"Let those who wish have their respectability- I wanted freedom, freedom to indulge in whatever caprice struck my fancy, freedom to search in the farthermost corners of the earth for the beautiful, the joyous, and the romantic. -Richard Haliburton
Wade is now in: Meknes, Morocco.
The Plan:
North And West Africa:
I pondered the idea of returning yet again to East Asia with no slight amount of reservation, for I have been there off and on for the past three and a half years. I am comfortable there, and I know my way around culturally and linguistically. To tramp in the hills searching for hermits and mendicant monks would be wonderous, though I was not viewing these travels as much of a challenge. East Asia has become a way of course to me- it is a region of the world that has oddly become my surrogate home. While lying in bed one night in a hotel room outside of Buffalo, I jumped to a start at the realization that I was completely content about the travels that I would be embarking upon in only two weeks. My sleep was not interrupted by thoughts of what obstacles could befall me, what unknown excitements lied in store for me, what dangers, mysteries I would be presented with. My mind was unburdened, I was content. It became apparent that I could not go to Korea right now, that I could not yet return to East Asia. I knew then that I needed a new horizon. I knew that I needed to go to the Sahara.
So I ditched the $550 air ticket to South Korea, and promptly bought another to Morocco. I know little about Northern Africa and the Sahara, but I intend to find out.
Now, I want to delve into the romance of the Sahara just to find whatever I happen to come upon. This research investigation should finaly cap off my long sought B.A. from the Friends World Program of Long Island University.
The Travels Up To Here:
North Africa- 2007: Morocco.
It is my plan to venture through Morocco to Timbuktu, Mali. I will have to cross over deserts, mountains, and forests.
South East Asia- 2007, 2005: Laos, Thailand, Vietnam.
The first time that I went to SE Asia was with Stubbs in 2005 on our journey from the sea to India. The Second time was after hitching across China from Mongolia.
China- 2007, 2006, 2005. China has been the voice calling me across the sea for the past few years now. I cannot seem to shake her charm. It is my favorite land in the world, though I do not know why.
"It is the Wild West out here," i was told by a Belgian traveller in Mongolia. He was right- wolves howl, bandits roam, and horse theives prosper.
India- 2006, 2005.
You just have to gadge the reaction on a traveller's face when they speak of India to know that you must travel across its lenth and breath. Nobody leaves India ambivalent.
Central America- 2006: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras. In the summer of 2006 I met my brother down in Costa Rica and concocted a great plan to travel overland to Buffalo, Ny. Well. . .until he somehow managed to fall out of a shower and break his own heart.
Japan- 2005, 2004.
The ol Buddha Dharma called me over to Japan just so that I could realize that I would much rather be walking in the hills loving life than sitting in a dark room with a buch of quiet, shaven pated monks. Though one of these days I am going in. . . To travel that old inward road.
Western Europe- 2006, 2003: Ireland, England, France, Spain.
I found myself as a gardener on an estate in county Cork. After a few weeks of work I had the bean money to hitch around the western parts of the old world.
South America, Patagonia- 2002: Chile, Argentina, Patagonia. In the Autumn of 2002 I pulled the Chatwin slip and left my employers an email that simple said, "Went to Patagonia," and travel upon the neathermost region of the world.
South America, Northwest- 2000, 2001: Ecuador, Peru. When I first began travelling I found the northwestern Andes to be enigmatic. I still do. These were the travels that shaped the course that I still find myself wandering nearly a decade later.
