It has already been two years?!

A meditation from my book Smash Your T.V. and Have Adventures:

I miss the way that it rains in Reykjavík. In the morning when you wake up, you can barely hear the whispering cadence that the water makes on the window. I hate the way the rain falls elsewhere––droplets the size of my thumb print hit the Earth. Reykjavík is misty––the rain gently embraces your body. I wish that the feeling could last forever. Sometimes if you stop thinking so much, you can hear the wind whistle in time to the shower.

Ride an Effing Bike!

I was thinking about melting down all the cars in the whole world, Making brand new mountain bikes for all the boys and the girls -Jeff Ott

At last I am free. With gas prices hitting all-time highs every day of the week, I have taken a radical step forward by riding my bike at all times except for long hauls and to work because my office is nowhere near a bus line. So I am doing a Morgan Spurlock-esque experiment, tipping my hat to his work in “Supersize Me” and the TV series “30 Days.” Who knows how long it will work out, but I may as well try because gas prices will continue to rise and I love biking. It is such a great way to see your world for what it is really worth.

Today, for instance, I rode to the bank because I needed to deposit a check and some cash. I have been biking to the bank for years because it is ten minutes from where I live, but today made me more cognizant of how impractical it is to drive anywhere in my community. The town where I live is pretty hilly and going down the inclines adds great natural speed, even though the climb is a big laborious.

I am always surprised at how unkind the roads are to pedestrians and cyclists. I shouldn’t be fazed by it, but it is difficult to not be upset when the odds are stacked in favor of motorists. At one cross walk after another, the button for crossing is out of commission and whenever I do have a chance to cross, I barely make it because some moron in an SUV inches toward me like a vampire invading the crosswalk space. I don’t think that I will ever get over things like this because they lack basic levels of respect for well-being.

If more people decided to cycle, then the world would not be as tense. It improves balance and is one of the best things that you can do for yourself if weight loss is your mission. It is such a shame that it is still not taken seriously here as one of the most energy efficient modes of transport. The car has been of major focus to happiness and the fulfillment of aspirations because of conglomerations like GM who instilled the car culture mentality into American minds as early as the 1950s. In reality, they only emit carcinogens into our atmosphere, raise blood pressures, and encourage all things sedentary, leading to the “obesity epidemic” that the American media has a tizzy over.

There is an easy and cost-effective solution: RIDE AN EFFING BIKE! A bike! Two wheels and a seat! I don’t know about you, but I feel so much better, even cleansed, after biking. Whenever I drive, I feel drained and irritable. No matter what, I love my bike, even though it is 12 years old, has a slightly bent front wheel, and makes a squeaking sound that gets on my nerves.

The past month or so

I haven’t written in a while because it has been a blurry month. Since I returned from the tour, it seems like things have really picked up. Work was pretty frantic for a while because of the end of the year slew of news releases that I wrote before commencement (I am a publicist at a local college) and I also played my first show in nearly six months with this band, Debutante, from Pittsburgh, PA. They remind me a lot of Portishead in their approach to stoic electronics and delicate female vocals. This was my second time playing with them and it was great to catch up on our lives. It was nice to see my friend, Cari, as well. She is now a bartender at the venue and is also the most hardcore cyclist that I know. She is gearing up for a North American bike tour this summer. I hope that everything works out for her. We used to work at a bookstore together and bonded over our love for My Bloody Valentine, who are back together and playing their first shows since 1992! The sky has fallen.

I thought that the gig went well, considering that I had barely picked up an instrument since I finished recording “Hummingbird” in late January. It was great to have Jamie there too---she was able to come up for the weekend to hang out since we hadn’t seen each other in a few weeks. Our favorite moment of the night was this kid who was no more than six that had a Michael Jackson fixation. He walked into the venue with his dad and walked around to every table with a Barbie-sized “Thriller” doll. Jamie was asking him questions about his favorite songs and he enthusiastically said, “All of them! ‘Billie Jean,’ ‘Thriller,’ ‘Can’t Stop Till You Get Enough,’ ‘Beat It.’ All of them!!” We were trying so hard not to laugh. He proceeded to moonwalk. True story.

The following weekend, Jamie and I decided to take a random road trip to Canada. For all of our various adventures around the globe, we both found it odd that Niagara Falls was somewhere we had never been. So after work on Friday, she drove up to Cleveland and a few hours later, we were at our hostel. I thought that it was going to be alright because I booked an HI hostel, but it was pretty dumpy and the price was not as it was listed on hostelworld.com. I sucked it up. Our room had a TV, which was odd and a total unnecessary luxury. We spent our first night channel surfing and talking about random things.

I love Canadian TV. I am really interested in the cultural differences between Americans and Canadians because more often than not, there is a disregard for Canada as a separate nation by many Americans who know no better. Canadian TV is one of those subtle differences. For one, there are at least a half dozen French stations from Quebec, as well as the CBC, CTV, and Much Music. Flipping channels here made me *gasp* enjoy the programming! Sure, there are the crappy reality shows that pollute American airwaves, but the multicultural programming is certainly one of the strongest differences. Jamie noticed it immediately. We woke up to a local program that resembled one of those reality singing shows, but it catered to the Filipino population of Ontario. It was called “Filipino, Eh?” and we thought that it was hysterical. All of the contestants were so terrible that I prefer a cat fight in the middle of the night.

The falls were impressive and don’t need any sort of introduction. The hoards of tourists from around the world detract a bit from its intrinsic beauty, but the Horseshoe Falls are impressive even with all of the oglers. After an hour or two, we shrugged and tried to figure out what to do with the rest of our day. So we decided to randomly drive to Toronto and didn’t regret it at all! I only wish that we stayed at the backpacker’s hostel in downtown Toronto for the second night because we didn’t nearly have as much time there as we wanted. It is a gorgeous place that is super livable. The modern glass skyscrapers coupled with its lakefront views made me instantly fall in love with the place. Its proximity to the States is fascinating in that it functions much differently and feels more multicultural than even New York. I prefer it to New York without a question. The cleanliness and efficiency of the city makes me want to live there. So, how about that work visa? ;)

It was one of the best weekends that I have had in a while. Now I am just trying to figure out where to go next and how I will get to wherever I am going. After several more job interviews and not much luck, I still have the freedom to go off on another (albeit brief) tour. I am aiming for the fall, ideally late September or October. It maybe another solo trip, but I’m not sure at this point. If I have any takers, I would love to go with someone. The dollar is still weak against the currencies of most places that I want to visit, but I am beginning to not care. If not at the end of this year, then hopefully by the beginning on next. My life is in limbo right now because I am waiting for the right time and opportunity to move but have yet to land a job. But I will hopefully be elsewhere by the summer. I have been out of school for exactly one year and am ready for this stasis to end and for my life to begin.

Thursday, 3 April 2008, 10:08 a.m., Munich International Airport/ So long!

So this is the end. It was pouring rain when I left Salzburg yesterday and the bus ride to the train station was decent. Rolled into Munich around noontime yesterday and checked into Wombat's, which is perhaps the greatest hostel in the world! It is way nicer than most three-star hotel chains. It is the only hostel that I have ever been to in Europe or in North America that has a private bathroom in *every* room! It was spotless too. Lap of luxury, friends. Lap of luxury.

After I checked in, I walked around the city for a final time around Marienplatz and elsewhere. I don't know how anyone could ever get over the glockenspiel. It really touches a raw nerve because it is so out-of-place, yet makes perfect sense all the while. When I was waiting for the S-Bahn this morning, a nebbish businessman approached me and spoke English very, verrrryyyy slllooowwwlllyyy because he wanted to know if the S8 traveled to the airport. I played along for a second and said yes and then proceeded to ask him where he was from. Looking embarrassed that he mistook me for a non-English speaker, he said Chicago. It turns out that he was also on my same flight, go figure.

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6:45 a.m. en route to Washington, D.C.

I had my first cup of coffee that was decent in many days. It is kind of sad that United Airlines has better coffee than I could afford on this tour! I really don't want this feeling to end. Ever. For as lonely as times got, it really was the life for me. I knew it when I went to Iceland a couple of years ago and I know it now. I cannot wait for the next adventure, whenever or wherever that may be. I think that South America is a possibility, but I need to pick up a bit of Spanish, Portuguese, and Quechua. Hey, if I can get by with rudimentary Slovak phrases, then I can do anything! Patagonia calls my name. I want to go to Tierra Del Fuego at the southernmost tip of Chile the most. Jamie and I might be able to visit Brazil in the near future if the fares decrease a bit because she has friends living near Sao Paulo I think. The traveler's life is for me.

This world is so vast that it is difficult to comprehend. But through struggles and differences among people comes understanding for the better of yourself, as well as your native culture. Once we as a collective humanity learn that we aren't all the same culturally and that we can acknowledge our differences and use them for the better of our world, then real progress can occur for all of us. Until then, governments will continue to control their peoples with fear and coercion, and immigrants will be ghettoized in their adoptive nations. The experience of traveling independently is like no other because you see firsthand how locals live and how your lives overlap and differ. Struggling is part of the beauty. If there is no struggle, then it isn't real.

As much as I wanted to be with people during the heights of loneliness throughout, it was refreshing to have no ties to anyone or anything. All I can think about right now is the next step, the next adventure, and all of the people that I have yet to meet. Once you start traveling, it is so difficult to stop. The only things that stand in the way are finances and jobs. Working is necessary to finance experiences like this. I need to find a job where I can travel readily. In time, in time!

As I wrote in my first entry before the tour began, there must be something encoded in our DNA that calls for movement from place-to-place, from here-to-there. Humans were not meant to lead sedentary lives in offices. It counters our physiology. Therefore, a nomadic state of being is natural. After all, humans were nomadic hunter/gatherers for hundreds of thousands of years! To me, the only thing that makes sense is to keep going. I don't care if it is four days, seven days, 10 days, 21 days, 88 days, what have you. I have to keep going.

Ian Wright, the Globe Trekker host, once said, "There is nothing magical about a rucksack, passport, and boarding pass. You just do it, meeting new people and exchanging ideas along the way. There is no rule." Wright is very true. That is what travel should be about! Home is meant to be left at home. It is about getting so far out of your comfort zone that you struggle a bit, learn about the local culture, and exchange stories, all the while returning home with an expanded worldview. The hard part is letting go and allowing yourself to take the plunge. You learn to rely on yourself, and that translates across cultures. There are no rules.

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Monday, 7 April 2008, 9:18 a.m., Cleveland, OH, my front porch

I live a few minutes away from Lake Erie and it is always nice to come home to a body of water, even when it is still frozen. I thought that I would wait for a few days to do the final entry from this tour so I could decompress, sleep, and make sense of it all. I don't know if I will ever know what all of this means. I am glad that none of this is self-evident. If I could understand it all, then I would be doing myself a disservice. Now I sit on my front porch with morning coffee listening to The Microphones. It is funny how things always stay the same here. The feeling of "home" is here and always has been. My eyes have been opened even further. I feel more aware and completely unaware at the same time. I would rather be unsettled than content. The more freedom that you allow yourself to have, the more complex your worldview becomes. Independent travel is frustrating, stressful, painful, humbling, upsetting, heartbreaking, boring, exciting, liberating, and unforgettable at the same time. It is both a physical drain and rejuvenating. But I wouldn't have it any other way and I do not intend on stopping anytime soon. After the final flight to Cleveland Hopkins Int'l and the long walk through the terminal, I can only think about doing it again. And again.

Tuesday, 1 April 2008, 12:51 p.m., Salzburg, Austria, Mirabell Gardens

The day has been nice and rainy. Had brekkie in the hostel because it was free, watched Austrian news and CNN world, and walked around old town for a few hours. I like Salzburg the best as the waterlogged place that it is today. I think that the rain makes the buildings glimmer. It is 12 C (55ish F) I am amazed by the care for bicyclists and pedestrians here. The entire city has bike lanes in the street, as well as separate pedestrian lanes.

I am sitting in the Mirabell Gardens after visiting the Mozart Museum (his childhood home) this morning. It was alright and I received a "student" discount because I had my old Denison University I.D. on me. The museum was not as cool as just being in his abode and thinking about how I was standing in a place where his formidable years were spent. I'm so glad that I found the gardens. They are vast and symmetric to a T. Greek god(dess) statues flank the sides of the land plots and there is a humongous fountain near one of the entrances. I just took a sound sample of the French choir girls who were singing in the gardens. I think that it is the same group from the hostel.

I am ready to head back home I suppose. I have been completely alone for the past four days since leaving Alix and Hanna in Prague. They have made it to Italy now for sure. I miss my family and Jamie. It will be nice to use my phone again on Thursday! I really need to get Skype...

Seeing as this is the end of the tour, I decided to make a list of everything that I WILL NOT miss about Europe:

1) Paying to use the bathroom

2) Inconsiderate drivers who drive at crazy fast speeds down side streets

3) The annoying kids on school trips who I have to navigate through

4) The poor exchange rate between the Dollar and Euro

5) Nescafe/no decent coffee

Here is what I WILL miss---absolutely everything else.

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9:11 p.m.

I decided to hike up to the castle again in broad daylight. It was far more interesting at dusk when there are no people around except for the locals. I love Austria for the majestic landscapes, but it is bizarre how eerily quiet everything is. I would go insane if I had to live here. It is so small, too small. I already had four years of claustrophobia going to school at Denison. Salzburg is so sleepy that I feel like I am nodding off writing this! It is barely 9 p.m. and I can't keep my eyes open. I ordered a pint of Gosser at the hostel bar and am just writing. I'm not sure if I am tired because of Salzburg's lack of energy or from the tour running its course. I suppose that it has been a bit of both.

This trip has been incredible, but I think that it is time to go home. It's time to re-evaluate things at home and to figure out where I want to live, buy a car, work on new music, what have you. I am so lucky that I was able to get this together and leave for so long. I have covered more ground in two weeks than I ever imagined. The loneliness is beginning to take hold of me. I don't know how people like Daniel do it. He harvests kiwi fruit in New Zealand right now. What a life---wish it was mine.

Monday, 31.03.08, 6:27 p.m., Salzburg, Austria

Rolled into Salzburg around three or four in the afternoon. I changed my Slovak Crowns into Euro and didn't receive much in return, as expected. Took bus #5 into town. In terms of an urban area, Salzburg may be the most gorgeous place that I have ever seen. The view from my hostel window is the enormous castle and the Alps! I laughed and stood for a half hour marveling at how perfect Salzburg is. I wanted to hop online to let everyone at home know that I arrived in Austria safely, but 20 minutes was a whopping 3 euro! I decided to pass and grab some dinner at the hostel, which was 6 euro---total bang for buck seeing as a coffee and street food would be the same price. I wanted vegetables too because I couldn't remember the last time that I consumed greens.

After filling up at the hostel, I walked around Salzburg to get my bearings and figure out how to hike up to the castle. I felt like K. in Kafka's Castle novel! Salzburg is much different from other places that I have visited because of its small size and its majesty. It is very medieval, perhaps on par with Prague in those terms. However, it feels like an overgrown town rather than a booming metropolis. The alps and castle surround the town. At every single angle. This place is regal without the pomp and is relatively free of annoying tourists. I just kept inching toward the castle and followed the only road that goes up. I saw a few younger people going for en evening jog after work and a middle aged couple holding hands on a stroll. I hope that I will be that happy when I am older.

I am relieved to be out of Slovakia, though I am glad that I had the chance to go. Everything seems a bit clearer now. Slovakia by most standards is a developing nation that will hopefully continue to develop at the rapid rate that it is moving at right now. EU membership is helping tremendously. It is still very much of Eastern Europe, as is Prague outside of old town and tourist areas. That is plain to see in the clothes worn to the quality and age of your Skoda car. The older ones were produced in the former Czechoslovakia and now the main plant is in Germany because it was bought by Volkswagen. Regardless, there is much old world to be had in Prague and in the rest of the Czech Republic. Salzburg is a different breed.

For one, it is so tranquil, sleepily so. Could it be the Salt Lake City of Europe? Quite possibly. Looking out over Salzburg in the half-light is stunning, but I miss Prague and even Bratislava. Bratislava has some really charming parts and the old town looks gorgeous in the light. Looking up at Salzburg Castle at dusk was surreal. It looks much like Dracula's castle, creepy in the best of ways. Werner Herzog should have shot scenes for his Nosferatu remake here! I guess it was too close to home for him (he is a Munich native). I am getting used to the loneliness now. It is just me and this majestic place, a city fit for a king.

Monday, 31.03.08, 11:48 a.m., Vienna, Austria, Westbahnof Station, en route to Salzburg

Today has been a pretty cool day connection-wise. So far, I woke up at 6 a.m. without a beat, checked out, and got on a bus to the station. After the ordeal of wandering far outside of central Bratislava, I had no problems getting back. A word to the wise---always, *always* get sugar in your coffee if you order from a vending machine in Slovakia. I didn't and it was so bitter and tasteless that I thought I was going to shrivel up and die. I drink coffee black almost always, but this was some vile shit. I couldn't finish it and instead bought another coffee *with sugar* in an effort to use up Slovak Crowns. I went to the upper level of the station to people watch. I completed another transaction in Slovak with no English as well! Ordered real coffee (I equate that with anything other than Nescafe) and a Nutella-filled croissant. It was a nice breakfast on the way to my bus. The trip into Vienna was just over an hour, if that. The Austrian border is just about 15 minutes from Bratislava. It is so hard to believe that less than a half hour separates shabtastic Bratislava from sylvan Austria. Developing to developed.

Austria is gorgeous, but not as you would expect. It isn't the decadent palace of Earthly delights that the media would like you to believe. There is some of that, I'm sure, but it is pretty much a mix of classes, similar to what I have seen in Germany. The two women sitting in my compartment are French and we conversed briefly about how hot the train compartment is. I'm glad that I was able to use some of my French language skills, even though they are slipping since I have not had a French class since November 2003! I try to keep up by watching French and Quebecois news on SCOLA.

Vienna was very nice. I only had the chance to spend a few hours there, but I walked into town and snapped some photos of the stunning architecture. I also went into "Hoffer" (Aldi) to shop. I bought mineral water and beer. I am pretty sure that I prefer Prague to Vienna, but it is still fantastic. The train that I am on is pretty fantastic. Austria is not quite as flat as Germany or Moravia. There are more gentile rolling hills like in Ohio. I head back home on Thursday, but now it is time to keep smelling the roses...