Time to Go!!!
Don't Waste Your Time in Wilderness
3/29/2008 2:28:00 PM - Day 12 - Wilderness, South Africa
I got to wake up to this each morning. View from my dorm bed.
I'm just about to leave Wilderness (read city review), after spending a couple of days here. The only reason I decided to come to Wilderness was because it had an appealing name and was on the way to Storm's River. I knew I should have listened to the people who were at my previous hostel when they said to skip this place and instead go to Buffalo Bay. It wasn't like it was horrible here, but I would have rather have used this time elsewhere. You win some, you lose some.
Nothing much happened here. Wilderness is a small beachside town with not much to do but hangout on the beach, which wasn't much of a possibility though when I was there since it was so damn windy and cold. I walked around town a bit and got some work done. Each night I had a couple beers over the bonfire at my hostel, the Beach House (read hostel review)while conversing with fellow travelers. The best part was getting to wake up each day to a view of the ocean though from my bed, even if it was inside an eight person dorm. It was enlightening to get a small taste of what real success would be like, possibly waking up each day to the waves crashing in front of my toes. Thoughts like this only serve to continually motivate me to succeed.
I'm out of here today to head to Storm's River to do the world record bungee jump off of Bloukrans Bridge, which also happens to be the highest single span arch bridge in the world. I can use the excitement after the past few days!
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Here fishy, fishy, fishy
Shark Bait
3/25/2008 7:17:46 PM - Day 8 - Hermanus, South Africa
I nearly pooped my pants taking this pic!
Hermanus (read city review) has been an awesome experience to say the least. Early yesterday morning I got on the Baz Bus service (I highly recommend using this if you are traveling thru South Africa) which I booked from my hostel in Cape Town and it dropped me off about 30 minutes out of town where I was picked up by a shuttle from the hostel I was going to be staying at, Hermanus Backpackers (read hostel review). I hadn't sooner dropped my backpack on the floor in front of my bed when the guy who was working at the desk, Braham (a grizzled Boer who has probably seen his fair share of excitement) told me that a tour was going out to a township in the next five minutes, and asked me if I wanted to join. Why not?
Soon I was on my way to the local Township with two of my fellow hostellers for an unforgettable experience. I was a little nervous going to a Township in South Africa, considering how much crime goes on down there, and the girl who was coming along on the tour did nothing to alleviate those apprehensions. She had just spent the previous three months working as a volunteer EMT in Johannesburg and told me some hellish stories of calls that she had to go on that included everything from child sacrifice to mass murders. Great.
I had faith in the hostel. First off, this wasn't Johannesburg. Second, I really doubt the hostel was going to send us somewhere that was going to be really dangerous. It isn't too good for business when your patrons get sacrificed by some witch doctor. Third, we were going to meet up with a guide who was going to show us around, and from what I understand, when you're with a guide, chances are you're going to be ok.
Braham dropped us off in ground zero at one of the few bastions of a house that was owned by our guide, Jimmy. Jimmy was a short black guy, probably 5'3 who was a bit older and walked around with a cane and presence that demanded respect. The kind of guy you would want to show you around a dangerous place like a township. He started off by telling us the history of our particular township and the reasons why they are so impoverished.
According to Jimmy, this particular township had an 80% unemployment rate! Damn!!! I thought having 6% back home was high, but this was unbelievable. Jimmy stated that the only thing people wanted around here was to work. They didn't care what they were doing, as long as it comes with a steady paycheck. He said that it is an unspoken rule around the township not to ask how anyone is making their money since it is common knowledge most people aren't working, yet somehow, they are still paying the bills. Jimmy also said that crimes within a township against other members of the township are punished severely by Township justice. I read stories about people in Townships getting "ringed" as punishment, that's when they put a tire around someone's neck and light it on fire.
Jimmy walked us thru the entire township and the whole tour took a couple of hours. The entire time kids were running up to us asking to have their pictures taken. It was the cutest thing ever. A group of four or five youngsters would run up, jump in front of us and yell "cheeeeeese!" It's nice to see that regardless of the living conditions and circumstances someone has to live with, it is still possible to find happiness and enjoyment. The living conditions were pretty bad too. Most people lived in little shacks that I was told takes only a couple of hours to put up. When I say little shack, I mean pieces of tin strung up together to create something that resembles a box that is just big enough to put a single bed in and give you somewhere to sit.
At the end of the tour, a few of my perceptions on the world had changed. First off, it really gave me a better appreciation for the lifestyle we are lucky enough to enjoy back home in the United States. Most people don't have a fucking clue how lucky they are to live in the USA. Also, my perception on the homeless back home and any highly developed country has changed as well. This doesn't pertain to those homeless who are living on the streets because of some mental or physical handicap, I am talking about the homeless who have some sort of hard luck story that is absent of any type of handicap. They can all kiss my ass.
Here I am, in the middle of a township that has 80% unemployment. Where people would do ANY type of work they can find. They don't care if they are cleaning the shit out of toilets or serving burgers at a fast food restaurant, anything! It doesn't matter as long as it includes a steady paycheck. The level of government assistance is close to non-existent so they have nothing to fall back on when the shit hits the fan. No shelters, no government aid programs, nothing. Nothing close to what people get in developed countries like the United States. Back home, if you want to work, you'll work. There is always a job out there for those who are willing to work. Why do you think we have so much illegal immigration? It's because they can find work that Americans aren't willing to do. Besides that, I know the United States, there are programs out there to help homeless people find jobs and get back on their feet. They may not be the most glamorous jobs that pay a ton of money, but hey, it's a fucking job and I guarantee you that 80% of the people in that township would give anything to have the same level of assistance. I know that if I found myself in a shitty situation living on the street, I'd be the first person filling out applications for the local fast food restaurant making full use of all the government aid programs. If someone back home in the USA isn’t willing to do the same, but instead opts to ask for money from a street corner, they better have one hell of a reason otherwise they can ask somewhere else because they aren't going to get any underserved sympathy from me.
After the township, we all headed back to the hostel. The hostel was a pretty enjoyable place. I played a couple of games of pool, had a beer or two, and called it a night because I had a big day coming up. I was going to go swimming with Great White Sharks.
I woke up bright and early the next morning and soon found myself in a shuttle with a group of fellow daredevils on our way to Gansbaai, which has the highest concentration of Great White Sharks in the world. We got to our tour operator, had breakfast and were soon rapidly coasting across the water on our way to Dyer Island and Shark Alley.
Once we got to our desired location, we all suited up and waited for the sharks to come. The tour operators began throwing chum (blood and fish parts) into the water to attract the sharks. This practice is frowned upon by the surfing community since there is evidence that this creates a connection for the sharks between food and humans, which can lead to higher amounts of Shark attacks, and is therefore illegal to do in a lot of parts in the world, including the United States. After throwing a good amount of chum in the water, they threw a rope with a bundle of dead fishes attached at the end into the water and waited for the sharks. Soon the first one showed up, and then a couple more. It was now time to get into the cage.
The cage was actually attached directly to the side of the boat, and wasn't the kind of cage that you see in movies that simply drops into the middle of the water since those kinds of cages require you to have a diving license. With this one, the shark arrives and you go under water with goggles and watch the shark ravage the fish. This cage was super small though, and was so small that it was really difficult to keep all your limbs inside the cage when you were in it. It was pretty nerve wracking since you never knew which way a shark would be coming from, so it was very important to keep all your limbs in the cage otherwise you risked getting dismembered. What a rush!
They threw the bundle of dead fish into the water and we waited in the cage for the sharks to show up, and boy did they show up! The first shark jumped halfway out of the water. A couple sharks later went berserk trying to get the fish off the line and ended up biting on the cage, within inches of my face! Having one of the most lethal predators in the world inches away from you with nothing but a dinky little cage separating you from those rows and rows of serrated teeth will be something that I will never forget. I came up for air and was ecstatic! This is what I signed up for, and having the shark get that close to me creating that sense of danger was amazing!
After we were done with the sharks, the operator took us around the area which included seeing all the seals that were on a nearby island (which is what attracts the sharks to begin with) then we stopped off right off the coast of a nearby beach because we spotted a shark in the water just chilling. It was probably about 400 feet off the beach coast. This is one beach I don't plan on going to any time soon.
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Wow, I'm in Africa
First Stop: Cape Town, South Africa
3/23/2008 8:17:46 AM - Day 6 - Cape Town, South Africa
Posing it up in Hout (not "half" as I originally thought) Bay.
Cape Town, South Africa. The first stop on a round the world trip that I have planned for the last four years, and what a stop it was. As soon as I stepped foot onto African Soil, I could feel the resonance of a feeling I once had, a feeling of the unknown, a feeling of excitement, a feeling of adventure. The air was damp and warm, the sky just a faint hue of purple and pink heralding the coming sunrise. I was bleary eyed but resilient. I tried my hardest to ready myself for this trip, but as I have learned, it is impossible to ready yourself for something that you have no idea about.
The plane ride there was long and tiring. I flew from my hometown of San Diego into San Francisco, from San Francisco to Frankfurt, Germany, and after an eight hour layover, to Cape Town, South Africa. I left on a Tuesday, and arrived on a Thursday. Needless to say, I was tired, I was disoriented, and at that point, after getting almost no sleep (I understandably had a lot on my mind), I was only running on adrenaline thanks to the excitement of being somewhere new, and not only new, but Africa! The cradle of fucking civilization! Being the cradle of civilization, Africa (at least Sub-Sahara Africa) seems to have been the most reluctant in getting out of the cradle in regards to infrastructure, and I was soon going to learn the meaning of the phrase "hey, it's Africa…".
I walked into the passport control center of Cape Town International Airport along with the rest of the people on my plane to find a long, long, long line of people waiting to get through customs. It seems that the entire computer system they normally used to check people through had gone down and they were forced to check everyone in by hand. Hey, it's Africa. Before I left on my trip, I made sure to check the entrance requirements for South Africa, and one of the requirements was that you had to have an onward ticket (as if I planned to stay). I did some research, and it seemed like a toss of the coin as to when they enforced this rule. Sometimes people got through customs just fine with no ticket, other times, they didn't. I decided to try my luck since I wanted to have as much freedom as possible on my travels.
I got up to the front, and was greeted by a round barrel of a woman who had the typical, un-friendly demeanor of most bureaucrats. I said hello with a big smile on my face, and handed her my passport. She looked it over, looked over the customs entrance card I filled out on the plane, then asked to see my onward ticket. Fuck! "I thought I didn't need an onward ticket. My travel agent said I didn't need one". I never used a travel agent. In a condescending manner, she replied "Don't you check the entry requirements of the countries that you travel to?" Yes you stump of a bitch, I check the fucking entry requirements. I was hoping to have someone friendly who would let me pass through, but I tossed the coin, and it came up asshole. She motioned for her supervisor who then pulled me aside, had me walked to the nearest South Africa Airways desk, where I had to buy a ticket on the spot. I chose Dar as Salaam, Tanzania as the destination on the 22nd of April, thus giving myself a little over a month to travel through South Africa. Soon I was through Customs, and eventually found my airport transfer that the hostel had arranged, and was on my way to my hostel, Cape Town Backpackers.
On the way to the hostel, we drove through what looked like some pretty rough areas. When I say they looked rough, I mean hundreds upon hundreds of steel shacks mashed next to one another with nothing but dirt walkways in between. I asked the driver if these were "townships?" He said yes. Townships were the areas that all the blacks who worked in the city were put in during the Apartheid in South Africa. Very run down areas on the outskirts of the town. Now that Apartheid is over, they still live there and since there is so much poverty and unemployment (even though Apartheid is over), the areas are still extremely high in crime. I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions about South Africa. Everyone seems to think that it is a safe country for some reason. I don't know why, maybe because it is extremely westernized and is the only country in Africa with a huge white population (playing off ignorance here). Whatever the case, the misconception couldn't be farther from the truth.
South Africa has one of the highest crime rates on the planet. Look at any list of the "Top 10 Most Dangerous Cities in the World" and I guarantee you that there will be at least a couple South African cities on there, with Johannesburg always being in the top three, if not the number one most dangerous city on the list. These lists don't take into account cities that are in the middle of warzones, only cities that are at "peace" (if you can call it that). Knowing this, I made sure to talk to the hostel staff about what was safe to do in the area, and what wasn't. One rule that you never break: "Don’t walk around after dark". If you are going to be out after nightfall, say at the bars or clubs, then you always take a cab home. Otherwise, you're pretty much guaranteed to be mugged. I personally met a couple travelers myself during my stay in Cape Town who had their own dealings with crime. My personal favorite was an English Guy named Smithy.
Smith has done some traveling, and he thought that for the most part, all the bad news you hear about a city in regards to danger is usually blown out of proportion (this is usually true). Thinking this, he thought this rule also applied to South Africa, and more specifically, Cape Town (this is not true). With this rational, he decided he wasn't going to follow the "rules" for the area, and walk around when and where he pleased. He found out the hard way this wasn't true. Before he could even walk around at night, Smithy went walking down Long Street, one of the touristiest streets in Cape Town, during the middle of the day and was mugged at Knife Point. Luckily for him, he was mugged before he could follow thru with his plan to walk around at night to the local bars because if that had happened, who knows what would have happened to stupid ass Smithy.
I heard stories like this all the time during my first week in Cape Town. Those, along with the travel warnings I read from my government and the advice I got from the locals made me realize that I picked a real doozy of a country for my first stop of the trip. There are more than 30 gun related deaths in South Africa each day, it has the highest reported rape rate on the planet, and the country as a whole is ranked in the top 5 countries in the world in regards to crime. It is a little disconcerting knowing that you are traveling alone in one of the most dangerous countries in the world, but the truth is that people do it all the time, and I am sure that as long as I follow the advice from the locals and use common sense, I'll be just fine. If not, then I will play the hand that fate has dealt me because I won't let fear stop me from "living".
I got into Cape Town early on Thursday morning after spending two days traveling and getting close to no sleep. I didn't want to pass out right there because I knew that if I was going to reduce the affects of Jet Lag, I had to see as much daylight as possible before I went to bed, ideally at the time of night that I would normally go to bed. You would think that this would be very difficult after no sleep for two days spent traveling from one country to another, but I had so much on my mind that the last thing I thought about was sleep. I put my bags away, washed my face, and went and had a much needed beer before spending the day checking out the town.
I walked down Long Street and went to the waterfront. Long Street was an interesting array of shops, restaurants with the occasional person coming up to you to ask for money. During the day, the street is pretty calm (except for the occasional mugging). The architecture is pretty interesting. Most of the houses have a British, Victorian look, probably dating back to the times that Britain controlled this area as a colony. The only difference is that many of the shops had steel guards over all the windows and doors reminding me a lot of Tijuana, probably because of the high crime rate in the area. Afterwards I went to the Waterfront because my guide book told me it was worth checking out. All it is, is a huge mall that is faces the water. There are also some nice restaurants and I guess some upscale clubs open up at night. It's also the safest place in Cape Town, with security all over the place. It really wasn't my cup of tea, nothing but a bunch of tourist in a giant mall with no character that you could easily find copies of anywhere in the world. There is a nice view though. When I got over that, I headed back to the hostel to do some work on my laptop and finally called it a night.
The next couple of days I spent getting to know the area, learning more about South Africa from the locals, learning the do's and don'ts of the area as well as acclimating to the new time zone, weather and culture. After a couple days, I was ready to see a bit more of the surrounding area, so I went with a guy I met at my hostel, Liu Ming on the "Cape Point Tour". Liu was a pretty cool fella, an older guy who was living in New York but was originally from China. I thought he had a cool name, reminded me of a name you might here in a Kung-fu movie. He thought I was "brave" to be doing this trip by myself. Thanks buddy, but you also brought to light again the dangers of traveling alone in this area. In any case, the two of us along with a bunch of other people from other hostels went on the "Day trippers" Cape Point Tour that consisted of seeing Hout Bay (which sounds like "Half Bay" when spoken by a South African), the "Jackass" penguins at Boulder's Beach, the Cape of Good Hope, and finally a hike from there to Cape Point. The scenery at the Cape of Good Hope was something to remember. Giant, imposing mountains, getting slammed relentlessly by one powerful wave after another. This imposing scenery was balanced out by tranquil patches of green grass that capped the mountains along with a nice breeze and warm weather. This really was the kind of scenery that you only see in movies. It felt surreal.
From what I hear, Cape Town has a rocking nightlife, but I only went out one night while I was there. I would have gone out more, but I had a lot on my mind with the prospect of just starting a trip that was going to last potentially for years, along with my recent breakup with my first love. Needless to say, going out and getting drunk, no matter how appealing the area wasn't the first thing on my mind. I couldn't spend time in Cape Town without going out once though, so I talked to one of the hostel staff members that I was able to meet, a cool local named Matt, and he soon had a group of locals and hostellers rounded up for a night out on Long Street.
It was a fun night, and we were all on a good one by the time we took a cab back home. We went to a couple bars, played some pool and shot the shit. The same stuff people do in most places when they go out for a night on the town. It was fun. I also had the pleasure of having a Corona, one of my favorite beers back home. It was a little pricey by South African standards. I guess here in South Africa, Corona's are only for the ballers. I also met another guy from Southern California. He was a pretty nice guy, and he reiterated the need to be safe in South Africa, having spent months here himself. At the end of the night, we headed back home and when I got in bed I just prayed that my hangover wouldn't be too bad since I was planning on heading up to Table Mountain the next day.
The next morning I woke up and felt right as rain. Not sure why I felt so good, but I wasn't complaining. I caught a cab up to Table Mountain, and soon found myself in a very, very long line waiting to catch one of the cable cars up to the top. You can hike the mountain instead of using a cable car, but from what I understand it is dangerous on two counts. First off, there is a chance you'll get robbed by bandits. Second off, if the weather can change quickly for the worst (which happens pretty frequently in Cape Town), and you can find yourself stranded, which could possibly end in death. Tourist die each year trying to climb Table Mountain, but most of the time it is because of their own mistakes.
I was pretty excited to get to the top, because having done a ton of research on Cape Town, Table Mountain was one of their top tourist destinations. I got to the top, and blah. It was the top of a mountain. There was a nice trail to follow around the mountain, some rocks, some grass, a bunch of German tourist, and that was it. I don't know what I expected, slip-n-slides the ended in vats of beer, maybe Nirvana, whatever the case, I was expecting more thanks to all the hype that surrounds Table Mountain and I was let down. I got back to the hostel and found out I wasn't the only one who felt letdown because the other guys in my room did the same trip the day before, and they said they were all unimpressed as well. Once again, Table Mountain has a great view, and it is worth doing, just don't let all the hype that accompanies it lead you to expect some sort of mind blowing experience.
I had one more day to spend in Cape Town, and asked Matt what it is that I should do. He asked if I liked the beach. Uhm, yeah! He recommended that I visit Clifton's fourth beach and afterwards head over to Camp's Bay for a "sun downer". Sounded good to me. I headed on down there with an English Guy I met at the hostel named Erik. He was a young guy who had just finished doing some volunteer work in another part of South Africa. Before I continue, that brings me to something that doesn't make too much sense to me. In Africa, you pay organizations a heap of money to let you volunteer for them. Hmmm…? I suppose there are a lot of people out there who are much more altruistic then myself. Back to the story at hand. We hit up the beach, and it was nice. Like, really, really nice. It was actually a pretty welcome surprise to see such a nice beach. I recommend to anyone visiting Cape Town to check this area out. Afterwards, we walked down to Camp's Bay and got some nice drinks while doing some people watching. Judging by the prices, the area seems to be frequented by South Africa's affluent population. The South African Rand isn't very strong, so your American Dollar goes a long way. Therefore we were able to sit there rubbing elbows with the upper crust. I don't care too much about that, but it was nice to see a different part of South Africa besides all the poverty. There was one lady who was begging there though, thing was, she didn't want money, only napkins. It was another reminder of level of poverty in South Africa.
Now, today is the final day I am here in Cape Town before I leave for Hermanus, one of the world's premier destinations for Great White Shark Cage Diving. I'll be taking a useful service called the "Baz Bus". It is a bus service catered towards backpackers that picks you up at your hostel, and drops you off at your next hostel as long as it is on their predetermined route which goes all over South Africa. Seems like it is going to be a pretty useful service, but we'll have to wait and see.
I'm not nearly as tired anymore, feel acclimated to the new time zone, and the people here in Cape Town were pretty friendly. I still have a lot on my mind, but that can't be helped. Traveling the world and leaving a lot behind will do that to you. I am sure that Great White Shark Diving will help to alleviate some of this stress. If swimming around with one of the world's deadliest predators doesn't take your mind off things, then I don't know what will.
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One of the Hardest Days of my Life...
The Start of an Adventure
3/18/2008 2:51:19 PM - Day 1 - Frankfurt, Germany
Working away on my laptop in Frankfurt, Germany as I wait for my connecting flight to Cape Town, South Africa.
Does the sun shine any brighter, does the moon glow any more eerily, does the ocean’s waves soothe the soul any less affectionately?
As I sit in the airport terminal in Frankfurt, Germany on layover on my way to my first destination, Cape Town, South Africa, I am a mixture of emotions. I feel like crying and jumping for joy all at the same time. Fear, worry, excitement, happiness, sadness… All of these feelings are creating a veritable whirlwind of emotions inside of me that I have no choice but to ride, otherwise let it swallow me up into nothingness. It has been my dream now for six years to travel the world and I was now about to live that dream. Can you remember what it feels like to sleep and dream? It's like a shimmering reflection of reality. Things seem real but aren't. You touch something and sometimes you don't feel it, you say something but nobody hears it, you feel things that you have never felt before…You do things that you never thought possible. That is where I am at now. I am in a waking dream and everything seems so surreal.
Goals worth reaching don't come without sacrifice. I sacrificed my time, energy, money and friendships to reach this point. I toiled and worked to save up the money. I paid off my debt and saved as much as I possibly could for years upon years. I sacrificed something so dear to me that I would die for it. I sacrificed love. I tore out my heart left it in San Diego with my first and only love. I am not ready to go into details about my story of love lost, the wounds are still too fresh. Suffice it to say, I am going to be gone for years traveling from country to country, continent to continent and I didn't think that staying in a relationship was the right thing for either of us considering my uncertain future. This is why I am sad, this is why sometimes I cry…This is something that I am not sure that I will ever be able to write about.
As I sit here collecting myself, I reflect on the past and how I came to reach this point. I remember one day in college walking outside of my room into my memorable and endearing fraternity/shithole courtyard after a long night of partying. Still halfway drunk, I began to chat it up with some of my good friends. We talked about the usual stuff, the wild escapades of the night before, girls and what the plans were for the coming night the whole time wistfully ragging on one another because that's just what guys do when they hangout. Then somehow, we talked about traveling. We talked about how cool it would be to visit this place or that, to see the world and tear it a new one and that was that. It was decided, we were going to go to Europe when we graduated.
Graduation came, and soon I found myself in Europe with five of my closest friends. I spent four months there and traveled and experienced things that I still daydream about to this day. There is no better feeling then waking up each day not knowing what life is going to present you with. It's like living a non-stop adventure, and that is exactly what my trip to Europe was, an adventure. I ran with the bulls, went to a party with over a million people, saw some of the world's most renowned works of art and met people from all over the globe. It was amazing. Four months went by too fast and I ran out of money and managed to rack up a large amount of debt to fund the last two months of my trip, so it was time to come home. As I flew home I pondered the thought of teaching English in foreign countries, or maybe working on cruise ships, or how about working at a hostel abroad, anything so that I could extend my trip and see more of the world. I was addicted. I had debt though, and a lot of it. School debt and credit card debt from my trip that had to be paid off, and the later I paid it off, the more interest I would owe (I really, really hate paying interest). Being the responsible young adult that I was, I came home and found a job.
Let me tell you something that you might already know. Going into the real world after college sucked! I went from a fantasy land of fun and excitement at San Diego State University with giggling sorority girls, never ending keg parties and late night cram sessions, after which I went traveling all thru Europe, to finally after graduation waking up every day at the same time in the morning, getting stuck in the same rush hour traffic, doing the same thing at work for 9 hours, getting off of work only to get stuck in more traffic on the way to the gym, working out, coming home eating dinner and finally going to sleep only to repeat the same monotonous routine day in and day out for the years to come. About a year into it, one of my best friends Tony, who originally went with me to Europe was about to go on a trip to Asia. Lucky Bastard I thought! He invited me to come with, but I didn't have the money. He left and came back and told myself and other close friends of his adventure. It sounded so exciting and wonderful! Here I was at work all day doing the same shit I do every day while my close friend was hanging out with Tibetan monks, walking along the Great Wall of China and trekking the Himalayas. He was still living the dream! The fucking dream! Why can't I live the fucking dream? Oh yeah, because I didn't have any fucking money. I was happy for and envious of him all at the same time. I needed to relive the dream. Traveling those four months thru Europe opened my eyes! It was like being let into the gates of heaven only to be flown out some months later into a hell consisting of cubicles, traffic jams and rising gas prices. Sure, having a little more spending money from work was nice and a lot of people are content with working the 9 to 5, but it wasn't enough for me. I knew there are things out there that are priceless. There are memories to be had.
Tony had been back for maybe about a couple of months, and probably feeling the same way I was, he asked myself, along with one of my other best friends, Reece (who had also gone on that fateful trip to Europe) if we might be up for a trip thru Africa, the Middle East and the Mediterranean. I told him that I was in 100%. By this point I had paid off a good portion of my debt, and by the time he wanted to leave I would be debt free with enough money in the bank to go on the trip. A few days after he asked me about it though, it got me to thinking. Shit, if we are already over there, why not visit Northern Europe as well? If we are going to be in Northern Europe, why not go to Russia then Asia? Australia? South America? Shit, why not visit the whole fucking world? I called Tony and Reece up, and after presenting the idea of seeing the entire world instead of only a portion of it, they both eagerly agreed that it was a great idea. Now the second trip was in the works to help fulfill my original goal made years prior, I was going to see more of the world. Enough to hopefully sate my desire for adventure so that I would be content working the 9 to 5.
Reece, Tony and I made plans, months and years went by, scheduled departure dates were pushed farther and farther back, Tony moved out of San Diego and soon thereafter Reece and I did as well. The trip was still paramount on all of our minds though. After some time went by, we finally figured out a concrete departure date (so much so that Reece and I signed a lease that would end shortly before that date) of March 18th, 2008. Now we were all under the gun and had to make things work out one way or the other so that we would be able to leave on that date. Then one night, as I lay in bed reading a book, I got a call. It was Tony, and he said that he wasn't going to be able to go on the trip anymore because of personal reasons that I am not at liberty to discuss. I was bummed to hear the news, asked him if he was sure that he couldn't go on this trip, and after hearing his answer wished him luck and told him that the trip wouldn't be the same without him, and I was right, with Tony leaving, the entire dynamics of the trip were irrevocably changed.
Reece and I are best friends, but we're polar opposites on a myriad of different levels. Tony was the balance that would round out the group so that none of us ending up killing one another. With Tony gone, that changed things quite a bit. I could tell Reece was more shaken up by the news then I was, and I could tell something was on his mind because he was lagging on buying his plane ticket (which at that point, I had already purchased). Finally one night he told me that he was not going to be traveling on this trip either. He said that financially it didn't seem like a possibility for him since at the time, he worked a commissioned sales position that was doing very poorly because of the current state of the United States economy. He said that he had to see the world one way or the other because of all the planning and thought that had already gone into this coming up trip and that the only way he could see himself doing it was to do a bicycle tour around the world. He could save money by not having to pay for any travel expenses as well as being able to camp out at parks or on the side of the road for free. I also knew that Tony leaving had something to do with it, because without Tony, that fragile personality balance was lost, and being almost like Brothers, Reece and I probably would have gotten on each other's nerves and in numerous fights on the road thus detracting from the trip. I later asked him a couple days before we were both to depart on our separate trips if Tony leaving had anything to do with it, and he said yes, and I don't blame him for saying so because I was thinking the same thing myself. I wasn't mad at all though that he was going to do his own thing, just like I wasn't mad when Tony told me he wasn't going to be able to go on the trip. Everyone is free to make their own decisions, and the only person that I have any control over is myself so getting mad at someone for doing what they feel is best for themselves isn't in my nature. He told me about his trip, I wished him the best of luck and that was that. Originally there were three of us, now there was only one.
I traveled alone before thru Europe for two months, and I had no problem with doing it. Being alone or with friends both have their own pluses and minuses. It's safer to travel in groups and it is always nice to have a friend there to shoot the shit with, but when you are alone you are forced to meet other people and plan things out so it makes for a more fulfilling experience in some ways. Having already traveled alone before, I was ready to do it again.
Now after years and years of planning, here I am sitting in Frankfurt's airport terminal waiting for my connecting flight to Cape Town, South Africa. It has been a long hard journey to reach this point, and I sit here with a heavy heart, but at the same time I am excited to begin a journey that is sure to change the way I look at life as I float thru my waking dream.
Life is so short and precious, that when time blinks, you may already be gone. The only thing that can be asked of you is that you take that precious life and live it how you feel best so that when you lay breathing your final breath you can think "I lived". ..I lived.
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