Home sweet home

After some grueling travel back, I'm home. It's good to be here. Here's the breakdown of the final push to get home from Dubrovnik:
inter-city bus to the bus station
bus to airport
plane to London Gatwick
sleep at the airport on a very uncomfortable chair, hoping the guys patrolling with automatic rifles don't bother me
take a bus, then the underground to London Heathrow. Crazy traffic on the M1, so this took 3.5 hours
flight to Houston
flight to San Francisco
bart to Millbrae
Caltrain home

37 hours of traveling; not too fun, and I stink.


As I entered the US, I tried to keep my traveler's prospective, viewing it as a new country that I hadn't yet been to, in order to see what the US is like to a foreign traveler and see how we compare. Being around so many Americans, and being in a place where people speak English is strange after so many weeks of being away. The people here are certainly different. Perhaps it was just my personal elation at returning to my home country, but the atmosphere here is more casual and less frenetic than in Europe. Americans are friendly, people abroad will tell you. We can be proud of that and many other things here. We, for the most part, have the right checks and balances that are so lacking in some other countries, particularly in the Balkans. There is no need for a violent revolution. We have the systems in place to disseminate information through peaceful demonstrations and other means so that, when the time comes, the informed people can vote in fair elections.

Perhaps this is all easy to say in a country geographically isolated from conflict. We have drug cartels in Mexico vying for power and territory and causing some fear around the borders. But that's not a very big deal when you compare it to tensions on borders in the Balkans where Orthodox and Roman Catholic and Muslim people intersect, particularly the still-disputed Serbia-Kosovo border where Serbia (mostly Orthodox Serbs) doesn't recognize the Republic of Kosovo (mostly Muslim ethnic Albanians). There are tensions and border disputes in many other places as well. Even in Spain, where some Catalans want an independent Catalonia, and some Basques want an independent Basque Country.

The US has two borders for 300 million people. That's easy to deal with. European countries are small and most have borders with many countries, so there is a lot of room for tension. Also, there is more history, which means more historical quarrels to bring back up. Every nation wants to have the power that it did when it was at its zenith. Does that mean that Austria should have control over Croatia? And what about Macedonia, where territory has shifted between some six nations throughout history? Greece wants it back, but so do others. Maybe it will stay independent. It's interesting to note that these borders are purely political and often don't define where one culture or ethnicity ends and another begins. There is often a continuity across a border.

I used to think of Europe as so old, and the US as so new. Sure, there are old buildings and a lot of history in Europe, but the current governments and borders are relatively new. Borders are constantly in flux and there are often new countries being created. Italy, Germany, Belgium, and most European countries are technically newer than the US. The most recent thing to happen to the US is the statehood of Hawaii, and perhaps some things will change with Puerto Rico or various islands that we protect, but I can't see any hostile disputes and the borders with Canada and Mexico seem set in stone.

You really have to visit a place to get a healthy perspective on it. Reading the wikipedia article on a country, while a good place to start, won't allow you to feel the vibe of the place. Being in a new place, hearing the new strange language all around you and trying to use some of it, eating the food, talking with locals. These are all invaluable. And traveling is fun too! You get to meet lots of kinds of people and see cool stuff.

Everything here seems like a luxury after living the traveler's life. Sleeping in my big, soft bed. Shaving in front of a big mirror (bathroom mirrors in Europe are tiny). Being able to put my wallet in my back pocket and not worry about being robbed. Having a car. Knowing, every day, where I will sleep that night. Not having to pay to use the toilet. Being able to request a glass of water at a restaurant without getting weird looks. Buying food at reasonable prices. Eating well-rounded meals (no bread and cheese for months, please!). I got used to all these things, and could have, probably, gone on indefinitely as a travel bum as many do. But it's nice to be back.

There are many experiences I'll never forget. Eating tapas in Spain. Drinking home-made wine with an Estonian in Romania hearing crazy stories of her days working on a cruise ship. Sitting in the stands of the colosseum, like a Roman citizen. Traveling on a dilapidated communist-era train through Romania. Exploring the remote parts of a Greek island on an ATV. Getting caught in a protest at the G8 summit in London. Seeing a rave erupt around the old town in Milan on May Day. Swimming in the hot, steamy baths in Budapest while the cold rain came down. Looking, carefully out of the corner of my eye, at the devastation caused by the war in Mostar, Bosnia. Swimming in the clear, calm waters in Croatia. Walking through the meadows of Slovenia. Drinking with travelers from all over the world in various hostels. Walking, barefoot, through the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. Saying "thank you" in ten different languages. Trying, in general, to figure out all the forms of public transit through language barriers and all. It's been a long, crazy trip. Happy travels!