Month: May 2006

packing heavy

I seem to be in what looks like an unusual situation: I need to learn to pack less efficiently.

In spring 2004, when I was panicking at the sudden realization that my non-refundable ticket to CDG in Paris would not be paired with friendly free housing on the beach, I started trying to figure out how to survive for a month with one backpack. In urban Europe, with marginal money, that isn’t hard to do: wonderful sites like Art of Travel, One Bag, and Travelite introduced me to freedom from luggage.

My trip to Brazil this week complicates matters. It seems, for some reason, to be harder to pack light when taking various items for family and a laptop. I should be able to pack it all in just over the carry-on and personal item allowance, but I don’t want to check a mostly empty bag (asking for trouble) or a mostly full bag (asking to lose my stuff).

Right now the best-sounding solution involves abusing compression straps.

Lingnan Acceptance, Airfare

Overnight I received e-mail from Lingnan telling me that I’m accepted and that my materials are on their way to Morgantown. Calling Morgantown, I was pretty much told to buy my airfare and assume I won’t get turned down for the visa (which still has its 4-6 week purgatory to go through). So I got another airfare quote–thankfully unchanged–and I’ve sent it in for approval. I’ll probably book in the next day or so.

It’s refundable less $250… could be worse. After the GEO Grant reimbursement (courtesy of the Blaney family, says my e-mail today), it won’t be that bad at all. Delta from PIT to JFK, Cathay Pacific from there to HKG. Departure Aug. 21, with a return date to be fixed once those dates are actually showing up on the reservations systems.

1*DL5125T 21AUG MO PITJFK HK1 1050A 1217P

2 CX 831L 21AUG MO JFKHKG HK1 345P 805P#1

3 CX 830L 01MAR TH HKGJFK HK1 1015A 1250P

4*DL5244U 01MAR TH JFKPIT HK1 525P 713P

Picked up my typhoid etc. at the pharmacy: they were fresh out yesterday. If I wake up in time to take it one hour before breakfast or lunch I can fit the series in before Brazil… otherwise it will have to chill in the fridge until I get back.

Europe 2006 outline

A little on the Europe plans for this summer:

On the way back home from Spring Break, Alana (generously giving me a ride) suggested a trip to Spain.

Before we came back to Morgantown we’d booked a flight.

Maybe it was a little hasty, but I think this should work out pretty well.

We fly from Huntington, which was bizarrely cheaper than even Pittsburgh, to Frankfurt via Charlotte. Then we make our way to Dresden, and stay with the family of a girl who exchanged at Alana’s house in high school. After leaving the free sleeping zone, we move on to (deep breath):

Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Bruges, Brussels, Madrid, Sevilla, Córdoba, Granada, Barcelona, Paris, and Dublin

with nothing but the clothes and packs on our backs (and probably whatever fits in my pockets). It should be a heck of a time.

I’ll be celebrating my 21st birthday (which won’t matter in any of the countries we’re in, and barely matters to me anyway) in Granada and on a night train to Barcelona. Actually, I’ll probably “observe” it in Barcelona, which sounds more fun.

On Brazil

I’ve been going to Brazil since I was six months old–a fact to which my January 1986 Brazilian passport picture testified, through a couple renewals, until 1998. Though I was born (weeks before my time) in Lubbock, Texas, my mother was (and is) Brazilian. Through the magic of jus sanguinis, I too am Brazilian.

This would come in handy–right now, actually, as Brazil and the States engage in reciprocal hissy-fits over the prices of visas and biometric data gathering from visitors. The only reason I maintain my Brazilian citizenship is to avoid forking over $100 or more every time I visit family.

Anyway, I did visit family plenty–I used to go at least every year in the summer. My living grandparents, great-aunt, godparents, and many other significant relatives live in Rio de Janeiro. To gloss over the details, my mother and sister more or less moved back to Rio in the late 1990s. The top relatives all live in the Tijuca district. I acquired Portuguese as a first language, although my lack of schooling and mostly native accent peg me as a very tall kindergartener.

“Portunhol” is a big problem for me: Portuguese made it very easy to pick up Spanish, since a lot of the roots and basic grammar are from Latin or common Iberian influences, but the realities of the world have me speaking much more Spanish than Portuguese.

I haven’t been since the fall of 2002, because I’ve developed things to do in the summer as high school turned into college.

I’ve seen all the sights in Rio, though I may not remember all of them. Sugar Loaf, the Christ on Corcovado, the various beaches, the Opera, the Botanical Gardens, etc etc etc. I’ve traveled a little inside the state of Rio, to Niteroi and Petropolis… I’ve also dipped into the state of Minas Gerais, at towns like São Lourenço.

I’m well acquainted with the international airports of Rio and São Paulo, and hazily remember a bit of Brasilia’s. I’ve never been out in those other cities, though.

It’s unlikely that this upcoming visit will bring anything exciting and new, but if there’s anything I’ll be sure to post about it. I might complain about the travel too, if I run out of other things to do. Hopefully I’ll be concentrating on studying for the LSAT and not have time to complain.

This Summer’s Travel

In my introduction I neglected to mention the reason I started poking around with my old travelogues: I’m going to be writing a couple new ones. This summer from May 18 to June 2 I’ll be in on the way to, in, or coming back from Brazil. I’ll be visiting family, as I have many times in the past but not so many times recently. There may not be anything blog-worthy on the whole trip, but I’ll write a little about Brazil for good luck in a bit here.

After taking the LSAT (unless I chicken out) on June 12, I’m taking off for Europe with Alana from Huntington on the next day. That should be a fun ~3 weeks. Afterward I’m working as a summer program RA in Morgantown for three weeks and cooling my jets (and earning a little to pay the bill for running them all over in the first place).

The big question is where I’ll be going in the fall, and I’m hoping it’s not Morgantown. Nothing–well, not much–against Morgantown, but I’ve been there long enough. I am set to exchange for a full year with Lingnan University, but early this morning found out that my application had been held up for various reasons. Now, assuming my fax went through last night (nobody’s telling me either way unless I call again, I’m sure), the visa process can start, taking 4-6 weeks and generally leaving me in limbo while airfare goes up and all the other exchangers get their letters of acceptance.

Introduction

This blog is part of a long-dormant effort to chronicle my travels. One day, in fantasyland, this will be updated with my travelogue from Spain in 2004 and at least a cursory overview of my adult traveling life (that’s Ottawa, Canada in May 2003; Spain, Portugal, and a dash of Paris in June 2004; and Paris with a pinch of Dublin and London over Winter 2005-2006).

I’m experimenting with a variation of the backpacker tradition of sewing flags on to backpacks. Since I can’t sew, I’m just adding the flags to my blog. Wave of the future, or careless disregard of tradition?

Look on my posts, ye mighty, and despair!