Blog check up.

Okay okay so you may have noticed that the blog is over two months behind. Between the crap internet of Bolivia and us now rushing to get through Chile and Argentina without going broke, it's been hard to catch up.

But I'm going to try something to fix that. From now on, I'm going to update one old post (continuing) and one new post. This is going to be totally disorienting for a while (like two months more than likely) but I'm hoping it will help close the gap sooner rather than later.

I still can't get the rss feed to work (no clue what happened there) so please sign up for the email subscriptions to follow along. And please forgive the old/new post mixture. But I'm doing it for you.

Housekeeping

Hello out there... out there... out there... out there. Just testing the echo.

We're in Antigua Guatemala and have access to regular internet - notice I didn't use the word fast. I've just changed the dates on all the posts to reflect the dates they were written on. I don't know if these means they'll be re-sent to email subscribers or re-posted to the rss feed. Apologies if this happens. You'll also now be able to tell exactly how far behind I actually am. Gulp. I hope to fix this over the next week. Feel free to harass me. Or leave any sort of comment. If I know people are reading this, it will help get my motivation up. 

But enough of that. Just wanted to let you know we are alive and well and that new posts are coming.

(Apologies for all the spelling and grammar errors and typos. I'm going for quantity not quality at the moment.) 

what do you mean there´s no internet in the jungle?

Sorry for the lack of posts. We´re currently in Palenque and staying about 15 minutes outside of town in the jungle near the Palenque ruins. I´ve got lots of updates but they´ll have to wait until we get hooked up on the wireless internet again or until there´s internet access in a place that´s not a bazillion degrees.

Tonight we´re headed to Tulum so it should be cooler and the internet should be better. Never fear all is well. We´ll soon return to our regularly scheduled blogging.

Thanks for the ride.

Today is my last day at work. I've been at TAXI for just under four years and in advertising that's like 20 regular job years. I wanted to send out a goodbye email and as a writer was consumed about how to make that message count and still be entertaining.

So here's what I sent out today.


Before taking off on my big trip, one book suggested making a will. Cheery. Well here’s one regarding everything in my office so there’s no fighting over my stuff once I’m gone, you vultures.

THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF LMB


I, LMB, a departing employee of TAXI being of sound mind and body hereby make this Will and revoke all prior Wills and Codicils.


BENEFICIARIES: I give my office property to the following persons, in no particular order:

To Rose, the speakers on my desk. Actually, they’re yours and I “borrowed” them three years ago. Hope you don’t mind.

To Natalie, the neon pink WHAM gloves. You’ll always be Pepsi to my Shirley.

To Cheryl M, my totes awes multiple Tom Feiler mugs that I won and you didn’t. :p

To Daniella, my Shrek figure. It’s no Sponge Bob bag but I’m sure you’ll love it.

To HR, all incriminating photos from various company parties, located on my hard drive.

To Kasey, a post it note with “o” written on it, so you never forget to put the “o” in account again.

To Lindsay, my collection of pens, most of them are from the reception desk anyways.

To Janis, the bottles of Advil and Tylenol in my desk. I have a feeling you’ll need them

To all you studio peeps, to be shared equally, the xyron, rulers, and knives I’m accumulated over the years – they’re right next to the label maker in my bottom drawer. Just kidding. Take the small hand mirror, because no one made me look as good as you did.

To Steve, my Untitled postcard from the British Design Museum. I know you’re the only other person who’ll find it amusing.

To Marta, the collection of salt packets in the top left drawer. Use them to de-ice the sidewalks. Pretty please. Oh and I guess you should share them with Matt, Steve and Janis.

To Bhavik and Jess, to be divided equally, any matches, lighters or cigarettes.

To Lily, my mardi gras beads and button that says “drunk” cuz a tipsy Lily always makes me laugh.

To [redacted], [redacted] and [redacted], my unused souvenir Spy in July rolling papers so you’ll never go without again.

To the account group, to be shared equally, my chair, because it didn’t give me a fraction of the support you all did.

To Peter, the poster of Mao giving a high five, cuz I know you love high fives.

To Val, my British invasion christmas party box. How did the two people not on the social committee end up doing that job?

To Gary W., the little slip of paper that says “Nyeo” instead of either “yes” or “no”.

To Ali, my collection of swipe dogtags/discounts, it’s my payment for all the boring trip talk you had to hear. Plus, I know one day they’ll be selling your photo books there.

To IT, my delete key. It’s in my jar of pens where I put it two years ago after it fell off.

To Mark Scott, the bandana from the creative offsite paintball game (circa 2005), because it’s too hard to believe you weren’t there.

To Bovey, my scissors so you can cut any beard as soon as it starts growing.

To the creative department to be divided equally, my complete annotated collection of neighbourhood dinner menus. If you’re going to work late, you’ll need some variety in your diet.

To Betty, my Party Like a Rock Star TAXI christmas party survival kit, cuz I’ve seen you on the dance floor and you are a rock star.

To Christine, mi dispensador de la cita por todas las veces cuando tomé tu grapadora. Gracias.

To Aggie, Eugene, Meghan, JC, and the rest of the fabulous producers, my TAXI hooch left over from the summer party. It’s one of the many drinks I owe you guys.

To Lance, the picture of the Sphincter Eye, cuz you actually know what it means.

To Sam, the bottle of hairspray and mousse left over from the Do They Know it’s Christmas video/music shoot three years ago.

To Caleb, four tampons and a palm tree.

To Troy, the Duran Duran poster I stole from Jeff. Keep the faith.

To finance, a collection of cab receipts and other misc. undated bills that I never got around to expensing.

To the 100s of you that I have missed, I’ve unfortunately run out of stuff. Instead please accept my thanks and lots of hugs for making these last four years so absolutely awesome.


If any beneficiary under this Will does not survive me by 30 days, then I shall be deemed to have survived such person.


PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OR EXECUTOR: I appoint Vera as Executor of my Will, and if s/he is unable or unwilling to serve, then I name Chris Ashton as alternate Executor. My Executor and alternate shall have all powers granted by applicable laws of my province to carry out all provisions of this Will, may use provisions and procedures for the simplified handling of estates, may hold in trust the share of any minor beneficiary until s/he reaches age 18, and shall not be required to post a bond.

I, LMB, hereby sign this Will at Toronto, Ontario on this 27 day of February, 2009

****

Remember you are all stars. And I look forward to watching you shine wherever I am in the world.
I will miss you all – yes, even you. So you had better keep in touch.

And I meant every word of it.

Read all about it

Thanks again to wiki for this photo

When I was about 7, my dad bought me two books that had lots of words and no pictures. Real grown up books called The Coral Island and King Soloman's Mines. And I still have the books. It took me forever to read these adventure stories. But they're probably the reason I have such a travel bug. Every description I read exposed me to exotic places, people and animals I wanted to see for myself. And I was lucky that although my parents weren't world travellers they sent me on every school trip they could so I could feed the bug.

Fast forward about 25 years when Adrian and I were planning our trip to Peru. Thanks to the wonders of google and the recommend of fellow ThornTree posters I discovered two blogs: Conor's Mildly Thrilling Tales and The Global Trip. Both followed the adventures of two guys travelling solo around the world. From the first entries, I was immediately hooked and gave up more than a few hours sleep to catch up and follow along with their entries as they made their way around the planet.

Although both of their blogs made me feel like I was there with them, I wasn't. So the next step was finding a way to visit all these places myself. Thankfully, Adrian was fully onboard. And 3 years later it's getting close to being a reality.

As we've been planning, we've read alot of other blogs and books. So I thought other's might appreciate some of the inspiring reads we've found.

Of course, I'm a huge fan of <Lonely Planet guidebooks - even when they've led me astray as they did in Vancouver. I've got the complete Shoestring guides set and have been using them to plot our adventure. They are already horribly out of date in terms of pricing and contact info but a little google magic fixes that. 

Rough Guides has a great book called First Time Around the World. A must have and read and study for anyone thinking of taking off. It's rather straight but that's what you want in a guide book. 

I suggest reading it in tandem with Vagabonding. If the Rough Guide is all about getting the your physical world in order, Vagabonding is all about the mental. It's rather philosophical but in a good way - and I don't know how many times i'd stumble across a passage and think "that's exactly what I was thinking but I never had the words to describe it. It's like he's in my head". 

Admittedly sometimes the philosophical can be too much. Thankfully there are some great websites inspired by this book where a bunch of author's contributing a wide variety of articles to help you in your quest to become a Vagabond. 

Here's an annotated list of of other resources in a loose chronological order of when I came across them.

Michael Palin's stuff: Seeing Michael Palin on TVO was always a little treasure when I was a teenager as he followed the footsteps Hemmingway and Jules Vernes.  I have a couple of his coffee table books (always picked up for pennies from the clearance section over the decades) and while I can now recognize that many of his journeys are unattainable to the average backpacker, they were one of my first inspirations. Plus, he was in Monty Python and A Fish Called Wanda - what's not to love?

Lonely Planet/Globe Trekker/Pilot Guides TV: Ian Wright is my hero. While Michael Palin was always the observer, Ian is the participant. The way he interacts with people he encounters reminds me that travelling is about getting involved and not watching stuff from the sidelines. Interaction over observation. And he certainly makes it look fun. Adrian and I saw him speak at Convocation Hall a few years back and I he was so... so... normal. Just a kinda geeky and awkward guy who happens to travel to some pretty awesome places. He knows he's lucky and doesn't forget it. No wonder I've been a fan for 20 years. 

Chasing Che: Retracing Che's motorcycle journey across South America for your dissertation - why didn't I think of something fun this when I was writing mine? Regardless, it's a great travelogue as the author shares the trials and tribulations of travelling solo through many different cultures and countries adding in a thin Che political filter (Latin American politics light). It began Adrian and I's own accidental retracing of Che's steps. Hopefully we won't end up dead in Bolivia too. 

The Beach: when I read this in the mid nineties I was blown away by the idea of an individual taking off to far away Thailand. It seemed so seedy yet so decadent - exactly what 20-something I was attracted to. I read it again this year and was struck by how immature and annoying the characters were. Interesting how time and experience can completely change one's perspective. Oh yeah and the movie sucked. 

Bill Bryson: any of his books. His humour is so spot on. My first introduction to him was in 1999 during a raucous Hogmanny (New Year's Eve) in Edinburgh crashing on the floor of a friend's flat with 8 Brits. Caught in the crossfire of competing regional accents, I ducked and picked up the copy of Notes from A Small Island that was lying around and quickly devoured it. I don't know if it was my outsider status at the time  but everyone of Bryson's North American observations about Britain was dead on and hilarious and timeless.

me-go.net: A girl. Travelling solo. Through really odd countries. I'll take Obscuri-Stan for 200,  Alex. Megan's site is a great travelogue from a unique perspective. She shows that no country is off limits (within reason) if you want to go there. It's also a great reference. She shares all her financials - something few people are willing to do for some strange reason. Oh and she responds to emails promptly and thoroughly. She's pretty awesome.

Holidays in Hell: 80s memoir of travelling to some whacky places courtesy of P.J. O'Rourke. I loved the spirit of this book. In a weird way it's the travelogue I related to the most. Although a little warning some of the terms he uses later in the book are a little irking for my PC addled brain. Amazing how appropriate the politics are 20 some years later. 

Adventures of a Continental Drifter: series of short travelogues by one guy. Interesting for the perspective of a former American flight attendant travelling after 9-11 but also because he's black. The outsider in many cultures and just another face in the crowd in others. A great read because he doesn't try to make sense of anything that happens he just experiences it and shares it with us.

Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?: A Swashbuckling Tale of High Adventures, Questionable Ethics, and Professional Hedonism: This one isn't an inspiration but I feel the need to include it because I take it as a cautionary tale. The author's attitude and adventures are exactly what I want to avoid while travelling. All selfish and self important "what's in it for me" mentality. The guy has an ego the size of Greenland and like to think he's living on the edge and writing like Hunter S. Thompson. But his actual adventures and experiences are pretty tame, and lame. Perfect contrast to P.J. O'Rourke who downplays the real craziness happening all around him.

I have another hundred books and movies set in certain countries that I could add to my list of inspiration. Don't worry I won't. Every time Adrian and I come back from a trip, the one constant on our customs declaration has been books. (yes it means we have a lot of books waiting to be packed up before we go, don't remind me). Reading them is a great way to revisit the places for free. And on one occasion buying a book was an adventure itself. 

In the Cusco, Peru airport as we were waiting for our flight to the Amazon, Adrian was at a newspaper stand looking for NFL news (I know, don't get me started). Out of luck he was flipping through the rack of books on Macchu Picchu when another customer started talking to him about Macchu Picchu. This gentleman happened to be an author and the book Adrian happened to be leafing through was his. Adrian had a great conversation with the quirky man in the panama hat and when Adrian bought his book, he signed it for him. 

Reading can't replace the real thing but sometimes it can be an adventure in itself.

Home Sweet Home. Work Sour Work

Back from my whirlwind trips to London and Vancouver. But now up to it in work stuff. And Adrian is, uh, well, see the above picture.

I'll post about these trips soon. Promise.

So where are we now?

location: Toronto

savings: $16,700

ETD: November 15, 2008

The big jump is thanks to our tax returns. Phew, I'm glad those came in.