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Intro: Jonathan Adams World Tour
Starting a new adventure always carries with it a certain amount of fear of the unknown. At the same time, that unknown is why you choose the adventure. On Jan 16th, I’m setting off with a little of that fear in tow, as I pursue a yearlong journey around the world.
This past fall I decided to quit my job as a photographer for the Jackson Hole Guide in Jackson, Wyoming, and spend 1999 backpacking the globe. You know, the end of the millenium type trip or maybe a case of the “I’m turning 30 in little over a year.”
Well, response from family and friends was amazing! It ranged from admiration and suggestions of places I’ve gotta see to some actually questioning my sanity. Sanity put aside, one man’s remark struck me kind of funny.
He said, “do it now when you’re young, so you can get it out of your system,” I had to ponder on that remark, knowing it was somewhat a positive statement but carrying with it a bad taste in my mouth. I asked myself, what in life do you enter with the intention that you should go ahead and do this now, so it will be out of your system? The only thing I was ever able to come up with was Chicken Pox.
You get the pox once and then it’s history. The verdict will be out for a while on whether my one time infection of the World Traveling Bug will build up immunity from further cases. However, the one thing I do know, is that it feels great to chase after some dreams every now and then, rather than living in regret later on in life.
So, how do you fit into this equation you might ask? Well, if you know me at all, you know that I love to tell the story. I love experiencing new adventures, but the story for me can be just as much fun! If it makes a good story, I couldn’t be happier. If it doesn’t make a good story but I can exaggerate a few ideas and turn it around for a few laughs, then happy I will be.
Every few weeks I plan to e-mail out a little ditty on my world stomp with some, intellectual, insightful, and intestinal stories chronicling my trek. I need you here to laugh or cry or maybe to just ask why, as I run about looking for answers and inevitably finding more questions.
My trip starts off on a typical note for my life, wondering where the day has gone. Flying out of Los Angeles, I cross over the International Date Line, causing me to forever lose January 17, 1999. I will spend the next year chasing down that one day, gaining it back hour by hour.
I arrive in Nadi, Fiji, on January 18th. Once in Fiji, I plan to become certified in SCUBA diving. There in that tropical paradise I will take a moment of silence to remember my friends less fortunate than I, back in the states, freezing their butts off! Don’t worry, by the next day you all can sit with a grin thinking of that pale southern white boy, and the sunburn he will be nursing for the rest of his stay in Fiji. Factoid: Fiji is roughly twice the distance from California to Hawaii. It was also the location for the filming of the movie “The Blue Lagoon.”
On January 25th, I fly into Auckland, New Zealand spending three weeks exploring that country on my own before flying out of Christchurch, New Zealand on February 22nd.
On February 22nd, I arrive in Melbourne, Australia where I plan to rendezvous with an old friend that lives there. I have until March 31st to make my way up to Cairns, Australia where I am scheduled to fly into Bali. After Bali, the trip becomes less structured except for a plan to travel throughout Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
After Thailand, I’m working on getting visas for China and Russia with hope of riding the Trans Siberian Railroad from Beijing to Moscow in the beginning of the summer. From Moscow, I hope to travel on up to St. Petersburg, Russia, then I’ll hop over into the Scandinavian countries and make my way through Europe during the summer and fall.
From there I shall decide when I will return home to the US. I’m not one to put plans into stone, so remember, the above trip is only a rough draft. As some of y’all know, my rough drafts look nothing like the finished product.
If you want to join along as Jonathan shares his half wit view of the world as heard through the twang of his own take on the English language, just click reply at the following e-mail address and I will add you to the list.
If you know of someone else that might enjoy a long winded explanation on the three easy steps to delousing yourself, feel free to forward this message or e-mail address.
If you know of any great, magnificent areas that I shouldn’t miss, or better yet, great, magnificent areas where your friends currently reside feel free to drop me a line and address and the best way to convince them I am your friend so they will feed and shelter me!
The only thing I request is that you don’t SPAM me with useless information (insert your own joke about the useless information that I will be sending you). If you have questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me.
If you do not reply, I will not add you to my list.
Thanks, hope to type to you later,
Jonathan Adams
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