Rosita, this post is for you. I talked with Rob yesterday and he told me you were thinking about going to India, Thailand, or Bali wanted opinions. Opinions are like elbows, almost everyone has one. My opinion is go where you want. Yes, I’ve spent a month in India, a month in Thailand, and a week in Bali but it’s not my trip. You asked about safety and public transportation in those locations. Some Comments based on what you said in your post:

Everywhere is safe if you use your head. So, you are a female and traveling alone. But you don’t have to be alone unless you want to. You’ll meet plenty of people just like you from all over the world if you stay in hostels. I always find people to go out with for a meal or a beer when I stay in them. Sometimes, I even need to get a private room to get away from them. You never need to be alone when you travel. Sometimes we even wind up traveling together. I met three Canadians in Egypt and we spent about two weeks together.  As for trouble, yes, you can be really unlucky. Yes, there’s random crime everywhere. Even in San Diego or Oklahoma City. If you’re at the wrong place at the wrong time…

India – trains. They go everywhere. Where they don’t do buses go. They’re cheap. Overnight trains means you sleep on the train and save a hotel room. Book early. Book here. Don’t get the bottom bunk. Indians like to bring food on the trains and they store it under the bottom bunk. Think tuk-tuks locally. There’s so many you’ll get tired of saying “No, thanks.” India is 4,000 years of history and a culture that tends to polarize people – they either hate it or love it. Not so many bars. It’s got temples and beaches. It’s got the desert and the jungle. But, it’s huge. I was there a month and I just scratched the surface (Delhi, Agra, Varanasi, Rajasthan, & Mumbai). Northern India can be cold in the winter in some places (Delhi & Agra) and there’s no heat in budget hotels, just lots of blankets.

Bali – the farthest two points on the whole island are 108 miles apart by road. That’s the whole island. Scooters cost me $5 a day when I was there. You can drive the whole island in a couple of days. Three max. Bali is beach. And a little slice of paradise. With a Hard Rock and an incredible number of bars.

Thailand – it’s Bangkok. More bars. I don’t know if you’re into the world’s best massages ($5), Khaosan Road,  or Soi Cowboy. But it’s only 240 miles from the Angkor Wat Archaeological Park (160 square miles – it’s not just a temple, it was a city – and you can get a guide and a tuk-tuk  in Siem Reap for a whole day for $25). There are buses all over SE Asia. Examples: I rode from Saigon to Phnom Penh for $16 and  Bangkok to Chiang Mai for $20. From Bangkok you can fly to KL (Kuala Lumpur) for $22 ($44 R/T) on Air Asia. Once in KL you can fly to Java, Sumatra, and Borneo in less than an hour for $50$-60 R/T. I love KL, primarily because it’s a cheap air hub and it’s only an hour from Singapore by bus ($8). Singapore has Tiger Air. More cheap airfare. My God! I hope you have a lot of time. The possibilities…

The latest update for the Europe 2014 trip goes something like this. I land in Barcelona on April 10th. I have 3 nights booked at a hostel in El Gòtic. I leave Barcelona April 15th for Seville. I need to get from Seville to Fez, Morocco where I fly back to Barcelona on May 13th. I’m thinking buses and trains. I leave Barcelona for Malta on May 17th. I leave Malta for Sicily on May 21st. I leave Sicily for Sardinia on May 26th. Somehow, I need to be back in Barcelona by June 10th when I catch a flight to Bucharest. I return home from Bucharest on July 9th. I’m thinking Eastern Europe for a month. These dates are “done deals” as the airfare is booked. The rest of the time I can just wander around as the mood strikes me. Yes, I have an itinerary, but it’s got some flexibility built into it.

Seville to Marrakesh

Okay, I’ve booked the big flight. Now I have to focus on the flights within Europe. Luckily, I don’t need a lot. This isn’t Asia where the long distances between significant locations beg for me to fly. Europe is much smaller. I can get around on buses and trains.

I’m planning on Morocco being my first stop. I’m interested in flying down to Marrakesh and then heading back to Barcelona Continue reading →

I’m making my list. I’m checking it twice. I’m going to find out who’s got a fare at my price. And, I did. I spent most of the day researching and communicating with people in Tunisia about how I could get to Tunis and back out again for under $150. That was my goal and I achieved it. I found a ferry from Palermo, Italy to Tunis, Tunisia for $121 return. Yeah, man! Sweet. It only took me the better part of a day. I could have flown for about $200-$220 round-trip. “But,” I said, “that’s too much.” I was set on doing better or not going. How Cool. So what’s the point of the map? Actually, it’s a map of the Carthaginian Colonies in the 3rd Century BC. Why the map? See the section labeled Carthage? That’s modern day Tunis. Surely you’ve heard of Carthage and the Carthaginians, right? Think about it, they were in control of most of the Mediterranean hundreds of years before Christ and Rome were even in existence. I find that fascinating. They were some serious ancient studs.

Our lives are about choices. It’s just that simple.

I got up this morning ready to do some more work on my Spring 2014 vacation. First though, I usually like to check the news, weather, and sports. I can do it fro the convenience of an electronic device. So, I’m at CNN and I spy a video. The caption was “Man loses weight eating only …” and I thought that might be interesting. So I watched it. It turns out he ate only at at McDonald’s restaurants for ninety days and lost thirty-seven pounds. Watch the video. It’s all about choices. .

Right next to that video was another one entitled “Man poses as homeless to give back” and I watched that one as well. Turns out there was a guy standing on corner in the snow in freezing weather with a sign asking for help. The corner is frequently occupied by homeless people. When people gave the guy money he gave them an envelope with money in it and a note praising them for their gift. Turns out the guy was a local businessman who gave away about $1,000 that day to people who gave to him. Nice touch. It was a reminder of what the holiday season is all about.

If you are reading this the you may have received a request for information. It’s me trying to do a little planning. I’m planing on going to Sardinia. After you read this I would appreciate any comments, feedback, recommendations that you might have.I have never been there before. The types of things I need to know are:

Airlines: I see that Ryanair has flights from Cagliari and Alghero to Barcelona for as little as 14.70€ and I’m wondering if there is any problems with these flights that you know of. I would assume that I would be arriving and/or departing on on one of these flights.

I have been to get around Sardinia without a car and have found it to be a wonderful website. I understand that I can travel by train OR by bus between Cagliari and Alghero. Wikitravel has good write-up on Alghero and a not so good write-up on Cagliari. I plan on using public transportation.

Buses: I have been able to use Google to look at bus options to travel around Sardinia. Wikitravel says: there is a direct bus from Cagliari to Alghero. It costs €20 and takes 3.5 hours.

Trains: Italian Trains is the website for one train. Wikitravel says that the cost of train tickets are: Alghero-Sassari is Eur2.20 and Sassari-Cagliari at standard fare second class will run you Eur13.65 each way. No student or age discounts.

Hostels: None in Alghero. Cagliari – one hostel - Dorms From US$31.80. I plan on Couchsurfing as much as possible.

The following cities have Wikipedia sites so I can look at the  attractions:  Cagliari, Sassari, Olbia, Tempio, Alghero, Nuoro, Oristano, and Porto Torres.

It’s time to go back to Europe. On this post I’m starting to look for websites to help me get there and get back in one piece and in good health. I’ll list the website and the description from either the site or Google.

MobileReference:MobileReference is a Boston-based publisher. We offer a vast range of eBooks, with more than 10,000 titles of Classics, Travel Guides, Phrasebooks, History … Travel Guides!

Wandering Savage: Welcome to Wandering Savage, a site for people who like exploring the world and others who just like thinking about it. Despite rumors to the contrary, the world …

My fall trip is over. It took six weeks. I traveled 5,256 miles in my Kia Rio which I bought new in 2001. I liked the car so well that I bought another new one in 2012. I used 149.64 gallons of gas for an average of 35.12 MPG over the entire trip. My original plan was to average 100 miles a day for a rough cost of $10 a day for fuel. In actuality my fuel cost was more like $12.50 per day. My daily cost of lodging was under $10 a day thanks to friends and fellow Couchsurfers, Evergreen Club, and Be Welcome members. Oh, yes… Let’s not forget the U.S. National Park Service and a few state campgrounds. My food costs where usually less than $10 a day. Only on some days did I splurge and go out and get a big, expensive meal. That was usually when I was dining out with other people. Granted, it was more likely to find a hat on my head that said “Street Food Fool” rather than one that said  ”Gourmand” or one that implied I was someone that subscribed to Southern Living or Gourmet Magazine. I would guess my food costs were under $15 a day. This puts my basic expenses for my trip at around $37.50 per day. I’m rather pleased with that number. I’m glad I went. I got to see a lot of things I’d never seen before and meet a lot of really, really nice people. I’m glad I’m home. My favorite part of every trip is going home.

On the way back to Oklahoma from Albuquerque I stopped off at Palo Duro Canyon which is about fifteen miles south of Amarillo. I was glad I did. Palo Duro is the second largest canyon in the U.S. It cost me $5 to tour the canyon. It was worth it. Palo Duro has some spectacular views. See more of them here and here.

On the way back to Albuquerque we stopped at Mesa Verde National Park to see see the park. While most of it was closed, there was still a section that was open. I took the tour. Mesa Verde is a UNESCO World Heritage site.