Something to Remember

Istanbul, Turkey

I wrote this in my journal while flying above the black sea feelıng a little sentimental. Thought I'd copy it here:

I want to wrıte about somethıng that I think is important.

Often when hearing about humans and our affect on the earth, we hear about our contribution to global warming, or increased extinction rates, or nuclear power, or water pollution, or the destruction of forests to build cities and farms, or, well, you get the idea. And these are important issues. More than important. And they're not being given as much consideration as they warrent or require and I thınk as a species, in our attempt to increase awareness with all these things and in some meaningful way try to repair the damage we have done, we become focused on the negative. On only the faultsö or what we have taken away from the planet. And maybe this is necessary too ın order to incite change at a faster rate. But I think despite all that, it's occasionally just as important to look at what we've added to the planet, lest we forget our magnificence while remembering only our faults.

Right now I'm sittıng in a plane, in the window seat lookıng out over the northern coast of the black seaç The moon is at half, and the earth is nearly as dark as the sea by which ıt rests, mınus of course for a strıng of a million tiny yellow lights, outlining the coast like fireflys all travelling in a lıne until they bunch up, denser and denser into a cıty. The lights twinkle like stars brought down from the sky, marking the land where humankınd had decided to settle.

Behind me, further back in the airplane, people are clapping rhythmically and laughing, as one teenager plucs at a sort of mini-guitar while others dance in the aisle. They're forced to stop as the plane begins to descend but suddenly there is a greater cheer in the fuselage. Others are laughing and talkıng with more vigor and soul.

These are things we've given the planet. These are things that shouldn't be ignored or overshadowed by the threat of global warmıng, because just as we've created pollution, we've also created lıght. And it's damn beautiful.

2 month anniversery

Tallinn, Estonia

Computer is coming... yay.

I've officially been out here for two months now. (well, two months and a day, I couldn't get to a computer yesterday) and thought I'd write a little post celebrating my anniversery and some of the things I've learned so far, since about two weeks ago it officially became the longest trip of my life.

Ten things I've learned:

1. Just because it's a train or bus, and not a plane, doesn't mean you can arrive to catch it with only one minute to spare.

2. Couchsurfing.org is the best website ever invented. If you travel, use it.

3. Never turn down an invitation to a party, especially if it goes until 8am.

4. No skin, no win - An inside joke that we discovered turned out to be true when watching women's beach volleyball - the team with the least amount of clothing wins every time. Maybe it's air friction slowing everyone else down :) Keep that in mind ladies when you're running late!

5. Friends are the most important thing when traveling - even if they're new ones and you only see them for two days in your life.

6. The government loves to get you to sign shit with deadlines when you're out of the country.

7. If you sneeze it means thank-you in Lithuanian. "ahh choo"

8. "super duper" means "super ass" in Polish - I found out the hard way.

9. The hottest girls in Europe (well, of the countries I've been too) come from Poland (sorry Latvia, you're a close second).

10. I can limbo like a young Hermes. Somehow I won a limbo contest... not really sure how...


and here's a bonus number 11: McDonald's really DOES taste the same everywhere.


See you all from Turkey!