Notable Notes: 10 of Our Favorite Experiences So Far

1. Brazil v. Portugal World Cup Game
Seeing the Brazil v. Portugal game in Portugal was a hoot. We got there early so we had plenty of time to see the action unfold. People would not let other people sit next to them because they were rooting for the opposite team. The police had to be called because people were standing in front of other people who were sitting and they wouldn’t move. The game ended in a tie, which is probably the best, because a riot may have broken out otherwise. The fans all wore the team colors. There was a big screen in the middle of a plaza. It was so alive!

2. Seeing Mt. Everest
The whole hiking in the Himalayas experience was very cool. The views, the challenge, seeing the way the locals live: these were all highlights of the trip. However, being able to see the highest mountain in the world was something you just can’t parallel. It’s not the prettiest mountain, but it sure is tall!

3. Seeing Elephants and Lions
In both Namibia and South Africa, we went on a self drive safari. In both places we got to see so many cool animals! The best part was in Namibia when we went early in the morning, we saw a pride of about 7 lions, one mere feet from our car. There is nothing like seeing a lion in the wild. Watching it on the Discovery Channel is cool, but seeing it for real outside your window is…priceless.

4. Venice
It is overrun with tourists. Everything is overpriced. However, that pales to the beauty of the tiny streets, canals, boats, churches and grandiose squares filled with coffee shops and monuments. We wandered around Venice, got lost and found ourselves again so many times. It was great. There is a certain magic to this place. I would suggest, however, a trip in the spring or even winter, because without the crowds it must be even better! 

5. Topless Sunbathing in France
Yes, I finally did it. I never had before. In Biarritz, we went to the beach and I decided that “when in Rome” and I threw off my top and lay on the beach like a local. It was liberating. It felt great.

6. Hitchhiking on an 18 Wheeler
Again, a first for me, and a good one. The guys that picked us up were nice. They bought us coffee because we hadn’t gotten a chance to get any local currency yet. They told us stories and pointed out elephants along the way. They let Big K drive the truck. They got us all the way from Zambia far into Namibia. What a ride!

7. Trekking in the Drakensburgs
Right next to Lesotho in South Africa is the Drakensburg range. These are the highest mountains around. We had a great few days hiking around, even when we took a wrong turn and went down instead of up and had to backtrack back up to get to where we wanted to go. We were there in August, which is a good time to be there, as it is Spring and the mountains are all still green. The views were spectacular and the hiking was just the right amount of difficulty.

8. Cape Town
This is one of those cities where you say, “I could live there”. It is surrounded by ocean and in the middle of the city is a mountain. You can go hiking, swimming and to your favorite coffee shop in town all on the same day. The setting is idyllic. Whatever you like, it is there. We liked it all.

9. Diving in the Red Sea
On the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, we went diving in the Red Sea. I had heard people say that this was some of the best diving in the world, and they were right. It is. The water is so clear and you can see forever. There are tons of fish and octopus and corals. It is absolutely gorgeous!

10. Albania
Out of all the countries, Albania was the most (pleasantly) surprising. They have mountains and beaches and ruins. The people are so friendly. The country is absolutely beautiful. To top it all off, it was much cheaper than most of Europe. We had planned on stopping on our way through to Croatia for just a few days and we ended up staying a week.

For more photos of these places, you can click on the links for each section or go to my RTW flickr page.

Notable Notes: 10 Interesting Things We Have Seen

1. HS “Class Of” T-shirts
In Africa, there are many people wearing “I graduated from ____ HS Class of 1995” T-shirts. This is funny when you know the HS is in the US. I guess this is a popular item to give to goodwill and where do they end up? Africa, apparently.

2. Topless Bathing With Geriatrics
In Greece, we went for a swim in the Adriatic. The beach we chose was a geriatric hangout. We witnessed many an old lady (and a couple of old men) changing on the beach. Shirt off, bra off, suit on, no worries.

3. Taxi Ride Hijacking
While in a taxi in Egypt, we were stopped at an intersection and two kids ran in front of our taxi, stopping the driver. They then tried to get in. This was not really a hijacking. In Egypt, it is common to share a cab. They were only asking the driver if he was going their way. However, it was pretty weird at first.

4. Matola Ride
In Malawi (Africa) they have “shared taxis” otherwise known as matolas. These are just somebody’s (small) pickup and everyone rides in the back. In the back of our matola, we had about 24 people, one guy with about 12 dozen eggs, that he didn’t break.

5. Hitchhiking Across Namibia
In Namibia, we hitched a ride with an 18 wheeler. In the course of our ride (about 17 hours and over a thousand kilometers) Mr. Lovely got to drive the truck and we got to listen to our new friend talk about how he wanted us to “see a F&^%ing Kudu man” (a kudu is a large deer with swirly horns). We also saw elephants and warthogs but did NOT see a F^%$*ing kudu.

6. Living With a Huge Beard
We have had a few arguments over the beard. We have been stared at and commented upon because of the beard. We have been offered hash and worse because of the beard. We have taken pictures of the beard and likened it to Zeus. It can almost be made into dreadlocks. The beard's name is Brodie.

7. Staying in Shitty Hotels
We have stayed in some bad hotels. Sometimes there are bugs. Sometimes there is mold or dirt. They are too hot; they are too cold. They are smelly. The toilets don’t work. They don’t have any hot showers. The worst one was in India, near the train station in Gorakhpur. It was called the Sunrise. When we stayed there, we got up before sunrise to leave.

8. Kids Carrying Goats
In the Himalayas, the porters carry everything. They carry roughly 80 pounds as far as we could tell. They carry kerosene tanks and Pepsi and cooking oil. But the weirdest one was one day as I was hiking I could smell blood. Fresh meat. I don’t know if you know that smell; it’s a little gamey. I smelled it and couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Finally I realized the porters had baskets full of freshly killed goats. Cut into pieces.

9. Diving With Great Whites
In South Africa, we went into freezing cold water to swim with great white sharks. It was crazy; they were about 6 inches from our faces! One even bit the cage (I wasn’t in it at the time, but it was still pretty impressive).

10. Multiple Stick Carrying Tactics
We saw people carrying cords of wood on their bikes, on wagons that they were pushing, on their motorcycles and best of all, on their heads. I never knew there were so many ways to transport wood!