People ask what my blog is about and I don't have a good answer as it's not just about travel, the obvious response given the extent of my travels, but I think adventure, humor, story telling (the chronicles of my life and actually remembering it), self deprecation, societal commentary, or any number of other terms could work. Or perhaps, as the blog is entitled "Turning Right on Red," it's about opportunism.
Although I am back in the U.S., away from the excitement of foreign cultures and travels, this dog hasn't yet kicked it's last bone (is that something people say?) What I mean to say is that my adventures continue in the U.S. and hopefully this blog won't get too boring.
Take my recent 1200 mile road trip from Shelburne, VT to Atlanta, GA, I had a Peruvian chicken adventure in NYC, snow storm in Washington D.C. (AKA the apocalypse for people down there not used to driving in the snow), spinning embarrassment in Charlottesville, and an adventure getting lost in Burlington NC and ending up at Papa Jon's (probably a semi-bad place inside of another semi-bad place) at 1 in the morning. That was followed by a horrible night sleep where the pipes froze in my friend's Chapel Hill house (probably rare for weather to be that cold there) as I tried to sleep on a tiny couch with a thin blanket and strange breathing problems. I'll elaborate on two of the potentially more interesting pieces:
1. Peruvian chicken
My friend Dave and I decided to go to the Upright Citizen's Brigade comedy show in NYC last weekend. It's a free show but you have to get there early to score a lottery ticket for the 9:30 evening show. We arrived early enough, around 6:45, but at the 8:15 drawing we fell 3 people short of the first 110 people to get in. This was particularly frustrating considering it was freezing as we waited in line and would have made it if five minutes before the drawing maybe 20 friends of the people waiting in front of us probably showed up and took the spots. This detail about frustration is important for the next part of the story.
Because we were so close we decided to wait in the standby in the hopes that some friend or family member of the cast who had reserved tickets wouldn't show up. This meant another hour and fifteen minutes of waiting in the freezing cold. Cold like you don't want to take your gloves off to text cold. Since we hadn't eaten any dinner Dave went to get some Peruvian chicken nearby and luckily we ended up getting into the show and sneaking our bag of food in with us! Immediately upon entry however we were told there was no eating allowed. We tried to behave but by half time (around 10:30) and having not eaten all night we were just too hungry. I kept nervously darting with my eyes looking out for the staff coming around as Dave cut out small morsels of delicious chicken for us to share.
We forgot just how aromatic this chicken below our seats was as after opening it for a few minutes and putting it away, the pungent smell still filled the air of the small basement-e comedy lounge. When the troupe came out they immediately commented that it smelled liked Mexican food or tacos. "Who's eating tacos in here?" one of them yelled. As we tensed in our seats and tried to look unfazed, the troupe started putting their noses to the ground making hound dog like noises. "Reveal yourself!" Yelled the lead actor. I was very tense and didn't want to get kicked out so we nervously kept quiet wondering whether our neighbors who obviously knew it was us would give us away. In the end we got away with it but we probably should have admitted it. Perhaps we should have placed the chicken on the front of the stage proudly, and given everyone more of a laugh, but these people are very clever and quick and basically jump on anybody who "participate" at the show and make you look stupid. Needless to say it was a really funny show and perhaps as important, a great chicken dinner.
2. Charlottesville spinning
I've never done spinning in my life. It always looked stupid, why go on a stationary bike with a bunch of other jabronis and some silly person directing you on a mic in the front? It's always seem to me like something you do if you live in the suburbs or too far from a mountain. When I showed up Charlottesville and my friend was going to the gym I decided to join since I had been sitting in a car driving all day. I thought the free Zumba class would have been a better thing to try but she convinced me that spinning was actually a great work out and my mantra is always try things once.
I was surprised thirty minutes later to find myself sweating through my shirt being told to imagine a big overlook "at the end of this hill." I regretted leaving my water in the car. As the instructor yelled through her mic (that part was as I had pictured it) "are you lucky?" Who's a lucky guy?" and Rod Stewart's "Some guys have all the luck" 80's tune blared in the background, I got off the bike to get some water. As I walked to the water fountain I actually almost fell down from dizziness. The corners of my vision started getting blurry and I snuck out through the back door to go fall down outside the classroom on a bench. I tried to get up twice and had to wait. It was ridiculous and embarrassing as I didn't feel like I was that tired. I realized the dehydration got to me. I got back to the class for the last ten minutes and I don't know if people noticed.
I think I could be an honorary member of the not-so upright citizen's brigade.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Friday, January 17, 2014
Looking Back On a Year of Travel
Coming back home has been interesting process. A lot of people express jealousy about my travels and I think it's funny because the prerequisites for travel are having a little money, time, and perhaps most importantly, the willingness to make it happen. Doesn't seem that hard.
As my travels come to an end I have two main thoughts. 1) Everybody who dreams of quitting their job and traveling for awhile and seeing new things might not be wrong and 2) Traveling for an extended period of time is difficult. I think about the economic diminishing law of returns which suggests that the more you have of something the less good it is. Unfortunately, I did feel like I should have appreciated everything more than I did but after you've seen 5 great waterfalls the 6th isn't normally as good. Similarly, anyone who's visited Asia probably experiences "temple fatigue" and the parallel example of safari fatigue in Africa. Each non-cheetah or other rare animal, like a boring old zebra or baboon for example, became less interesting. Then there's the plain old tourism fatigue. While I enjoyed Thailand overall for example, certain parts of the "tourist" atmosphere also got me- always being around people with cameras, being attacked by hawkers with random trinkets, always trying to avoid being ripped off, avoiding big crowds, feeling like what you're seeing is not that unique, the list goes on.
Then there's just the general annoyance of moving around all the time and figuring out logistics for each country. For example, while Thailand hardly looked at my passport when I entered the country, China gave me a hard time about their new 72 hour transit free visa program (which even their own Embassy in London couldn't tell me about and their call help line had no way to get in a queue for). I also was held up at the airport in China when leaving for not having registered my presence at a local police station while I was there, that was scary that they figured it out. These type of travel annoyances though are really kind of silly when you think about the fact of how lucky you are to even be traveling internationally.
My first year at Equal Exchange I remember having 15 days off, and those few vacation days were precious -even if it just meant staying in Boston. Now I have months of international travel behind me and being in one place sounds kind of good. I know how much I will kill for even a weekend at a tropical beach somewhere in a few months time when I'm back sitting behind a desk. But honestly, two weeks in Thailand was nothing compared to the ridiculous number of backpackers I met traveling for 2-6 months or even longer. Of course hardly any of these people were American, poor America, we just don't take off our chains so easily.
I met probably three Dutch people for every American (a population of about 17 million compared to our roughly 317 million). But I also think if I was alone for that amount of time traveling like so many of these people are, I would go crazy. Sure you can meet people on your trips as I did in Thailand. This is of course an important part of travel but not the same as traveling with a girlfriend or best friend from home with whom you share a unique experience. Chris McCandless from Into the Wild in his last living hours writes in his journal "happiness only real when shared" and I couldn't agree more.
As my travels come to an end I have two main thoughts. 1) Everybody who dreams of quitting their job and traveling for awhile and seeing new things might not be wrong and 2) Traveling for an extended period of time is difficult. I think about the economic diminishing law of returns which suggests that the more you have of something the less good it is. Unfortunately, I did feel like I should have appreciated everything more than I did but after you've seen 5 great waterfalls the 6th isn't normally as good. Similarly, anyone who's visited Asia probably experiences "temple fatigue" and the parallel example of safari fatigue in Africa. Each non-cheetah or other rare animal, like a boring old zebra or baboon for example, became less interesting. Then there's the plain old tourism fatigue. While I enjoyed Thailand overall for example, certain parts of the "tourist" atmosphere also got me- always being around people with cameras, being attacked by hawkers with random trinkets, always trying to avoid being ripped off, avoiding big crowds, feeling like what you're seeing is not that unique, the list goes on.
Then there's just the general annoyance of moving around all the time and figuring out logistics for each country. For example, while Thailand hardly looked at my passport when I entered the country, China gave me a hard time about their new 72 hour transit free visa program (which even their own Embassy in London couldn't tell me about and their call help line had no way to get in a queue for). I also was held up at the airport in China when leaving for not having registered my presence at a local police station while I was there, that was scary that they figured it out. These type of travel annoyances though are really kind of silly when you think about the fact of how lucky you are to even be traveling internationally.
My first year at Equal Exchange I remember having 15 days off, and those few vacation days were precious -even if it just meant staying in Boston. Now I have months of international travel behind me and being in one place sounds kind of good. I know how much I will kill for even a weekend at a tropical beach somewhere in a few months time when I'm back sitting behind a desk. But honestly, two weeks in Thailand was nothing compared to the ridiculous number of backpackers I met traveling for 2-6 months or even longer. Of course hardly any of these people were American, poor America, we just don't take off our chains so easily.
I met probably three Dutch people for every American (a population of about 17 million compared to our roughly 317 million). But I also think if I was alone for that amount of time traveling like so many of these people are, I would go crazy. Sure you can meet people on your trips as I did in Thailand. This is of course an important part of travel but not the same as traveling with a girlfriend or best friend from home with whom you share a unique experience. Chris McCandless from Into the Wild in his last living hours writes in his journal "happiness only real when shared" and I couldn't agree more.
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| Looks like a different person in this photo |
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| Washed out and ruined passport, there were no open spaces left anyways |
Monday, January 6, 2014
Accomplishments
11 years after my study abroad year in Belgium, I returned last week to celebrate Christmas with my old host family. The cold that I predicted after Thailand was/is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be (although cold rain sucks, and there's been a lot of that - Belgium has the worst weather). As predicted, I forgot about some of the names of people I knew and even about trips to Amsterdam and other events. I have a horrible memory, but that's why it's good to go back.
I celebrated (as in struggled to not fall asleep before midnight) New Years in Grenoble, France with friends. We decided to look back on the year and make resolutions, something I usually don't always do. But 2013 was a pretty massive year for me. I once peed into a volcano in Guatemala. I once peed into both the Mississippi and the Potamac River in the same day (a one day field trip in College to Washington D.C. from Minnesota). I can now add peeing on the Alps and more impressive in my opinion, peeing off of the Great Wall of China (see pic. below, no not of me peeing, but of me at the Great Wall of China).
Maybe it's more of an accomplishment though that I've somehow now gone almost 5 weeks without a phone ever since it was stolen during that dubious end of Uganda time. I've gotten used to living without Google Maps, Whatsapp, and email at my fingertips every moment. It is refreshing and while it is a pain meeting up with friends especially, it's not as bad as I would have thought. Being home I am sure it will be somewhat different.
London was my last stop. I am now finally off to the States, leaving tomorrow. It's a bittersweet moment but hopefully new adventures await me back in the US of A. What am I looking forward to most about being back?
*Being able to cook at home in a real kitchen again and not eating out all of the time as I have been doing for several months
*Driving my car (didn't think I would really miss it but I do)
*Playing music (piano)
*Fast and reliable internet
*Being in one place and having a real home again
*Good filtered or manual brew coffee. Basically anything but espresso (not that I don't like espresso it's just that it seems like it's only the US where getting a non-espresso coffee is so easy)
*Not having to use a power adapter anymore, OK this one's weak, I know
I celebrated (as in struggled to not fall asleep before midnight) New Years in Grenoble, France with friends. We decided to look back on the year and make resolutions, something I usually don't always do. But 2013 was a pretty massive year for me. I once peed into a volcano in Guatemala. I once peed into both the Mississippi and the Potamac River in the same day (a one day field trip in College to Washington D.C. from Minnesota). I can now add peeing on the Alps and more impressive in my opinion, peeing off of the Great Wall of China (see pic. below, no not of me peeing, but of me at the Great Wall of China).
Maybe it's more of an accomplishment though that I've somehow now gone almost 5 weeks without a phone ever since it was stolen during that dubious end of Uganda time. I've gotten used to living without Google Maps, Whatsapp, and email at my fingertips every moment. It is refreshing and while it is a pain meeting up with friends especially, it's not as bad as I would have thought. Being home I am sure it will be somewhat different.
London was my last stop. I am now finally off to the States, leaving tomorrow. It's a bittersweet moment but hopefully new adventures await me back in the US of A. What am I looking forward to most about being back?
*Being able to cook at home in a real kitchen again and not eating out all of the time as I have been doing for several months
*Driving my car (didn't think I would really miss it but I do)
*Playing music (piano)
*Fast and reliable internet
*Being in one place and having a real home again
*Good filtered or manual brew coffee. Basically anything but espresso (not that I don't like espresso it's just that it seems like it's only the US where getting a non-espresso coffee is so easy)
*Not having to use a power adapter anymore, OK this one's weak, I know
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| Getting to the gondola that transfers us to the slopes in the Alps with friends |
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| Natural History Museum of London Aviation exhibit |
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| Confucious' Temple, Beijing, China |
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| Former Belgian host mom Dominique with new(ish) grandson Loue |
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Thailand continued
Besides all the foreigners going to party and do things like drink mushroom shakes in Thailand, I found Thailand annoying for all of the people trying to scam me and take my money. But when I heard from others who traveled to Vietnam and Camboda, I realized Thailand was tame (just perhaps worse than East Africa). Apparently one common Visa scam in Cambodia involves taxis bringing unsuspecting tourists to totally fake government houses where people pay a lot of money for fake paperwork that gets them nowhere. This is elaborate and goes further than anything I encountered in Thailand or elsewhere. Thailand is definitely more set up for tourism, I encountered a fair amount of dishonesty, manipulation, and flat out lies that surprised me. For example, there was a tuk-tuk driver who told me the famous Grand Palace was closed because monks had gone to pray (I knew this wasn't true). Of course for a small fee they would take me to another great nearby site and back just in time for when I knew the Grand Palace would be closed. Another lie involved a "tourist information center" where we were promised cheaper train tickets (not usually a believable promise). The woman there tried to convince us to take the more expensive VIP bus because the protests in Bangkok meant everyone was "panicking" and trying to leave the city so the train would be full. Since I was at the protests I knew this was a lie.
Happy ending massages are another part of Thailand people know about. While I didn't experience this personally there I was proposed a "special message" for a slight $30 increase to my $10 hour long masage. I wondered how negotiating prices works in this case and how awkward that would be.
I had a quick 60 or so hours in China, visited my bro, and after considering a few different touristy options (the Forbidden City, the Lama Temple, Tianamen Sq., etc.) I decided to do a hike with Beijing Hikers on the Great Wall as this would be a more unique experience. The wall where we were was more authentic, not really together in many places, and we got a bonus of learning how to make dumplings afterwards followed by a dumpling making competition (needless to say my recent accomplishments did not winning this).
Beijing reminded me in a strong way that it's actually winter time now. It will be a long time before it's warm again...damn.
Happy ending massages are another part of Thailand people know about. While I didn't experience this personally there I was proposed a "special message" for a slight $30 increase to my $10 hour long masage. I wondered how negotiating prices works in this case and how awkward that would be.
I had a quick 60 or so hours in China, visited my bro, and after considering a few different touristy options (the Forbidden City, the Lama Temple, Tianamen Sq., etc.) I decided to do a hike with Beijing Hikers on the Great Wall as this would be a more unique experience. The wall where we were was more authentic, not really together in many places, and we got a bonus of learning how to make dumplings afterwards followed by a dumpling making competition (needless to say my recent accomplishments did not winning this).
Beijing reminded me in a strong way that it's actually winter time now. It will be a long time before it's warm again...damn.
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| New friends traveling in Southern Thailand |
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| Traveling Monkeys! |
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| On the way to Ko Lanta |
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