3 Months Down.....

I cannot believe the project is now more than halfway done. It’s incredible how fast time seems to go. I’ve now been on the road for exactly three months, been to three of the four weddings, purchased seven SIM cards, traveled to eight different countries, and celebrated Young’s birthday already. Perhaps only six months ago I was still trying to figure out if this was a project that I was going to undertake, dreaming of big sponsorships and book deals. Instead, I’m out here roughing it most of the way and trying to figure out what I really want to say. But I am doing it, no matter how, and no matter what the results. Even half-way through, I still think it’s crazy what I’m doing, especially when I saw a Paul Theroux book today that chronicled his overland journey from Cairo to Cape Town – a journey that Young and I will be doing half of, in just two months. It’s wild, it’s impressive, and it’s a little ridiculous.

Taking this chance to do more than just pat myself on the back though, I thought the halfway point would be an ideal place to take account of everything that we’ve done so far, answer a few questions that have appeared over and over, and to give meaningful reviews of the products we’ve been generously given by our sponsors.

As I mentioned above, we’ve been to eight different countries already. I started out going from Hong Kong to Vietnam (1) and then on to Manila, Philippines (2) for a side-project. Transiting through Hong Kong again, I flew to Hawaii (3), where I picked up Young, attended a wedding, and caught up with my family by calling them. We then headed back to Asia, transiting in Taipei, Hong Kong, and then Bangkok, Thailand (4) where we stayed for a few days, getting vaccines, seeing sights, and eating good food. Another layover in Dubai, U.A.E. (5), where we spent way too much money, before catching our flight to Nairobi, Kenya (6) for the third wedding. After the wedding, we went by bus to Kampala, Uganda (7) where we ended up spending 5 pretty relaxing days before going back to Nairobi. A few more days there, hanging out with our new friends, before we finally decided to head south. I got sick in Mombasa, which extended our stay there by a couple days. Then, in the last week of March, we finally finally left Kenya, nearly 3 weeks after initially landing in Nairobi. Our bus to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (8) took over 10 hours. We treated ourselves to a Subway sandwich that night and then to a lentil soup buffet at the ritzy Holiday Inn before getting on a ferry for Zanzibar. Three days later, an argument with the Mozambiquian consulate in Zanzibar that has resulted in our bypassing of that country, and one amazing storm later (which prevented us from getting back on the ferry for Dar today), and I’m here writing this recap with high hopes that we can move onwards to Malawi within the next two days.

If your head is spinning, don’t worry – so is mine. It has been really crazy, and I can’t believe what we’ve done already – not to mention what we’re hoping to do going forward. You’ll just have to read on though to find out what those things exactly are! For now, I’d like to answer a few questions that I’ve received over and over again. Half-way point Q&A

Also, it's only fair to give some airtime to our corporate sponsors who have provided us with cool products to use throughout the trip. I'm putting up my half-way point thoughts and musings on each product here, and will update them as I go along (if I get the time!) Suffice it to say that we've assembled a really cool group of companies with some really cool products. Half-way point sponsors review

Finally.... the conversation between Young and I has been waning, so I decided to pick up a new buddy to talk to. Meet Harvey the Hippo, from Nairobi, Kenya. =)