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Updated ABOUT Section
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Monthly Archives: April 2009
Inspirations and Influences
For awhile now, I’ve been wanting to recognize the sources that have inspired me and influenced our blog.
My family Whether by nature or nurture, I credit my family for my love of travel. If there’s a travel gene, I surely received it from a grandparent on either side, for all have been prolific travelers. Having lived in and visited dozens and dozens of countries on every habitable continent, they all have the travel gene. Its Grandma Shibata who always passed on her father’s wisdom: If you don’t get out and see the world, then you’re just like a frog in a well. Of course, if travel is an acquired taste that must be cultivated, then I credit my parents. Although neither of them has traveled as much as any of my grandparents, they always took us on family vacations. From local destinations like Yosemite and Mendocino to foreign places like the Caribbean and Polynesia, they taught me to enjoy and learn from traveling.
Past Travels Perhaps nothing encourages travel more than travel itself. The thrill of entering the unknown, experiencing a new place, meeting different people, and encountering foreign ideas is not only intoxicating, but addicting. I was only three amazing weeks into my first visit to India that I promised myself that I’d do some long term travel before settling down in my life.
Paul Theroux A great writer who has chronicled some truly amazing journeys. Theroux’s stories are always entertaining, insightful, and inspiring. Inspiring in the sense that I want to “do†many of his journeys; London to Tokyo and back by train, Cairo to Capetown overland, Massachusetts to Patagonia by train, a circuit of the Med, all over China. What I like most about his writing is it provides a candid perspective of travel, not exaggerated like so much travel writing. He writes of the boredom, the constant discomfort, and the loneliness of travel. At the same time, I can identify with his love of simple things people-watching, looking out train windows, or walking. Reading Theroux reminds me what travel consists of and why I love it.
Blog Influences
It seems that some people have the misconception that what we did was novel and unique. Sure, Americans don’t share the European, Australian, or Israeli traditions of a “gap year,†but we met tons of Americans doing the same thing as us. In fact, much of our research before and during our trip was focused on the blogs of individuals and couples doing RTW trips. While we compared FAQ’s, packing lists, and expense worksheets from dozens of blogs, there were only a few that we really followed with any frequency. Not surprisingly, these blogs also influenced me as I designed our blog.
Full Passport An old blog, but a great one. Wes and Jill’s blog is actually the first RTW blog we started looking at and one of the very best. They have tons of writing (daily diary entries), detailed country reviews, calendars, spending breakdowns, and lots of photos. I think what makes this blog great to explore is that they’ve seemingly gone everywhere and done everything- they traveled for 3 years and visited over 100 countries! I’m jealous.
Me-go: Around-the-World A blog covering a girl, Megan’s, second RTW trip. I liked this blog for its itinerary. While most blogs are South East Asia heavy, Megan went to places that most people don’t visit: Western China, the ‘Stans, India, the Middle East, and East Africa. Aesthetically, I really liked the overall organization, design, and feel, which I tried to emulate with our site (notably the random banners and clean-looking galleries, although I’m still trying to get our site as organized as hers).
Mom Say’s I’m Running Away It didn’t take too much research for me to realize that I don’t like reading most travel blogs; I just like looking a photos. Not only is this blog great because it is photo-heavy/writing-light, but the blogger, Rob, is an amazing photographer (the best photos I’ve ever seen on a travel blog). This blog influenced me to buy a dSLR rather than a compact camera and to make photos a big part of our blog.
The World is Not Flat There’s not too many RTW blogs by couples and there’s even fewer good ones. This is unfortunate because I find couples’ trips to be far more interesting than solo journeys. I think to some extent, we could identify with Lee and Sachi more than many solo travelers. Their writing resonated with me more and their blog gave me ideas on how to have a two-person blog.
A couple other blogs that we liked:
Six in the World Joylani followed the RTW travels of this family of six. And I thought getting the two of us around the world was a feat!
The Traveling Morans Entertaining sight, although their podcasts are the definite highlight.
What it takes to get settled
mid-march along the five, grapevine
Well, we are still settling. While there have been many interviews, neither of us has yet to land a job, and I find myself doing something I never thought I would: living with my in-laws. The plan was always to stay here when we first arrived home, but staying has definitely turned into living and Matt and I have claimed the little nook in the sunny corner of the upstairs, also known as his sister’s room. The walls are still baby blue, but we’ve taken down the last of the tennis team photos and stashed the bulletin board that is plastered in stickers and mementos safely in the closet for the time being. Our big bed takes up most of the room, but in what’s left of it we have room to maneuver over to the closet where (dramatic pause) we have what seems like a ton of clothes hanging–suits, dresses, all the things we haven’t needed but now we do.
I love being unpacked, walking downstairs to a well-stocked kitchen in the morning and throughout the day, and sleeping in not just the same bed every night, but my own bed. There are probably just as many things that both Matt and I miss about traveling as there are things that we are glad about being at home. It is a well known fact that you can’t have it all, but you can be happy with what you do have, and we are. (But that doesn’t mean we won’t take off again sometime…somewhere…later.)
There is a lot more that I would like to have happen before I can actually say “we are settled,†but most of that is pending on finding jobs, so it is just waiting to happen…like my plans to find a fabulous Danish sofa and expertly put together a homey apartment to put it in. In other areas, however, I feel pretty up-to-speed—something which all this time off (ha!) has contributed to. We finally made that first trip up to Arcata. I had already seen everyone in my family except for my dad, so with another week without work, and it being about time I saw him, Matt and I drove the six hours up to Arcata for a fun weekend with my parents and little sister. (Long drives are a lot different when you are the one who has to drive.) I also got a chance to finally meet up with my friend Melissa, who I hadn’t seen since the beginning of our trip in Europe. Between Hawaii, California, and two weddings, we have seen a lot of friends and family. It’s refreshing to be close, accessible, to them again.
Some days I despair that we will never find jobs, and other times (when I am done emailing out resumes) I absolutely love this continuum of open time to do whatever and keep hanging out with Matt during the day, enjoy sitting in my sunny spot on the corner of the bed, cook a meal, or take a walk in the hills. And I wonder how much longer I will be able to enjoy this. I hold on a little bit more appreciatively to the day I have, not sure when I will start working again. In the meantime, the weather is getting warmer and it has been nice to fully witness the change from one season to the next. The trees are full with new green leaves, and things are moving on.
And a few thoughts:
There are two things that I tend to do (or think about doing), and one that I marvel over.
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Collecting small change and bills. This was a necessity in several places we visited, and definitely so in Argentina. The habit carried over throughout South America, and now I find I still have a stack of ones in my wallet. Not to mention the coin pocket hat is bulging with quarters (good for the candy machines at Fry’s).
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Throwing toilet paper in the trash can. Also a necessity in South America. For my first month or so back home, I found myself giving a sideways glance and sigh each time I saw a trashcan next to a toilet. But now my exasperation turns to relief as I remember I don’t have to do that anymore.
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Hot water in the sink. I never realized how amazing this is until I didn’t have it for almost 2 years straight. It’s great. Sometimes I take an extra long time washing my hands just to revel in the novelty of hot water in the sink.
In the mean time, I’ve finally gotten the last of my South America posts up. You can read about what I thought about Copacabana, Mass on Christmas Eve, and Christmas in the hospital. Also, for those of you who remember our coke-drinking spree in South America, i wanted to share that I have tried coke just once since we have been back, and it’s just not the same. But I have had about twenty jillion cans of rootbeer to fill the gap.