The Year in Review

As the hours tick by and the adventure that seemed to have no end finally draws to a close, I thought I should spend a little time at least recapping the last 363 days (I'm going home in two...) and what it all added up to.  When I left, I thought--like most travelers do--that I would somehow magically "find myself" and a world of clarity would be revealed to me.  I thought I would return a year later battered, seasoned, and wizened, ready to tell the world the meaning of life and how we should all be spending our time here.  And then one day I woke up with a few weeks to go and realized that it simply didn't happen; that I had grown more pensive and more introspective but that it had only led to more questions.  That this magic ticket around the world didn't serve to clarify but only to obfuscate.

So what was it all worth?  What did I achieve, and what did I miss?  I think anyone who comes back from a trip of any length and feels that they did everything is kidding themselves, and I know that I'll always wonder what Easter Island, Swaziland, or that side road in New Zealand that I drove past would have held for me.  At any rate, here's what I did manage to pack into my 52 weeks:

Cost:  $25,000 USD

Countries: 15 (plus Hutt River Province... I'm still laughing about that one)

Travel Log Entries: 123

Beds Slept in:  114

Chicken Sandwiches from Nando's eaten: Too few.

Times I had to answer the question, "So how long have you been traveling?": 1,512

Synagogues: 29

Lost African Jewish Tribes: 1

Pictures: 2,892

Cameras: 3

Cars Rented: 5

Flights: 19

Times I watched the Lion King with Aaron: 6

Times I saw actual lions: 2

Continents: 6

Potential Choices for my Ten Best Watson Pictures: 28

Best Hotel: Treetops, Rotorua, New Zealand

Worst Hotel: (tie) Royal Papeete Hotel, Papeete, French Polynesia and Hotel Splendid, Fes, Morocco

Best Meal: Shed 5, Wellington, New Zealand (pan-seared tuna with wasabi vinaigrette and wasabi mashed potatoes, with a pinot noir from the Otago region)

Worst Meal: Unnamed roadhouse, somewhere between Salta and Buenos Aires, Argentina (arroz con pollo made inedible by the two cockroaches sharing it with me)

Biggest "Why Am I Doing This to Myself?" Moment: Arriving jet-lagged, filthy, confused, and exhausted in downtown Casablanca and having to argue with the con-artist cab drivers and find a decent place to sleep.

Biggest "I'm Literally Speechless by the Natural Beauty" Moment: Sunrise on Dune 45, Namibia

Visits from the States (for which I am substantially indebted): 6

Most National Geographic Moment: The tanneries in Fes, Morocco

Most "Americanized" Moment: Checking into the Marriott in Santiago, Chile and having a burger from TGI Fridays (what?  We all need a break sometimes).

Most Profound Moment: Theology discussions with Benji in Perth, Australia

Least Profound Moment: When the Coloradan kid I met in Bocas del Toro, Panama told me he was going to get a tattoo of a mustache on his finger so he could hold it up to his lip and look like he had a mustache.

Best (if most fragile) Flight: Over the dunes in Namibia

Worst Flight: Having to console some British backpacker because the turbulence from Buenos Aires to Lima made her cry.

Chapel Filled with the Most Bones (this one's kind of a gimme): Evora, Portugal

Hardest Place to Turn Down: Easter Island, Chile

Easiest Place to Turn Down: Tangier, Morocco

Places Left on My "List": Iceland, Mongolia, Easter Island, Antarctica, the Cairo-to-Casa Trans-Saharan Overland (http://www.geoex.com/trip.asp?tripID=4762 I'm thinking it will probably have to wait for my 50th birthday)

Places That Remain Off My "List":  Southern India, Thailand, Indonesia, most of Central Africa

Most Exotic Place I've Heard Anyone Backpacking: (tie) Northern Iraq (Singaporean kid with a death wish, apparently) and the Pitcairn Islands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitcairn_Islands) (circumnavigating sailor from Australia with a knack for going places nobody ever goes)

Most Embarrassing Moment to have to admit I'm American: Overhearing an American girl in Auckland, New Zealand say to a New Zealander, "Oh, the cab's coming in half an hour.  I don't know what that is in metric."

Most Festive Shabbat: Papeete, French Polynesia

Least Festive Shabbat: Rabat, Morocco

Place I Felt Most Like a Member of the Jewish Community: Perth, Australia

Place Most Improved By the Presence of Friends: Bariloche, Argentina

Place I Most Wish I had had Company: Moorea, French Polynesia

Favorite Travel Quote:

Elaine: "But I don't even know where I'm going."

J. Peterman: "That's the best way to get someplace you've never been."

Best Hostel: Oasis Backpackers Mansion, Lisbon, Portugal

Best Hostel Staff: Hostel Bekuo, San Jose, Costa Rica

Best Accent: South Africa

So that's that, I suppose.  One more entry when I finally get back to New York to report on how re-entry goes, and then the obligatory final Watson quarterly report.  Ciao.