Happy Half Way Day!
Trip Start
Jan 28, 2008
1
40
83
Trip End
Sep 18, 2008
Lisbon,
Estremadura,
Portugal
Friday, May 16, 2008
Well, there is a bit of disagreement about when we should count half way day. It is half way since we left Brisbane Airport in January. However, we have been living out of a backpack since November last year, so maybe we should have celebrated a month ago. Anyway, we wrote up a few milestones that we should celebrate and reflect on...
The best and worst of our travels:
Best things about travelling with Cameron - He carries all the heavy stuff. He is tall and can see over crowds. He can count without using his fingers. He stays calm in the midst of my hissy fits.
Worst things about travelling with Cameron - He thinks I can read his mind / lips (in either English or Spanish). He steals the blanket, a problem when we are in some wintery place.
Best things about travelling with Jillian - She takes lots of photographs. She is good at planning and researching on the road.
Worst things about travelling with Jill - She interrupts me when I am trying to speak Spanish. Moody.
Best item we packed - Belts, as we are having trouble keeping our jeans up after following a traveller's diet for 3 months. Also masking tape and a plastic knife.
Most useless item we packed - The powerboard. Since everything got stolen in Egypt, we haven't had much to charge up. Closely followed by Jill's 4th pair of shoes...
Most useful item that we thankfully haven't used much - the first aid kit. It would make a doctor proud it's got that much stuff in it.
Most useless item that we really needed to use - Our dodgy travel insurance with AMEX credit card. What a crock of shit!!!!
Most memorable place - I was going to say Gallipoli, Turkey, but then Cameron reminded me we got engaged on this trip. Der. So the Setsubon Festival in Kyoto, Japan gets No. 1 spot.
Place we'd like to forget - That hell-hole of a country just south of Turkey with a bunch of sand in it. What's its name again?
Best experience - Learning Spanish with Ana in Alicante.
Worst experience - Waking up on the falucca in Egypt and realising that our bag had been stolen...and the long running saga associated with that dead-unlucky moment.
Funnest moment - Surprisingly, the night BEFORE we had our bag stolen, playing silly card games with Dave, Julia, Cherie and GW.
Scariest moment - In a taxi, in Cairo, when the driver stopped watching the road to try and sell perfume to us!
Friendliest accommodation staff - Abdullah at the Boomerang Guesthouse, Selchuk, Turkey (well, he did post me my clothes)
Worst accommodation - The guesthouse in Kyoto, Japan, that was actually a pile of shipping containers.
Best meal - The Japanese buffet with Satoshi and Jane, Tokyo.
Worst meal - Our very first breakfast in Japan, some sickly fish noodle soup. Closely followed by two tiny hotdogs that cost $10 in Toledo, Spain.
Best shower - Sopurtujar apartment, Spain. Completely took us by surprise (we thought it was going to be a dodgy pub). Had a funky curved door and free shampoo. Just perfect after walking for 6 hours.
Worst bathroom - Abu Simbel accommodation, Egypt. I think I was showering in a puddle of my own urine. They definately needed to fix the plumbling.
Best A to B experience - Istanbul to Galipolli. The bus had a waiter who served chocolate cakes and tea for 7 hours.
Worst A to B experience - Flying British Airways. The food made me want to throw up. I think it was plastic. And the DVD player didn't work.
Great things that we have seen and done which make us glad we decided to take this trip...
Japanese temples and gardens and vibrant Tokyo at night.
Ancient monuments in Egypt and Turkey built by Pharoahs and Romans.
Beautiful medieval, moorish and modern buildings in Spain and Portugal.
Picturesque mountains in southern Spain.
Meeting Angel and Esther.
Learning some Spanish.
Getting engaged and planning our future.
Things we have seen that make you think twice about this world we live in...
Modern Cairo straining under the huge population and lack of resources and intelligent city planners.
The shores of Galipolli. The bones of men are still washed down the road in heavy rains.
Rubbish floating in the Nile and the Mediterranean Sea.
Extravagant fountains are still operating in Spanish cities despite a country-wide water crises.
Animals that have been abused and abandoned and the lack of public pressure to stop this happening (in Egypt, Turkey and Spain.)
Good things to know about travel if you want to do a trip like this..
GET REAL TRAVEL INSURANCE!
The internet is everywhere. But learn about Skype before you leave home.
TravelEx VISA is great.
International red-tape gives you brain tumors. TRY ONE THING A DAY.
Winter in the northern hemisphere is actually bloody freezing.
For every 2 weeks of travel you may only meet 1 person who is really helpful and nice, but that is usually enough to help you forget that the rest of the people you are meeting in that country are either out to rip you off, or just incompetent.
There is a serious shortage of towel hooks. Seriously.
There is a major problem of pesky Eucalyptus trees growing in Europe. Maybe they should cut them down to make more towel hooks.
You can travel on a budget of about $100 a day, but you need to buy and cook your own food, and steal toilet paper.
You have to mix it up. Too many museums, old buildings and churches can turn you insane in a very short amount of time. Try natural places like Aquariums, farms, beaches and mountains.
You and your travel buddy will be seeing eachother EVERY DAY, EVERY HOUR for a long time. You better like them.
So, what did we do to celebrate our half way day. Well, we went to the Correos for one last try to find out if our parcel had definately, absolutely left Spain. Which almost caused me to spit the dummy again when the stupid postal guy didn't listen to a word I was saying and ...well, it was stressful.
Cameron then convinced me to get a hot chocolate. That was ok.
We then jumped on a bus for 6 hours and crossed over into Portugal. That was bizarre. No passport checks. I was a bit bummed I didn't get a stamp.
So, Happy Half-way Day was really just another day on the road, doing our best to travel around the world.
Comments
If only those damn blakets were biger! lol