The Wonders of Modern Travel

One of the most common questions I get when I return home from my trips is the ever so innocent, "So where did you just get back from?" It doesn't sound like a very difficult question to answer but when a trip extends over a period of 2 and 1/2 months as my most recent one did it can become a bit daunting to answer. So for some perspective I thought it would be fun to recount my latest trip according to where I went and how many different trips within the trip I had. Here is what I came up with.

In 2 and 1/2 months I had:

• Visited 6 different countries (Brazil, India, Russia, Germany, Kazakhstan, and Spain)
• Taken 10 trips by Train in 3 of the countries
• Taken 8 trips (over 2 hours in length) by car or bus in 4 of the countries
• Flown on 27 different flights from start to finish

Of course when you travel this much you are bound to have some problems! Here are some of the more memorable events that took place.

• Flying in India I got stuck on a plane in 114+ degree heat as the air conditioning malfunctioned on the plane. We nearly had a riot of the passengers. The guy across the aisle from me turned smiling and sad in broken English “too hot, too hot!” You know it really is hot once the natives can’t handle it anymore.
• In Russia we got on a train that was supposed to take 3 hours and got off 4.5 hours later. On the way back to Moscow the train wasn't running so we were pushed into a Bus. The "slower" bus only took 3 hours to get us back.
• In Germany I made a German man agitated with me when I almost occupied a seat that was already taken on my train trip to Munich. Oops. Note to Self: ‘Besittzen’ means occupied, not ‘be seated’!
• While riding in a double decker Tour bus in Madrid, I decided it was time to go to the lower level and get out of the blazing sun for a while. As I made my way down the spiral staircase, the bus driver accelerated and I lost my footing which caused me to fall most of the way down the stairs until I came to a sudden stop at the bottom of the bus. ‘Hello everybody!’