Welcome!

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"Travel is the most private of pleasures. There is no greater bore than the travel bore. We do not in the least want to hear what he has seen in Hong-Kong."
- Vita Sackville-West

When I was very young and the urge to be someplace was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch. When years described me as mature, the remedy prescribed was middle age. In middle age I was assured that greater age would calm my fever and now that I am fifty-eight perhaps senility will do the job. Nothing has worked. ... In other words, I don't improve, in further words, once a bum always a bum. I fear the disease is incurable. - John Steinbeck

have always loved to travel. I liken it to an addiction. The more I get, the more I need. It's no longer a question of "Do I want to go?", but "When can I travel again?" When I finished university in '92, I took what was going to be my Last Big Trip. The last fling before I settled down and became a respectable member of society. I worked it out with my new company to give me the summer off, packed my bag and was off. Of course, it didn't work out as I had planned. I kept meeting all these people (Aussies especially) who, when asked, casually mentioned that they had been traveling "six months", "nine months", "three years". Three years? Is that possible? I tried to ignore the thought, but the idea had already taken hold.

My entire life, I had wanted to scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, hike the Himalaya in Nepal, climb the volcanoes in Indonesia, visit the Pyramids in Egypt, go on safari in Africa. The idea of visiting the tourist mobs around Europe yet again had lost all appeal by this time. I was as comfortable in Paris or Munich as I was in my own home town. I wanted Adventure, Interesting Places, Challenge. But now that I was a "responsible" employee working in the United States and receiving a measly two weeks of holiday a year, there was no way I could achieve those dreams before I was a very old man. But what, I thought, if I did it all in one shot?

Traveling is like flirting with life. It's like saying, 'I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station.' - Lisa St. Aubin de Teran

I enjoy my stories. Ask anyone who knows me, and they will back me up on this. The hard part is making me stop. I am not bragging when I speak, though others may think it so. It is the pure pleasure I receive in reliving the experience as I tell it to others. What, I asked myself, could be better than a trip around the Entire World? Just think, I drooled, of all the adventures I would return with. I would do everything I had ever dreamed of doing in my life. I would have the adventure of a lifetime. And even if no one else was interested in me droning on about the trains in Pakistan or the lions in Africa, just think how much I would enjoy telling those stories when I returned! How could I resist?

I also had another, more personal, reason to go. On each of my previous journeys, I always found changes in myself when I returned. Changes that I liked. I could see these changes only after I had returned and re-entered "normal" life again. Life on the road was far more intense than life at home. At home, I could go months at a time with nothing significant whatsoever happening in my life. But on the road, every day was more intense. I used to joke that I had a split personality. The "Traveler" was a risk taker. He would try anything no matter how crazy or impossible. He was extroverted, social, confident, adventurous, a charmer, anything was possible with him if he only set his mind to it. The "Nerd", on the other hand, was the complete opposite. Shy, pessimistic, picky, extremely predictable, he was the me I used to be. And yet each time I returned, I found a little more of the "Traveler" in me. If a month or two at a time traveling in such civilized regions as Europe and North America had this effect on me, what would a year or more around the Entire World effect?

All the above is, of course, a gross simplification. There are deeper reasons to travel - itches and tickles on the underbelly of the unconscious mind. We go where we need to go, and then try to figure out what we're doing there. -Jeff Greenwald "Shopping for Buddhas"

With these things in mind, I posted a message on rec.travel (before the split) on Usenet one day, shortly after starting my new job. This was five years ago, before Netscape, before Internet Explorer, before Mosaic even. There was no Web to search for journals. No home pages, no travel sites, only an ftp interface to the rec.travel archive where some people posted the first of many travelogues to go public. I asked the 'net how I could make this happen. I received a few basic responses. Then I received a response from Russell Gilbert. He had recently returned from his 10 month trip around the world with his wife Kathey. Over the next two years, he offered me many good words of advice and encouragement. Without his help, I perhaps would not have had the courage to take that next step. I also met many others through email. One very helpful person was Marc Brosius. At the time, he was busy working on his Round-The-World Travel Guide. I just received a postcard the other day from him, from India. He is still out there. One day, Russell sent me his printed journals (through snail mail!) and after reading them, the matter was sealed. I was going.

I won't bore you with the extended details of my preparations. If you're interested, look at the Details section.

Presenting...

So, these are my journals. I have edited them only to the extent of making them more readable and taking out some of the too-personal details. I have attempted to keep them as close as possible to my mood and impressions of that particular moment. As much as I would love to "garnish" this tale to make it more interesting, I have refrained. I think the truth itself makes a pretty good tale. Ugly at times, even embarrassing, but complete. But before you read, understand this: While I present my journals for public entertainment, I am also doing this is to aid others who wish to do a similar trip. So if the many prices, technical details, hotel names, etc. I include bore you as a reader, bear with me. Believe me, they will be found useful by those on their way to a similar journey. Also, don't look here for a detailed itinerary for your two-week holiday to Thailand. I'm a lousy tourist, and freely admit I miss many of the "must-see" places I visit. It simply is not why I travel. *shrug*

Disclaimer

I can guarantee that some readers will find errors in my explanations of various places. I do not pretend to be an authority on any region I passed through. Most information contained in these journals falls into one of three categories: Personal experience/impressions, hearsay (second-hand information from other travelers/guides/tourists), and entries from my travel guides. If you find a glaring error (please don't nitpick), I would be glad to include a note somewhere with the corrected information. I will not change the journals themselves - those are complete.

"Always take into account the mood of the writer."
-Jennifer Connolly

That same preface also contains a single line that really does sum everything up: "Some other places were not so good but maybe we were not so good when we were in them." Jeff Greenwald - Big World dispatch #20

I will be the first to admit that I am a very moody traveler. While preparing my journals for publishing, there were many parts that I would have liked to change before presenting them to you, the reader. I felt they would give an inaccurate impression of who I am or what I now feel about these places. But then I remembered something my sister wrote to me once, about how when you read any work of this nature, you must always take into account the mood of the writer at that time. If I insult your culture, your country, if I degrade a place or a people you personally hold precious, I only ask that you remember this and try not to be offended. If you still feel it necessary to flame me about the matter, feel free, I have a reasonably thick skin.

And now, on with the show.