Morocco - and home!

 MOROCCO

I arrived in Morocco within a day of March 1, 2020 (it’d be great if I looked at my actual arrival day). There were rumors of a pandemic spreading from Asia, though it was less of a concern for me than the possibility of bedbugs in my hostel(s).

CASABLANCA

Here’s looking at you, kid. I don’t have a whole lot to say about Casablanca, as I did my usual routine and explored. I didn’t get into Rick’s, as my backpack did not contain an acceptable set of clothing and I was unwilling to buy something better. I wandered, I mingled, I had a good time. My most vivid memory is of how good the public transit was in getting me to the spots I wanted to explore - and how good the food was when I wandered into a spot. I recall eating a large, shared meal with either couchsurfers or hostel-folk, though I didn’t make friends the same way I had over the rest of the adventure.

Speaking of friends, my visit to Casablanca was interrupted (in a good way) by friends visiting...

Tunisia

Right on time - not two years later...

TUNISIA

I showed up in Tunis, Tunisia on the 26th of December, 2019, unsure of what I’d find. I linked up with my couchsurfing host and over the next few days we wandered through the medina and beyond. This is the first country where I felt I was at a huge disadvantage as a monoglot - where most other places I’ve been have either adopted English as a second language (or at least have signage with Latin characters), the second language here is French (and there are no signs). Additionally, while the people were generally nice, there was an undercurrent of “I know better than you” - my first host actually insisted I put on a sweater before going outside in the moderately cool weather!

TUNIS

As usual, I have no idea what to write. The medina was impressive? There were lots of people, colorful shops, and good & bad smells? It was cool to go up to the rooftop cafes to drink coffee and smoke shisha (hookah). I'm not much of a shopper, so a lot of the appeal of any medina is lost on me. I did go to the library and write a poem though.

On medinas, generally, from an American perspective: have you ever been to the mall? Have you wished that all the clothes racks and jewelry displays and food courts kept their stuff within arms’ reach while you walked down labyrinthine hallways? Do you enjoy bumping into people and generally fighting to move forward, all while being slightly concerned about pickpockets and other characters? Then medinas are for you. Everywhere I went people were excited to show me the medina and I was like “oh, this is like a smelly, cramped flea market where, even if I wanted to buy something I wouldn’t, as I’ll have to carry whatever I buy in my backpack later.” In summary: not for me.

Really, honestly, the highlight of Tunis was the discovery of leblebi - a chickpea soup over shredded stale bread. I probably ate the stuff every three days. I will have to figure out how to make it at home.

The historical sites were cool - I spent a day and saw Sidi Bou Said with its blue & white buildings in the morning, then the ruins of Carthage in the afternoon. Knowing the history made the ruins interesting - on their own they were modest piles of rocks. The pictures I took reflect this.

After my first host, I spent a couple weeks at an AirBnB while I tried to coordinate with a workaway in the south. This was a fun time - the host and I got along really well and we explored cafes, bars, and restaurants around the city together.

Skipping ahead a bit, when I returned to Tunis in March I visited the Bardo Museum. I would highly recommend it - it's a museum of all the mosaics that have been found in the country (plus a few other things). I was really blown away. Before I returned to Tunis, however, I had to go to:

Update and Book List

Hello! I'm still alive, I'm in Philadelphia, and I'm generally doing well. I arrived home on March 21.

Maybe a bit hairy.

I need to write posts that cover the two months I spent in Tunisia, the few days I was in Barcelona, the week or two I was in Morocco, and the harrowing adventure that was the evacuation flight (I'm lying - the flight was fine). That said, I've always had a hard time sitting down and writing - having my housemates blasting the TV at all hours has not helped my concentration. And, I mean, it's not like I can go to a coffee shop and write :(

That said, I can read things and type them here. With no further ado, a list of books I read (* - started but didn't compete) over the past 20 months:

Egypt

I arrived in Egypt on December tenth in order to meet up with RC again (we had previously met up in Malaysia and Singapore). Unlike in earlier countries or with previous traveling companions, neither of us knew what we were doing or how to avoid the hoards of scammers we were assured were about to pounce on us upon our arrival. Given those factors (and some planning fatigue), we decided to hire a tour company. Unfortunately, we did not end up with the best coordinator.

Now that I’m typing this, I wonder if this marks the start of a run of general bad luck for me. Upon arrival, before I had a chance to decompress from flight, before I had even seen the room, I was told to pick what optional activities we wanted to do over the coming two weeks (and pay for them in cash on the spot). With a list of strange names and no information, I picked a few cheap options and went on my way. The coordinator was perplexed that we weren’t doing something every hour of every day - both RC and I like to relax and, say, swim in the hotel pool every once in a while. Crazy, right?

Lebanon: Left too soon

One of my big goals for this around-the-world trip was to get to Lebanon. As some of you may know, my father’s father’s side of the family is from Lebanon; I figured I could go and maybe see the village they left when they came to America. (Spoiler - I was unable to accomplish this on this visit.) Add in the background of a revolution in progress and the whole build-up was a lot to handle.

My German friend and I arrived on the evening of December fourth and made our way to our hostel in Beirut. Despite what it says online (perhaps due to the revolution) there was no visa-on-arrival fee. It was a soggy day, but everything pointed toward a positive time in the country.

Short Stint on Cyprus

There exists a direct flight from Amman to Beirut - the only issue is that it’s way more expensive than flying to Paphos, Cyprus, and staying a few days. And, hey, you get to see a bit of Cyprus!

The stay on the island was so short, I'm not sure I can string together more than a couple paragraphs. My German friend and I visited in the off-season, so a lot of things are closed or close early. Most of the people you see out and about are retired British people. Everyone speaks English.

The island is beautiful - and is worth exploring if you have a car. The public transit options are nearly non-extant, which really hampered seeing the interesting sights. That said, I did a lot of walking and saw some more ruins (Tomb of Kings, &c.) and did the best I could.

The best part of the island is it’s relaxed attitude, the worst part is the traffic. I suppose it could be compared to Hawaii - though it’s certainly less expensive. It would be good to come back with more money and access to a car, but, given my constraints, I’m glad to be moving on.

RETROSPECTIVE: Sugar Bowl 2007

As with most of the other retrospectives, I'm transcribing from an older notebook. In this case, this is a write up from January 2015 about an event that happened at the end of the 2006 football season. 2019 Simon, sitting in a hostel in Tbilisi, will comment on 2015 Simon using [brackets].

Malicious Compliance?

29 January 2015: The Sugar Bowl

[I'm skipping my written introduction about a Maynard Ferguson playlist inspiring me to write a story about trumpets. For those just joining, I played trumpet in the marching band at the University of Notre Dame (ND) and got to travel with the band to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. The exact date was 3 January 2007, for the record, so the events below occur a few days on either side.]

I don't remember travel arrangements being anything out of the ordinary. I flew down from Pittsburgh, sitting next to a couple of younger [high school?] teachers with whom I played a game of FLUXX. After arrival, I connected with friends and, of course, MB (my college girlfriend). Everything is a bit shuffled around (it has, after all, been eight years [almost thirteen now]), so I'll break it up into main sections.

Baptism in the Jordan

Ariving in Amman was an interesting experience - the flight from Athens deposited me in the airport at 2am. I’d taken the overcautious route of booking a hostel with a 24 hour desk and an airport shuttle. I’m not sure such measures were necessary, but how is one supposed to know beforehand?

After annoying everyone in the hostel room by my arrival at 3am (not my fault - they’d used the bed I’d booked as storage, which meant they had to move all their stuff), I annoyed them again by leaving the room at 7:00 to go meet my friends at 7:30am. I would have much rather slept until noon, but I was under orders.

They say of the Acropolis...

As with several of my adventures so far, this starts with a new friend. While in Georgia I met someone who said “hey, would you like to visit Jordan?” - to which I said yes.

Since there is no direct flight from Georgia to Jordan, I had a slight dilemma - do I go through Kuwait or do I go through Greece? I think the answer is obvious - I booked a ticket to Athens for a “long layover” of four days.

Farewell, Georgia!

Well, it’s been about four months in Georgia and I’ve really enjoyed my time here. This is the longest I’ve been in one spot (runners up: Malaysia with three months and Australia with two). Before I scoot, however, I have a couple more cities to mention, as I finally made it over to the Black Sea.

As you may have noticed from previous entries, I don’t like to spend a long time en route. With this in mind, I split my Tbilisi to Batumi trip in half with a stop in Kutaisi. We’ll tackle that first.