Gettin Started

Here it is a day after Christmas and my time, energy and focus has been thoroughly occupied by the regathering of the family before we fracture off once again into our daily lives but for myself, after the visitor dust has settled Sharon and I will be finalizing our plans and acquiring our gear to set off on a five month journey to circumvent the world. This adventure was hatched last February when I was in Chiang-Mai, Thailand on a photo trip with Chuck Feil.  I was up late emailing Sharon frustrated because I couldn't adjust my travel plans to extend my trip to visit Cambodia but the airlines were totally full because of the Chinese New Year. These are things you learn as you travel and this issue was one I've noted and planned for on the up and coming trip. But as in everything in my life, when something bad happens something good comes of it and in this case I realized if I just traveled westward to India I could have freely moved on but at the time I couldn't afford to extend my stay that long though it provided me the thought that I could actually do it if my schedule was freed up. At that moment I finished my email inviting Sharon to join me on a trip around the world in 2011.

So far I've roughed out our route, met with our travel consultant Angelika Johnson, owner of One World Travel in Bisbee, Arizona to confirm my routing, procured a couple North Face duffel bags, and reviewed many web sites to begin forming a rough plan. I'm an adventure traveler at heart meaning a travel plan is really no plan. We will purchase a sewn together plane ticket that will get us to destination points but from those stops our transport will be trains, buses, motor scooter, boat, bicycle, walking, horseback, tut tuk, and any other indigenous transportation that will get us to remote areas in a reasonable amount of time. I do consider comfort at times but that is about number three on my criteria choice. We will travel light (one duffel and day pack each) so we can maneuver well onto any method of transport.

I plan on posting at least once a week but I will strive to provide daily updates and photos when our journey begins. I discovered while motorcycling through Northern Thailand near the Laos border that even the most remote village had high speed internet access and most of which was wireless so when there is a connection, you will have an opportunity to read and view our trek as it unfolds.

Our point to point route begins leaving Los Angeles around February 16th and the first stop will be Bangkok, then New Delhi, Istanbul, Athens, Cairo, Nairobi, Paris, London, Reykjavik and back to the states touching down in New York City.  These points again allow us to branch off into other countries such as Nepal and Tanzania to hike and explore.

We have roughly six weeks to work out details, gather information, and put together wishlists and addresses to visit but once we touch down in Bangkok our fate will be in the hands of the travels gods.

I am thankful for my opportunities and blessings allowing me and my best friend to step away from our daily lives and open new doors for five or more months. 

Thank you...Thank you...Thank you