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Round-the-world conclusions, cliches, perspectives, and heated towel racks Dear Friends and Family, Ten months ago, a great odyssey began. It began on a Friday afternoon, with a struggling software company, an underappreciated software engineer, and a pink layoff slip. I had been unhappy for a while there, but at first was still quite shocked. I would now have to go out and find another job, in the worst job market since the last Bush was running this nation. It took me about four hours to get over my initial shock and come to my senses. In the ensuing 3 months, I applied to grad school, packed up all my belongings into storage, moved home to save expenses, and planned a great adventure. I was quickly convinced that it was infeasible to ski bum for the winter and then travel for the spring and summer, so I made my choice. You've been reading about that choice since I left for New Zealand at the end of November. There have been incredible high points, amazing cultural and self discoveries, and terrible low points. But the sum of all experiences has made for an incredible personal journey. You've read about most of my adventures in previous emails, so I'll just write about the final chapter here, as well as list some highlights, interesting facts, and spew forth a few cliches that you've probably read in every other traveler's homecoming email. After I left off in Slovenia, my process of re-Westernization began in earnest. Waiting in the Ljubljana airport for my flight to London, I started laughing out loud at all the English being spoken around me. It was partly that British accents sounded overly sophisticated at the time, but mostly shock at being surrounded by so many native speakers of almost the same language. I also discovered that while the British get ridden hard about their tendency to queue, it's a desirable cultural trait, as opposed to the rude Eastern European tendency to shove their way to the gate opening. Of course, this pales in comparison to the Asian habit of spitting on sidewalks. Eventually I pushed my way through to the plane, and arrived in London 3 hours later. After 6 months of mostly solo travel and decrepit guesthouses, it was great to visit two college friends. And after 6 months of challenges, the only dangers in London were that of expenses to my wallet, and the heated towel rack in Michio's posh apartment to my as-of-yet-unburned hand. With only three days to explore, a fellow explorer (Mike) with a semi-injured leg from 15 days of hiking 225 miles in the Pyranees (that's hardcore!), a ton of rain, and not much motivation, there was little to do but watch Wimbledon on TV and make a few half-hearted attempts to see London's sights. Nevertheless, there are so many sights in London compacted together that we actually did get to quite a few: Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Millenium Bridge, a dirty river, more bridges, Tate Modern Museum, Shakespeare's Globe, the tube, "mind the gap," St. Paul's Cathedral, and lots of drunk locals drowning their sorrows after losing the Football (Soccer) Eurocup. The next step towards reintegration into Western society coincided with a couple day visit with my grandparents and cousins in Washington, DC. I had a great visit with family, and had the luxury of a room to myself for the first time since leaving home. We saw monuments, went to a musical that cost more than some of my plane tickets, enjoyed the pool, and generally experienced a brief taste of la dolce vita. During this trip, I've survived land mines, cluster bombs, tuk-tuk drivers, crossing the street in Bangkok, Asian bus drivers, four-day sixty-mile hikes, canyoning, riverboarding, kayaking, food poisoning, and most scary of all, US airport security inspections. Regarding airports, it was interesting to note on arrival in DC that Caucasians went straight through US customs, while Asians and Arabs were sent to the "terrorist" line, to presumably emerge hours later. However, the tables were turned on my flight from DC to Santa Barbara, as I was singled out as a potential terrorist due to my one-way ticket, but curiously my extra security check seemed to be significantly shorter than that of the Arab man ahead of me. I've now returned to Santa Barbara and everything is the same, but quite different. I discovered that it took 6 months away to realize how much I truly love California. Obviously, most of my family and friends are spread along the Pacific coast, and you all rock! But more than that, there are few other places on this planet with so many laid-back beach towns, perfect weather year-round, friendly locals, Western resources, a healthy, anti-smoking culture, and the people and facilities to play beach volleyball and tennis. While always a beach-town kid at heart, I've discovered that I could also be very happy in a small mountain town, especially if it's in New Zealand. I've also reinforced my feelings of dislike towards big cities, mostly due to their overly fast pace and useless aggressiveness, with the notable exception of Budapest, which doesn't actually feel like a big city. I've also learned that my notoriously poor sense of direction has improved only marginally, and my next trip will require a GPS locator. In the meantime, I'll put it in my car so I stop getting lost in parking lots. Of course, my perspective on everything has changed. I've seen cultures similar and extremely different, and will no longer take anything (like electricity) for granted. I've had brief tastes of elite society and longer immersions in absolute squalor. I've seen world heritage cultural monuments and some of the best natural beauty on this planet. I've experienced Democratic, Communist, Christian, Buddhist, and despotic countries. I've seen societies built on subsistence farming, and societies built around the corporation. I can now truly understand that most of the world does not live the same way we do in our California beach towns. I've also lost my mom recently, and the last segment of my trip was a productive way to start dealing with my loss. This shock and loss is certainly the hardest to reconcile, but all these experiences have shattered my limited worldview, and I've begun the process of constructing a much broader understanding of this world. I've been back a couple weeks now, and have just started a summer job for the next two months before beginning grad school at Stanford. I've also done a lot of unpacking, sorting, cleaning, trying to catch up on emails (and failing), organizing photos, and beach volleyball. In addition to my current path towards Artificial Intelligence software engineering, I've added a few new potential careers to my wish list. A month in Europe is enough to convince anyone that America needs more castles, so I've decided I want to try my hand as an architect, as well as a travel journalist, photographer, tuk-tuk driver, rafting/skydiving/skiing instructor, bartender, and US President. Below is a list of interesting awards and statistics - the apparent disorganization is partly symbolic of the way highs and lows seem to jump out of nowhere, but mostly that it's just too much trouble to actually organize them... The world according to Josh: - Most exciting/longest plane ride: Diverting from Taiwan-US flight to Japan
for an emergency landing - Paradise on Earth: New Zealand - Most dishonest locals: Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Croatia - Times food poisoned: 3, in Laos and Thailand - Rudest locals: Dubrovnik, Prague - Best bumper sticker: Washington, DC: "The road to hell is lined with
good republicans" - Dirtiest food: Laos - Best gelato: New Zealand - Penguino's - Possible celebrity sitings: Steven Seagal, Bangkok Airport - Number of photos taken: 4,500 Future trips (hopefully): The last 8 months have been one hell of an adventure, and I want to thank everyone at home and abroad for making it such a great trip. Those of you from far away should feel encouraged to get in touch if you make it to California, and those of you nearby I hope to see soon. Otherwise, keep in touch cuz the travel bug just might send me in your direction on one of my future trips. If you don't remember who I am, you probably gave me a ride in New Zealand last year, and I apologize sincerely for 6 months of spam. This should be my last mass email for a long time. I'm currently catching up on sorting photos, and will send out the remaining shutterfly albums shortly. I've also started to set up a website with my travelogues and photo links at: http://members.cox.net/josh_daniel If you'd like high-res images of any photos I've taken, please let me know. Again, thank you all for your part in this great adventure, and I hope you've enjoyed my diatribes and photos. Until the travel bug strikes again, |