2.24.2004
ITINERARY
10 MAR :: CHRISTCHURCH > MELBOURNE
17 APR :: BRISBANE > MANILA
22 APR :: MANILA > HONG KONG
25 APR :: HONG KONG > KUALA LAMPUR
03 JUN :: BANGKOK > BOMBAY
21 JUL :: DELHI > PARIS
07 AUG :: MILAN > BARCELONA
05 SEP :: CASABLANCE > LONDON
08 SEP :: LONDON > DUBLIN
14 SEP :: DUBLIN > BOSTON
19 SEP :: BOSTON > DENVER
A few excerpts from my travel journal thus far:
2.16
Flew in on the Air Force C-141 Cargo plane. Strapped into the red webbed seats knee to knee like a zipper. So loud you can't hear that person at your knee. Landed at 8:30 pm, stepped out onto the tarmac 75 degrees, dressed for 20 below. Breathed in the night: humidity, diesel (yes Derek, diesel !), flowering trees, life!!!
- - - - -
2.21
Last night saw "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King". One of the last scenes was of Frodo and Sam on the volcano, expecting to die there in the eruption, reminiscing about the shire: "Do you remember the shire? the cherry trees will just about be in bloom, and the wheat harvest will be a week away. Do you remember the taste of strawberries?" That could've been me on Ross Island, at the base of Erebus, hands cracked and body broken with longings for Boulder (okay, I'm being dramatic).
- - - - -
2.22
In Kaikoura (a beach 2.5 hours to the North of Christchurch, on the South Island of New Zealand). Hitched to the beach where we camped on the sea grass in the wind. Drank red wine and ate chocolate while the sun set and the stars came out. Unwinding, thawing out from the stiffness of ice life.
It's February here, chilly in the morning, and after sunset. Clouds threaten and then fade, magnetized to the mountains just to the West. Snowy peaks, far above. A late summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
- - - - -
2.23
Swam with the dolphins this morning at sunrise in the Pacific. Over 200 Dusky dolphins, small -- about 5 feet -- swimming all around us. They're curious, and invited us to swim in circles, to dive deep and play (if you sang to them). Wonderful.
Later, eating bagels and fresh New Zealand cream cheese, reading a report issued by the Pentagon that the threat of global warming is potentially a greater threat to national security than terrorism. I'm so angry at the short-sighted self-serving interests of our leaders. They're leading us to disaster, for greed (and self-preservation).
- - - - -
The rules of hitch-hiking thus-far:
1. make sure to stand in a spot where people are slowing or starting, with plenty of shoulder for them to pull over.
2. make sure the girl is holding the sign
3. make eye contact
4. don't start at the end of the day (especially on a Monday)
10 MAR :: CHRISTCHURCH > MELBOURNE
17 APR :: BRISBANE > MANILA
22 APR :: MANILA > HONG KONG
25 APR :: HONG KONG > KUALA LAMPUR
03 JUN :: BANGKOK > BOMBAY
21 JUL :: DELHI > PARIS
07 AUG :: MILAN > BARCELONA
05 SEP :: CASABLANCE > LONDON
08 SEP :: LONDON > DUBLIN
14 SEP :: DUBLIN > BOSTON
19 SEP :: BOSTON > DENVER
A few excerpts from my travel journal thus far:
2.16
Flew in on the Air Force C-141 Cargo plane. Strapped into the red webbed seats knee to knee like a zipper. So loud you can't hear that person at your knee. Landed at 8:30 pm, stepped out onto the tarmac 75 degrees, dressed for 20 below. Breathed in the night: humidity, diesel (yes Derek, diesel !), flowering trees, life!!!
- - - - -
2.21
Last night saw "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King". One of the last scenes was of Frodo and Sam on the volcano, expecting to die there in the eruption, reminiscing about the shire: "Do you remember the shire? the cherry trees will just about be in bloom, and the wheat harvest will be a week away. Do you remember the taste of strawberries?" That could've been me on Ross Island, at the base of Erebus, hands cracked and body broken with longings for Boulder (okay, I'm being dramatic).
- - - - -
2.22
In Kaikoura (a beach 2.5 hours to the North of Christchurch, on the South Island of New Zealand). Hitched to the beach where we camped on the sea grass in the wind. Drank red wine and ate chocolate while the sun set and the stars came out. Unwinding, thawing out from the stiffness of ice life.
It's February here, chilly in the morning, and after sunset. Clouds threaten and then fade, magnetized to the mountains just to the West. Snowy peaks, far above. A late summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
- - - - -
2.23
Swam with the dolphins this morning at sunrise in the Pacific. Over 200 Dusky dolphins, small -- about 5 feet -- swimming all around us. They're curious, and invited us to swim in circles, to dive deep and play (if you sang to them). Wonderful.
Later, eating bagels and fresh New Zealand cream cheese, reading a report issued by the Pentagon that the threat of global warming is potentially a greater threat to national security than terrorism. I'm so angry at the short-sighted self-serving interests of our leaders. They're leading us to disaster, for greed (and self-preservation).
- - - - -
The rules of hitch-hiking thus-far:
1. make sure to stand in a spot where people are slowing or starting, with plenty of shoulder for them to pull over.
2. make sure the girl is holding the sign
3. make eye contact
4. don't start at the end of the day (especially on a Monday)
