Two Beers and a Pretzel

The finally tally is:

13 Countries in which I spent significant time: Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Cambodia, India, and USA (14 if you count Los Angeles)

3 Countries where I saw just the airport: Panama, Malaysia, UAE

1 Country where I was kind-of there but not legally:  Paraguay

Cameras:

2 SLR’s made it 2 weeks before I sent them home.

Oddly, I just found my camera bag with the straps adjusted for my former size – 55 lbs ago…

The pic doesn’t even show it that well – it’s like 4″ of extra radius in every direction…

1 Olympus 1030 SW made it through 7 months of pure abuse before the internal LCD cracked.

The Olympus u-Tough 8000 made through 7 weeks of pampering and underwater use before it developed a leak that did not affecting the imaging, but screwed up the battery compartment.  Thankfully that only cost $30 to fix at the repair shop in India.

I just got the original 1030sw back from Olympus, and I’m soooooooo happy.  I really like that camrea much more than the uTough 8000.

The Canon G9 is still cranking.  A great camera for travel, landscape shots, and time-lapse – especially if you don’t want to carry a whole SLR rig, but could use a bit more wide angle.

Over 13,000 pictures.  So anyone who says they “want to see all of your pictures”, you can, but I might not be there to narrate.

Clothing:

Both pair of North Face travel pants ripped.  The green ones were saved by the sewing skill of a Thai hill-tribe woman, but may not make it too much longer.

The hiking shoes died a moldy death after the same motorcycle trip to the hill tribe – but I threw them out at Bottle Beach.

My favorite Yosemite National Park shirt was accidentally left at a Cool Bananas hostel in Australia.

It’s nice being home, but still pretty strange.  Food is ridiculously expensive.  When did a Skyline small 3 way and chili-chese sandwich + water get to $6??  It wasn’t even as tasty as I remember.  And a salad a Chipotle is almost $6.  Jeez – that’s like 50 cents of lettuce and beans and a little chicken.

The best part of being home (aside from family) is having my car back.  I was a bit worried about driving again, but after going well over double the speed limit on my favorite streach of road somewhere south of Louisville, I think I’m back to my old habit of excessive speed in reasonably safe driving conditoins.

Done!!

I started in Delhi at roughly 8 AM EST on the 13th.  Had a 3.5 hour flight to Dubai.  After a 2 hour layover in a mall with no food court and a million perfume shops, the flight for JFK left.  I spent my time trying to figure out how to steal an Audi R8 and get it on the plane as a carry on.

I arrived in New York just before 8 AM on the 14th.  Got thru customs and checked my luggage for my next flight (leaving at 2:30).  Instead of boring myself waiting in the airport, I called my 2nd cousin, John, and was happy to take the skytrain and subway to mid-town and have lunch on a beautiful day in the Big Apple…

I got back just in time for my chain of 3 connecting flights.  New York to Richmond to Cincinnati to Memphis.  It was a string of 1-1.5 hour flights on small jets with peanuts and soft drinks.  I could immediately taste the corn syrup being used instead of sugar in the coke (YUCK) and promptly switched to water.  I also became highly offended at the price of crappy pre-made food.  It should be easy to continue losing weight as long as I refuse to get used to American sized portions, eat freshly prepared food, and stay completely appalled at the price most places charge for mediocre meals.

It was kind of nice following the Ohio River for 3/2 of the way, and seeing Cincy from the air.

Fittingly for the end of the trip, I saw a great sunset while landing in Memphis.

…and a better sunset inside the clouds…

Somehow, my bag made it to Atlanta and decided to stay there.  Odd that I never had a lost luggage problem on flights in 3rd world countries, but ass soon as I come home…  BAM.  There was nothing of value in there, so I’m not too worried.  Luckily, the sitar actually made it the whole way as checked luggage – no one ever questioned it or charged me for its’ excess side.

So now I’m holed up at my sister’s house in Jackson, TN where I’m forced to play with my 2 beautiful 21 month old nieces between naps (for me and them).

I’ll be back in Cincy by the 18th, then head up to Columbus and Toledo mid next week.  Get some fishing in with Grandpa.  Then back to Cincy to help with the ACA Convention the last week of July.

Seriously?!?

I’m trying to get from New York City to Memphis, and it’s either a 6 AM departure (before I arrive), or $400-600 with 2 layovers for 8-11 hours.

That’s in a cramped cabin with bare bones amenities and crappy food – and doesn’t even include checked baggage!!!  Jeezzz.  Add to that the ridiculously strict max baggage size, and I cannot get the sitar on the plane anyway.

I’m really going to miss flying everywhere else in the world.

Consider that my flight on Emirates was $100 to change dates and under $600 originally.  They have very roomy seats (even in economy), a 500 channel personal entertainment system at each seat, great food, and great service.

I’m entertaining a fantasy of starting an airline and hiring crew, mechanics and support staff from developing countries.  Then buying up defunct hotels in every city and creating dorms for my staff.

Seriously – even going back to my experience in March flying to Miami and LA on a US owned airline – FLYING IN THE USA SUCKS.

It’s time for a high speed train network…

I’m thinking of renting a car to drive home from NYC.

Interesting flight from Kolkata…  I talked with a couple of Bengali guys and compared music on iPods.

Kolkata was pretty nice.  I wonder if it waas just that they have been getting rain, so all the trash had washed away (my cabbie’s theory), but it was pretty clean.  Here’s a pretty cool accidental motion shot I got with the Olympyus…

It could also be that it is the home of the Indian Communist Party (I assume employing people to clean the streets).  Their symbol is everywhere on posters, flags, buildings, and spray painted like gang signs on walls.

The Sitar Maker’s Shop.

My new toy…

In other news,there has been some unrest in Kashmir and even Leh, so I’m bummed I didn’t see it, but glad I didn’t go up there durring the scuffles.

Also, the Travelling Bunny has really been acting strange ever since getting kicked out of te Taj Mahal…  I hope he gets over this phase before we get to New York .

I’m taking it easy… In just over 48 hours I’ll be leaving on a comfy Emirates flight from Delhi (Dep 7:10 AM EST on the 13th) to New York (arr 7:45 AM EST on the 14th) with a layover in Dubai.  Then I still need to find a connection to Memphis to get to my Sister’s new house and visit my sweet little nieces.  I’m looking at about 30 hours of travel.  Should be easy after the 60 hour bus in South America, but it’s still harrowing.  Especially when my iPod batter only lasts about 8 hours.

I got my Sitar today!!!

Sorry, but I can’t upload photos from this internet cafe.

The taxi pulled up to a shop in a long line of small garage bays along the street.  Inside a small area barely big enough for one car were 2 men carving and staining materials to make Indian instruments, with about 20 of said instruments hanging from the rafters. The owner seemed a bit tee’d off that i didn’t get there yesterday as planned, but quickly warmed up to show me his creations.

I was expecting a bare bones sitar suitable for a beginner.  This thing has inlays, carvings, and decorated tuning pegs and a swan-shaped tuning bead on the main string.

The case is a monster – considering that you’re basically trying to protect something longer than your typical guitar, but made from a pumpkin.

Shipping it home is going to cost almost as much as the instrument itself…

I’ll get a pic uploaded when i get back to Delhi tomorrow.

I’ll also upload some pics of Kolkata.  This town is all right.  Surprisingly clean compared to Delhi and Mumbai.  Horrid traffic.  A better selection of non-vegy food.

Truly remarkable… the cab and rickshaw drivers are not rude or malcontent and actually want to drive you somewhere for a reasonable rate.

FYI:  I’m doing fine on the Indian food now.  I’m going to miss it!