TravelingOnce
a journal is designed, equipped and put in process, a new factor enters and
takes over. A trip, a safari, an exploration, is an entity, different from all
other journeys. It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness... We
find after yers of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us...Only
when this is recognized... do the frustrations fall away. In this a journey is
like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it. Short version: "The world is a book; those who don't travel read only one page" My five year, 65 country trip is at the bottom of page. More recent travels are on top... Miscellaneous Travel 2010 August: Burning Man July: Bozeman and surroundings... June -- July: Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama Jan -- Mar: Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. 2009 November: Anne Visits again! (ok, now we're talking!) September: Anne Visits Berkeley! (yay yay yay!) August: Burning Man July: Amsterdam, Cornwall/Devon with Anne 2008 April: Death Valley and back (no photos of flat tires...) June: Washington DC for Flights of Fire and TransforUs (Ashville, NC) August: Burning Man (yay!) 2007 January: Chicago ASSA Meeting June-July: Iceland, the UK and NYC Late July: Portland September: Burning Man October: Brussels, Prague and Passau December/Jan: New York and New Orleans 2006 January: Boston ASSA Meeting (ASSA means "Allied Social Sciences Association", but it's only for economists!) January: Yosemite Snowshoeing! February: Mt Lassen XC-Ski March: Three weeks in Cuba and Yucatan. [Comments] June: Hiking in Hetch Hetchy 2005: Busy! 15 air trips in 3 months (vs. 25 in 5 years on the road). Click on the SPONSOR or EVENT for info, the PLACE for photos.
2004 July: Peru & El Salvador Aug 11-17: Experimental Economics Workshop at George Mason University and DC ( Xmas/New Years: Paris & Amsterdam 2003 Jun 19-25: Free Market Environmentalism summer school at PERC. Here's a photo.
I traveled for five years (April 1995 to April 2000) to about 65 countries in Europe and Asia. I wanted to travel because I was curious about the world and felt that being there is a lot more informative than reading or viewing information about a country (especially when one considers the role of editing!). I traveled most of the time but went back to the States twice (for three weeks and two months), each time after about 18 months of travel. Money? I budgeted, saved, and spent about $50,000 (or $10,000/year or $30/day as a rule of thumb) on the trip. I invested all this money in the stock market before I left and returned with more than I started with! This was an excellent example of a "free lunch." Some may argue that I would have made more both working and not spending my money, but I tend to think that travel is better than work and the stock market lost a lot of dot-com gains right after I returned (taking my early retirement dreams with it!). It was a sort of free lunch followed by proof that free lunches don't last for long! Click here for trip statistics. The hardest part of the travel was deciding to go. The best part was people. The worst part was the mail service (I found internet everywhere). Every country was interesting in a way; every country gets better as memory of past horrors fade. My favorites were Egypt, Hungary (rather, Budapest), India, Israel (rather, Jerusalem), Italy, Laos, Kirgizstan, Madagascar, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Spain, Turkey, and Yemen. I missed Iran and Iraq. I wasn't sick very often. Someone asked me what I learned in five years. I learned that parents love their children. The rest of my experience was about coping with me, what I wanted, what I couldn't get and why that hardly mattered. Photos and rants are complementary pages from the big trip. Photos are probably more relaxing to view; rants may elicit your frustration - either because you disagree with my "crazed" views or, worse, if you agree with how bad some things are. I still have three years of travel left (Africa, C/S America, Malaysia and south). |
