Around the World in 80 Beds

Cake made by Helen Dixon...cake decorator extraordinaire.

The audience has filed out, the house lights are being dimmed. Time to put away the props, rest up a bit and plan for next season. The budget is broken, the parts hurt and the inside of the head resembles scrambled eggs. The exhaustion level is more psychic than physical, but is not to be ignored. I used up all my stamina credits over the last year and leaned on quite a few people at times. It's time to thank the supporting cast:

VANCOUVER ISLAND - Family Becky, Michelle, Jon, friends Mike
VANCOUVER - Friends Jim&Linda
VANCOUVER ISLAND - Wwoofers Judy&Ross, Barbara&Bryne
SAN FRANCISCO - Nice to connect with Alex&Judy after 30 years
NEW ZEALAND - Friends Bob&Laurel, Maureen&Geoff and Judy&Bruce
NEW ZEALAND - Wwoofers Paulette&Corran, Jen&Murray
NEW ZEALAND - Wwoofers Terini, John&Michelle
AUSTRALIA - Many thanks to Chuck&Flora for a great week
KOREA - Daughter Sophie and friends
CHINA - Many thanks for all the help Jiajia
INDIA - Adam, Owen, the Agra 'croo, Francisco, Tripti&Papu
QATAR - Mike&Cindy you saved my sanity. I was toast
BOTSWANA - David Young. Friends Jon, Alan, Lars, Susie and Pat
ZIMBABWE - Many thanks for everything. I owe you, Thula
SOUTH AFRICA - Roger...the man is insane
FLORIDA - Daughter Emily. I was serious toasted by now
NEW YORK - Mother-in-law Sara. She's the best

AROUND THE PLANET
=================
The last time I tried to get around the planet, Regina and I were near the end of a 6 month trip in Poland in 1981 with a visa for Russia, but not enough $$$ to take the Trans-Siberian train. We had to turn around and make our way home, heart-broken. I ended up out West later that year and actually did the mileage (40K kms) to get around the globe, just not in the right directions.

This is Jon, Michelle and Bruce in 1981, then 2009. I am stubborn, I really wanted to travel around the planet.





FAVORITE MEMORIES
=================
I kept a detailed log for the trip, mostly to help keep on a budget of about $1500-$1600 a month, including all flights. I will do a full writeup of this trip, more for my own memory space than anything else. This blog was for high-lights, so here is the short list of favorite memories:

- Leaving house with a backpack, passport and debit card
- Seeing the family. Comox Music Fest, Grouse Grind, Tofino surfing
- Wwoofing...a cool way to spend time on the planet
- Ironwood Farm. Who knew weeding was such fun?
- Floatplane from Vancouver downtown to Comox
- Comox Glacier hike. A fantastic day in my life
- San Francisco. Alex Oppedyk, friend from Israel kibbutz
- Day spent on 90 Mile beach, North Island, New Zealand
- Wwoofing a few places in Kaingaroa. Gorgeous hillsides and beaches
- Hitchiking and hostels in New Zealand. A very cool place
- Tongariro hike. A stunning day, even in the snow
- Wwoofing with Maori family. One hell of a week
- Rugby match and running with Bob Russell
- Abel Tasman hiking, Fox Glacier swimming, Arthur Pass hiking
- Walking Christchurch to Amberley...and back
- Pre-dinner cheese/beer routine with Bruce&Judy. Banks Peninsula
- Hanging out with Chuck&Flora in Sydney. The play Wicked
- Sophie and friends in Seoul. Some serious all-nite partying.
- Jeju Island. Need to go back in summertime
- Great Wall. Terra-Cotta Warriors. Lifetime highlights
- Train trips in China. Fun to connect with locals
- Smog in Xi'an. Depressing and claustrophobic. Fantastic hostel
- Guilin. A shame the weather was so lousy. Have to go back
- Hong Kong. I love this city, the trams, the food, the atmosphere
- Hong Kong. The Happy Valley racetrack. Very happy
- India. Wish I had a camera duct-taped to my head 24/7.
- Pre-pay taxi Delhi. I am scarred for life.
- Walking Delhi with Adam and Owen. Best way to see a place
- Couch-serving meetup in Delhi. All night parties are making me old
- Agra/Fatepur Sikri. One of the coolest/funnest days in my life.
- Agra. The muezzin call at 4:40 AM was a big thrill.
- Trains&Buses in India. I got religion on an over-nighter
- Varanesi. They burn dead bodies and that was not the shock.
- Airlines I hope to never fly again? Air India for one
- Qatar. Amateur nite for ex-pats. Best evening out. Terry Fox run
- The smiles I got as 'white-man walking' in Botswana.
- The ex-pat life in southern Africa
- Trip to Jon's camp in the Kalahari.
- Learning the mocorro on the Themalkane River.
- Suppertime boat trips out of the Sedia
- Golf on a home-made course at the Sedia Hotel
- Safari. As cool as you think it might be.
- Sharing space with hippos and giraffes. Too cool
- Victoria Falls. The trip, Thula, the Falls and the bungy jump.
- Soweto and the Apartheid Museum. Changed some opinions
- Having my gear strip-searched in 2 places...
- USA and Canada. Who knew?
- Emily and Matt in good ole USA.
- Coffee, donut and NY Post at the beach. Priceless!
- Passover with lots of family in New York
- Seeing the Gonzos at Kenduskaeg
- First night home. (Regina didn't change the locks).
- My bed, my beer, my tub. Priceless!

SOUVENIRS
=========

You travel around the world for 10 months, you figure you'd pick up some pretty cool stuff. Unfortunately, I didn't have much $$$, no room in the bag and..really, don't collect stuff. If anything, I am trying to purge my stuff even more than the lead up to this trip. So what do we have here?

Coins and bills from various countries. I kept the coins on purpose. The bills were leftover as I switched countries. Check out the number on the Zimbabwe bill. From China, there is a Terra Cotta warrior figure, an old coin replica and a lost army badge found in Forbidden City. The rocks are from the Great Wall and the Terra Cotta pit. The wristbands are from various countries and the hippo is from Zambia. I also have a nice piece of jade I found in New Zealand, hopefully Sophie brings it back with her.



BITE ME!!!!
===========

I tended to stay in the cheapest accommodation available, which usually meant 6-8 bed dorm rooms in hostels. This picture is from Varanasi. One of the workers had to sleep outside, as the guest lodge was full. There was one bug coil left, and I let him have it. Such is life. No idea what these bites are.





ROUGH TRIP NUMBERS
==================

Travelled 45 weeks last year and spent $$$ 18,000 during that time

- Moved forward 72,000 kms. RTW is 42,000 kms
- Sidetrip to Korea then southish to Botswana added a lot.
- Crossed equator 4 times
- Wore shorts all but 5 weeks
- Numbers from 70's and 80's were 40% travel, %30 food/beer, %30 lodging
- This trip 35% travel, 30% food/beer, 15% lodging, 15% gear, sports, culture, camera, vaccines, visas, etc, 5% misc
- Lodging lower because of friend visits and Wwoofing.
- Food lower, booze higher for same reason
- Wwoofed 6 places over 2 months
- 20 flights booked about 1 week ahead ended costing same as Oneworld RTW 4 continent, zone/date flexibility ticket
- Sports per week average: walk 22 kms, bike 8 kms, run 6 kms and hike 1 hr
- On 6 tourist trips. 3 just a bus/van, 3 van and guide (Terra Cotta $20, Jeju $40 and Safari-gift $0)

The mileage astounds me. Knew it was going to be high. Explains a lot of the burnout. On average, moved every 3-4 days


That's it! Done and DONE!

*** Posts from now on (or at least until the next trip) are:
http://bcmurphy-simplerisbetter.blogspot.com/
... where I keep working on my own headspace.

The tune is "All the Money I had is gone" by Deep Dark Woods. (Thanks Sophie)

Assessing long-term backpacking

Backpacking is quite different from other modes of travelling. Long-term backpacking is another beast altogether. By backpacking, I mean all your stuff on your back and no car to stuff things in or get you around. Long-term is measured in months, not weeks. With shorter-term travel, you can cheat a bit or just suck it up and ignore things. On a longer trip, everything must get dealt with sooner or later.

I am on a long trip (2 months out West with some of that Wwoofing, some travelling about and some at relatives like sister, brother and niece, followed by 2 months in New Zealand and possibly 3 more months in getting myself back to Canada by circling the globe).

FOOD

It took me awhile to get my food setup the way I like. What to look for in the stores, what can be found in big/small stores/towns, what to carry each day. In Ireland, every little joint had little salad bars and fresh bread. Not so in New Zealand. I am getting enough fruit/veggie/protein in any one week, as consistently as possible. In my bag, I carry some utensils (hostels lack), tea/coffee/sugar, cheese, pepper/salt, some form of bread, muesli, some fruit, a few chocolate bars and water.

My breakfasts are yogurt, banana, muesli, juice and bread. Lunches are bread, cheese, fruit. Suppers are pasta/rice affairs, sometimes with meat, always with cut veggies.

Break from the routine is a sandwich shop or Asian noodle place for lunch. Food is expensive here, restaurants doubly so.

CLOTHES

I am carrying 2 shorts, 4 tops, sleep/swim/rain gear, shoes/sandals, a fleece top and nylon jacket. Very pleased with the setup. The 4th top has not been used and is for social emergencies, should I really mess up on the laundry, which I do in sinks or hostel setups as often as possible.

No real sense of missing something or dragging stuff around.

TRAVEL

Doing a lot of hitch-hiking (pleasant surprise), a decent amount of walking and buses in and out of cities. Booking hostels in advance if they involve Friday/Saturday. Booking online and using the option to Txt me instead of chasing down printer access.

Happy enough with how much overhead this entails and how long I stay in places, at least 2 nights. I like hitch-hiking into a town and finding a hostel, getting to know the place, find the Info place and a good grocery store, then touristing.

The Wwoofing is hard to match up with your own schedule, but really, has been working out well. My itinerary is quite flexible.

Trying to deal with airlines/embassies/visas is always a real pain. Outside your own country, the very idea makes me flustered.

INTERNET

I have found lots of access, just the cost is too high, averaging $4-5 an hour. They even charge for WiFi, so your own PC is not cheaper, just more convenient. If I had an open Data device (like iPhone), it would work out cheaper and more convenient. Damn! I miss reading online a lot. Realistically, I would like an hour online, everyday.

BUDGET

With the Wwoofing, this has been working out as expected. That being said, the little stash of cash just keeps diminishing. The surprises have been internet, toiletries and misc stuff: flash drives/museums. With flexibility and last-minute decisions comes higher travel costs. It's a pain, but I really enjoy the floppy front-end of my travelling.

People do travel cheaper than me, but I am happy with my price points.

WWOOFING

Glad I Wwoofed in Canada before coming here. each setup is quite different and while there are usually frustrations along the way, overall, the experiences are quite positive. The work I did staying with the Maori family was the worst job ever, yet, for the week, it was all balanced out by the very positive, cool cultural experiences. That is why I am travelling, for the new experiences.

SOCIALIZING

I have been sleeping in dozens of places and setups (beach, deck, hostel, couch, bed, plane, etc) the past few months, meeting new people everyday (hostels, hitch-hiking, Wwoofing). I enjoy the whole routine and have made some new email/Facebook friends along the way. Some people, you just click with. I am interested in how people get through their lives and have found people interested in my take on the world.

I am comfortable with my age and past experiences and don't feel that age has too much effect on my social interactions. The only real exception is bars. I have been in a few. Besides the expense I am not a late night, crazy, boozing person and never really was. I have been in a few situations like this, but not for long.

OVERALL

I feel that I am the right person at the right time for this trip. I enjoy the lifestyle, my body is enjoying the stresses I am putting on it. These many situations force me to be much more flexible in dealing with all situations, always a good thing. It all feels good.

I have been lucky enough to get in a bunch of hiking, running, biking, swimming and even some surfing. Some of the hikes have been astounding (Comox, Tofino, 90 mile, Tongariro).

Now, the real question is how to get back to Canada, Do I do what it takes to get thru China ($$$ and visa concerns). Do I have what it takes to backpack India?

Who knows. The doors are still open. The road beckons