Slow Travel by the Numbers
Cobbling together those 11 collages in last week’s 1,000 Days of Roaming the Globe post proved to be such a nostalgic walk-down-memory-lane, it prompted me to consider some of the other digits that I’ve tucked under my travel belt these last few years.
Give or take a stray plane or rowboat – these are the statistics of the last 3 years of my life:
Slow Travel by the Numbers:
1,000 days
13 countries
– Vietnam
– Indodesia
– Cambodia
– Thailand
– Mongolia
– Singapore
– Australia
– Laos
– Nepal
– Malaysia
– Brunei
– Myanmar
– Ecuador
57 planes
4 trains
15 long-haul buses
12 ferries/boats
2 jeeps
1 horse
Plus countless motorbikes, songthaews, and tuk-tuks (one of the latter, I PUSHED!)
And furthermore…
42 hotels/hostels (probably more, no doubt I’ve missed a few)
6 apartments
7 couchsurfs
21 gers, tents, home-stays
9 dubious edibles tasted (including crickets, quail eggs, fermented mare’s milk, frozen durian popsicles. chicken feet and guinea pig)
2 ser.i.ous bouts of traveler’s ick: one in Mongolia from (what was I thinking???) a tiny sip of fermented mares milk (see “dubious edibles” above); and the other landed me in a hospital in Sumatra with an IV poked into my arm.
1 theft – upon my arrival back in Ho Chi Minh City from Oz, due wholly to my.own.stupidity.
Birthdays and Christmases celebrated abroad: 3 of each
36 geogaches found (in 11 different countries)
And…
1 yak milked
Lessee… 13 countries in 1,000 days – that averages about 77 days per country. Of course the standard deviation is a tad screwed towards Vietnam, Thailand and now Ecuador. But still… that’s what I call S-L-O-W travel.
And finally, just for fun – a set of “Before” and “After” selfies: 😉
29 October 2011 ——> ——> ——> ——> ——> 1,000 days later…
lol – I even seem to be wearing the same blue clothes
(though, note the scarves are at least different – the “After” scarf I picked up in Nepal
– one of precious few “souvenirs” I allow myself, as I’m determined to ever travel “light”.)
So how ’bout you – what interesting travel stats do you have to share?
About the Author
Dyanne Off-the-beaten-path travel is my passion,and I’ve always lived life “like-a-kid-in-a-candy-store” – eager to sample as many flavors as I can. Indeed, my life motto has long been: This ain’t a dress rehearsal, folks!
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Off-the-beaten-path travel is my passion, and I’ve always lived life “like a kid in a candy store” – eager to sample as many flavors as I can. Indeed, my life motto has long been:
Amazing stats, fabulous pictures and I can’t wait to start going back through your archives to read about Asia.
Oh my yes Anita – do feel free to wander about here among my many tales of Asia. I moved there to base myself (in Vietnam) so as to see that half of the globe. After 3 years, I was itchin’ to explore a new continent (thus, now settled here in Ecuador) but I I shall never forget (and indeed miss) many of the corners of Asia.
That’s quite an impressive list. Well-done Dyanne. I love to travel, but you have a much more adventurous spirit than I, especially when it comes to nibbling “interesting” food bits. Safe travels as you continue to count the days.
Ah yes Patti – those “dubious edibles”. Granted some (like the chicken foot) proved impossible to chew, nonetheless I do try to at least sample such exotics when I get the chance. And surprisingly, the smokey flavor of the roasted crickets was quite tasty, and not much different than say… Chex snack mix! 😉 And the quail eggs? I once made “Deviled Eggs” of them to take to a Vietnamese potluck. Exactly like chicken eggs only… smaller.