Manic Wednesday

I've never really experimented too much with time lapse photography. The photo of lightning over the Colosseum in Rome was actually my first foray into the style. This video is a compilation of the 800 photos I took in 3 second intervals as we were packing for an international flight from Sri Lanka to Ireland. We thought it would be fun to use time lapse photography to chronicle what its like for a backpacker to get everything in order as they leave yet another place of lodging. Enjoy.

The Colors of India

Hello everyone. I'd like to take a moment to personally thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I spent the better part of 20 hrs editing these photos during down time, train rides in Sri Lanka, and long airport layovers. I'm now in Ireland amongst my people but I loved the photographic opportunities which India presented. So many colors, unique landmarks, interesting people, and festivals. I don't know if I've ever enjoyed taking photographs in any other country as much as I did in India. So while this sexy child molester-esque mustache no longer exists, the memories of the time we shared in India linger on. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Is it Possible to Love India?

India is a place I never figured I'd visit. Whether it was fear or laziness, as mentioned in my previous post, I never felt like dealing with the crowds, noise, garbage, and wasn't too keen on figuring out how to navigate their public transportation system either. Armed with that pre-existing negative mindset towards India, I figured I would take note of what I was seeing and how I was feeling during each day of the trip to see if the country would grow on me, have the opposite effect, or be somewhere in between. Some of the phrases will only mean anything if you've been here, other phrases will just speak for themselves. This experiment proved to be an interesting exercise and I'm a bit surprised by the result.

The Problem with India

What's the problem with India? Which is to say, why has a seasoned backpacker like myself never had the desire to visit this vast and colorful country? What is it about India that terrified me, and why have I visited such countries as Bulgaria and Serbia before finally making my way here? I've always felt India is a rite of passage for backpackers, but to make it part of our 2014 itinerary was due mainly to my wife Sara. Without her desire to see India, I might never have made it part of my travel plans. Why?

Slow Motion Thoughts

I've been a bit bummed that I haven't really had any real moments of self-enlightenment on this trip, or at least not like I had back in 2012. I learned so much about myself during that year-long trip and was thinking I would have similar revelations on this trip, especially since I would now be traveling with my wife. But I really haven't. This 2014 journey has felt like it's been going in slow motion, which isn't a bad thing, it's just a product of having done so much traveling, that I'm used to the lifestyle. You hear athletes say all the time how the games go so fast when they're rookies and that when they get more years under their belts the games start to slow down. Well, the same holds true for travel. I've seen and done so much that I generally know what to expect and am more than used to dealing with the unexpected. I never thought I'd travel to such an extent that I would ever feel this way, but I have, and it's an interesting state of being to which I am slowly becoming accustomed. Here are some other thoughts which have been running around between my ears lately.

Drunk Traveling

Back in 2012 I wrote a post about travel hangovers. Similar to an an alcohol induced hangover, it described that 'blah' feeling you get after an amazing travel experience where you don't really want to get out of bed and see something new because you need to recover from the time that just was. I now present to you another drinking related travel comparison: Drunk Traveling. While my sleeping in the lobby of a 24 hour bank ATM way back in 2007 was the culmination of a day spent at Oktoberfest followed by a train ride to Fussen, the drunk traveling which occurred back then is not what I will be discussing here, though this post is inspired by the sequence of events following another long day of drinking at this year's Oktoberfest. Funny how that works.