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:

Phase II Wrap Up

I’m sorry it’s been a bit since I last wrote an entry. I arrived in Tbilisi, Georgia on 21 July 2019 and have been having a wonderful time making new friends. My experience so far is summed up as “I have a thousand friends in Tbilisi; I just haven’t met them all yet.” That said, this post is not going to be about Georgia.

The way I see it, I owe you the following posts: a reflection on the past year (i.e. this post), an overview of what has changed in my backpack, a look forward to Phase III, a post about arriving in Georgia (covering the first month or so), and a post about people visiting me in Georgia (covering this past month). Expect them in the coming weeks.

Start: September 14, 2018, by flying to Los Angeles.

End: July 20, 2019, when I flew (overnight) from Denpasar (Bali), Indonesia to Tbilisi, Georgia.

As a reminder, Phase II was meant to be more freeform than Phase I, which rigidly followed train and boat schedules. In this spirit, I’m beginning Phase II in Los Angeles and ending it in Bali - both places I didn’t expect to visit.

My budget as set in my earlier post was $15,000 for the whole thing. I’ve been avoiding doing the exact math (and may continue to avoid it), but I’m somewhere around $3,000 over budget for the whole thing. Part of this is due to making plans in June / July instead of starting the new phase when my money ran out, but a bigger part is not being as thrifty as I could be.

PHASE I WRAP UP

Whew - it feels like it's been a year since I last posted. I'm currently in Thailand enjoying the respite the "rainy season" provides (I can't exactly sight-see if it's pouring out). To give you a bit of where my brain's at before I dive in, the past 10 days have been spent in Los Angeles, Honolulu, Osaka, and Bangkok. Please excuse the post if it's a little scrambled!

I'm not sure what to put for my Phase I Wrap Up, but I feel like there should be one. I welcome any suggestions! How about we start with the facts?

My "plan" as it was conceived.

Porta-Party (Wrapping Up Canada)

This is meant to be a Canada wrap-up post. As this is the first wrap-up, I'm not sure how exactly to proceed. I've added a bunch of pictures from earlier posts. After chatting with Dan (see: future posts and the Wacky Rally), I've come up with eight Best & Worst and four Most & Leasts. In no particular order: