Seven Month Anniversary

It's been seven months since I left my mother country. Seven months since I've driven my car on the right side of the road. Seven months since I sold that car, my climbing equipment, my CDs and gave Delilah, my 13 foot long Burmese python away. It's been just as long since I've seen snow, eaten my mom's cooking or shook my dad's hand Sunday morning at church. I reflected on this last week and thought about where I've been and what I've done over those seven months. Here's a sample of what I discovered.

approximately 8,000 US dollars have been spent
over 2,000 pictures taken
212 days passed

57 boat rides

28 postcards sent

25 books read

23 new scars earned

17 SCUBA dives logged

14 homes stayed in

10 flights taken

9 mountains climbed, including 3 crater lakes and 2 active volcanoes

8 churches attended

7 countries visited

5 calls to the USA
4 bouts of sickness endured

3 seas swam in

2 oceans swam in

2 cellphones bought (and subsequently broken)

and 1 wedding witnessed.

I have realized a few things during my seven months. In terms of travel, I'd rather not travel alone anymore-wait. Allow me to rephrase. I would like to travel with my friends. I used to be a hard-core advocate for going it alone. After all, it is easier to meet people when you're alone, it is easier to do what you want, when you want and all that. However, it's harder to wake up when you know sleeping another hour isn't going to disturb anyone. Restaurants and movie theaters aren't very enjoyable when you're alone either. Good travel companions also distribute and help eliminate stress. You can take turns listening to the know-it-all backpacker, the down-and-out peasant farmer or turning away the sunglass hawker, masseuse, taxi driver, hotel owner, tour operator and prostitute.

It would be nice to have a progressive conversation every once in awhile and not have to ask strangers to take my picture (and then another stranger to take another one since the first can't compose the shot how I want,) to share the price of a hotel room or to not have to organize anything for a day, to do something someone else wants to do. Sounds strange doesn't it? I travel halfway around the world because it's what I want to do, and then have feelings of doing what someone else wants to do! Traveling with a friend can extend the experience well after you get home. Just imagine sitting around with said travel friend months or years after you both have returned home when he/she says, "Remember that time in Morocco when my camel ate your turban!" That's classic!

For awhile I thought I was homesick. Sometimes I want to go home, but it's usually just to eat at a restaurant in my hometown, to spend the afternoon with a friend or to sleep in my own bed for a night. The next morning I want to magically wake up on the other side of the world again and continue the journey. I'd like to go home for an afternoon or a day. So maybe I want to be home for awhile but I really don't want to go home right now.

I didn't know how much I enjoy books until this week when I devoured one on the bus ride to El Nido, another the next day with my toes in the sand and a third, quite by accident, at a cafe. I literally didn't move from my spot until I had finished the book. I'm constantly surprised at how few people read for enjoyment. They don't know what they're missing. It's difficult to find good titles on the road. Usually hostels, home stays and some cafes will have a small selection of books left by travelers you can exchange or buy. An average collection includes no less then five romance novels, an outdated guidebook, the lone classic like Romeo and Juliet or Great Expectations, a few fantasy novels and at least one shelf of German books. I'm not the only one who curiously asks fellow travelers what they're reading and if I could have their book when they're finished. It's a common custom among backpackers.

The pictures in this thread are of the Philippines, most of them around the town of El Nido on the island of Palawan. The weather had a big impact on my travel plans around the country and things didn't turn out exactly how I'd planned them. I did finish my advanced diving course while I was here and I got to make some friends through a pro-hospitality group I'm part of called couchsurfing. Without them, I know I would have left the Philippines already. When I look towards the future, I'm overwhelmed with uncertainty, but if it's anything like this tour's past it's gonna be great!

Traditionally seventh anniversary gifts are wool or copper. Mine is paper. I have a ticket to Thailand on Thursday! The journey continues...