http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/FastEddie/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from FastEddie en-us Sun, 23 Nov 2008 11:43:20 UTC Sun, 23 Nov 2008 11:43:20 UTC Before I decided to throw my life into a backpack and head across the ocean I had a job. I worked for a French company and one of the beautiful little perks at this company was that at no charge at all one could sign up for private French lessons which I took full advantage of. When I announced that I was respectfully resigning in the pursuit of giving my passport a workout my French tutor Sop http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/France/blog-328438.html Following my cargo ship ride from Israel I spent a few days on the island of Cyprus and then bought a ticket on a ferry bound for Turkey. I boarded the modern boat and sat down inside next to a middleaged pudgy short man who was wearing jean shorts and had his white socks pulled high. The boat quickly filled up with its 300 passengers and then we were off. A few minutes into the trip he leane http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Turkey/blog-320405.html Hello AllIrsquom sorry Irsquove been a little behind on my blog. I left Israel and have been in southern Turkey along the coast and it is hot. It is gorgeous down here but the heat of the Middle East in July can wear you down to the point where you donrsquot want to do anything that requires any physical or mental effort. But I digress letrsquos get on to IsraelFollowing my three hours http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Israel/blog-293660.html Irsquod be lying if I said I wasnrsquot a little anxious about traveling on my own. When Charles left Cairo and flew back to New York and our tour was over I awoke to an empty hotel room and the reality of my new world was unmistakable. There were no longer any friends or family to journey with or to help do research or share in the decisions or simply be there for company. I moved into a http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Jordan/blog-289539.html ldquoAmerica Welcome.rdquo Along with a smile and a handshake this has been the response we have received from nearly every person we met in Syria. When you first arrive in this country and you look around it doesnrsquot look all that hospitable. It is dry and dusty. The buildings are not particularly beautiful from a Western esthetic pointofview. There is urban sprawl holes in the ro http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/Syria/blog-279707.html Brian and I have been tearing across South Africa on a road trip that would make Jack Kerouac proud. Every stop along the way has offered new adventures new people to meet and more good times to be had. In the spirit of Kerouac we even picked ourselves up a hitchhiker. Well hersquos not really a hitchhiker hersquos actually a Norwegian guy named Niels pronounced ldquoNealsrdquo who http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/South-Africa/Eastern-Cape/blog-272478.html Hello everyone. If you are receiving this message you are now on my official travel blog subscription list If in the unlikely event you don't want to receive these updates you can simply unsubscribe and instead go back to reading stories on Eliot Spitzer's prostitutes. First off I just want to thank everyone who was a part of my two departure parties. All those from the office at Natixis t http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/blog-255506.html Greetings from Africa Irsquom alive and doing well. Although I did accidentally swallow about a liter of a muddy African river a few days ago but more on that later. Starting out on this trip I honestly thought Irsquod find wifi hotspots in the hostels we would be staying at and maybe even at the bush camps which are pretty substantial. But guess what I discovered Africa is not like http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Mozambique/Southern/Maputo/blog-255493.html