On various occasions, I get pangs of wanderlust that pulsate through my veins. I read about I am in a constant struggle with my general love of the Bay Area and all of the wonderful people and sights that it holds and with my desire to see the world. I have a map of the world in my bedroom and one above my desk at work and am constantly reminded of all of the places in the world that I haven’t been. Sure, I’m almost 24, and I’ve been to more places than most of my peers, but it’s the old Socratic dilemma. The more I see, the more I realize I haven’t seen. I just spent the better part of an hour reading Marie’s World Tour, a site about a 30-something year-old woman who is from New York City. She spent the calendar year of 2001 encircling the globe without using an airplane, and pulled it off pretty well, and even braved Sudan, going from Ethiopia to Egypt. Of course, this doesn’t help that I’m reading The Ends of the Earth, an incredible story about Robert Kaplan’s (of The Atlantic fame) travels in Africa, the Middle East and Asia in 1995. The more that I read about these places, I keep looking at my maps and thinking of places that I want to go.
The trip that I will do sometime in the next couple of years is Istanbul to Bombay, with a possible few month stay in Iran en route, but not long enough (read: three months) so that I get drafted into the Iranian military.
Other ideas/possible routes:
– Istanbul to Tallinn via Odessa (across the Black Sea by ship), Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
– Tehran to Urumqui (Western China), via Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyzgyzstan, and Kazakshstan. (Extra-adventurous edition: continue on all the way across China to Vladivostok, Russia, via northern China.)
– Dakar to Cape Town, staying as close to the coast as possible, via Conakry, Freetown, Monrovia, Abidjan, Accra, Port Harcourt, Douala, Libreville, Luanda, and Walvis Bay.
– Dakar to Djibouti, via Bamako, Ouagadougou, Niamey, Zinder, N’Djamena, Khartoum, and Addis Ababa.
– Caracas to Rio de Janiero, via Georgetown, Paramaribo, Belem, Recife, and Salvador.
– Bangkok to Ulanbaatar, via Chiang Mai, Chengdu, and Baotou.
I vote for Dakar to Cape Town, and as soon as you figure out how to get an Angolan via, let me know!
I had a professor at Columbia Journalism School who covered it as a journalist during the war years and is an expert in the region (now lives in NYC). Maybe she can help.
does your job allow you to travel that extensively? or is freelance tech-writing so monetarily rewarding? or do you have other sources of income? or maybe dad has money?
just curious, and envious
These trips either would have to be taken after I finish my current job, or if they let me take leave. Freelancing is not that rewarding, no. My father doesn’t pay for my trips — I do.
thanks, congratulations for your articles on Macworld, and best wishes.
Thanks. Who are you?
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