Final Post

As I sat on the porch of my beach hut in Goa towards the end of my trip, I had a realization. After repeated attempts by thoughtful, beautiful people to get me to do yoga, I instead sipped a Kingfisher and read about a perplexing Royals trade on my WiFi. I had not changed. No new tattoos, barely grew out my hair, new experiences but not new mindsets. Still possess a blend of situationally dependent optimism/cynicism. Still sometimes give a shit when perhaps it's not my turn to give a shit. Still well short of enlightenment. I was the same person I was before I left, and that's okay.

This was more of a needed confirmation than a realization. I approached this trip purely out of a love of travel and desire to see the world. It was supposed to be 2010. Then 2011. Finally the time was right and I went for it. But naysayers can creep into your thinking. Maybe I am lost and searching for something? Having an early mid-life crisis? Maybe U.S. Customs is right to hassle me since I don't fit their normal profiles? I confirmed on the porch that day that no, all's good. I'm far from perfect, the world's far from perfect (echoing the wise Jeff Graves' Senior Day Speech), but this trip needed to be nothing more than an attempt to meet cool new people and maybe gain some new stories, which is all I was really going for.

And what stories those are! I bungee jumped 440ft, experienced my first two earthquakes, snorkeled in three oceans. I held a grown tiger's tail, shouted "Bae!" at an elephant named Bansou, and got attacked by monkeys. I hiked 83 miles through Scotland in 5 days, met The Black Keys, taught a monk about gravity. Sat contemplatively in a dozen Buddhist wats, received a third eye bindi at a Hindu Monkey Temple, and marveled at St. Peter's Basilica. Slayed 10 teams of Brits in beer pong on the 4th of July. I bought weird stuff, ate amazing food, and laughed with delightful people.

I did this all without phone service, a laptop/tablet, vaccinations/malaria meds, a hidden travel stomach fanny pack thing, or a proper winter coat. I did this with money from a job in Education, haha! I rarely had accommodation booked more than three days in advance. I never got sick, attacked (by humans), or robbed. I used just three of my twelve Bandaids. I realize I'm jinxing the SHIT out of myself for my next journey, but my point is the world is not as difficult or scary a place as some people would try to have you believe. The world is amazing. If you are at all able to, go out and see it. We're in human form in this universe for the blink of an eye on a cosmic scale, occupying a tiny blue dot in the vastness of space. The thought of not seeing as much of that small amount of real estate as I can is unimaginable to me.

Delaney life philosophy over. In closing I'd like to thank everyone who supported me and those who have read this ridiculous blog. It's approaching 10,000 views, even if that's from just a total of 20 people. I'd especially like to thank my sister Megan and her boyfriend, Daniel, who gave me the initial push and inspiration to take this journey. My sweet mother Linda, who knows, maybe her nightly prayers did help get me through unscathed (though I'd like to give myself some credit). And all my travel partners but especially my friend Nick for braving India with me (and for his determined dedication to brainlessly comment on every blog post). And for those few who were dubious of my travels, a gentle, not-at-all-nerdy reminder from Bilbo Baggins, "Not all those who wander are lost." (Catch The Hobbit, in theaters now.....pay up Warner Bros.!)

Happy New Year to all!

Here's a link to some of my favorite pics:

Around the World in 100 Pics

Wrap-up Lists

The trip is over...and I already miss it. 17 new countries, 18 total (or 19/20 if Scotland and Cook Islands count). Here are some "Top 5" lists and back by popular demand (popular might be a strong word), my meticulous "Transportation Tracker." Might add a few categories later if I can think of more but my brain is fried and I'm secretly hoping to retire from the Blogosphere in time for 2013!

5 Favorite Cities Visited
Dubrovnik
Luang Prabang
London
Prague
Queenstown

5 Coolest Wild Animals Glimpsed
Cobra
Langur Monkeys
Sperm Whale
Red Kangaroo
Wild Horses

5 Odd Jobs I Could Fall into if Desperate
Gibbon handler
Longtail boat captain
Muay Thai promoter
Lake Taupo golf ball diver
Elephant mahout

5 Next Trips on the Wishlist
Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile
Bhutan, Nepal
Greece, Turkey, Egypt
Namibia, Botswana
Ireland

5 Best Quotes w/out Context
Did a rubble factory explode?
You've got to BE the animal.
Heck, I didn't go past the pool yesterday and don't plan to today.
Yep, he's a Sea Prince.
Back! Back to Pakistan cobra!

5 Clutch Items Carried
Ironman watch
Camelbak backpack
Tactical Cambodian scarf
Hiking boots
Ipod Nano and 70 hours of podcasts

5 Best Food Countries
India
Italy
Singapore
Germany
Australia

5 Meals Craved
Chicken Z-Man, half slab ribs, fries, Boulevard Pale Ale
Steak Burrito, chips and guac
Frida's enchiladas
Winsteads Triple Cheeseburger
Stroud's fried chicken, mashed potatoes, cinnamon rolls

5 Celebrities Seen/Met
Geoffrey Rush
Dan Auerbach
Patrick Carney
Keira Knightley
Anja Winikka

5 Movies/Shows Most Alluded to in Blog
The Simpsons
The Wire
Dumb and Dumber
Point Break
Game of Thrones

5 Brushes with Death Discomfort
440ft Nevis Bungee
Monkey Beach attack
Mumbai tuk-tuk ride
Great Glen Way Day 3 Heartattack
Almost accidentally ordered a cider


Transportation Tracker
* Separate vessels only. Round trip in same exact vehicle counts as one.

46 - Buses
31 - Shuttles
25 - Planes
23 - Boats
22 - Tuk-tuks
21 - Trains
14 - Taxis
9 - Tuk-trucks
4 - Bicycles
4 - Kayaks
3 - Camels
3 - Hitchhikes
2 - Motorbikes
2 - Mopeds
2 - Trams
1 - Golf Kart
1 - Semi-sub
1 - Toboggan
1 - Elephant
1 - Zorb
Subways: NYC, Rome, London, Brisbane, Bangkok, Singapore, New Delhi, Mumbai, Chicago

Here's a monkey contemplatively pondering my uber-deep final post.

London Part 2

As the wheels of my Virgin Atlantic flight touched down at Heathrow, it dawned on me I had officially circumnavigated the globe. My around the world trip was technically over. To celebrate, I set myself up for a night at the rather posh Marriott in Grosvenor Square. Silver status y'all! After some of the places I stayed in Asia, I deserved a place where the doorman wore a top hat!

I must say finding myself back in Western society was refreshing. I had missed the entire Autumn, so I quite enjoyed the crisp, cool air and signs of the holiday season. Pushing through extreme jet lag and lack of sleep, I wanted to use the most of my three days in London. That afternoon I explored my neighborhood which just so happened to be the American quarter. John Adams stayed in the building directly across from my hotel. I assumed the statue in Grosvenor Square was Lord Grosvenor or something, but as I got closer, it revealed itself to be FDR. And there's Reagan and Ike! And wow, I'm right next to the American Embassy. Had no idea when I booked. I continued on to sate my fascination with Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park, but sadly the soap boxes stood empty. Spent the rest of the daylight up and down Oxford Street braving the holiday crowds in search of a proper winter coat and shoes that didn't smell like death. After 3 months backpacking, I was a bit south of presentable.

Early the next morning, another man in a top hat retrieved me from the Marriott lobby and took me to a large red bus. I was embarking on the nerdiest of tours, the Windsor Castle/Stonehenge/Bath circuit run by the redundantly named Evan Evans. Unbeknownst to me, and to the perturbation of a smattering of Spanish speaking guests, the day belonged to the Japanese. Perhaps some of the language seeped into my brain, as everything the unintentionally hilarious guide said, he repeated for the 95% of the bus hailing from the land of the rising sun. Thankfully, a cool Stanford kid on his way home from a semester in Spain served as solid company for the day.

Our stops were great. Windsor Castle's displays impressed and the clear, sunny morning weather shocked us all. The Queen was even in at Windsor, but for some reason she did not seek me out to say what's up. Rude.

Schwing.

Stonehenge can be viewed two ways - in its amazing and utterly mysterious grandeur, or as some stones that you circle around shivering and then leave. I feel bad for people who view it the second way. Some of the countryside around the monoliths is really pretty too!

I wish I could have spent more time in Bath. The museum was nothing all that special but the town looked gorgeous. Did my usual warp tour of the Roman exhibit, drank the legendary water, and then scoured the quaint, picturesque town for good coffee and blog-able pics.

The bus dropped me back near the Marriott later that evening. I retrieved my bags and waited for my delightful new friend Annie, whom I had met on the very first day of my trip in Rome, to pick me up. We went to a really fun little bar called Cafe Cairo and then for dinner she took me to a Pakistani place....after having spent a month in India, haha.

My first time through London this summer I viewed many of the classic outdoor attractions. For the winter visit, I planned on ducking into some world class museums. Took the tube to the Natural History Museum and then to the British Museum. Was pretty cool to start my trip with Ben at the Met and finish at the British Museum. I then walked around a bit, just soaking in London. I really, really like it there. So fulfilling to be in a place where you can walk down a random alley and come across a sign like the one below. Also rad seeing Keira Knightley. I think she winked at me!

Rosetta Stone

Annie picked me back up in South London and after a few attempts, we found a good fish and chips pub. They really hit the spot for the last meal of the trip. Sadly, we did not top it off with her friend Tony's randomly hilarious vision of ice cream sandwiches (scoop of ice cream on normal bread, wtf?). As with so many people, I profusely thank Annie for her hospitality. Folks like her, Dennis and Karen, Lauren and Brea, Vicki and Justine, Kat, and various Toms made this trip extra special.

Sadly all good things must come to an end. I promised Linda D. I'd be home for Christmas and since I approach the threshold of cracking into my "do not touch" bank account, it seemed time to make good on that. I type this from the states and have already expertly assimilated back into American life. I've devoured a true burger (with peanut butter and bacon) and a beer with actual hops while doing the Three Men and a Baby routine at a bar with Sully, Shane, and little Levi. I rode the L successfully without having a sock full of poop flung at me. I witnessed for the first time the majesty of Ben McLemore in action. Saw a bald eagle soar while traversing icy back roads Iowa in the Wener mobile. And now sit by the tree, strange family cat stalking me, tin full of Topsy's beckoning, a world away from where I've been. Good to be back, yet I already miss it. Will wrap up the blog at the end of the week. Until then, happy holidays to you and yours!

Goa and Hampi

 
You can ask Nick how much I stressed over where to spend my last week in Asia. My heart wanted Nepal, largely for the bad-ass factor. My head said, "Hey dipshit, the closest thing you had to a winter coat got lost in New Zealand, there's no room in your passport, you WILL get altitude sickness, and multiple western trekkers have recently had their heads cut off! And by the way, a week is not enough time to see Nepal. Come back and do it right." Since my fall back plan was the bliss of Goan beaches, I went with my head. Flew to Goa the same day Nick flew home. It was a good decision.

Goa is an Indian state on the Arabian Sea coast. A former Portuguese colony, impressive old Catholic churches and cemeteries dot the palm tree strewn landscape.  Home to an infamous hippy movement in the late 60's and 70's (I'm talking LSD handed to you as your feet hit the sand), the scene has mostly evolved/devolved into techno-loving Europeans looking to party. Yet a hint of it's spiritual essence has been retained as well, a true place for seekers. If the waves were bigger, Bohdi would have spent his endless summers here. People flock to Goa for "seasons" at a time. Everyone's either a yoga instructor or in training to become a yoga instructor. So needless to say, I'd fit right in. Shkh!

My plan involved heading South, to the more low key beaches of Palolem and Patnem. Rushed for time, I booked a place online without reading reviews or seeing pictures. Crossed my fingers the whole cab ride down that it wouldn't be a nightmare. Laguna Vista delivered! Chill beach huts with a cool view run by an amazing multinational staff. London Jack gave me all sorts of advice and tips for the area. Costa Rican Seb, just a genuine guy, always asked how my day went and even watched my large bag when I left for Hampi. Young Kieran twice gave me a lift into town on the back of his moped. The Nepalese kitchen staff cranked out amazing vegetarian dishes.  And American Lauren, besides being smoking hot and instructing yoga 20 yards from my porch, clearly kept the place afloat from a management side. Even the local pack of dogs stood vigil over my hut. Laguna Vista seems to welcome you into a little family.

Views from my porch!

"Good night Mike."

Despite uttering, "that's really not my scene" about a dozen times, I was dragged to a "silent noise" party. Parts of Goa enacted a post-10pm loud music ban to combat the developing Euro rave scene. So now parties exist where you're handed a pair of headphones and you choose red, blue, or green channel and everyone silently parties and dances the night away. As ridiculous as it sounds, it looked pretty cool, though I definitely kept my channel almost exclusively on Green after it lured me in with Public Enemy (the other channels were almost exclusively techno). Sadly no visual documentation exists. I purposefully did not bring my camera and good thing, there are rumors my face was painted.

This dude partied.

 The rest of my Goa time was relaxation and randomness. Finally got a haircut.....from a teenager in a shipping container. Drank/ate a fresh coconut with the funniest old man in India (his laugh was identical to Rafiki's in Lion King). And jumped in the waves and ate delicious dinners with Dennis and Karen, a simply wonderful German couple (themselves in the first month of a RTW trip) that Nick and I originally met in Jaisalmer.

Yes, he changed hats.

I also took a side journey to Hampi. Experienced my first sleeper bus of the trip. "Hey someone's in mine.....ahhh shit", as I viewed the dual numbers per compartment. Tried to find my happy place as a young Chinese man coughed next to me for 7 hours. Was going to just buy two "seats" for the return, but a wise man said, "this is India, they'll still put someone in there with you." This is India. Too true. Trip back I laughed at our absurd pairing with John, a cool Vancouver dude and the only person taller than me on the entire bus.

In between, I spent two days sweating and climbing amongst the ruins and boulders of the seat of the Vijayanagaran empire. Very hard to do justice to Hampi through words. I'll let the pictures below do the talking. Will just say it was unlike anything else I had seen on this trip.

My bus returned me to Goa at 4am (not 6am as i had been told) the next morning. A scary man in a trench coat approached, so obviously I took him up on the tuk-tuk ride the short way back to Laguna. The dogs stopped howling once they realized it was me and I went to the only place I knew to go, the cushions of the outdoor dining area. Apparently, that's where the Nepalese staff slept too. As Lauren recounted from them later, "We woke up and saw some random tourist sleeping...then realized it was Mike!" Apparently I was the first guest to ever do that. Luckily they let me check in to my hut around 7am. Slept a bit more and then hit the beach. As I stepped out of the Arabian, setting sun at my back, I tried not to think about how long it might be before my return to an ocean :(

After a final attempt to eat the country out of chicken tikka masala and garlic naan, I thanked everyone and went to bed. In my mind it was the perfect last day in Asia. I knew my real last day would be spent on two local buses, a tuk-tuk, a train, and taxi just to get to my 3am Mumbai-London flight. But that seemed fitting, T.I.I., this is India.

* Author's travel tip: If you ever book a trip to India, attempt to echo my general itinerary. End with Goa and Hampi. The comparative peace these areas offer tends to assuage the harsh memories of Mumbai cab rides and children dropping Nordeens. 

Hampi pics:

Old lady came out of nowhere and sniped me with a Bindi.