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by Hotel @nyware»
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| Waiting for my ride back to Kabul |
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by Hotel @nyware»
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| "We shall not cease from exploration, / and the end of all our exploring / will be to arrive where we started / and know the place for the first time.” T. S. Eliot, The Wasteland |
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Norway is Alaska with Balls!
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Home, in fact, was/is a place you want to leave ASAP, and set out on a new course.
There is something innately human about exploring. The need to break free and sail away is, in fact, ancient, enduring and incessant.
Voyages trigger a concept called psychological distance: Something about the experience of leaving your place creates a shock and awe, a pathway into a new perspective that floods the brain with ideas.
Neurons that wire together fire together. Now that I have my dreamer-pilots license, I am sure I'll be "flying" again.
Neurons that wire together fire together. Now that I have my dreamer-pilots license, I am sure I'll be "flying" again.
For me, this shift in perspective starts as soon as I'm on a cruise ship . Ships are weirdly the most lucid part of my life. Every cruise I take somehow changes my life in some way. Norway has done it again.
"The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea."-Karen Blixen (Out of Africa)
HardangerfjordOn Top of The World 71°10′21″
I feel a lot better lately: it's as if, I am on top of the world. Oh, wait a minute, @330 miles above The Arctic Circle, in Nordkapp Honningsvåg, I am on top of the world
I AM on The Top of The World.
The great journey for all travelers was once limited to explorers and expeditions, now accessible to anyone crazy enough to take a 14 day cruise to get here and back to Europe.Endless daylight is hauntingly constant, and this cliff that plunges into the endless Arctic Ocean is majestic, having Rock of Gibraltar like gravitas.
The view from all directions is mountains, and the sound of snow melting, as Mother Nature speaks, is awe-inspiring.
Tromsø, Norway-Gateway To The Arctic
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| "What are we on? We are on our bikes." |
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| There is Norway I'd go Oslo and make a pun about these large, soft, fluffy and heart-shaped vaflers (waffles), a Norwegian tradition. |
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| The view from The Bridge |
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by Hotel @nyware»
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| Taking a moment to PAWS and reflect |
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| Good guys in Badlands. These hounds follow those who feed them |
The snake in most South East Asian cultures is positive. Even the most poisonous thing, in India, the cobra, is a sacred animal. It embodies the power of life, because the snake sheds its skin. If I meet up with one, however, I'd consider it a sign of good luck...and run as fast as I could away from it.
I'm just glad to see so many dogs and watching these dogs be dogs is so funny. I can say any thing whatsoever to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, ‘Wow, you’re right! I never would’ve thought of that!" They are truly man's best friend.
These Afghan Shepherd "war" dogs here are pavement specials-muts. Most are refugees from the Afghan livestock guardian dog clans.
These lads and lasses are working dogs that have a GPS DNA to follow the nomads that roam these hills and protect caravans and flocks of sheep, goats, camels and other livestock from wolves, big cats and thieves. It's nice to have them around, following us, to ward off the other packs of wild dogs roaming these parts, and the snakes.
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by Hotel @nyware»
Coming home to a place I've never been before. It's Fee-Gee (Fiji)
You can't get any further away before you start coming back.Imagine sailing across the blue waters of the South Pacific, passing by idylic islands, teeming with exotic fish and majestic coral reefs--Oh wait I don't have to use my imagination because what you see is what you get. Bula.
Click links:
Ah Suva!, from sea you looks so promising, despite the oil slick...but in town, it looks like paradise has committed suicide. I thought cyclone season was over.
Glamping onboard the five-star cruiseship Crystal Serenity.Roll Video...
Coming home to a place I've never been before. It's Fee-Gee (Fiji)
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| Cue John Denver's Sunshine On My Shoulders. |
You can't get any further away before you start coming back.Imagine sailing across the blue waters of the South Pacific, passing by idylic islands, teeming with exotic fish and majestic coral reefs--Oh wait I don't have to use my imagination because what you see is what you get. Bula.
On Fiji Islands-Suva-PineApple Express
Ah Suva!, from sea you looks so promising, despite the oil slick...but in town, it looks like paradise has committed suicide. I thought cyclone season was over.
This is like if that Biggie Smalls rapper met the Afghan Kush,and they had a baby.
Fiji-Dravuni- Another Day Another Island-Escape To Reality
Fiji has over 300 islands- I have seen about 25 so far this trip. I'm concerned that "the wow factor" no longer applies. Yet if I take an imaginary a ride down Southern California's Carmageddon- Interstate 405, breath in some smog while stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. I still want to escape to MY reality--being in the South Pacific! I love the Free Parking for all boats, ships and anything that floats.
Freedom can certainly be purchased in a 7 days vacation on one of these idyllic islands. I just happened to visit one of them, and stayed the day. Priceless.
Natural, Lush and Beautiful,Where the hell's Fiji? Near Florida?
To the east of the International Date Line lies an exquisite garland of islands known as Fiji. Dignified smiling people bid you "bula," or welcome, to their unspoiled homeland and give you bottles of water called Fiji, bottled at the "source".Fiji Islands-Savusavu-Cue The Sun
Natural, Lush and Beautiful,Where the hell's Fiji? Near Florida?
Glamping onboard the five-star cruiseship Crystal Serenity.Roll Video...
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Ed Reif is the Wilt Chamberlin of the high seas, putting up ports of call numbers so high that mere tourist could never come close
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Country Roads take me home to Studio 54, New York City and The Long Island Railroad-NOT This South Pacific run, the Tahitian Treasure 28 days voyage , went on a cocaine binge today, jacked a Benz and crashed into a pole. That’s bad, right? The Fiji Islands are nothing more than the Paris Hilton of paradises, not the best looking but certainly the most photographed for the travel brochures
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by Hotel @nyware»
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| In the hills of Eastern Afghanastan 10 miles in 3.5 hours at altitude. Was it easy? Nope. Was it worth it? Yep. |
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| Air quality in Kabul in the winter months can cause more casualties than the war itself. Here is the start of a temperature inversion (Greenhouse gasses) in the distance |
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| These Hikes have been the IN to my sane |
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| Different shirt different day |
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| Dog day afternoon- a RUFF day with the pack |
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| I'm not letting this hike go to waist |
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by Hotel @nyware»
People say that what we are all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think this is what we're really seeking. I think what we're seeking is an experience of being alive.~ The Power of Myth - Joseph Campbell
This recent deployment to Afghanistan has been one of the most rewarding forms of introspection.
Surely it is the right wish that draws us to the right places. Nothing of importance happens accidentally in our life.
If I do nothing unexpected, nothing unexpected happens. Yet I’m not simply seeking interesting surroundings, but I am continually interested in whatever surrounds me. This is no miraculous exception.
The opening track on Into The Great Wide Open, the eighth studio album by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, 'Learning To Fly' goes like this...
Well, I started out down a dirty road / Started out all alone / And the sun went down as I crossed the hill / And the town lit up, the world got still / I'm learning to fly, but I ain't got wings / Coming down is the hardest thing.
This song is about achieving a huge goal. The learning to fly without wings means learning to do something you\'ve never done before and you\'re not sure if you\'re even prepared to do.
Well some say life will beat you down
Break your heart, steal your crown
So I've started out for God knows where
I guess I'll know when I get there
I'm learning to fly, around the clouds But what goes up must come down
Well some say life will beat you down
Break your heart, steal your crown
So I've started out for God knows where
I guess I'll know when I get there
I'm learning to fly, around the clouds But what goes up must come down
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by Hotel @nyware»
White Cliffs, The Channel- yep we are in England!
Another amazing day-this time overlooking the white-chalky-cliffs of Beachy Head, From the top of the hills, you could easily loose your footing, and the talc erodes constantly with rainfall.
8 years ago, May 2011..".after 109 days at sea, we sailed through the English Channel to see the magnificent white chalk cliffs of England..." roll video...
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Remembrance of cliffs past...the talc- hills have receded a bit...
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| November 2014 |
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by Hotel @nyware»
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| He is certainly quotable but thus one resonates- |
"Nothing makes a man so adventurous as an empty pocket.'
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| It is here where the writer completed his masterpiece, Les Miserables, using a stand up desk..Sitting was the new smoking back then too. |
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