“A developed country is not where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transportation.”
– Gustavo Petro, Mayor of Bogotá
I only got to see the cathedral in Bogotá and have lunch with my new, French friend Laura, before succumbing to food poisoning… It was bad. It was real bad.
But that’s not really Bogotá’s fault, so let’s not judge.
“Once one of the most dangerous places in the world, Comuna 13 is now a cradle of art and culture.”
The city of Medellin is divided into communes. Comuna 13 is a slum consisting of thousands of brightly colored houses at the top of a very steep hill. But this comuna is different from the other 15 because of the enormous amount of colorful street art and graffiti.
“All fear has much imagination and little talent.”
– Colombian proverb
I like to commemorate my travel anniversary: February 26th.
First year I did a tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels in Vietnam, a bucket list item. My second year I was working in China so I didn’t get much choice (we had a night out with the gang). This time it was my 3 year anniversary travelling. On this day I had officially been travelling for 36 months. So I decided to schedule my Guatapé tour for this day. Fair warning: This is going to be the messiest blog post I’ve ever posted.
“You’re going to COLOMBIA??”
– My brother
I’d been travelling the world by myself for almost exactly three years at this point, and THIS is where my brother decides my travel plans are insane…
To be fair, he’s also the one that contacted the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs because he thought I was lost in Malawi…
It’s nice to have someone who cares, I guess ;-D
“Every time I close my eyes blowing that trumpet of mine, I look right into the heart of good old New Orleans. It has given me something to live for.”
– Louis Armstrong
Aaah, New Orleans… The only place on my three years and two weeks of travelling that I got assaulted… I mention this to most people not to trash on the US, but to open peoples’ eyes a bit as most people I talk to seem to think it completely obvious that the most dangerous places I’ve travelled are all in Africa, with the possible exception of one or two places in Asia.
” Houston, we have a problem here.”
– John Swigert
That’s right. John Swigert, NOT Jim Lovell. While Lovell‘s transmission became part of NASA history, it was command module pilot John Swigert who actually called Houston first about the problem. Here’s the official NASA transcript on the incident.
Jim Lovell (Mission Commander), John Swigert (Command Module Pilot), Jack Lousma, CAPCOM (Mission Control)
Swigert: “Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here.”
Lousma: “This is Houston. Say again please.”
Lovell: “Houston, we’ve had a problem. We’ve had a main B bus undervolt.”
“Baby, lock the door and turn the lights down low
And put some music on that’s soft and slow”
– Josh Turner
A perfect example of why I have a serious distaste for country music. Sorry, but we can’t all like it…
Anyway, I wasn’t in Texas for the music, I was there to visit my cousin Katrine who I hadn’t seen for years. She’d had a flash wedding in Norway then up and moved over there because her now-husband, Lars Gunnar, was sent there for work. I’m not the only one in our family embracing adventure ❤
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“Why would I know where I live?”
– Kaitlin not really knowing her address by heart
My plans were to go see my cousin and between Honolulu and Houston there is San Diego, where my Egypt roomie Kaitlin lives. Couldn’t have planned it better if I tried.
“Every day of the year where the water is 76, day and night, and the waves roll high, I take my sled, without runners, and coast down the face of the big waves that roll in at Waikiki.”
– Duke Kahanamoku
I had originally planned on island hopping from Australia to Chile going by New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, etc etc, but when I got to Fiji I just wasn’t feeling it anymore. I was just going through the motions and not really enjoying myself. I felt like I was just going places so that I can check them off my list and that’s not how I wanted to travel. So I sat down and tried to figure out what I WANTED to do and Honolulu immediately came into my mind. The pull of staying there for a elongated period of time was so immense I decided to see what I could get for the amount of money I had originally allocated to island hopping.
AK: “I want to go, but I guess I can’t afford it.”
Christin: “Hold my beer.”
Being a huge fan of both films in general and Oahu in general I wanted to go do the Kualoa Ranch tour, but decided not to as it was really expensive and I’d already done the Hawaii Five-O Tour. Without knowing this one of my oldest and dearest friends bought me a gift card for my birthday (or Christmas, doesn’t really matter) at Veltra, a place that sells experiences. They had Kualoa on their list and I was overjoyed! Full day Kualoa Total Experience Package, here I come!
