Introduction

Round the World Journal
by Matt Donath

Round the world traveling seems to be much more commonplace nowadays. Recently, I saw an article in the New York Times about an explosion in the number of travelers. I commonly hear of people who have quit their jobs and are out traveling for several years. I have no idea why all these people are moving about for so long. Part of me thinks the answer is the same as the joke asking why dogs lick their balls - because they can. A somewhat more serious speculation on my part suggests that people usually return from their travels with more good memories than bad.

I always like to begin a journey on Sundays, because I shall have the prayers of the Church to preserve all that travel by land or by water.
- Jonathon Swift, Dialogues II

Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag. - Alexander Solzhenitsyn

I often find myself trying to explain the attraction traveling holds for me. I think it's dangerous to your health and often miserably uncomfortable. I sometimes find other travelers and their conversation dreadfully repetitive. Many locals only see you as a money making opportunity. I'm not interested in shopping or tourist attractions. I know it's impossible to see "everything" so I feel little sense of accomplishment after a trip. I'm not bringing a camera; in fact, I'm bringing as little as possible and will not acquire many souvenirs for the trophy case. So why go to all the trouble?

One of the few benefits of traveling that comes to mind is that it creates a perfect atmosphere for the Observation of Life, an environment that can lead to better understanding and enlightenment. Many wonderful people and places lie on the road ahead. The fact that there are obstacles as well only makes the journey more rewarding. My life and my memories will be improved after encountering these people and places. That's a pretty big benefit!

Objects which are usually the motives of our travels by land and by sea are often overlooked and neglected if they lie under our eye.... We put off from time to time going and seeing what we know we have an opportunity of seeing when we please.
- Pliny the Younger

In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.
- Leo Tolstoy

You can observe a lot by watching.
- Yogi Berra

Of course I could always emulate Thoreau and enrich my life without traveling very far at all, but there is something about foreign lands that provides an additional fascination. Ultimately, I think most non-travelers are simply too distracted by things such as work, home, and friends to devote their full attention to Observation of Life. I'm more observant when I'm on the road and therefore, more alive. I talk to more people and listen to them carefully. I acutely notice everything about my strange new environment. I see a lot of humor that can compensate for the misery of moving about.

The only thing I don't like about traveling is moving about.
- Matt Donath

My favorite part of traveling is just "hanging around" a foreign place, getting to know it intimately. I love to meet locals and fellow travelers (not all of them are uninteresting!). I relish walking about the streets or countryside of a new place - just getting the taste and smell and feel of it. Unfortunately, there are so many places I want to visit that I am often tempted to move myself about the planet at speeds I find uncomfortable. Rushing about generally displeases me. I will try to minimize this as much as possible.

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Traveling is dancing lessons from God.
- Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle

Many people prepare for round the world travels by planning extensive itineraries, checking weather factors, holidays, etc, for the places along their route. Others will endlessly debate what they will bring in their pack or attempt to calculate how much money their trip will cost. Some try to discover the "undiscovered" trendy places among the travel elite so they can wear these place names as a badge upon their return.

For me, the most important thing you can bring with you on your journey is a good attitude. With this, all things are possible. Good and bad things will certainly happen to me on my journey, however I prepare for it. The key is to be mentally ready to accept both. The rest of it, including where you go, how you get there, and what you take with you, isn't very important at all.

Way back in February, 1998, when a job in Singapore seemed to be pushing my RTW trip further away than I'd originally anticipated, I wrote the following to Marc Brosius (author of the Round-The-World Travel Guide) about preparations:

"...So, three things (at least) to entice me to stay here longer than I'd planned. Actually, I'm not even sure I had much of a plan to begin with. Moreover, my health has been a bit dubious of late, mostly stomach ailments, so I know I will have difficulties with road food.
However, despite this, my mind is still continually occupied with the Big Trip ahead. It is almost becoming a compulsion. I'm trying to come to an understanding about this. I think, for me, the main impetus is to prove some philosophical ideas that I have and to come to new understandings. In other words, a journey of discovery, and this is natural for the long term traveler.
I relate these things to you because I'm guessing you had to deal with many of the same things before your trip. I'm certain that so long as I maintain a positive attitude, things will ultimately work out very well for me, regardless of the path I take. The main trick is to generate momentum for that attitude.
You are a much different planner than I am. You are meticulous in handling details and I suspect, often have a much better idea of exactly what you want to do during a particular travel day. I can be more philosophical about road plans. I do try to address logistical details (one has to) but am often quite willing to drift with the tide a bit. There are pros and cons to both methods.
The point I am trying to make is that for me, getting ready for the Big Trip is much less about figuring out where to go or how to get there and much more about getting into the right frame of mind. This is a difficult thing to describe but I think you have some sense of what I mean. I just have to "feel" that it's time to go, and then I know I am ready to depart."

Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience. He that travelleth into a country before he hath some entrance into the language, goeth to school, and not to travel. -- Francis Bacon, Of Travel

May you live all the days of your life. - Jonathan Swift

Part of Marc's reply to me went as follows:

"If you were in your early 20s and it was your 1st time out, then I would agree, but you have been in other cultures long enough now that it may not be that much about discovery. I left in my late-20s with a good education and a set philosophy. I came home more confident of the ideas I had, and just cut out the small things that aren't so meaningful anymore. The Big Change was that I now know how cheaply I can live, and realize how much I need to earn to retire in a few years, instead of working open-ended and scared like the rest until I am Old! Nonetheless, I wouldn't think of it as a Big Trip, more like your 1st of many Extended Trips."

A good point. However, I still think of it as a Big Trip. Increasingly I see that they are all Big Trips, as our time here on earth is so short. I don't anticipate that I will be able to take too many Extended Trips like this one. There just isn't enough time left. Additionally, I regularly have experiences that make a big impact on me. They may not all be "Big Changes" they way Marc describes, but that doesn't make them less important to me. In my mind this is a Big Trip. I expect to make many discoveries and to increase my education and experience.

I have epiphanies all the time.
- Matt Donath

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
- Lao Tzu

So, now that the trip is firmly set to start within the next few months (July 1998), I find myself without any more preparatory information besides "feeling" that it's time to go. I have vague ideas about destinations, but everything is up in the air. Roughly, I'm planning on spending a fair amount of time in Asia before moving on to somewhere else. In a way, I've already started my Asian travels as of September 1997 when I moved to Singapore from Chicago. You can read an account of my time spent there and in other parts of SE Asia in my Singapore Journal.

Now I need to apologize for the misleading title of the website. "Round The World" implies a definite direction and goal, which I've admitted I'm lacking. There are other reasons for me not to like the title. "Round The World" or "RTW" has become an amorphous travel buzzword that seems to include any trip of more than a few months duration that touches down on a part of the world opposite to where you started. I believe it became popular with the advent of those silly "Round The World" air tickets that many airlines started promoting. Finally, the word "Journal" can be associated with academic or specialized publications, and sounds a bit stuffy.

Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.
- Oscar Wilde

However, I'm sticking with "Round The World Journal" because for whatever reason, long term travelers are often labeled as traveling "Round The World." Also, since I started writing diaries with my Glacier Journal (now lost to me, but maybe I'll rediscover it) and continued with the Singapore Journal, I'm going to stay with "Journal." Tradition over logic!

As I see it, your metier would be to travel with a pleasant wife, the two of you hand in hand, so to speak, looking at the more obvious public buildings and plesaunces-avenues and plesuances.
- Sinclair Lewis, Our Mr. Wrenn

Travel only with thy equals or thy betters; if there are none, travel alone.
- from The Dhammapada

The next most important thing you can bring on a round the world trip is a good traveling companion. Fortunately I am blessed with one in my wife Sybil. She can be tough and determined - an expert haggler and consummate squeaky wheel. She's determined at practicing foreign languages. She can charm locals and is always on the lookout for frauds. Her lateral thinking creative mind will no doubt find a solution when my "black and white logical mind" is stuck.

During our wedding ceremony I mentioned that Sybil gives a sense of legitimacy to my rambles. Without her I might be seen as a restless peripatetic soul. With her, I'm seen as ½ of an adventurous couple.

Most importantly, she will be there to share in my joys and sorrows. I will dance through my traveling lessons much easier with her at my side. Without Sybil, I would likely have chosen a different quote from this same book:

Doubtless he was a bit mad, as are all the isolated men who sit in distant lands longing for the voices of friendship.
- Sinclair Lewis, Our Mr. Wrenn

The only aspect of our travels that is interesting to others is disaster.
- Martha Gellman

Those of you who have read the Singapore Journal know that Sybil and I have more than our fair share of (mis)adventures during our travels. Our honeymoon set the tone for our traveling style. Last Christmas I wrote up an account of the most perilous portion of our honeymoon for Sybil. I'm not looking for disaster on this trip but I expect we'll run into some extreme inconveniences.

In any case, I will attempt to make the best out of all situations, be kind and considerate to the people I meet, and to dance my way through my travels.

A traveler must have the back of an ass to bear all, a tongue like the tail of a dog to flatter all, the mouth of a hog to eat what is set before him, the ear of a merchant to hear all and say nothing.
- Thomas Nashe

It is a fine thing to establish one's own religion in one's heart, not to be dependent on tradition and second-hand ideals. Life will seem to you, later, not a lesser, but a greater thing.
- D. H. Lawrence

We intend to rely upon the kindness of strangers and to help others in need. In our HEN philigious terms, this is known as a "yogi in" and a "yogi out." Travelers often wind up yoging in more than out, as they are often in need of food, shelter, transportation, or other assistance. We will do our best to be thankful to the people who help us and to forgive those who trespass against us. I promise not to proselytize, but can't help adding in two links to sites that describe two of the more important philigious beliefs that HEN borrows from: Steven Sparks well-written introduction to Epicureanism and another link to the fine summary of Bokononism that I mentioned in the Singapore Journal.

It's all connected!
- me during a philigious epiphany

If you should wish to write to us on the road, our email addresses are mdonath@yahoo.com and sbrabner@yahoo.com. I am going to send in my updates to Brian Lucas who will put them up on his Rec.Travel Library website. As it may be difficult to find Internet access during parts of our journey, the update process may be a bit sporadic. Likewise I will try to answer all email I receive. If we seem to be traveling in your direction and you would be kind enough to put us up for a night, we would very much appreciate the offer. I am a skilled Tarot card reader and will gladly reciprocate by telling your fortune.

Don't expect all these neat quotes and links from me while I'm on the road. Maybe one day I'll take the time to add in some bells and whistles, but my initial concern is simply in recording our more interesting experiences. That will be more than enough for me to deal with during our travels.

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.
- Ellen Parr

Work saves us from three great evils: boredom, vice and need.
- Voltaire, Candide

Finally, while I will try to relay some logistical details, I will try equally hard not to bore you with them. My aim is to leave you with the good stories and I will gladly risk failing to keep you up to date on exactly what we are doing every day of the year. Please kick me with an email when I grow too monotonous.

Take care and hope to see you on the road.

Matt Donath
May 6, 1998
Singapore

This is the best of all possible worlds.
- Voltaire, Candide

let's go exploring!
- Bill Watterson's Calvin in the last frame of his Calvin & Hobbes strip