If travel is searching, and home has been found...

I'm stopping. This is the last entry of my "travel blog." My trip is over. Even today, the beginning of routine has started to creep in.

Compare this picture of me with how I looked when I started. Except for the hair, pretty similiar, no?


The last day of the trip was mostly uneventful. Because of jet lag, I woke up early. C and I got on the road by 8, stopped for Dunkin' Donuts (my 5th trip to DD in the last 2.5 months: first at JFK, then twice in Berlin (where internet access is very conveniently offered) and then once in Manhattan) and got on the Merrrit. All the way to JFK. C pointed out to me some of the scenic bridges, as well as a poorly disguised cell phone pole. Said goodbye!

Got to the airport early.

Waited a couple of hours and read Devil in the White City (which gets more and more gruesome as it progresses) and got on the plane.

Plane ride involved reading, listening to my iPod and not talking to the guy next to me, who was annotating sheet music of religious hymns.

Rudy picked me up, not only on time, but early. Drove to my Dad's office. Drove to my parent's house to pick up my stuff. Drove home and first encountered my very ugly pile of mail, which includes such wonderful treats as a jury summons (which I long ago missed) and some shameful bank and credit card statements.

I was too irritated by my mail to call anybody or make Saturday night plans, but after a dinner of Bristol Farms sushi (just like how I used to before I left), I spent some relaxing time on the internet, read some letters (a nice surprise, especially having written so many while I was gone) and went to sleep early.

And that's my vacation to Europe!

And shouldn't I wrap the whole thing up?

Important Musical Influences

1. Phil Collins - Showed up everywhere. Always let me know that the positive sides of bland reality still existed and always made me feel comforted.

2. ABBA - Singing along to Waterloo with strangers on the beach in Cinqueterre made me friends. Singing Money Money in a restaurant in Strasbourg gave me fame. Heard Take a Chance on Me and Mama Mia somewhere else or another.

3. Robbie Williams - only in Krakow, but watching his videos non stop for a weekend couldn't help but leave an impression.

4. Silversun Pickups - The last show I saw in L.A. before I left, and whenever I didn't know what to put on my iPod, I'd always come back to their song "Kissing Families." I may want to look into the whole album later.

Nationalities of people I met on the trip

This may not be interesting to you, but it was interesting to ME. These are people that I met in countries outside of the one they lived. "Meeting" means having a conversation that got as far as "Where are you from?":
1. Albania
2. Argentina
3. Armenia (sort of)
4. Australia
5. Austria
6. Bosnia
7. Canada
8. China (born in China, but lived in Canada...does this count?)
9. Denmark
10. Finland
11. France
12. Germany
13. Hungary
14. Iceland
15. India
16. Iran
17. Ireland
18. Israel
19. Italy
20. Japan
21. South Korea
22. Luxembourg
23. Mexico
24. Netherlands
25. New Zealand
26. Norway
27. Peru
28. Portugal
29. Romania
30. South Africa
31. Spain
32. Sweden
33. Switzerland
34. UK
35. U.S.
36. Scotland

Special Thanks to These Guys for Providing Relevant Titles!:
The Fiery Furnaces, Bjork, The Smiths, The Who, Morrissey, The Talking Heads, The Decemberists, The Beach Boys, R.E.M., Weird Al, The Magnetic Fields, Jonathan Richman, The Go-Gos, Bob Dylan, B-52s, Pulp, Pixies, The Police, Camera Obscura, Eddie Money, Belle and Sebastian, Sugarhill Gang, The Jefferson Airplane, Arlo Guthrie, They Might Be Giants, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, U2, The Eagles, Joni Mitchell, Joe Dassin, Leonard Cohen and finally, Billy Bragg.

And I apologize for the extremely lame "stretch" titles I had to give some because I couldn't think of a relevant song.

Also, thanks to:

1. The extremely friendly people working at Il Chiostro Bed and Breakfast in Naples who were amazingly kind in a country full of not so kind people

2. the woman at the post office in Naples who translated for me with the clerk who was screaming at me

3. the guy working at the post office in Naples who despite being no actual help (not his fault) did the best he could and was friendly and polite

4. the owners of the Domus Guesthouse in Reykjavik who were friendly, helpful and gave me some discounts they did not have to give

5. The Canadians I met in Reykjavik running the marathon for Team Diabetes who invited me to eat with them on my first day in Iceland

6. The guy at the gas station in the middle of nowhere in iceland who gave me an extremely good and overpriced map for free because he could see I was lost

7. The couple from Geneva who gave me and Tara a bowl of soup in the hostel in Hvol.

8. The guy who gave me a discount on pasta in Nice.

9. The internet cafe guy who let me use the phone and internet for free to cancel my credit cards after being robbed in that same cafe.

10. The woman from the Roman catacombs that let me ride in her cab back to town when I had almost no money.

11. Mark from the hostel in Budapest who gave me a great music magazine to read on the train and was super friendly, unlike the other staff.

12. The hostel in Krakow that accepted credit cards, even though the price per night was very low.

13. Alice's family for taking such good care of me. Really.

14. Sarah and her friends in Germany for taking equally good care of me. There's nothing like accomodating a 4th in an apartment barely squeezing in 3. And for directing me around town, showing me the cool stuff and helping me to navigate the U-bahn.

15. Jannes' and his friend in Berlin who invited me over for pasta and wine. Delicious.

16. The girl working at the hostel in Heidelberg for being possibly the first person working anywhere in Europe to laugh at any one of my jokes, or make her own jokes (with the exception of the owner, Peter, of the Domus Guesthouse in Reykjavik, who made tons of jokes.) Gave me and Angela good suggestions for food and what to do in town.

17. The bicycle salesman in Colmar who appreciated the Beach Boys.

18. Eva and her boyfriend in Reykjavik for showing me an amazing time.

19. Julien and his mom for providing me with a terrific place to stay, food, places to go and the best time ever in Paris.

20. My brother (and his roommate) for putting up with me and my irregular hours in NYC.

21. Colleen and Mk for providing, movie, lodging and entertainment for a night in New Haven. Thanks for capping it all off, guys! (And enjoy the rest of that anchovy pizza...)

22. My roommate Adam for mailing my ATM card to Paris, emailing me my Credit card PIN and telling me the balance and account number on my stupid Banana Republic credit card account. I've already thanked hiim in person though. Wow.

23. Julien again, for attempting to get me my ATM card in Naples, and failing that making sure that it was in Paris by the time I arrived. Probably saved me well over 100 dollars doing that.

24. Every bank that gave cash advances on credit cards, especially the one in Budapest that was both friendly AND helpful (this was after hours of going from bank to bank without luck).

25. Everybody who invited me to join them when I sat alone somewhere, notably pubs in Strasbourg, Dubrovnik, Cinqueterre, Nice...

25. My parents, for providing a lot of emergency money and not emergency support when I was in trouble and not in trouble.

27. God, for inspiring centuries of slaving Europeans to build all those cathedrals and synagogues.

28. Anybody I forgot.

But have I changed?

And what does it all mean?

I probably lost some weight. Definitely got into much better shape, especially after 2 months of studying for the bar. I know a lot more about Europe, and have a much better idea of where I would want to go if I were to go again. I learned about what sorts of people are "out there" and what kinds really aren't. I learned that on foot even the smallest city can seem fairly large. I learned that I can handle more physical abuse than I had imagined (more like exhaustion, not being beat with sticks -- although I DID win both a wrestle and an arm wrestle in Budapest, with scars to prove it). Having had such a concentrated period of rich experiences, I find ordinary life much easier to accept. I don't feel so much that I'm missing anything, because I have already seen so much. I confirmed my fears over the past year that I can handle quite a bit of time alone.

Maybe I'll update again if something comes up relevant to my trip that I believe warrants remembering forever.

And if not, goodbye!