We've come to this, my final article in the Exeter News-Letter. Click here or look for the link on the right sidebar. It was a good year of travel, and a good year of articles.

Also worth noting is the 'Go and Do' sidebox on the page. It will let you know the details of a presentation I will be giving at the Portsmouth Library in April regarding my trip and travels.

Coming to This

My penultimate column was published almost two weeks ago. I'm only posting this so late because I spent the last two weeks in a windowless room devoid of any time cues or outside contact. I was not in jail. I was participating in a sleep study because I'm poor because I spent all my money on the trip that this blog has documented.

As always, the link can be found on the right hand side, or by clicking here (or above). Enjoy it or suffer it while it lasts, either way, there's only one more coming.

Coming To This

Column number ten out of twelve has been published in the Exeter News-Letter. It chronicles my brief visit to Azerbaijan, and especially the walk I had around an old tank graveyard with, among others, the incomparable Jamie Maslin.

A new link has been added to the right-hand sidebar for your future browsing convenience!

Coming to This

My ninth travel column has been published in the News-Letter. Don't be afraid. Go ahead and click here.

As usual, I have added a link to the right-hand sidebar as well.

I suppose this might be as good a time as any to state the obvious and announce that I probably won't be posting much more on this blog as my trip is now well over. I might throw the occasional thing up, and I'll continue to post when I have new columns published - probably just three more to round it out to an even twelve over a year.

In the meantime I'm working on the finer aspects of being unemployed, pursuing international work opportunities, thinking about peddling my travel presentation to likely venues throughout the area, and writing a worthless novel as part of NaNoWriMo.

Thanks for reading!

Coming to This

Yes, the daily retrospective photo has come to an end. I think we all knew it was going to happen sooner or later, and hanging out in the woods for ten days without the Internet was as good a time as any to quit.

However, I am continuing to write monthly travel columns for the Exeter News-Letter. Yet another installment has been published and can be viewed here. I even took the initiative to write my own headline and send in a few pictures along with the article. Click on the main photo to check out the sketchy dentist office I didn't patronize.

In other news, I will be giving a talk about my travels at the Exeter Library on October 25th. The show starts at 6:30PM. More to come on that.

Coming To This

Article number seven has been published in the Exeter News-Letter. The link is on the right as always, or just click here. In this month's edition, I talk about language.

Though my trip is finished, I'll continue writing articles for the next five months to make the column go an even year. Enjoy.

Coming To This

Another column of mine has been published in the Exeter News-Letter.

Click here to give it a read, or you can always find it on the list on the right-hand side.

Thanks for stopping by, don't forget to floss.

Coming to This!

I've had yet another article published in the Exeter News-Letter, the July 8 edition. The headline isn't too imaginative or entirely accurate, but let's not split hairs. The article is about Georgia (the country).

Give it a read, and maybe you can leave a sarcastic and insulted reader reaction.

The link will be in the right hand column as usual.

I'm a Spoiled Prince!

Out of boredom and unfounded vanity, I was looking over the columns I've had published in the Exeter News-Letter when I found this scathing reaction to my article concerning Alan Whicker and exiting from Kazakhstan:

"Congratulations on getting safely out of my country, you spoiled prince. In Kazakhstan, people always treat foreign guests worthy, even border security officers. That's what happened to you. Don't look down on them."

To avoid being too much of a dick, I'll just say claiming that foreign guests are always treated well in ANY country is just as foolish as saying they're always treated poorly. My critical friend here, as a citizen, probably doesn't actually know exactly how foreigners are treated in his country.

Example 1: Two foreign teachers I CouchSurfed with in Shymkent described in great detail how they are routinely stopped in their car, being forced to pay bribes to corrupt cops. This actually happens to everyone in Kazakhstan, not just foreigners, but most foreigners also have to have special plates that identify them. Hmm.

Example 2: Almost immediately after boarding a two day train, I was taken out of my berth and brought to the provodnik's compartment. First they asked me for cigarettes. Then they asked me for dollars. Then they asked me for tenge. Then they said straight up, "Baksheesh". I was smart enough to play dumb and quick enough to grab my passport back and leave. My passport, by the way, being the only foreign one on the train. Hmm. No other passengers had to suffer demands of bribery. Hmm.

Corruption and bribery is rampant in Kazakhstan. I know not so much because of these easily dismissible examples, but because every Kazakh person I met told me so.

In regard to my actual exit from the country: I was missing a vital stamp. Why the stamp is vital is a mystery to anyone, but nonetheless I was in a bind. The border guard would only have been doing his duty if he were to detain me, but thanks to a language barrier and a small confidence trick, I got out with no problems and without paying a bribe like a previous traveler in the same unfortunate position. It wasn't entirely legal, but it worked.

So, my insulted reader friend, thank you for your input. I agree that most Kazakhs are hospitable and genuinely kind people. But don't get all huffed up and insulted when someone brings up a little dirt; it's there whether you like it or not.

Coming to This!

I've finally published another article in the Exter News-Letter. It his the presses a couple days ago.

The topic is technology and socializing while traveling. Contradictory to my whining in the article, I wrote the whole thing in a hostel in Amsterdam, completely shutting myself off from everyone else in the place. Consider it research.

Read it here, or just click the link on the right.

Coming To This

I've had yet another article published in the Exeter News-Letter, imaginatively titled "Exeter man travels through Kazakhstan."

Strangely enough, I'm not getting tons of emails from book publishers and travel companies desperate for my talents, knowledge, and wit. In fact, I haven't received anything. Yeah, I think it's really bizarre too.

One problem might be the absence of any link to my blog, at least in the online article. I'll have to send a stern letter to someone high up...

Coming To This

I've added a little box of links (a single link for now) to the articles I'll be writing for the Exeter Newsletter. You'll find it to the right with all the other crap. I'll list them by date published.

Come to think of it, I should really start writing my next one.

I'm Famous!

I've had my first column published in the Exeter Newsletter. I'm famous!

They even graciously corrected the fact that I am a 2001 EHS graduate, not a 2006 graduate, although being 23 again wouldn't be so bad. And they corrected my blog address so that it brings curious readers to the main page instead of the peripheral map page that was originally listed.

The upshot of all this? Money? Nope! But I can expect my readership to skyrocket from about 10 to 15. Watch out world, here I come.

Also as a curiousity, check out this old article about my cross-country motorcycle trip.