A Look Back

Cat R.I.P. Miss ya, Kiki.

It's been one year to the month since I set out on my unbelievable extended vacation. I want to take a quick look back on my trip as a whole and provide advice to anybody else that wants to do this (which might include my future self 5-10 years down the road).

It probably goes without saying that this was the best time of my life. When I think of the best moments in my life, I think of the family cruise I took through the Bahamas. I think of the joint birthday party with my brother at the community pool when we were around the age of maybe 10, and it rained so we had the whole pool to ourselves and our friends. Or when I went to The International 2013 with Mike. Or the Little League World Series Regionals, the first trip to Casco, my Tufts Senior Week and graduation, and the trip to Disney World as a high school senior. Ahhh, memories.

Mike and I were live spectators at the best video game grand finals to ever take place.

Travelling the world bestows so much knowledge on you, especially when you make it a point to visit as many museums as I did. If I didn't think I was smarter than you before, I definitely do now. There was unlimited history to learn, and I tried to take in as much as humanly possible. In addition to the textbook smarts I took home, this trip really drilled into me the value of a dollar. Let alone understanding the varying markets from country to country, I have a new appreciation for what I can buy with X dollars. This is a life skill that I'm sure I neglected in comparison to my peers up to now. Yes, I always could stick to a budget, but I think understanding spending money goes much deeper than that. I don't have much at all remaining to say about this trip (I mean it's been a year, sheesh, I should have wrapped it up by now, but why not milk this blog for more time?), but in one of my remaining planned posts I want to summarize how my money was spent.

Here are the few very small regrets I had for this trip:

• Should have brought a hat
• Should have brought more sunscreen
• Needed one more bar of soap
• Needed one more pair of shorts (at least 2 total)
• Should have not forgotten my wire combo lock that I bought specifically for this trip, although it didn't matter much - the hostels were trustworthy
• Spent too much time in Florence
• Spent not enough time in Santorini
• Should have booked a hostel in Stockholm ahead of time
• Should have started processing my Russian visa sooner

Here are the things you may not think of when doing such a trip (some are applicable to only America or to only abroad):

• Blanket and pillow for sleeping in the car
• Books and music
• Quarter rolls for parking and possibly laundry
• Batteries for razor, head lamp, and anything else
• Spare cell phone battery or portable charger
• Sun reflector for the car windshield - to keep cool and for privacy
• Food and drink cooler
• Utensils
• Paper towels, tissue paper, and toilet paper
• Moist towelettes
• Trash bags
• Ziploc bags
• Gallons of water, perhaps gallons of Gatorade also
• Travel credit card
• Travel health insurance
• International phone plan
• Multivitamins
• Spare glasses and contacts
• Hand sanitizer
• Face mask and ear plugs
• Gym membership to a national chain for those key showers
• Mouthwash
• Mints or gum
• Car air freshener
• Standalone GPS
• Passport

And perhaps the most important thing, for camping and while in Europe, is to bring a standalone compass. My compass was so clutch so many times on this trip. It was almost as important as all the ice cream and Tuc crackers we ate.

Best reliable snack in Europe

If you liked following my music recommendations during this trip, I'll give you my secret link: IdeaSlug's Last.fm. You can see what I am currently listening to and what I have listened to in the past. You can see that I did in fact listen to Pop Goes the World by Men Without Hats 29 times in 3 days. None of you thought I was exaggerating, right? You can see that my MVP album over the duration of the trip was Bleachers' newest release, Gone Now. Not much surprise there. Jack's debut album, Strange Desire, was second-most heard and Grouplove's Big Mess comes third. I listened to Bleachers songs 452 times! As for favorite songs of the vacation, if I exclude Bleachers, the leaders are Providence by The Temper Trap, Baby Don't You Lie to Me! by The Fratellis, and Light Me Up by Bronze Radio Return.

Award for Best Album, 2017

At present I'm preparing for the Rhythm N' Blooms festival in Knoxville next week, so I'm listening to music by artists that will appear there. In particular, I'm looking forward to seeing The Mowgli's. In fact, I'm going almost exclusively to see them. That and the Club Fencing Championships are again being hosted in Knoxville, coincidentally the same weekend as the festival. Excited to coach Tufts again.

Polar Bear Plunge in the mountain river

I was near the Smokies last weekend. Andy had us to his family's spider- and wasp-infested cabin, and one day in Asheville, NC. It was a great time, filled with board games, tapas, and hiking. Oh yes, and tow trucks. Thank you, Andy!!!

The baseball season has begun. Do the Indians have another World Series run in store for us?

Where on Earth did you aim your car?