THE Salvador

Okay, so it is about time I revealed some more of my travel plans.  After landing in the bustling metropolis of Managua at 1:09am (if we get lucky and somehow make our connection in Florida), we will be whisked away by limousine (cheap airport shuttle) to our fancy chalet ($8/night hostel).  But by 10am the next morning, we will be headed to the idyllic Laguna de Apoyo.  After that, it is off to Granada, Isla de Ometepe, and then to San Juan del Sur to finish off our Nicaraguan getaway. 

After I say goodbye to Gabe and Eric, I will head overland to San Salvador, where I will be meeting my dad for another 2 weeks of traveling.  “Why El Salvador?” is a question I often get asked.  People always say Nicaragua is definitely a good choice, but few have offered much enthusiasm about El Salvador; in fact, some people have told me they’ve heard it was really unsafe (partly true, but in reality, it’s no more dangerous than any international city, like Baghdad or Kabul).  Well, anyway, to answer the question of “Why El Salvador,” I stare dumbly at the person and reply “Well, duh.  It’s the Salvador.”  I’ve been to many a fake Salvador, but this is the Salvador.  Also, we have a family friend, Oliver Komar, who lives in San Salvador.  (Although, if you count Gaul as my brother, you could say Oliver is family). 

I’ll keep this post short.  As promised, I have told you more of my plans.  (And in case you were wondering, that line about Baghdad and Kabul was a joke).

 Happy Hanukah (or Chanukah or Chanukkah or Chanuka or however you spell it),

Ben

Now to the Travel Part (aka We've got Spirit, Yes We Do)

So I believe it is time for me to stop joking around and actually begin to talk about my travels.  Looking over my previous posts, I chuckled a little bit, realizing that I haven’t actually told you to where I will be traveling (Ms. Anderton would be proud of me there, for not ending that sentence with a preposition).  Let me correct that minor error in judgment on my part:  On January 4^th, Gabe Glissen-Brown, Eric Phillips, and I will be departing from Boston headed for Managua, Nicaragua.  The only thing that will stand between us and endless hammocks, beaches, and cute little coconut shells filled with rum (and those miniature drink umbrellasJ) is Spirit Airlines.  Now, I think I can say plainly, without putting myself in much danger of being sued for libel, that Spirit Airlines is sketchy as sh*t.  At the bottom of this post, I have included a few links to highlight Spirit’s sketchiness.  Somewhere in there, you will find stuff such as

1.       A parent’s complaint that the flight attendants forced their 3-year-old autistic son to remain tied on a seatbelt as he screamed, cried, and tired himself out into sleep.

2.       Spirit cancelling flights because of a strike by their pilots (you all know how I feel about poorly-treated workers!)

3.       Spirit accidentally posting the time of a flight as PM, when it was really AM.  When the family missed the plane, Spirit made them buy new tickets.

On top of Spirit being generally sketchy, Gabe and I thought it would be “fun” to schedule only a 30-minute layover in the Ft. Lauderdale airport:  We are scheduled to get in at 11:00pm and our flight for Managua leaves at 11:30pm (Eric managed to get an earlier flight from Boston, although he has a not-much-better 9-hour layover).  But, fear not!  I have prepared for this:  Recognizing that I am out of shape and that I can’t possibly run the length of the Ft. Lauderdale airport in half an hour, I have arranged for an airport cop to carry us on his back while he rides a Segway (Gabe will use his A cappella skills to make the police siren noise).

So I realize that I still have only told you my first destination (Managua).  OopsJ  I guess you’ll just have to stay posted.  I think I’ll reveal my destinations over time.  Don’t worry, you will know them all (or at least all of the ones I have planned) before I depart.

As promised, here are the Spirit links [you can find many more by creatively Google-ing different combinations of words, such as “Spirit horror stories” or “Sprit airlines sucks” (there’s even a Facebook group for that one!)]:

Et Tu, Spirit?

Who needs the working class?

Peace and Love,

Ben

Cell phone

You know, that little piece of technology that keeps us connected with the rest of the world.  Well, it turns out that you can't use any cellphone and have it work all over the world.  Bummer.  So I will have to buy a cellphone in Nicaragua.  Using that tiny piece of heaven, I will be able to communicate my whereabouts to my parents and parental figures.  Plus, knowing the government is litening to my conversation will be enough deterrent to stop me from starting a Leftist revolution down there.

Much love,
Ben

February

So I'm still deciding what to do with my life during the wonderful month of February. 

No updates, just letting you know I'm thinking about it :)

The birth of a blog

Today,  I created this blog so people could follow me on my travels.
 
Wanted to start out by answering a few questions you might have:

The first answer I have concerns the starting date of this blog.  Yes, it is true, that I have not yet left on my adventure.  As of now, I am sitting in an office in D.C.  As many of you know, I am in the middle of a hiatus from school (commonly known as a "Gap Year").  Depending on how much school you think I actually went to during the second half of my senior year, I am anywhere from 3-10 months into my hiatus.  That makes 3-10 months since I have written anything of value or meaning.  As such, my writing skills are a bit rusty, and I thought if I get a head start and begin blogging now, by the time I leave for my first destination, Nicaragua, on January 4th, I will be writing at an 8th-grade level, which, although much lower than my peak of 10th or 11th grade writing skills, is still good enough to convey my point. 

The second anser deals with that picture that is the background of my blog (the quaint, old-fashioned European cottage).  Never been there before in my life.  Don't even know if I ever will.  It's just pretty!

So welcome to my blog, and hopefully it will inform you of my whereabouts and my condition whilst I am off adventuring (and to you, my parents, hopefully you will find out my condition via private correspondence before you read it here, although no promises :) )