So Much To Do

Hectic Days Await Me,

Now that my departure date is approaching imminent I realize that I'm vastly under prepared for the task that I'm taking on. I'm leaving people for a year, and I know that upon my return I will be out of touch with all but a handful of them for the rest of my life (until the reunion). This is a sad reality, but it is reality so I'm not gonna fight it. I have had some excellent memories and look forward to creating better ones. Whatever may come I will miss my friends and am trying to say goodbye to them in a befitting manner. I love Nat dearly and it is also stressing to think that I may be screwing up this awesome love -- I hope I'm providing insight and opportunity for self knowledge which I hope inevitably strengthens our relationship not the other way around. Time will tell. I have finally moved almost everything out of my apartment. Tables, food and drinks are still there for my poker tournament, as well as a couch and file cabinet that will need to get moved out soon (Friday before my work party?) I've moved all computer junk to my parents to capitalize on being closer to my friends and freeloading on their internet -- AWESOME! While I was cleaning out my apartment I made the realization that I don't have my passport, this was such a relief to me. I was starting to feel like I didn't have enough to do -- but psyche! Life threw me another bone, thanks buddy! So I had to head down to the local passport application office at USPS and submit my forms and my entire checkbook. Ouch -- talk about a costly mistake. All is OK now and Passport should arrive July 12-13 in time for my parents to overnight it to San Diego. Phew!

So I went home and cried about being poor and as I did I found an incredibly cool tool called Google Earth (formerly Keyhole, http://earth.google.com/) which is essentially a compilation of Satellite Imagery that you can peruse at your looking pleasure. The cool thing about this is the GUI and vast detail -- Google is really an amazing source for data. I'm begining to think that guerilla fighters are going to use google to overthrow us: search for how to make weapons, get fake ids, and learn military tactics; Recruit through Gmail; and find Targets of Interest and best attack modes through Google Earth - Scary.

Anywho, this 80 dollar program that CNN and Fox News have used to illustrate areas of insurgency during the Iraq war is now free for a fairly potent but slightly watered-down version. I highly recomend playing with it, over about an hour I made a small film highlighting my European Trips. I would be more than hapy to show anyone interested (It comes in at 996mb so posting it online is out of the question). The quality of Cable is such that these huge images aren't even completely resolved before I move on to the next destination (It takes about 15-20 seconds to resolve more detailed images and I wanted to keep it under a GB). If you download the program I can give you the Coordinates of the basic trip plan I created - This is much more desireable as you can view what I picked and arial views of the surroundings or anywhere else in the world - It's all up to you!

1. Goto http://earth.google.com/ and download/install Google Earth
2. Goto www.willisdomain.com/trip.kmz and download my Trip file
3. Double-Click Trip.kmz to open it with Google Earth
4. Under the places menu (Left side of your screen) it will appear under Temporary Places
5. Click The arrows on the side of the folders to see subfolders and specific Destinations
6. There is a Play button on the bottom of the places menu if you want to see a slide show

Enjoy looking at the temporary plan of the countries I'm going to see (this is not all inclusive I just took one or two of the best sights in each country).

Update - you can't get Google Earth from Google as they have temporaraliy delayed downloads, but I have uploaded a copy to YouSendIt.

Trip Details Update

In the last week I have gotten my IDP, ISIC, and gotten a bunch of books from vinny's parents. here's my email to Aysin which explains what all those acronyms are.

Thanks so much for ordering these books. I'm really excited to tear
through them, I've been reading a lot of travel guides lately and am
specifically excited to read lonely planet, I hear it has excellent
content. Vince and I were supposed to get together for our first
planing session yesterday and today but my immunization shots and a
rescheduled dentist visit have wreaked havoc on our plans.
I'm sure Vince has told you we got the YHA hostel
memberships which entitles us to not only stay at YHA hostels but also
earn free nights and it doubles as a good phone card that includes
free Voice mail. Kind of like a reward system for hotels, minus the
big bucks for the rooms!
Also we both signed up for ISIC cards (International Student
Identification) which gives us discounts and tremendous insurance (for
the entirety of the trip we have 250k in Emergency Evacuation
Insurance, 5k in accidental medical expense, 250$ passport
replacement, and 100$ per day sickness and hospital. There are a few
other coverages but these seem to be the most beneficial). ISIC also
has a 24 hour a day emergency and legal hot line. Thought the card was
a steal at the reg. fee price.
Lastly it is probably wholly unnecessary but I got an IDP
(international driving permit), I don't foresee travelling by car but
If we get the opportunity or get stuck in a jam I thought it might
come in handy to be able to drive in a non English speaking country
and have the proof required. I got one a AAA and I don't think Vince
needs to waste the money to get one.
I think Vince and I are going to be finalizing the Itinerary
either today or Friday, These books coming in will probably change
what we want to see so I think we should all have a meeting together
say 3-5 days after they arrive, I'll ask my dad if he can sit in -
he's relatively free these days and as long as nothing comes up he's
an excellent resource on some of this common sense stuff I tend to
overlook in my excitement. Thanks again for the books and links, I'm
sure I'll see you both soon.

It was nice to finally get alot of that crap done. We have been putting off planing so we are going to do it tonight -- well i am while vince does manual labor at my apartment, so much more to come tomorrow!

Introduction to Guerrila Culture

Welcome to Class!

I will be your Teacher, Student, Teachers-Aide, Dean, and Impartial recorder.

The aim of this game is simple, I have decided to forego the traditional path of collegiate studies for one year to attempt to find myself in the 6.5 Billion inhabitants of Earth. That is it, simple eh?

Here's the lowdown, I decided that I have absolutely no clue what I wanted to do with my life, and as a subpar (to put it eloquently) student I had the options of Junior College or Work. Work seemed like a deteriant to ever getting a further education, and 2 more years at High School on Steriods seemed like a less then attractive option, so I thought to myself, "self - you need to get your head on straight, what would help you do that?"

I need a noble goal to chase after. I want to find something I love that doesn't even seem like work when I'm there, but my ego requires more, I need something I feel good about in the morning (and that I can shove in the face of those critize me). That's what I need to find. Gut feeling tells me I'm going to end up in the educational field, who knows maybe I could help kids like me who don't live in the real world. Teaching requires learning in an institution and I'm just not ready for that, but I will need to deal with people, to understand the real world, to have understanding far superior to a student so that I can honestly help them. This will not be blind leading the blind, I need to wake up and use my brain, not only to teach someday, but also to learn about life and continue my exploration of it. If I end up being a Investment Banker, so be it, at least I will have excellent experiences.

None of this really explains why this blog exsists, but it's 5 in the morning and I'm trying to be impressive. Basically I realized that I have much less to offer society then I thought, and that I was very affected by "I'm 18 and I know everything-itis" which plagues most of us during highschool and/or college. I love history and most of my favorite history teachers tell me how much travel has shaped the outlook they carry on the world.
Teaching in Lituania, Stealing a breadtruck in Spain, or visiting key WW2 sights have given my teachers a better understanding of the events. I'm hoping this translates to my life and to more modern events. I have many passions and I don't know which one to pursue (can't do them all, not enough time on this earth); Music, Movies, Sports, Computers, History, Games of Chance, Writing, Photography, Anthropology, and many other topics all intrest me, and while I would be able to read about these in college, I want more of a hands-on study. What does it feel like to play poker in Prauge, or Nepal? I wonder if I could write a book in Laos? What are the people like in the world. By studying all the things I find intresting in a completely unknown place I hope to find myself by studying strangers. Basically I am looking for answers to big honking life questions and I will be chronicling my adventures, I encourage you to read along.

Now that you have a semblance of my state of mind, let me introduce the theme of this Travel blog -- Formal Study.

I'm approaching this like an academic class. I will assign myself reading, dive headfirst into hands-on training, document my notes and study for the final exam. The final exam will not be written or graded, but will be based on how much I learn, I have a fixed amount to spend on my travels, and I intend to get every bit of knowledge I can squeeze out of it. This is my first year of college and I'm footing the bill so I feel a need to get the most out of it. I hope that the essays along the way will not only entertain you, but also explore my potential for being a published author.

I will be alone in my instruction but I expect others to help me. I know I will meet interesting travelers and locals who will help me, and I make this public to hear from anyone who finds it interesting. I don't quite have my syllabus finished, but I want to be clear that the observers participation is greatly appreciated. Look for a few pre-trip updates, and then a somewhat daily breakdown of my trip as I experience it (obviously some parts will be more prone to spark study). I look forward to sharing the next year with you.

Tyler H Willis