the plan... again

Getting the ol' travel blog out of the attic, dusting it off, and here we go!

The RTW that precipitated this blog -- a 4-month trip in 2008 -- was a quit-your-job-and-go plan.  Now, 4 years into my PhD program, I'm taking a summer quarter off to travel.

Yes, summer is the best time to be in Seattle.  Yes, I have a lot of work to do.  Yes, etc.  There's never a perfect time to travel.  You just have to go.

Here's the itinerary:

06.09.12 - spring quarter ends at UW (also: my parents' 42 anniversary.  awwwww.)

06.16.12 - seattle to iceland (1 week in iceland)

06.24.12 - iceland to france (2 weeks in france/germany)

07.08.12 - germany to ethiopia (8 weeks in east africa)

09.02.12 - tanzania to south africa (2.5 weeks in southern africa)

09.19.12 - south africa to seattle

09.24.12 - fall quarter starts at UW

Time for bed.  Four nights to Iceland!

feeling groovy

I've done enough planning cycles now that I feel pretty ready. I've also changed my mind a bit on what I need to plan. Example: word is India will be mighty hot in June (said an Indian friend on hearing when I'd be there, "well, there won't be many tourists around"), and Indian culture and mosquitos demand long pants. You know where I bet I can get lightweight, comfy pants that are appropriate for 100 degree weather? India! Easy peasy. I'm realizing that a lot of "planning" should be done on the trip. It's not like a two week jaunt where you unpack the same things you packed. I bet there'll be a lot of turnover.

Things that have been checked off the to-do list:
- all major flights
- backpack, moneybelt, and camera
- official resignation letter at work
- insurance (dive and travel medical w/ med-evac)
- immunizations
- credit card that doesn't charge for foreign transactions (Capital One)
- starting to learn more about the destinations
- moving/selling my things (who knew there was a $60 Atari game in my closet?)
- dentist appointment before I leave
- lots more little things

Immunizations were a bit of a trip. Dr. White had me list the places I was going, with her checklist of recommended vaccines between us. I start in Malaysia [check check], then through Cambodia ("where in Cambodia" "no idea" [check]) and by the time I tell Dr. White I'm going to Ghana, she audibly murmers "oh god" and checks off the remaining holdouts. Being a vegetarian is apparently great for avoiding lots of nasty bugs, so she said my main concern won't be food, but mosquitos. Given my route, she suggested repellent-infused clothes. Neat idea, if it works, and I bought two shirts and a pair of pants. (The pants I got are surprisingly comfy and cool.) So that's good. I had budgeted $300 for the shots, but I guess most RTW trips don't go to such a variety of tropical places. Total damage: $519. Yeesh. But that's a must-spend expenditure, and I need this to get into half the countries anyway:


Now, for the real reason I'm so particularly excited right now.

When I made plans for this trip, I was applying to graduate school. As Dad said many times, "How can you do this if you're not accepted to grad school?" Good question, which I don't care to answer. Graduate schools have responded overwhelmingly positively, and I'm now debating whether I'll head to UW-Seattle (current favorite) or Yale. That's big. That's really big. So now I feel 20 times better about spending the money and going on this trip, and I'm telling you, nothing could bring me down right now. Mom's doing well and going out to plays and living it up, Joshua's as active as ever and I get to see him a fair amount, Jeanne just got tenure (mazel tov!) and is feeling groovy, and Dad's happiest when we're all happy, so even he has stopped worrying so much and is calling this a good year.

It's a very good year.

the plan

I decided over a year ago that I wanted to travel before starting graduate school, and I began really working on the trip around December of 2007. Here's the plan:

March 08 - leave job
4.15.08 - Chicago to Kuala Lumpur (via LA) - 5 weeks in Southeast Asia
5.21.08 - Bangkok to New Delhi - 4 weeks in India
6.16.08 - Mumbai to Dubai - 3 days in Dubai
6.19.08 - Dubai to Alexandria - 4 weeks in Egypt
7.19.08 - Luxor to Accra - 2 weeks in Ghana
8.02.08 - Accra to Casablanca - 1 week in Morocco
8.08.08 - Casablanca to Chicago
August 08 - start grad school

Traveling is easy when you're young. I have the time and money to go on a serious trip, and I want to travel while I still enjoy experiences that require some... suspension of comfort? Or maybe I'll never outgrow that. Tuzin Yowis travels by getting a plane ticket from Chicago to Moscow, and 6 weeks later a ticket back from Beijing. She's 77.

Anyway, here's why I chose these places:

SE Asia - Despite being inundated with tourists (I feel like the driver who complains about traffic...), everyone seems to love it. Cheap, great hiking, killer temples/ruins, world class diving, different culture. Every review I got of SE Asia was glowing.

India - Over a billion people live in India. That's a lot of humanity, such culture. I ought to see it. When I had to chose between seeing China, which got mixed reviews, and India, which I hadn't heard anything about, Tuzin Yowis made it easy: "Jake, I've been to 135 countries, and India is my second favorite. Go." [Laos was #1] Plus, being a vegetarian in India? Easy.

Dubai - I'm only staying here for three days. It was a cheap addition to the itinerary, and it sounds just crazy. Man-made islands shaped like a map? This happens in Dubai? How tall? I gotta see it.

Egypt - Okay, I don't even know why, but I'm dying to go to Egypt. It just sounds rad. Maybe I'll get there and be super disappointed that I'm in modern Egypt. "I wanted ANCIENT Egypt," I'll complain. But I get both! And it doesn't hurt that Egypt is a super secret diving mecca. Believe it. When SCUBA Travel had readers vote on their favorite dive sites, Egypt got six in the top twenty. That beats Australia, the Caribbean, and Hawaii combined.

Ghana - I know nothing about Africa. You might be able to fill the largest canyon in Africa with what I don't know about Africa? South Africa's in the south, and Egypt's top right, and that about does it for my expertise. My buddy Calvin is from Ghana, and when we chatted, I learned that Ghanans say, "Man, Jake, you don't know anything about my country," which was good, because I wasn't sure if they spoke English or French. I'm gonna learn so much.

Morocco - Let's go to Morocco, why not?

Okay, I'm done blogging.