mayo 30, 2006

300

I think - I think - this is my 300th day away.

But I'm too lazy to count.

****

Thanks to four five days of flight cancellations, and an evening spent watching a lizard rotate the room, I'm actually no longer too lazy to count.

If I discount the two weeks I cheated by going back to England ...

On 2nd June, I will have been away 300 days.
On 2nd June, I will have been in India 60 days.

By the end of my trip, I will have been in India 75 days.
And spent 32 days in Nepal, alongside 32 days on Fiji Islands.
I'll have spent 26 days in Viet Nam, almost all of them in Ha Noi.
And 22 days in the USA, all of them in Hawai'i.
I spent 21 thoroughly enjoyable days in Singapore.
And 18 days in Malaysia, of which 8 were in the Malaysian parts of Borneo.
Altogether, in three different bursts, I spent 16 rather forgettable days in Thailand.
And 15 days on Cook Islands.
I spent 14 days in Tibet that will probably, and unfortunately, never fade.
And 13 unexpected days in Laos.
I spent longer than it felt, 10 days, in New Zealand; and indubitably not long enough.
And, surprisingly, on an Asia-Pacific journey, by the time I return, 9 days will have been spent in Germany.
Thanks to the second Bali bombings, I spent just 7 brief days without a guidebook in Indonesia.
Which is marginally longer than the 5 days I spent technically nowhere, shuytned (shuytne-ed?) between two borders. (I actually spent 11 days physically trapped between two barbed wire posts there, but only 5 days without any official visa to remain anywhere).
Strangely, I also spent 5 days in Switzerland. No similarity, though.
Finally, I spent one day in the Netherlands when a plane was redirected.
Please don't be a nerd and tell me the totals don't add up; the international date line was frequently on my itinerary. I lost several days, I gained several days, simply sitting in an overheated aircraft, so the only way to count things is to use home-days.
7 people promised to meet me but for one reason or another didn't make it. But: 10 people have written me letters to poste restante offices and hotels along the way, several of them very very regularly - 5 of which were parcels of christmas tree earrings, emergency immodium, knickers, reading matter, and supplies of british duracell batteries; and another 4 people have sent me muchly listened to voicemail.

That's 18 countries in toto. 8 months in Asia, and 3 months on Pacific islands. In 315 days.

And on 17th June, I'll finally be going home.

5 Advice:

Anonymous Anónimo said...

Hurrah to the last sentence.

mayo 31, 2006 9:57 a. m.  
Anonymous Anónimo said...

Congratulations. It's a bitter-sweet feeling coming home after a long period of traveling.
I remember I was sort of relieved to have the excuse to come home for my brother's wedding after 11 months traveling around Europe... but then after his wedding I ended up traveling by train around the Western U.S. and then hitch-hiking across Canada.
You'll be out on the road again one day for sure.

mayo 31, 2006 7:47 p. m.  
Blogger Lectrice said...

Thanks for the sugar, you three.

Andres: yes. August 10th. Ecuador. :)

junio 01, 2006 5:42 a. m.  
Blogger Luke said...

That's a serious travel list.
Welcome home, even if it's only for a brief visit.
After those travel memories, not sure UK v.2006 is the right country version for you.
Maybe next year. ;)

junio 02, 2006 12:56 a. m.  
Blogger eroica said...

i await in eager anticipation for the south american leg of this epic adventure...
(and i'm loving the rest in the meantime)
xxx

junio 03, 2006 9:21 p. m.  

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