Travel thoughts: summing up 2 months in the Middle East and Europe

As noted in my last post, we have made the large travel shift from the comfort and familiarity and freedom of Western Europe to the enormity, sometimes chaos and carefulness that are de rigor for travel here in Africa.


Overall, the trip has been spectacular, as you can probably gather from our previous posts. The trip unfolded pretty much how we expected, with only a few pear shaped moments along the way. I feel as if we found the sweet spot between recreation, sightseeing and eating the delicious food on tap throughout the Med.

Before we move on to Africa and our overland tour, it seems appropriate to offer some closing thoughts on this phase, as well as a few 'best of ...' from the last 2 months. Please feel free to propose your own superlatives in the comments and we will fill them in.

- Travels in the ailing Eurozone

One issue that I tried to keep front of mind as we made our way along the Med ring was the economic and austerity measures that have become the reality for so many of the Southern European countries, headlined by Greece but also including Italy, Spain and Portugal. With the contraction of those economies, the very existence of the EU economic experiment has been called into question. In some respects, those countries now have to turn some degrees of their macro economic policy over to the European Central Bank, based in Frankfurt, engendering frustration. And we saw some of this frustration bubbling up, with the two best examples being a general strike in Greece the day before we arrived and the stupid air traffic controller strike that prevent me from getting to the Nou Camp. Beyond that, we saw a ton graffiti in the big cities, especially in Athens. There is also an alarming number of empty storefronts in most of the major centers, pretty much universally. Many of these storefronts look like they were in operation not that long ago, but the demand must have dried up as disposable income went down drastically. For example, the Greece government publicly predicted that its economy would contract between 6 and 7% in 2012 alone, and then had to revise those projections higher just last week. I was actually quite surprised at how minimal the eurozone crisis made its way down to the day to day life of being a tourist in these countries. I would have predicted more veiled references to 'austerity' and the ECB, but those were few and far between.

- Revealed preferences

Following on the economics theme from above, it has been illuminating looking at the way that we have used this opportunity. In econ the term 'revelaed preferences' refers to the notion that people's actual preferences are revealed through the aggregate of their choices. I love this concept, as it captures the reality that what people say and do can be profoundly different, and we are ultimately the sum of a lifetime of actions and experiences and not our words. This trip is a great example of revealed preferences, as we have as blank a slate to fill our time as any adult could ever remotely hope to attain. Mu and I have many interests, but our current interests and passions have percolated to the top, with a clear top 3 emerging - exercise recreation, food and art, coming at the expense of music and other interests. I would hazard a guess that those top three, plus managing the logistics of movement and travel make up almost all of our available moments. This mix is a bit different than I would have hypothesized 3 months ago, with the gravitation to the arts (basically modern art and antiquities and not much in between) at the expense of live music. It will be very interesting to see whether this trend continues.

- Sense of place as affected by various modes of transport

This one might be from the captain obvious department, but it has been illuminating to consider the different modes of transport and how they impact my sense of place in the local culture. It is amusing to think how the word 'travel' has come to symbolize much more than the actual movement across distance that is the very essence of travel. For example, the significant differences between a half day Jordanian taxi ride versus the night bus in Turkey versus touring with a rental car through Northern Italy. When we have rented cars, there is a ton of flexibility and freedom, but also a separation away from the local culture. The windows and doors of the car, combined with the familiarity of the mode of transport, make the entire expierence feel decidedly 'normal'. That is contrasted by a local night bus, which comes with the special culture that is bus stations and 2 am rest stops. This gets right into the culture, since the bus is usually dominated by people going about their normal lives. The differences across these dimensions has been larger than I would have anticipated, which is a realization that we will keep in mind as we make travel plans.

- Europe is bigger than you think

This is a quick thought, but in practice Europe is much bigger than I had anticipated. We thought 6 or so weeks would be fine to get from Istanbul to Lisboa, and we would take just one or two flights on the dreaded discount airlines (RyanAir for example, is worst -- we call it RuinedAir). However, when the reality of distance and time became apparent, we scrambled and had to book twice as many flights. Some of this might be due to the increased travel times between locations and not distance, but whatever the reason we now appreciate the sheer size of the continent.

- Ubiquity of wifi

I wrote about this earlier, but it has been interesting observing the difference in technology between 2012 and previous extended travel jaunts. In essence, wifi has almost completely replaced the dank Internet cafes with their DOS era computers and the continuous, nagging privacy concerns. For instance, I am sitting on a veranda here in Nairobi, trying to sort out some details before we get on the tour tomorrow. Around me are 6 other travelers with their phones and laptops open, trying to connect, share and plan. Being connected feels great, of course, but does come at the costs of increasing the percentage of the mind that is grounded at 'home'.

Quick hits

Favorite city: Porto

Porto is accessible, hip, cheap and gorgeous, all while being decidedly less touristy than the capitals we have visited along the way. Case closed.

Favorite Visit with family and friends: all of them

No way to decide, so i will punt on the category. It has been great seeing loved ones in Istanbul, Bologna, Sardinia, Corsica and London. Thank you to everyone along the way, we would love to see you out on the road (or in CO for the 2nd half of ski season)

Best climbing: Turkey

It was more enjoyable to climb with friends, but the climbing itself was best in Turkey, due to the amazing features and the high quality of the limestone.



Most impressive Antiquity: Petra

I can still viscerally feel the wonder of coming out of the Siq (slot canyon) and into the ruins. The red, yellow and white cliffs contrasted with blue sky create a visual tableau i will recall fondly for the rest of my life.



Best beach: Cala Luna, Sardinia

The beach requires a 2+ hour hike each way or a ferry and is about a mile of curved sand with large limestone cliffs abutting both ends of the beach, with water that is paradoxically crystal clear while being colors of blue that i did not know could be seen in water. I, of course, forgot the camera so you can just see the coastline where the beach is located with the perfect water.




Unexpected gem: Island of Corsica

As previously documented, this was a great place due to a unique rugged culture, massive mountains and water that shared that special quality seen at Cala Luna.

Favorite art museum: the New Acropolis museum in Athens

The modern museums have been amazing, and it has been really cool seeing artist and movements in the multiple museums. However, this distinction was not really that close, considering how essential Athenian history is for all that flows forward, and how this history is presented in an innovative and world class space.