One Year Later
It was exactly one year ago from today, on March 5, 2005, when I had completed a grand sixteen and a half month trip around the world, which took me to across 95,000 miles in thirty-seven countries in South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America. To make a long story short, in the past year I have slowly acclimatized back to normal society after being “traveled out” — working, partying, and playing video games — and one year later, I have to say, my life is “normal” again.
This of course means I should probably get back on the road.
One year later, I’ve decided to go on another trip, one perhaps not as long (I’m tied to a year-long lease in New York), but hopefully just as exciting: a trip to Timbuktu, the legendary city that actually exists on the fringe of the Sahara Desert in the African nation of Mali. As of now, two weeks before departure, I don’t have much of a game plan; as always I will pull an Indiana Jones and “make it up as I go.” All I do know is that before I leave I need a visa to get into Mali, which was convenient enough to get as there is a Malian consulate in New York City within lunch hour distance from my permalance design position at an interactive ad agency.
funyeah: did you guys eat yet?
The art director on my current project IM’d me last Tuesday as he often did to see if me and the guys were going out to lunch. I explained to him that I had just eaten a quick cup of ramen noodles to hold me over for I was headed uptown to the Malian Consulate.
funyeah: weird, i’m headed up there too
The jokes continued as I left my desk. “Unless I get kidnapped by African nationals, I’ll be back,” I told my co-worker buddy Bil.
I TRAVELED ON THE 6 TRAIN UP TO 68TH STREET and walked the one block up to the consulate. It was easy enough to find with the big green, gold, and red flag waving above in the brisk breeze of New York winter. The building wasn’t much, more of a residential brownstone labeled with a big plaque outside its front door (picture above) to differentiate it from other houses. Inside the public space was nothing more than a little living room area sectioned into two parts by a bulletproof booth window like at a bank. Inside were two women, one portly, dark and middle-aged; the other younger, more slender and with coffee-colored skin tones like myself. The two talked and talked like old gossiping friends in French with African accents — which wasn’t a surprise since I had done enough research enough to know that Mali was a former French colony during the European scramble of Africa in the 19th century that had been independent since 1960.
The two woman switched over to English with a Malian accent when they spoke to me. “This is you?” the older woman questioned me, holding up the two recent photos of myself clipped to my visa application.
“Yes. That’s me,” I replied. “Should I take my glasses off?” I took them off but she still wasn’t convinced.
“Let me see,” the other said, glancing at the picture. Why it wouldn’t be me, I don’t know; I looked the same, had the same haircut, and was wearing the same black jacket with The Global Trip pin on the lapel. “Yeah, that’s him.”
I sighed in relief; this wasn’t the first time I’d had a case of mistaken identity.
The two went at it in French again — too fast for me to comprehend it all with my high school French — but it was still exciting to hear. I felt like I had my feet back in the game of adventure travel, which was sort of true because I was technically on Malian soil. The older woman wrote me out a receipt for the $100 fee and took my newly renewed passport.
“You can come back Monday. Same time. Before three,” she instructed me.
“Merci,” I said, trying to get my tongue to get back in the game like my feet. I closed the door behind me and camped out for a couple of minutes in nearby Hunter College where I handwrote out this blog entry, just as I did before on “The Global Trip 2004″ every day, obsessively for sixteen months.
I’m back, I thought. Travel and travel blogging, the void in my life since I’d been back home, was starting to be refueled, for the wanderlust never dies…
Tags: Prologue, Tag Index
March 5th, 2006 at 2:43 pm
Please excuse the crudity of the header design; I haven’t had time to figure out how I’m going to visually present this new blog yet. In the meantime, enjoy this entry and gear up for a new vicarious ride…
March 5th, 2006 at 2:48 pm
Hi Erik, Can’t wait to read more of your stories! Happy travels!
March 6th, 2006 at 8:51 am
just great…i’ll have to be the guy behind another blog again..hehe…s’all good i live for it!
March 6th, 2006 at 9:00 am
kick ass i will have something to read for 3 weeks
March 6th, 2006 at 10:49 am
Yay! More blog!
March 6th, 2006 at 12:28 pm
It’s baaaaaacckk! The blog of all blogs!!
PS. (Don’t forget to attach that “fake spreadsheet” so i can pretend to work while i read the blog.)
March 6th, 2006 at 2:14 pm
Hey wow! I was a lurker on the global trip website and like many people became slightly addicted! Check back every now and then to see if there is any more news…and now there is! I can’t believe it! Looking forward to hearing more…
March 7th, 2006 at 9:11 am
Erik, good to have you back! And since I somehow managed to go to Mali without making it to Timbuktu, I’m looking forward to reading your experiences. Once again, I’ll be living vicariously
March 7th, 2006 at 3:25 pm
Eric,
So I’m sitting here at work in Japan and randomly select “Nara” from the mp3 list, which gets me to thinking on your photoshow set to the tune, which then leads me to surf over to the old site, which in turn led me here. Great to hear you’re headed back on the road, if even for a short time. Mali’s on my life list, so until I get there myself, I’ll be tagging along virtually with you.
Have a great time! And for all of us who were left with withdrawls when you got home last year, thanks for getting back out there!
March 7th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
I have to say I am amazed at the SBRs (Silent Blog Readers) coming out of the wood work. Feels great to be back!
March 7th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
word.
let me know if you end up in Perth, Australia or Cairo, Egypt. ha. i can be on the Trinidad Show again.
March 8th, 2006 at 5:34 am
Go Erik!
March 8th, 2006 at 8:07 am
This blog hog is happy to be back!
I have never heard of anyone going to Timbuktu but it sounds great. You are like our own E! (rik) Wild on Timbuktu.
March 8th, 2006 at 10:04 am
Hey Erik, another SBR here. I loved your last blog and it definitely influenced me because I’m now planning my own Global Trek set to start in 9 months. I’ve always wanted to travel for a year or more around the world but I think your blog was one of the things that got me to stop dreaming about it and actually start making concrete plans. Your blog has also helped me a lot to plan my route. So thanks for everything and I can’t wait to read about Mali.
March 9th, 2006 at 7:17 am
Awesome! Can’t wait to read all about it!
March 9th, 2006 at 9:02 am
Right on! I missed the original TGT live but caught it later in re-runs. Looking forward to Mali…
March 11th, 2006 at 11:27 pm
Good to see you back. Your blog was greatly missed during the past year of corporate toiling to save up for my own semi-global trip (scheduled to begin April 4).
March 12th, 2006 at 9:30 am
Yea!!! Something told me to check back at THE Blog! Has it been about two years now since I found your blog?! Yea, I think it was somewhere right after the now infamous poop pic, and right before the sign fell on your head in S. America. Damn… Well, this old ‘68′er is still a fan and can’t wait to read about your further adventures!! And yea, don’t forget the spreadshit…I mean sheet!
March 12th, 2006 at 6:58 pm
Alright! I guess this means I get to be Sebastian again.
March 13th, 2006 at 10:20 am
I’ll be eagerly awaiting your new stories…
March 15th, 2006 at 7:19 pm
Just like the rest of the people, seems like I randomly happened upon this new blog… spifferoonie!!
I am off to Taiwan shortly, and will have my own craziness to chat about.
But, I’m glad you’re headed to Timbuktu - and not just the bags - good times… enjoy!