March 23, 2007 by zankbennett.

Well, the trip has come to it’s near conclusion.
I am at home. San Diego, CA.
The best part is now starting to emerge…the music…and the video.
When it’s done, I will have assembled a telling documentary of the past seven months from the 18 1/2 hours of video, over 10,000 pictures through 21 countries.

Please take some time to listen to the music I’ve been working on. You may find it here

People keep asking me if I had a good time. That’s a funny question! I’m often asked of my favorite place. It was more the people than the places, but some places were very special.

The most amazing experience of my life was motorbiking through northern Vietnam in the frontier region along the Chinese border. Nine days. No words work to describe it.

The places (all documented herein) that all tie for second (in the order I visited them)

Albufeira, Portugal
Vilnius, Lithuania
Melbourne, Australia

Thanks to everyone who checked up on me and who posted comments; it was wicked to get the support of friends and fellow travelers during the trip. Some places were deep and cold and it was tough at times. These were rare, but the correspondencs was golden!

For the record:

I never slept in the street.
I did beg a hotel to let me stay when my CC got cancelled.
Yes, they do eat dinner at 1 am in Madrid.
The pyramids aren’t all that.
Angkor Wat IS!
Yes, a massage in Thailand is about $3 for an hour. No, I never got one.
The people in Bali are so kind it’s ridiculous!
The best food (in the world) is in Thailand. No, you can’t get anything even close here!
Mexican food is better than Thai food. Oops!
$1 gets you three meals in Vietnam. If you finish all the food you’ll be so full that walking may be difficult.
For $20 extra, T-Mobile with give you an international Blackberry plan. It gives you internet access + email in nearly every major city in the world. It works and rocks!
This trip marked my 14th trip to Europe. I am dumbfounded. Why go east when Australia is SO AMAZING! My #1 recommendation is a trip to Oz. It’s closer than Europe and well worth it.
Everyone knows that no one voted for GW. (so who did?)
Everyone wonders why we elected Arnold.

The best thing you can do is go travel and meet people. It’s very difficult to make the first jump…sell possissions, rent homes, leave jobs…but it can be done. There is nothing like it I have ever experienced. A common misconception: travel is to see things…like monuments or museums or famous places. People want to know about how beautiful this place was or how cool it was to see that particular painting. I would say those things are about 10% of the magic of traveling. Missing a train in the freezing cold, there’s an experience. What do you do? Maybe the person at the ticket counter feels bad for you and offers a warm room somewhere. Maybe you end up taking a different train to a new destination you didn’t even know about. The point is, it’s the journey and the people along the way, hardly ever the destination. It’s a tired cliche, but one that people don’t pay enough attention to.
Going to Bali for 3 weeks? Have a hotel booked in advance for each night? Going with a tour? That’s not traveling. That’s a vacation (also a great animal and close relative to traveling). Getting to Bali and realizing that you’ll never find the hotel you had in mind and instead meeting a few people who were on your shuttle bus, donkey or camel (never a taxi!!!) from the airport…they have another place in mind and the next thing you know, you’re having a $2 dinner with four people you would not otherwise have met. One of the guys has been there before and brandishes a map, hastily pointing out the best surf spots in the area!
Or, you could be in the Hilton with the A/C on, watching Leno on an international channel.
Go travel! There are billions of people out there who would love to meet you.

…the places and the stories we told, they’ll be with me as I’m growing old.
-z

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October 4, 2006 by zankbennett.

After a week in San Diego and LA for the wedding, it was off to Munich and Göttingen for the last night of Oktoberfest and Andre’s wedding reception.

Andre and Z.  Then, Aly with the greeeeeeen dress, giving dance lessons…!

Arrived in Munich a bit after noon on Monday, the last day of Oktoberfest. Called Judi, the girl I met in Barcelona, and arranged to meet later.
Went to the festival with Andre in liederhosen, his wife in the typical German wonen’s equivalent, Martin and his girlfriend. This thing is huge! So much bigger than I remember it from 11 years ago when last I was there. There are rides and games as far as the eye can see and food and beer tents and people wearing the craziest outfits. Too many men in leather shorts for me, but that’s cool….

We met another of Andre’s friends at one of the giant tents and managed to lie or bribe or something I couldn’t understand to get our way into the tent. The place was packed and apparently you can’t just walk in without knowing someone, especially on the last night.

When attacked by gaping-mouthed Oktoberfesters in white, use middle finger under arm pit to effectively remove the threat!  Who the!?  What the!!?

Once inside, we found a place to stand and spent about 30 minutes trying to talk one of the beer maids, read Hulk Hogans, to give us a few beers…and it was on! An hour later and we’re singing traditional Bavarian drinking songs and carrying on with the rest of the idiots in typical fashion. It’s amazing how all the words just come back like I sing them every night before bed. Or something like that.

After standing there eating 2-foot round pretzels and getting hip-checked in all directions 85 times as Helga and her beer-maid cohorts made their fly-by’s, growling and carrying 15 beers in each hand, we left the tent to meet up with Judi, Astrid and their friends at another tent.
We were too late for the last round and so stayed until they kicked is out…around 11 pm. Judi kindly let me stay at her house, just a short walk from the festival so a bunch of us went there and stayed up half the night talking, taking ridiculous pictures and carrying on.

 
Waffles with cream and cherries…a Bavarian treat.  Notice the drool…LOL.

Judi the German, me.

 
Astrid, in true form!

The next day, it was off to an old castle in Göttingen for the German version of the wedding reception with family from Andre’s mom’s and dad’s side. We ate and drank for about 5 hours in the dungeon of this castle.

Now it’s off to Stockholm, the place it seemed I would never reach. I have made five changes to my original plan and ticket to go there on the 23rd of September directly from Barcelona. Now, finally, it’s off to the cold. No jacket. No umbrella. One long-sleeve shirt with any warmth whatsoever. It’s time to get some local clothing for the cold weather. Maybe I’ll actually look like I fit in…for a HUGE change!

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September 27, 2006 by zankbennett.

So this week I am back in San Diego and LA.  I replaced my camera and managed to see quite a few friends.

John, Aine, Avery and me at the best restaurant in the world….Ranchos!!!
John, are you possessed in this one?

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September 1, 2006 by zankbennett.

Travel Commentary:

Lines:
Lines here form in exactly the same manner in which they do in the USA. But that’s where it ends. Let’s say you’re next in line and your standing 3 feet from the back of the person currently at the window. Well that’s your first mistake. See, that distance means that you’re not really in line. You might as well be orbiting Mars. People look at that distance as an opportunity to form another line perpendicular to yours and much much closer to the person currently at the window. Then, when that person moves, even slightly, the person who started the new line to your left elbows the person at the window out of the way guaranteeing 2 things: 1 you’re never going to be next and 2 that person IS.
A similar thing works when boarding busses; if the line to get in looks too long, just start a new line right at the door of the bus that runs perpendicular to the first line. That way, if you’re 1st in the new line, you’re a lock on at worst, 2nd in the bus…never mind that “idiot” (usu ME) standing at the end of the original line awaiting his/her turn.
I tried this new-line trick today…and it worked like a charm…no dirty looks, no scowls, just call me Mr 2nd on the bus. I probably looked local!
I still can’t get used to hugging the person in line in front of me from behind in hopes of preventing an 80-year-old, 3-foot-zero lady from jacking my spot when I’m about to miss the last train/bus to some place having a one-night-only festival, and she’s buying a ticket for next week to the next town over, but probably won’t go anyway…yet it about happens to me everywhere I wait in line.

Glossy napkins!
Now what’s up with this? The napkins here are made with some sort of glossy paper. It works really well as a face-food-mover. Like if there’s a bit of food on your cheek and you use one of these glossy things, you can be assured the food is gone from the cheek, but you can also guarantee it’t equally distributed over the rest of your face and that there is absolutely none of it on the napkin. It’s like wiping your face with the cover of one of those Daniel Steel novels.

Phone:
When you really need to get something done, T-Mobile has got the worst cust service…makes even Sprint look good!

Backpack:
This thing is too heavy. No one needs 2 pairs of pants! And 4 T-shirts? Who wears that many shirts? 12 pairs of socks? For real, they’re cleaner after a long hike than the rest of me most of the time… ;). Soap…should have brought this; some hotels don’t have it.

Misconceptions:
1. I would have washed my clothes since the last time I did it about a week before leaving SD - Aug 10th.
2. It wouldn’t be a full time job planning where to stay and what to see and when.
3. George, who’s meeting me in Barcelona, would have called to let me know if/when he’s coming before leaving for Paris yesterday.
4. Trains would be the way to travel…buses have proven faster and cheaper, thusfar.

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August 25, 2006 by zankbennett.

Amazing CD…discovered this singer in Sintra hotel lounge…

Maria Bethania: romantica

It’s a greatest hits album, apparently. Reminds me a bit of Bebel Gilberto.
So chill!

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August 24, 2006 by zankbennett.

Well, my main bag didn’t make it to Lisbon from NYC. I had only my mini guitar and MP3 player, passport and wallet for a night. It took a trip back to the airport from town to straighten the mess out. They have this huge collection of lost bags in this smelly back room of the Lisbon airport. After a good 200 yds of looking through bags we gave up and the lady brought me back inside for a final look at yet another pile! Finally there it was, dirty but intact. I can’t imagine a process less organized. It was just unbelievable.

It’s off today to Sintra. I’ve managed to miss my train stop already but using a combination of sign language and raw detectable frustration I was able to get some help with directions. I’m on this damn train right now. Bec of the lost bag and my lost mind, it looks like I’m going to miss the opportunity to get to Lagos today. I’m going to yet to spend the night in Sintra and make a go at it tomorrow. I think. There’s a lighthouse at the most south-west point of Portugal that is supposed to have the greatest sunsets. It’s a 6km run from Lagos. Perfect.

Last night and yesterday were spent in Lisbon. I checked into a €45 hotel and went out adventuring. Being without a camera was difficult. Nothing really outstanding to report, but that’s what I’d heard of Lisbon. Climbed a tower this morning. Good city views but nothing spectacular. The weather has been near perfect and cool enough at night to obviate the need for A/C. Last night was the first full 9 hrs of sleep in about 10 straight weeks, even with the non-stop stream of dreams about packing and selling my car and getting immunizations and all the other little things that needed attention before leaving…must have been all the Indian food before bed!

More from Sintra…

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August 23, 2006 by zankbennett.

…on the plane to Lisbon, Portugal.

Yesterday was a long, very intense day in NYC. The morning started with me sitting in on a prostate removal operation performed by Rob. He asked me to film the procedure. It was just amazing. The whole thing was done by robot, controlled by Rob from the other side of the room. The footage is more difficult to watch than the procedure was as it occurred. What an incredibly powerful experience.

Something terrible then happened. I checked my email after about 3 hrs in the OR. A very good friend, Cathy jumped to her death from the Coronado bridge at about 2 am San Diego time. She was a constant friend and will be missed dearly. This is not the place for further discussion of that terrible event so I will continue, but now more sadly and with loving thoughts of a person who’s friendship I valued immensely.

I took the subway to ground zero (at the former World Trade Tower site) and walked to the “Bodies” exhibit. It was a collection of anatomical sections taken from human subjects soon after death and preserved for observation. It was quite expensive (esp. for a jobless/homeless person). I managed to talk my way into a discount and met a girl, Nufar, in line to share the discount with. This charming girl from Isreal walked through the exhibit with me and we ended up spending the afternoon and evening wandering about SOHO. I learned so many things about a country I will likeky never get to see.
We went to Mamouns (see recommendations in prev entry) for four falafels and sat down to devour them in Washington Square Park, just a one-block walk. Rob met us there and it was off to some various cafés for more food and the best corn on the cob ever at Havannas.

Later, met up with Kristen and Rachel and, of course, went back to Mamouns for the last falafel of the trip….

Barely made it to the plane this pm. Of course I got secondary screening; no one likes my one-way ticket!

Thanks to Rob and Manny for being great hosts.

I’m now on the plane to Lisbon. More to come as the international adventure begins!!!

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