BootsnAll Travel Community

I've had some great travels this past year. Both big, a great trip down to Argentina, and small, a weekend trip to Chicago to see my friend Steve, a weekend in NYC for a BootsnAll meetup, and others.

But, perhaps the one that will stick out for this year, is the first time I've ever travelled with a family member.

I have a brother four years younger than me. After high school (a while ago) we grew apart. I'd see him maybe two or three times a year. I barely knew where he lived, or what he was up to at any given moment. It wasn't out of dislike or spite for each other, but more because we had no common interests.

On Christmas Eve of last year my brother asked me if we could take a trip to Spain. We half ass plotted and planned for a few months and bought some tickets. In May of 2008 we spent 10 great days travelling around Spain.

Since that trip I've met with my brother every week when possible.

I will meet my brother tonight in about an hour. We will probably drink too much and amuse ourselves while we will throw ideas around for next years trip, and as usual end the evening by devouring chicken schwarma sandwiches at about 3 am.

I doubt we would be meeting tonight if we never took that trip.


Any other reflections out there?

That this year just passed it 2007....

That I am amazed by your ability to time travel, BillE!

Awesome!

Always gettin' flipping ahead of myself.....

aww bill i think thats the longest post you have ever had. im so proud. i might just have to crack open a beer now.

I can't even begin to write on here what this past travel year has meant to me. It has been completely life altering, and as far as I can tell that is completely in a good way. I feel like my outlook on the world is different, my goals are different, sense of self is different, just everything.

Kind of a vague post I know. Maybe I'll just touch on one recent point. A few weeks ago I watched baby sea turtles hatch at a beach in Samara, Costa Rica. (CJ wrote about it here http://www.1000wines.org/?p=624) I helped the little guys out of their shells and onto the sand, where they made their own way into the ocean. They were so tiny, so fragile, and yet so determined and unafraid of getting into that huge ocean and going out to see the world. I really admired that lack of fear to take on whatever might be waiting for them. That experience alone really made me want to be like those tiny turtles, and not live my life making decisions based on my own fears... such as the fear of leaving jobs, homes, family, etc. and seeing what this amazing world offers.

Times that one experience by 1000 and that might come close to describing how amazing this past year has been for me. Go see this planet, it's more amazing than you could ever imagine. I can wait to go see more.

Every year since 2004 my life has changed in some way from traveling...This past year though was really special as I was able to spend 60 incredible days traveling around Asia (like some of the chickens running around). I don't think it "changed my life," but rather helped put life in to perspective. I often compare a lot of what I see here in America to what I saw in Asia. Lots of things bother me, like food and water waste...I can't stand to see people waste food and water when there are so many people out there who would love to eat what we through away (mainly restaurants, concerts, sporting events, catering halls etc)...

With traveling comes friendships, and I have met some wonderful people this year through traveling...I hope to keep in contact with as many as possible, but keeping in contact with just a few is good enough for me.

Cool idea for a thread btw.

My 2007 started modestly, staying here in England, with a trip to Leeds. Here I met up with a group of friends all from different places, was cool because none of us see each other very often.

Next up was my 2 week trip to Tunisia. This was probably the first time a holiday didn't work out as well as I'd expected. The first few days the weather was bad, my hotel room was freezing at night and I caught a cold. Then inexplicably my credit cards stopped working, and I had no phone with me and no money, it was a lot of stress to sort that out. Then 2 days later my cold became a full blown fever. All that aside, some places I saw were really amazing, but other things were less good - for example as a solo traveller it was hard (almost impossible) to hook up with other travellers via tour agencies and arrange excursions.

In August I arranged a short 10 day trip to three neighbouring countries: Sweden, Finland and Estonia. I stayed in Stockholm and Tallin which were both fantastic places. In Finland I stayed with friends. Among other things we went to the sauna a lot then swam naked in Finland's largest lake to cool off. Unfortunately I also had a bad hangover all three days that I was there. In recent times I have got out of the drinking habit, so I guess going back to it was a shock to the system.

So 2007 was a mixed year for me in terms of travel experiences. For next year I plan to do some longer, more serious, travelling.

Spent about every other weekend at the coast, a few weekends in the mountains. Went up through DC twice, appreciated the gridlock and how traffic isn't so bad at home... I can't wait to quit driving all the time.

Spent a month this summer cruising my sailboat down the inter coastal waterway. Saw a lot of cool stuff, and met a lot of interesting people. (320 miles at 4 mph... saw eagles and alligators and porpoise. Went through locks, went through a navy base... got super sonic bombs dropped over me by the navy. Ran aground, Ran out of gas, Ran out of gas... and ran aground at the same time... Broke a LOT of parts, fixed parts. Sailed, motored, swam... and generally woke up with the sun and went to bed with it. Night sailed, and saw many perfect sunsets.

For me this year has meant stepping from the dreaming and planning stage of the "grand plan" into the here and now.

While I thought 2006 was the Best year ever in travel in my whole life, 2007 will definitely take over this "title" (2007 is not over yet, so let me used future tense here). I traveled to South America, the Balkans, Northeastern Europe, and Bali in 2006. Also spent sometimes with a friend in Belgium to know this little country better (smaller than my own, rare, isn't it?). After a great travel year like that, I thought I would settle down in 2007. However, a lot misfortune in my career and love life in the beginning of 2007 made me so frustrated about life again. I still found there was no place (or work) I could settle into. I just thought: damn, just leave all these behind, I would go on the road again! This time, I would go for my 100th country!

So in 2007, I have traveled to Africa and reached my 100th country (106 at current count). Also in this year, I tried several different ways of traveling: backpacking (stay in hostels) in Eastern Europe, overland camping tour in Africa (but also backpacking alone in Africa), luxurious cruises, both a specialty cruise in Caribbean and a family vacation on an Alaskan cruise. Also many small trips visiting friends in Hong Kong, DC, Vancouver, and Brussels...

That overland trip in Africa made everything I had gone through worthwhile and is the highlight of 2007. I made 21 new best friends in that trip (They even threw me a fabulous "100 Country Achieved!!" surprise party in Zanzibar!). Hopefully I can write all these into travel stories (some of it has already been finished and published online).

Though overall, some aspects of my life have been down the drain, travel-wise, 2007 has been the Best year ever! But, 2007 is not over yet! Who knows where fate will take me to before end of this year?

2007 for me is widely considered as the greatest year ever known to me. Although, I think the ground work was really laid out in 2006. I finally got my shit together and planned for a long term trip. Did Africa and SE Asia for the first half of the 2007 and now I'm back to work.

I told myself when I returned that I would pretend I had just gotten out of high school and go straight back to college. Well, now after having the freedom to travel where ever I want from country to country and city to city I am now living with my parents, working part time and going to school full time. It is extremely difficult because the prospect of any upcoming trips is extremely low. Amazingly this is the longest I think I've gone since 2003 with out having some sort of trip at least being planned.

You would think 5 months out of the country would keep travel sickness at bay for a little longer but I think it has only made things worse.

The only thing I got going for me as an open date ticket on Jet Blue to any of the destinations that they fly from Tampa. This limits me to Boston, NYC and New Jersey. When is the next meet up? I have to use it by September 2008.

Other than that I got nothing and it doesn't look like I'll get anything until after I finish school which is looking like at the least, 2.5 years if I push through full time every semester including summers.

quote:

This limits me to Boston, NYC and New Jersey. When is the next meet up? I have to use it by September 2008.

I think it is planned for whenever you get off the plane.

usually when i come back from a trip, i'm happy, refreshed, and i look back on moments during the trip with kind of an 'ahhh.. wasn't that nice..' feeling. this year was different-- it's been the worst year of my life (some of you are aware of some of the things that have happened). the time i spent in central africa was the only time this year before all the shit hit the fan. when i think of those moments i was in central africa, there's always a hint of sadness and nostalgia, that i now know that trip was the beginning of the end of a good period in my life. however, there are only a few other things that can happen that will make me say 2007 wasn't the worst. that, and i can already tell 2008 will be a very good year, one which i intend to kick off with a bang with friends in peru and then supplement with nicaragua and costa rica!

quote:

Originally posted by Joey:


The only thing I got going for me as an open date ticket on Jet Blue to any of the destinations that they fly from Tampa. This limits me to Boston, NYC and New Jersey. When is the next meet up? I have to use it by September 2008.

Joey Bear's coming to visit me!!!

Besides a few jaunts down to DC, out to Missouri and over to Chicago, my big travel plans turned out NOTHING like I'd planned. Which impacted me more then if they had.

My boyfriend wanted to surprise me with a trip, which we both thought would be to Europe. Until we hit a few snags. So, instead, off we went to Hawaii. The entire trip was a big lesson in personal travel preferences, but also seems to have pushed us closer together. Margaritas on the beach tend to do that. It solidified the fact that after 8 years, we're finally ready to get married.

I also canceled a trip to Peru. Not travel, per se, since it never happened. But simply having the balls to say "no" when I wanted to say "no" was a big, HUGE, step for me. Not caring what others thought of my decision, also huge. Being true to myself? Priceless.

2007 was the first time I travelled to a new city far away (~4 hour flight) where I knew no one, to take on a job for the summer. It was awesome to completely start from scratch in a relaxed environment, make new friends, and get to know the ins and outs of a new city! I met some generous and fantastic people and will definitely be back some time in my life!

Just Do Half...

i realized that if partaking in a mind altering drug in a foreign country do yourself a favor and do only 1/2 the amount that you think is right. Clearly follow this advice if you have found yourself face to face with a space cake that is hand grown in a Central American country and avoid a lot of embarassing moments and being thrown out of bars.


On the other hand, I managed to pay off my debt, despite a lay off, and pick a firm date for the big trip. I'm hoping to achieve more spiritual lessons then.

quote:

Originally posted by Joey:
The only thing I got going for me as an open date ticket on Jet Blue to any of the destinations that they fly from Tampa. This limits me to Boston, NYC and New Jersey.

Joey, I think your decision is all but obvious. ;-)

Come to my sweet city.

As for my year 2007, this wasn't a major travel year for a few reasons: I graduated from college last year, I started my first "real" job with an average starting salary for an English major, I moved into my first apartment, and I'm still saving like crazy for my RTW (fall '09!).

I've taken three trips, and they have the same theme: friends.

In mid-March, I went on an impromptu road trip to Quebec City with two of my best guy friends from college.

In late March, I went to Brownsville, Texas, to visit my friend, Beth, who is a teacher for Teach for America. We also went to South Padre Island and "tourist Mexico."

In June, I went to Washington, D.C., to visit my friend Alexa with our other two best friends from high school.

Some highlights:

Quebec:
--Just a warm, cozy weekend with yummy food, snow on the ground, good beer, and fun times.
--Broke my camera at the Ice Hotel -- but because of that, I got a new, much better camera that I love!

Texas:
--Met and danced on stage with VANILLA ICE in South Padre Island! No joke!
--I never went on a typical spring break during college, so our one night at South Padre was the whole experience -- we got crazy drunk, met some boys from Cornell, and spent the next day throwing up.
--Went to Mexico, where I've never been.
--I got to see a different part of the U.S. that I hadn't yet experienced. The Rio Grande Valley is unlike anywhere I've ever been -- it's one of the least expensive places in the country, pretty much everyone is Mexican, and the landscape is so different.
--(SERIOUSLY -- it's so cheap! My friend and her two roommates pay $300.00 a month for a GORGEOUS, brand-new, huge apartment with every amenity you can imagine! My apartment is a STEAL for the neighborhood and I pay $500.00!)

D.C.:
--Just a fun weekend with friends.
--Unfortunately, this was an opportunity to see how race-conscious my friends are. We grew up in a town north of Boston that is 97.9% white, even today. It really got to me, hearing how often they would comment about how many black people there were everywhere, especially when we were out at the club. :-/ I tried to ignore them.

2007 was better than 2006, how about that? In 2006 I was sick with love and trapped by mu habits. I cant believe this year has already gone by. I started off the year, new year's eve actually with the ex, I think I was Ok with us being friends now, but I was still moving gingerly. I got a job as a bartender earlier this year and that lasted till July, it is obscene how much they make! And I was quite happy to only be working 3 days a week. I went to San Francisco in March, that was a great time, a city that I have always wanted to go. Met up with a good old friend Jules whom I miss every day, NoCal has AMAZING veggie food, we also got a chance to go up to Napa, Sonoma Valley. I spent 2 months of the summer in Florida, then I moved in August and I have been working and saving money ever since - this saved money I am telling myself will not go to anything but travel for next year. I got in a few trips to NYC and one trip to DC. DC is very beautiful and clean, but NY is still the city that beckons me, one of my life goals is to live there someday.

2007 was all about picking up the pieces, checking bad habits, making smart yet hard decisions and preparing for 2008.