, hiked the highest summit in Indo-China, and attended a Lao wedding! I walked the 116 degree deserts of Egypt in the middle of June, cursing my lack of foresight and overall poor planning, but I also hiked and swam the cliff-side coasts of the Italian Riviera at the perfect time of year. I rode a bicycle in the predawn hours to the temples at Angkor Wat and I was standing atop Mt. Sinai in Egypt when I caught my most enchanting sunrise. I had a magical bus ride into the north of Laos, guided by a thousand fireflies and the midnight moon. I rode a motorbike through the mountains of northern Thailand on my way to see Chang Mai. I walked among 2000 year old trees in the Kauri Forest and got lost in the jungles of Malaysia (twice!). I swam the chilly October rivers of Sedona with my dog on lazy afternoons. I silently noted my 30th birthday passing in the company of strangers, in Northern Vietnam, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way! I hiked through the Grand Canyon, from rim to rim. I learned the Arabic numbers and Thank You and Hello in about a dozen languages and then I promptly forgot it all upon exiting each country. For the better part of a year I lost complete track of what day it was and I hardly ever knew the time. I went to the movies and sampled the ice cream throughout the world. That was good! I discovered my favorite restaurant on the island of Koh Lanta, but I also had an exceptionally noteworthy piece of lasagna in Monterosso al Mare!


Not that it was all Thai iced teas and botanical gardens! There were those moments less than stellar… I got bed bugs. Twice. There were fire ants AND sand flies. I got leeches in my shoes. I chipped my tooth, got two foot infections, three bouts of incapacitating stomach illnesses, lost one toenail, passed out on a kayak (most probably as a result of heatstroke), and fell off of two motorbikes on separate occasions, once consequently but unremarkably visiting a Vietnamese hospital. I had a run-in with a pickpocket on a train in Italy and I was stopped and questioned by the Egyptian police. Monkeys bullied me into giving over my loaf of bread and I was scammed trying to walk across the border from Thailand into Cambodia. Unsurprisingly my luggage took an independent detour on it’s way back across the Atlantic and England gave me one hell of a time coming into Heathrow once it was all said and done! I also got a sunburn in New Zealand once.

All things considered though, it was a truly grand adventure! I like to think I tried nearly everything arrived upon and looked beyond each bend. I ate the buffalo, the bugs, the lizards, the frogs and the fish. I only said no to dog meat! I was trekking, kayaking, swimming, camping, hitch-hiking, snorkeling, surfing, canyoning, scuba diving, ice climbing, rock climbing, zip-lining, abseiling and jumping off of the cliffs of the world. In fact, for better or for worse, the only opportunities passed upon were smoking opium with a local hill tribe, having a snake killed in order to drink it’s blood and eat it‘s heart, shooting an AK-47, and marrying the tailor’s daughter in Hoi An! And should the suits I had made hold up, I may reconsider that last decision...

(*Continue on through November entries for some photos.)