Walk the Earth: A Delaney World Tour: European Wrap-up

I type this from what seems like a completely different world in 100-degree Prairie Village, Kansas. Per usual on this trip, I sat wedged between two space-hogging individuals on the 9 hour flight from London to Miami, but hey, at least they neither stunk nor snored! And Virgin Atlantic seems pretty good: leg room, edible food, tons of entertainment options (...which I just vegged on: Safe House, The Hunger Games, The Descendents, Boss - all good, none life-changing. I should be a film critic!).

I need to call in my government file at some point and see what it says. Customs harassed me and sent me to the separate waiting area. At first I thought they found my boot-legged Scottish whiskey which I somehow forgot to declare. I was laughing in my head at the anticipation of the officer opening up my pack as the stench from multiple "bags of doom", some still wet from the Great Glen Way, assaulted all our nostrils. But really he just made me wait and asked me obnoxious, insulting questions like "who's paying for this trip?" Those who know me really well know this made me fume. Apparently if you don't follow life's playbook to a tee, you are suspicious. Or maybe it's just me. I still remember the border guard in Panama looking at me and then pointing directly to mine out of all bags for his canine partner to check out. Oh well, I made it.

The first leg of this journey is now complete. I should note, technically my round the world trip is a whopping 2 days old, as Virgin's Great Escapade ticket package starts from London. It's good to be home and recalibrate a bit, though I wasn't even remotely sick of traveling....a good sign for the rest of this experience!

Europe was amazing. I felt safe. I felt happy. Had beautiful weather. Met wonderful people. Here's a quick rundown of some highlights and stats. Last post for a while might deserve better, but I'm a bit blogged out to be honest.

European Top 5

1. The people - Now that's Roy Williams level corny, but true. From Ben and Anja to the Wildeens to my cousin Ben, Annie G., Mark, Matt, the college kid train crew, Ana, Ian, and dozens of other brief but memorable encounters, the people make traveling the joy it tends to be. If the news or Yahoo internet article commenters ever make you start to question your faith in humanity, get out and travel a bit and all will be restored.

2. The Great Glen Way - If I did a bottom five it'd be in there too (my feet are still not back to normal), haha. But the astounding views and quirky encounters left quite an impression.

3. Dubrovnik - Really representing for all of Croatia. Coming from the Midwest, I'm still awe-struck by beautiful sea and ocean environments. Add to that the history of a place like Dubrovnik and you've got me sold.

4. The Van Gogh Museum - Representing for all the wonderful art and culture I experienced on this trip. I viewed works by all four Ninja Turtle namesakes, by Gauguin, Monet, Matisse, and that wily son of a bitch, Vincent Van Gogh. His art spoke to me most of all.

5. Munich - Especially if I can lump the Neuschwanstein Castle tour in with it. Drinking beer in grand halls, riding bikes, seeing mountains. I'm easy to please sometimes.

I could do a joke bottom 5, but really I have trivial complaints about this trip at most. Dealt with a few wankers here and there (I love some of my new British phrases!) but otherwise everything really did go swimmingly. There wouldn't be much of a gap between #3 on the list above and #33 if I extended it that far.

Transpo Tracker

This is the one nerdy thing I tried to keep track of. The numbers here represent different vessels. Round trip on a shuttle, for instance, only counts as one.

Planes: 8
Trains: 11
Boats: 6
Shuttles: 4
Taxis: 4
Buses: 15
Kayak: 1
Bikes: 3
Toboggan: 1
Tram: 1
Subways: NYC, Rome, London
Miles walked: ~225-250

Going to have to get some animals on there for phase two. In fact, I'm not sure I saw any wild animals in Europe at all beyond swans and shit. Looking forward to things getting a little more gnarly in that department in Australia and Asia. Looking forward to checking out some temples instead of churches. Looking forward to how completely different, yet still awesome, phase two should be!

This will be my last post for a while. Dry your eyes. I'm in the states for about 6 weeks. Rough itinerary is Oklahoma Joe's ASAP, KC time for 2-3 weeks, Chicago time for 1-2 weeks, wild and wacky weekend in Wisconsin wilderness, KC wedding, Los Angeles to see some family and the one and only Cole Gray, and then off to Rarotonga! Might take some pics and do an America-time report, but otherwise busy yourself with all the other wonderful things the internet has to offer.

http://kimjongillookingatthings.tumblr.com/

I'll leave you with a few completely random pics which haven't been used yet. As Abe Lincoln once said, "be excellent to each other....and party on dudes".