Those of you who know me well know that I am not really ‘a planner’. Those of you who know me best know that I don’t exactly float directionless either.
My general philosophy breathes life into what the late Steve Jobs articulated in his Stanford convocation speech – make a bunch of dots and connect them at some point further along in life’s journey.
I have dreamt about traveling overland from Turkey to India for years. In early October I decided it was a good time to make good on this self promise.
I wanted to leave right away and within 3 weeks was set to depart November 1st.
I plan to travel from Istanbul to the south of India overland crossing through Kurdistan (northern Iraq), Iran and Pakistan on the way.
Although the route I originally envisioned included a detour south through Syria to Lebanon before heading east, I will have to save those destinations for a time when greater regional peace is possible.
I’m going solo. I will admit that I had early apprehensions about not buddying up with someone for the trek, however I have chosen to embrace the positives that come with going it alone – doing whatever I want whenever I feel like it and being more approachable by local peoples instead of dwelling on the downsides of being a one-man-act – not having any one wingperson to share long bus rides and unique memories with and the added comfort knowing that someone always had your back.
The single biggest question most people have when they hear of my trip is whether or not this is a reasonably safe itinerary. My response is constant and valid – I love life way too much to put myself in uncalculated danger.
To back that up I’ve traveled a fair amount, have done some good preliminary research to understand the precursory risks associated with my routing and speak fluent Turkish, Kurdish, Farsi, Urdu and Hindi (not!).
When traveling, I always keep a personal, handwritten journal to document the fun. This time, I plan to share some stories with those not directly alongside me through this blog.
I’m happy to hear feedback on the content ie. more stories about the shitty days I will inevitably have diarrhea and fewer about me having a blast or vice versa. Also, if you’d like a postcard to spice up your fridge shoot me a message via email, facebook or twitter. I’ve already received a couple messages from random people asking me to send them one from Iran – so you won’t be alone in the request.
Looking forward to traveling with you! We’ll connect dots when I’m back! ;)
My general philosophy breathes life into what the late Steve Jobs articulated in his Stanford convocation speech – make a bunch of dots and connect them at some point further along in life’s journey.
I have dreamt about traveling overland from Turkey to India for years. In early October I decided it was a good time to make good on this self promise.
I wanted to leave right away and within 3 weeks was set to depart November 1st.
I plan to travel from Istanbul to the south of India overland crossing through Kurdistan (northern Iraq), Iran and Pakistan on the way.
Although the route I originally envisioned included a detour south through Syria to Lebanon before heading east, I will have to save those destinations for a time when greater regional peace is possible.
I’m going solo. I will admit that I had early apprehensions about not buddying up with someone for the trek, however I have chosen to embrace the positives that come with going it alone – doing whatever I want whenever I feel like it and being more approachable by local peoples instead of dwelling on the downsides of being a one-man-act – not having any one wingperson to share long bus rides and unique memories with and the added comfort knowing that someone always had your back.
The single biggest question most people have when they hear of my trip is whether or not this is a reasonably safe itinerary. My response is constant and valid – I love life way too much to put myself in uncalculated danger.
To back that up I’ve traveled a fair amount, have done some good preliminary research to understand the precursory risks associated with my routing and speak fluent Turkish, Kurdish, Farsi, Urdu and Hindi (not!).
When traveling, I always keep a personal, handwritten journal to document the fun. This time, I plan to share some stories with those not directly alongside me through this blog.
I’m happy to hear feedback on the content ie. more stories about the shitty days I will inevitably have diarrhea and fewer about me having a blast or vice versa. Also, if you’d like a postcard to spice up your fridge shoot me a message via email, facebook or twitter. I’ve already received a couple messages from random people asking me to send them one from Iran – so you won’t be alone in the request.
Looking forward to traveling with you! We’ll connect dots when I’m back! ;)