Reconnections

Reconnections-

Since returning to the US I’ve been continuing my travels, but domestic travel has an entirely different feel. I’ve been to or through 14 different states already in this calendar year, done a lot, seen a lot. Crossing over into Canada though gave me the immediate sensation of traveling again. There’s just something about being in a different country that sort of validates traveling I guess. Not that I’m hating on seeing the US, far from it. I’m one of those people that agrees how tragic it is that people don’t see what’s around them. Like how many people that grew up in Vegas that have never seen the Grand Canyon, or Yosemite, or Zion. Or anybody from any part of the country that has never been to New York. It’s honestly one of the greatest cities in the worlds history, you should go. Many of my Australian friends have been to Coachella and do Vegas every year, but have never been to New Zealand. And for me, the pot calling the kettle black, I’ve been to over 30 countries BEFORE Canada. That all being said, since traveling to SE Asia that has become my measuring stick for all things price related. (e.g. For that price of that hotel room I could have lived for 8 days in Indonesia… that Go Pro I bought is equivalent to 124 meals in Malaysia etc). Counting pennies while traveling is depressing so I don’t do it. I did however, out of curiosity, track my gas expenditures. It turns out for what I paid in gas money alone I could have bought a plane ticket to Bangkok, purchased a motor bike upon arrival, drove through Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam & Laos, spending a week in each place, back to Bangkok where I give away my motorbike to a monk for free and bought a return ticket back to Vegas… Now THAT is depressing. The one big positive about traveling in through North America though is the ability to more easily reconnect with people. The amount of friends and family I was able to catch up with in the past few months is extensive. Try to follow, but there will be no quiz at the end…

Heading north from Vegas I stayed with my brother for about a week in Park City, Utah and met up with some of the old Tao crew during Sundance. From there I picked up my long lost college friend Danny and rolled with him to Jackson, WY and Big Sky, MT. Danny and I were great friends in college until he left to finish his degree in New Zealand. Our roads unfortunately forked in different directions for 15 years before connecting again in Salt Lake. In Jackson I meet up with a guy named Keith. He and I met 7 months and 8759 miles ago in Indonesia. We shared a room after my ankle injury in the high impact sport of walking. From Jackson to Big Sky where I stayed a few days with my Aunt and got to see my little 12 year old ski prodigy cousin do a few training runs. She cheerfully would introduce me to her teammates as her cousin, then look down at my feet, sag her shoulders and say with a frown “he’s a snowboarder”. On the way up from Big Sky I have breakfast with TJ, another long lost college friend who has been living in Bozeman, MT since getting married 4 years ago. From there I made my first border crossing of 2014 and was thrust back into currency conversions, metric measurement adjustments and “the Queens English” as it’s called. (e.g. My 1st hotel in Calgary was on “Centre” street and I filled up my car at the “petrol” station), the people were intrinsically nicer and the service noticeably worse. I was international again.

My first day in Calgary I made friends with some locals who took me bar hopping and as you do in Canada I went to a hockey game (when in Rome). From Calgary to Banff on Canadian highway 1, which after over 8000 miles on the road so far, has been the most breathtaking portion of my drive (dethroning US hwy 70 from Colorado to Utah).

The Canadian Rocky Mountains shoot into the sky surrounding you with jagged peaks in every direction. The best way I could describe the sensation is nightmarish. The feeling of imposition and insignificance among a force of grandeur. In Banff I would meet up with my great friend and long time travel compadre Matt from Vegas and new friend Jason from San Diego. We arrived on Super Bowl Sunday. It was my third consecutive time watching the game in a different country (Australia x 2) which is weird, but not nearly as weird as watching the Olympics outside of your home country (the 2012 summer games I also watched in Australia). As much as I liked to believe the US was neutral in what sports/athletes they showed, I now realize how selective each country’s programming is, tailored to their native olympians. During these winter olympics the only time I’ve seen Canadian programming show an athlete from the US is if they were double faulting in a race or crashing on a half pipe. In Banff, Matt, Jason and I crossed off a bucket list item by going heli skiing (boarding for me). It was awesome to be in such a remote area with the ability to carve untracked powder, but if I’m being completely honest I was hoping for something a little more with the experience. Our group of eleven, I thought, was too many people and the runs were shorter than I had envisioned. Notwithstanding (one of my favorite words) it was still an amazing once in a lifetime (or 2 or 3 more times) experience. Another experience in Banff was INSANELY cold weather. Complaining of the cold in the Canadian winter is like complaining of heat in the African summer. I only started to feel ok with bitching about it when all the locals were bitching as well. We declined going riding the last day because we woke up to a -27 degrees (-33 celsius) temperature BEFORE wind chill.

I then get a message from another friend from this past year. Max and I met 9 months and 7391 miles ago in Vietnam. He is a UK guy who was living in Qatar and on vacation in Saigon. We traveled through Vietnam together and at the time of me leaving Banff he just happened to be in the nearby resort of Silver Star, which was almost directly on my way to Whistler. I stopped by Silver Star for a few days and hit the mountain with Max. With the exception of a few days in Tanzania this was my first time staying in a hostel since Laos in July. Max jokingly asked if I had to regulate on anybody in my room, in reference to the time he and I were in a hostel and I yelled at someone for turning the light on at 4am. I just kinda laughed it off like nah not this time. Sure enough the next day I left Silver Star and had an 8 hour drive to Whistler and another hostel. This time I shared a room with a Kiwi and 2 Aussies (Whistler is like a little Australia. Easily half the people I’ve met there were Australian, it’s their Bali of North America). Anyway I pass out early ish around 10:30-11:00 and am woken by the 2 Aussie guys at 3:30 by them turning the light on. I politely ask them to turn the light off which they do with an apology, and all is good, I pass back out. An hour later I’m woken up again, this time by the Kiwi who sleeps in the bunk directly underneath me. Only he’s not alone, he has a lady with him. I can’t say for sure what went on, but I’m pretty confident it’s the thing jealous guys worry about when their girlfriend goes on vacation without them. The funny thing is that not until right now as I write and reread this do I think it sounds particularly weird having this go on directly underneath me with only about 4 feet separating us. At the time I think man code just took over and I didn’t even care, I was just kinda happy for the guy I guess. “Good on ya mate” as they say down there. I’m definitely backpacking again now. I went back to sleep.

The reconnections continued. A DJ duo, The Stafford Brothers, that I worked with and became friends with in Oz happened to be in Whistler for a gig the same time as me. Being that it’s little Australia there whoever booked them was genius. I went out to the club with them where they forced Jäger on me all night in the DJ booth and it felt like old times (only I’m not a fan of Jäger). Regardless of the long night, it was dumping light flakey snow so I forced myself out of bed at 7am to take advantage of the powder. It ended up being my best day under the most perfect conditions of the year. From Whistler to Vancouver where I stayed with an awesome couple I met traveling, also in Vietnam. They basically insisted on me staying with them which I was happy to do. Mike and Jess were amazing hosts and great guides to the beautiful city. Another friend and former regular of mine at Tao, Paul, also lives in Vancouver and I met up with him for a dinner and drinks before making my way back south into the US. In Seattle I stayed with great friend and former roommate Shawn. I went out to his club a couple of times, hit Pikes Place fish market and a few other touristy spots, but mainly just laid low and rested up for the next leg of my journey. Before departing Seattle I was fortunate enough to also have dinner and catch up with Jerrol, Krista, Philly and Ricardo who are a great group of Seattle/Tacoma locals I kept in contact with after meeting in Vegas over 10 years back.

I know this blog entry has too many names to remember and may be too confusing to flow well, but I wanted to illustrate one thing. Traveling alone is not really traveling alone. With the exception of a day or 2 in transit you always have people to meet, hang out with and create friendships out of. If I wasn’t traveling by myself through Asia 4 of the people mentioned here that I spent time with I would have never known. [insert quote from Helen Keller: “It’s better to walk in the dark with a friend than alone in the light.”]

I’ve based the past few months travels around snowboarding, but snowboarding is just an excuse to travel, like ice fishing is an excuse to get drunk. It’s similar to when I would circle dates on the Monday Night Football schedule. It wasn’t that I was necessarily a football fanatic, but it was a reason to go somewhere. Because of it I had some amazing 3 day getaways at places like Green Bay, Minneapolis and Kansas City. Snowboarding was the excuse this time. The real catalyst that got me to the list of places this winter I’ve always wanted to see was simply the continued passion for travel. [Insert quote from travel novelist, Robert Louis Stevenson: “I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.”]… I send this entry from the Philadelphia airport where I will be crossing over the Atlantic from. Next stop Zurich. Riiiicooola!

Bob