Once upon a time, in a far-away land, there lived a boy. This boy learned to spin webs of software from pure thought. When he wasn’t plying his craft, he played video games and passed time with friends. Some might say that this boy was happy.
But this boy had an itch.
The itch was in his soul.
…
All right, I’ve decided that I can’t keep up that storybook style here, so it’s back to colloquial prose. Anyway, I had a lot of things going on at the time, but the short story is that instead of buying a shiny red Ferrari or putting 20% down on a nice house, I stopped renting my apartment in San Francisco, packed up all my things (what I didn’t discard, give away, or loan out) into long-term storage, gave notice at my job of 14 years, temporarily moved back in with my parents in the house we grew up in, finally went to the gym regularly enough that I got into somewhat better shape, acquired a bunch of gear that I thought I would need, had several going-away parties, and went traveling around the world. Mostly in that order. And I haven’t been around the world yet.
At first, I thought I would do a quick sampling of as many countries as my mind and body could stand, then go back to my favorite places for longer periods. In reality, my progress has been slower than expected, but that’s okay with me. I’m at a pretty good place in my life to do this. I don’t have a wife or kids (sorry, mom and dad), a job (I saw to that!), or a place of my own. And I’m not really looking for any of those, either. I’m in relatively good health and have enough saved up to see me through this (if I’m frugal and prudent) for several years. After that, I’ll see where I am, where the world is, and how I feel about working again. Hopefully, I’ll want to work again, and I’ll be able to find a job. Maybe it will be something like what I used to do, or maybe not. Maybe I’ll even be good at it.
Late 2008
In mid-September 2008, I drove from Walnut Creek, CA to Los Angeles, where my little brother Joe and his wife Kristin live. I stayed with them for a couple of weeks while I got the rest of my gear assembled, then it was off to Japan! Although I was mostly going around on my own, I was able to travel around for a couple of weeks with Po.
2009
After a little over two months in Japan, I fled the ever-strengthening Japanese Yen and increasingly-frigid Japanese winter to Malaysia, where I kicked up and down the west peninsular coast for about a month and made a new friend. I ended up taking the land (bridge) crossing into Singapore. I only spent a handful of days in Singapore (including the Chinese New Year celebration) while I figured out where I would go next.
I decided to fly to Bangkok, Thailand, where I waited for my Cambodia e-visa. I then took the train to the land crossing between Aranyaprathet, Thailand, and Poipet, Cambodia, and crossed into Cambodia.
After a month in Cambodia, I took a land crossing into Vietnam, arriving in Ho Chi Minh City. After going up and down the coast for two months (meeting up with James and Joe for a couple of weeks), I decided to take a brief intermission back at Walnut Creek, to see family and friends, satisfy various food cravings, and re-evaluate my gear.
After a couple of months in Walnut Creek, I got a crazy deal on a flight to Hong Kong. I puttered around and ate a lot of good food. I think headed over to mainland China, taking the train over to Guangzhou and making good on the China visa I obtained in Hanoi. I extended my visa twice while in China, then went to Hong Kong to get a fresh visa at the beginning of October. Tired of the Chinese winter cold in Sìchuān, I decided to go somewhere warm, so I flew back to Hong Kong and then to southern Thailand, where I indulged in scuba diving and rock climbing.
2010
As Christmas 2009 approached, I decided to splurge on a round-trip ticket from Bangkok to San Francisco to surprise my family. The visit wouldn’t be as long as the last time, since I wanted to take advantage of favorable weather in South-East Asia (e.g., in Laos). Soon enough, I was back in Bangkok by February 2010, where I mostly spent indoors again, with rare excursions.
With the clock ticking on my visa, and falling ill here and there, I finally left Bangkok and headed east, crossing into Laos. After puttering around southern Laos, I made my way into northern Laos. I decided to capitalize on my China visa, which still had some time before it expired. At the end of March, I continued north, crossing into China’s Yúnnán province.
I kicked around Xīshuāngbǎnnà for a few weeks now, sometimes healthy, but mostly ill and/or injured. Along with day trips and light solo trekking, I mainly stayed in Jǐnghóng, luckily in time for the annual Dai Water Festival. From Kūnmíng, I headed east to Kǎilǐ, a center for the Miáo (H’Mông) ethnic minority, in time for the colorful Sisters Festival. Without much time remaining on my visa, I visited some local villages, then flew from Guìyáng to Shēnzhèn, crossing into Hong Kong for another China visa.
I ate a lot of good food in Hong Kong. With time ticking away, I never did jump back into north-western Yúnnán or into Tibet. Instead, I looked into taking language lessons somewhere, and ended up signing up for Japanese lessons in Japan. After a month visiting Walnut Creek in June, extended through July, and then a short stint in Hong Kong, I studied Japanese for five weeks in Okazaki, Japan, then did a little traveling before the strong yen booted me out.
Coincidentally, my friend Javid was vacationing in Europe, so I flew over to join him. We walked around Paris, flew to Prague, took a train to Berlin, and had some good fun. After Javid returned home, I traveled mostly in a straight line south through Germany, stopping off in towns small and large. Then I took a left turn to Vienna, Austria, popping into Budapest for a bit, then Salzburg, with a short detour to Innsbruck.
My friend Oliver was vacationing in London with his family, so I flew up to join them. Traveling with a two-year old is… interesting! 
After they left, I stayed in London for a bit longer, trapped by the cold weather. I broke out and flew down to Spain, where I’ve been jumping around, enjoying the moderate weather and excellent food.
2011
As the days started to grow longer, so did Spain continue to grow on me. I was definitely growing on Spain. My waist, that is. 
I missed the Basque region this time, instead crossing over into southern Portugal, working my way up the coast to Porto, with a week spent getting over a cold in eastern Portugal. Portugal was beautiful!
I took a short hop over to Italy, one of my dream countries. I traveled around northern Italy, getting snowed on in Florence and crushed by crowds during Carnevale in Venice. I wound up in Rome, where I did as the tourists do.
I visited home in April, since my older brother was also visiting with his family. It was good to see family and friends again. People kept asking when I would finish with traveling. I had a return ticket back to Italy. I took the train to Naples, spent some time on Capri and along the Amalfi coast from Salerno to Sorrento, then took the train to Palermo. When I reached Giardini Naxos, I hunkered down and spent three weeks playing computer games instead of traveling around eastern Sicily. What a waste, from a touring viewpoint! But when it comes to long-term traveling, having a long break every so often is also good.
High season was really kicking into gear, with lodging starting to fill up with families. I decided to postpone visiting Greece until autumn, and instead flew to Istanbul for some healthy culture shock. I wound up spending far more time in Turkey than planned, mainly because I was hooked on playing computer games. But I did have my fair share of activities, including visiting cultural sights, taking a Blue Cruise on a gület, dropping/ruining my digital camera in water, and getting absolutely gobsmacked by Kapadokya. After a few days relaxing in İstanbul, I flew to Bucharest.
Romania was an absolute gem. It constantly surprised me with how awesome it was, especially the tiny little towns with their fortified churches lurking in the countryside. I might have stayed longer, but I heard from my mom that she was planning a family get-together around the time of my grandma’s birthday, so I had to start winding this trip down.
After some dithering about how to spend the remaining weeks (central Romania’s kind of in the middle of everywhere), I scheduled a run through Hungary, Poland, and Germany. I took a long bus to Budapest, Hungary (via pretty Slovakia). I’d been to Budapest before, so I rested and walked and ate and explored only a little. I spent longer than I expected in Krakȯw, Poland, pinching a nerve in my neck while resting, before flying from Gdańsk to Köln, Germany, within striking distance of a relaxing day-trip on the Rhine, before flying back to San Francisco from Düsseldorf.
Back in homey Walnut Creek, California, a chiropractor fixed my neck during repeated visits. I saw friends, tons of family, and stuck around for longer than expected. Now, I’m about to head off again, probably to East Asia (Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, China to start). Some new, some old.
(to be continued…)
