June29th
For those of you who like to talk to me I got some news. Since I am in Central America I rarely have my phone on me and texting or calling my German number is quite expensive. Therefore, I decided to make it a habit to keep Skype running on my laptop whenever I managed to hunt down some free WiFi.
My username is ‘spletto’.
A Skype button can also be found in the side bar now, so you can easily see when I am online. Talk to you soon…
June24th
Revised itinerary – cheating my way to Guatemala
I’m on my way to Guatemala. By plane! Violating my self-set goal of not using airplanes to advance my itenerary. But well, I had to. Already a month ago, I had decided to not cross the Mexican border by bus for safety concerns. To be able to re-enter the US a second time in April, I had bought a one-way ticket from Los Angeles to Mexico city. But as always my plans changed again and I stayed in San Francisco for a little longer. Eventually I had to fly from there directly to Guatemala skipping Mexico altogether to meet Marissa, my long-term couchsurfing friend (she surfed mine, I surfed her’s). Marissa is going to accompany me for the next three weeks in Guatemala. Finally, I got a temporary travel companion again. She also a Spanish teacher. So, there is a slight chance that poco a poco I might pick up a bit of Spanish along the way…
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June12th
Since I was a kid I wanted to see a giant sequoia tree with my own eyes. Had to wait a while but finally got to see some in California now. The tree behind below is ‘Grizzly Giant‘ in Yosemite National Park is one of the largest and oldest giant sequoias in the world.
June4th
Evolution of itineraries
The sharpest amongst my visitors (Sampath was first) will have noticed that my current route significantly deviates from my initial plan. The reason was simply the weather. Backpacking in the cold is no fun (I didn’t take any photos of Montreal because I was afraid my fingers would quick-freeze and fall off instantly) and after a seemingly never-ending winter in the North (New York, Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Fredericton) I arrived in Chicago in late April and is was still cold two out of the fours days I spent there. Enough. I changed my plans: visiting Oak Ridge National Lab and friends in Tennessee for a week, I decided to move further downwards and visit New Orleans, Austin, TX (what a nice discovery), Albuquerque, NM (an unplanned stop over), Flagstaff, AZ (lots of craziness and a great travel companion), Sedona & the Grand Canyon (just wow), Las Vegas (ridiculous, decadent, fun). As I hoped there was great weather all along the way and I finally arrived in San Francisco now. I have no regrets about my change of plans. On the other hand I missed Minneapolis, Yellowstone National Park, Vancouver, Portland and Seattle. Another time…
PS. I have updated all maps on the website accordingly
June3rd
Las Vegas gambling
Las Vegas wasn’t exactly on my priory list of places to visit. But it was on the way from Grand Canyon to San Francisco, so I figured: why not? Hotels are surprisingly cheap (they make their money with the gambling). Many of the bigger hotels have a (more or less ridiculous; usually more) theme. The ‘Treasure Island‘ hotel for example has pirates as a theme and a big show with pirate ship, gunfire and all that crap every afternoon. Not knowing about any of this, I had booked a few nights in ‘Excalibur’ on priceline.com, simply based on price, number of stars and location. Excalibur turned out to be a giant colorful castle (think Disney), complete with countless slot-machines, wedding chapels (yes, one is not enough for all those shotgun weddings), food court (who would ever book a hotel that doesn’t have a McDonalds and a ChuckE.Cheese on the second floor) and for entertainment you can watch the performance of ‘Thunder from Downunder’ (the Ozzie version of Chippendales). Excalibur is located at the Southern end of ‘the strip’. Las Vegas is a surprising big city with university and all. However, the strip is where the tourists visit and all the action takes place: hotels, gambling, drinks, midget strip shows (no kidding) etc…
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June2nd
Google Analytics Map
Yep, that’s you guys and girls. I am of course curious to know in which places in the world my blog is being read. And I figured, maybe you are curious to know, too. I track my visits with Google Analytics. Not surprisingly the majority of hits come from the U.S.A. and Germany. The city with the most frequent visits is Cambridge, MA (Evelyn…? 🙂 )
June1st
Cimex lectularius
Well, thanks very much for the advice but too late. I got bitten by bed bugs all over my legs. I haven’t caught any of them but I know it was them. There are no mosquitoes here and I have no allergies etc. It started with an itch, now I got red spots all over. Not sure where this first started. Maybe the weird hostel in Albuquerye, NM or the otherwise very nice, shoe-disappearing hostel in Flagstaff, AZ. Either way, I hope I won’t be carrying them with me all over the Americas…
The last time I remember to be bitten by bed bugs was in the infamous Chungking Mansions in Hong Kong in 2003.
May28th
Adidas SL72
I’m at a very nice hostel in Flagstaff, Arizona, ready to see the Grand Canyon. Unlike the last hostel in Albuquerque this one has a nice international atmosphere. Late last night I was doing some work (SciStyle). When I went to bed I decided to leave my shoes outside the room in consideration of my roommates and for the sake of air quality… My German roommate had done the same with his black Nikes. When I got up at 6:30 am (!) they were gone. I couldn’t believe my eyes. From all the things I expected to get stolen during this trip, my 9 months old smelly sneakers were the last thing I had in mind. Looks like Adidas sneakers are more popular than Nike. 🙂
I loved those pair of blue Adidas Originals with white stripes. But I was planning to buy new ones, soon anyway. I still got my gym shoes, so I won’t have to hike the Grand Canyon in my flip-flops.
May26th
I heard this question for the first time in Texas some weeks ago. And a couple of more times since then. I was astounded and speechless.The question was not ‘Why did you travel here?’, ‘Why do you do backpacking?’ or ‘How do you pay for the travels’. Neither was the guy who asked me that expecting to hear my philosophy of travel or life or anything like that. Nope, just ‘Why travel?’ This was such a no-brainer to me that I haven’t thought about it in awhile. But this conversation got me thinking again. When you have the choice between doing what you do all day (study, work, watch TV) at the same place with the same people or visiting exciting places you have never seen before, making new experiences, meeting new people, trying new food, having fun – which one would you chose? Again, the question was not about having the time or money to go traveling, the question was the why. If I have the choice between living ground hog day or the beach, I chose the latter any time.
It turned out, that the guy has never left the U.S.A. and in fact visited only one other state besides Texas. If you have never experienced what it means to travel, then maybe you develop this mindset of ‘It’s okay here, why should I go somewhere else? I’d rather watch it on Discovery Channel…’ That kind of limited attitude saddens me.
PS. Just to make sure I don’t come across all that arrogant: I am fully aware that not everyone in this world has the means and opportunity to travel as I do. (Though, most people I know would have if they chose to…)
May25th
Illegal immigration is a big issue here in the United States. Most of the immigrants are from Latin America and get into the United States by crossing the border to Mexico. The border is 3169 km (1969 miles) long, difficult to secure and much of the area is desert (Wikipedia has more information on the border and illegal immigration to the U.S.).
Recently I met a boy from Mexico who illegally crossed the border twice. I found his story so fascinating that I asked him for an interview.
