sarah. on the run.

World Travel FAQ

I've been meaning to put together a FAQ list since before I even left the country in 2006. I'm always meaning to do lots of things that never actually happen, but I'm following through this time so that I don't have to keep answering the same email question five times a day. Enjoy!

Q: Who are you, and why did you spend a year traveling the world?

A: My name is Sarah Lane. I had been working in television for about ten years when I decided I needed a break. My husband (who also had been working in television for about ten years) needed a break too. So we both quit our jobs as television hosts (most recently, on the same show), put our belongings in storage, stuffed our backpacks, and headed out in search of the meaning of life.

Q: Did you buy one of those round-the-world plane tickets?

A: No, although a lot of other travelers do. We had specific locations in mind before the trip started, and it just made sense for us to go through a travel agent and get exactly what we wanted, rather than have restrictions such as only moving east-->west, or using a certain airport as a hub. We used a company called Airtreks, which specializes in world travel. I'd recommend them to those who have specific itineraries, but it's definitely not your cheapest option. Airtreks will also allow you to change the date of your plane travel (either for free or for a low sum, depending on the airline), which is great for flexibility, but in my experience doing so is a huge hassle and best avoided if possible.

Q: What did you pack for a year on the road?

A: As little as I could. We were visiting mostly warm climates (or at least warm for that time of year), so I got away with a few t-shirts, a couple of tank tops, one pair of shorts, two skirts (one long and modest, one short and beachy), one pair of jeans, one pair of non-denim pants, a hoodie, two pairs of socks, a pair of flip-flops, and a pair of hiking boots. When I got cold, I bought cheap hats and scarves and left them behind when I got warm again. As for undergarmets, I packed what I would normally need to get through a week, and I'd recommend that to anyone else too. Getting your clothes washed throughout the world isn't difficult, but realistically you're not going to want to do it more than once a week, especially if you're moving around a lot. And it goes without saying that nobody should have to recycle their underwear.

Q: What about washing your own clothing? Couldn't you do that if you had to?

A: Depends. In some areas of the world, water shortages are a real problem, and hotels often forbid you from washing your own clothes in the bathrooms because it drains their supply. I'm sure you could sneak around them, but it's not really worth getting into a fight with the manager if you get caught. Also, you'll be hard-pressed to find Woolite or an equivalent anywhere, so you better bring a lot of it with you from home. However, getting your clothes washed, dried, and pressed is usually extremely cheap, and I always found it more satisfying than trying to do it myself, plus I didn't want to lug around my own detergent.

Q: You updated blogs, photos, and video podcasts from the road. How did you do all that? What equipment did you use?

A: 1 15" Macbook Pro
    1 Sony HDR HC1 video camera
    1 shotgun mic camera add-on
    1 wireless lavalier mic
    1 tripod
    1 Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
    1 Nikon Coolpix 5200
    1 USB memory card reader

-How we maintained our blogs:

We wrote out everything on the Macbook first. Not only does this keep you from having to spend a lot of time and money composing your blog entry while sitting at an internet cafe, but you also have local copies of all your stories for reference. When the blogs were finished, I'd transfer them to the memory card, along with any accompanying photos, and do the rest online from within Typepad at an internet cafe. Once in a while I'd find wifi and be able to skip the memory card step, but not very often. Connection speeds were often slow, which made uploading the photos extremely cumbersome either way.

-How we created our videos:

We shot all our video onto miniDV tapes (which were easy to find when we needed more). We shared the wireless mic for our two-shots, but we could usually get away with just using the shotgun mic around town. We then imported our footage into the Macbook, and edited our podcast episodes within iMovie.

Once edited, we'd import the podcast file into Garageband and add music tracks. Some of the music we used came from pre-bundled tracks, and some of it we composed ourselves pretty easily.

When the podcast episode was completely finished and compressed, I'd FTP the file to my website using Transmit (my fave FTP client for the Mac). This was tricky at times because I'd have to go looking for a way to get the Macbook online, and outside of metropolitan areas, internet access can be very archaic. In theory, I could have just transfer the compressed video file and updated webpage data onto my memory card and used any old Windows machine to upload everything, but I preferred to use my Macbook as a hub whenever possible to keep everything straight.

As for photos, the Canon obviously took better pictures, but sometimes we didn't feel like carrying it around in a backpack. The Nikon was small enough to fit inside my purse, and I never left home without it. Between the two cameras, we were totally covered and managed to take about 10,000 photos.

Q: Wasn't it dangerous to bring all that expensive equipment with you across the world?

A: Yes, but we felt that we needed all of it, so we were careful. Nothing of value ever went into checked baggage on a plane, or baggage that was out of our sight during bus/train rides. When we left the equipment behind in a hotel room, we put everything into one bag, sealed it with a wire mesh and a lock, and then attached it to something heavy, like a bedframe or an armoire. The equipment could still have been stolen if someone was determined enough, but it would have been a big project.

The laptop came in handy in a bunch of other ways. If we were tired or sick, we could watch DVDs in our hotel room. I could adjust the levels of my photos before uploading. All our notes could be jotted down in one place. I could answer all my email off-line and then send it all in a bundle when I found an internet connection. Many backpackers consider carrying a laptop kind of unnecessary and over-the-top, but I wouldn't do it any other way.

*Full disclosure: on our second-to-last day of the entire trip, our video camera was stolen out from under our nose at a busy cafe in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This was completely our own fault. We were close to the finish line, we felt safe, and we let our guard down. Never let your guard down. It can happen anywhere.

**The video camera was insured, so we really didn't lose any money. Don't even think about taking a big trip with a lot of expensive equipment without covering it under travel insurance. Murphy's Law is global.

Q: What was your favorite place from the entire trip?

A: If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me that... But seriously, I don't have a single "favorite" spot that stands way apart from the rest. I've seen too many places that were fabulous in their own unique ways. I couldn't possibly compare Moscow with Phnom Penh. However, I obviously have some highlights: St. Petersburg was wonderful. My favorite beaches were in Vietnam and Lombok, Indonesia. I loved the entire country of Laos. I adored the town of Bundi in Rajasthan, India. I think Santorini is world's best honeymoon spot.

Q: Was there anywhere you didn't like, or somewhere you wouldn't recommend?

A: No, but that's just because I never consider a place a failure if I end up not enjoying myself. The experience of having been there and knowing first-hand that I don't like it makes it worthwhile for me. Without getting too preachy, I think that's the attitude you need to adopt when you're doing a world trip, or else you'll get bogged down in all those inevitable cultural differences and drive yourself crazy.

That said, I think if I had to warn anyone about a destination, it would be India. I both loved and hated the place for a million different reasons, and although I'd definitely go back someday, I just don't think it's for everyone. The culture shock is pretty strong. So, there's that. Do your research beforehand and don't let me scare you away!

Q: How much money did you spend altogether?

A: For two people, we spent about $25k over 11 months. The biggest chunk of that went toward plane tickets (about $16k door-to-door). We stayed in budget accommodation, but always spent more than the absolute cheapest option. For example, we never shared a dorm room or shared a bathroom with anyone else. For us, the privacy was worth the extra few dollars spent. I also opted for air-conditioning if we were in a very hot, humid place, but you'll often pay double for that luxury. Most non A/C rooms come with ceiling fans, but even then the temperature can be uncomfortably hot, depending on windows and air flow. Also, you get more for your accommodation money if you're in a pair, since double rooms are never twice as much as singles. Food isn't a huge money concern. You can always get cheap food if you're not a stickler for culinary excellence, and sometimes it's still really yummy.

Q: Did you ever get sick?

A: Yes. Both of us were ill in India on a few separate occasions, but only for a day here and there. Ours were the typical stomach issues where you have to stay near a bathroom, but aren't going to die. We did meet several other travelers in India who had contracted more serious illnesses, some requiring hospitalization, so we consider ourselves very lucky. My advice is to always drink bottled water, never eat any food that looks dirty, has been sitting out for a long time, or might have been washed with contaminated water, and apply hand sanitizer liberally.

Q: What about medication?

A: We bought along a year's supply of Doxycycline, an antibiotic that can be used as an anti-malarial. About five months into the trip, I developed a terrible skin reaction and abandoned the Doxy. I opted not to replace it with another malaria medication because I was having pretty good success not being bitten by dutifully applying mosquito repellent every day. However, some doctors advise against this because malaria is such a serious disease. I'm not a doctor, and I can't tell you what's best for you. I can tell you that an anti-malarial called Malarone seemed to be the favorite among travelers because of its lack of side effects. I had never heard of it beforehand. It definitely wasn't recommended by my former doctor. I'm not sure why.

As for other drugs, we had a small supply of Ambien that came in handy for sleeping on long, uncomfortable, overnight bus rides. Once that bottle was tapped, we roughed it with earplugs and pleasant thoughts, which didn't always work.

We also brought along an antibiotic called Ciproflaxin for general ailments. Our doctor recommended taking it along, just in case, but we never really used it.

Q: What about souvenirs? Did you carry them along, or ship them home?

A: Some travelers end up buying an extra duffle bag as a place to put all of their purchases, and carry that around with them until their trip is over. We opted to ship everything we bought and spare ourselves the inconvenience of extra luggage, which was often mandatory (we couldn't have carried along the living room rug we bought in Turkey even we had wanted to). However, shipping cargo can be sketchy. We sent home a package from Vietnam that had to be destroyed upon arrival in Oakland, CA, after the company demanded over $1000 in customs import fees. We had no way of knowing that would happen beforehand, and didn't get our money back. My advice is to avoid any private shipping company that isn't Federal Express or DHL. You'll pay a lot more to ship through a big name, but the peace of mind is worth it. You can also just stick with post offices, but your package may take months to get home. If expediency isn't important to you, this is usually a cheap and safe bet.

Q: Anything else you want to tell us?

A: Um, not really. But please remind me if I missed an obvious question, and I'll be happy to add the answer to this post.

Que Tal?

We've been staying in Buenos Aires throughout March, our last month abroad before returning to the States. When we made the bittersweet decision to book our plane tickets home, we decided to reward ourselves for a trip well done by relaxing. No long-distance buses. No customs. No 10 a.m. checkouts. So we rented a little apartment over the Internet, brushed up on our Spanish (well, one of us anyway. Brendan still spells it "ola"), and got our asses down to Argentina's capital to wind down in style.

Buenos Aires is great! I love it here. It's an easy city to "live" in for a month. Lots to do. Good public transportation and cheap taxis. Insultingly affordable food and vino. Tons of shopping. Parks. Museums. Tango. Futbol. And we couldn't have picked a nicer time of year. From November-February, Buenos Aires is hot and muggy (reversed seasons, remember). But by March, the air starts cooling off, leaves change, and midday gets a little more pleasant for people like me who love wearing tank tops but don't want to sweat through them.

As our plane landed, Buenos Aires looked to me like a huge metropolitan city teeming with high-rises, but the vibe is different from the ground. Split up into a dozen or so different "barrios", the city is defined by its variety of neighborhoods, all of which have their own community feel. We're staying in Palermo, one of the most popular areas to shop, eat, and drink. Seriously, there's a parrilla, pizza joint, cafe, or sushi house at every other awning. I'm in heaven.

A word about the sushi, now that I've eaten at three different establishments. It isn't anywhere as good as California's. Argentina has access to deliciously fresh salmon, but that's pretty much it. You can find tuna, crab, or shrimp rolls, but they're offered sparingly and usually dressed up with cream cheese (blech!). Most of everything else is salmon-based. We're delighted to satisfy our raw fish cravings (and loving the reasonable prices), but it's not quite world-class.

What is world-class, though, is the steak, and so plentiful that prices are insanely low. Brendan's been overdoing it. I hope he doesn't give himself a heart attack get stuck down here forever. Although that sounds just like something my husband would do to keep from having to get a job back in the States. Slacker.

Some BA highlights so far:

1. Recoleta cemetary - If there's a cooler cemetery in the world, I want to know about it. I realize that "cool" is a weird adjective for a cemetery, but trust me - this one is. Eva Peron's buried here, along with famous presidents, war generals, and people who had enough money to buy themselves a plot.

2. San Telmo street fair - I'd be buying up a storm in antiques if I had anywhere to put them. Awesome finds from a million different vendors.

3. A Boca Junior football game - A totally weird experience. Fans sing throughout the game, and clap when a player tries, and fails, to score a goal. Rabid, these guys (and the fans are mostly guys). There's also no alcohol allowed inside the stadium. I'm sure it helps keep fights to a minimum, but when I go to a ball game I want to drink beer. Period.

4. The parks of Palermo - We live literally steps away from several parks that include botanical gardens, a zoo (what IS this adorable creature???), running trails, and paddle boats for rent. Life is good.

5. Shopping - Argentina isn't the cheapest country in South America by a long shot, but the quality of clothes is high for what would be bargain-basement prices back home. I'm loading up on staples that I know I'm going to need eventually anyway. Or at least that's what I tell B.

We're here for another week or so, during which time I hope to get into some more trouble worth blogging about. Stay tuned.

Oh, and if you've visited my Flickr page recently, you know that I'm in the process of uploading and organizing all my favorite photos from our entire trip over the past year. It's kind of a pain, but I'm almost done! Man, I love Flickr. I'm the biggest idiot for not embracing it sooner.

Oh oh, and for those days when I don't update anything here at sarah. on the run., I'm updating sarah. snippets. with lots of useless information even my biggest fans will probably find pointless and mundane. You're welcome. :)

The Traveling Morans Episode 15: South America, the Last Frontier"

Watch "The Traveling Morans Episode 15: South America, the Last Frontier".

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Browse our flickr travel photos!

And for dessert, check out Sarah's new tumblelog!

That's a Lotta Water!

After 10 days in Salvador doing little besides drinking, dancing, and eating aipim drowned in pimenta, it was time to do something outdoorsy and mellow. We'd originally planned on heading north along the Brazilian coast to the town of Olinda, but Carnaval had wiped us out financially and we couldn't find any halfway decent accommodation under $50/night on such short notice. Take note: Brazil is expensive. Granted, we came from India. After India, every price tag seems magnified and laughable. But we had assumed the largest country in South America would be a little easier on a backpacker budget, and it just isn't so. Unless you're camping. Which a lot of travelers do here. But not this traveler. I have my limits, you know.

Anyway, Brazil was killing us (quite literally, if Brendan's swollen belly of beef was any indication), so we made the difficult decision to forgo our dream of lazing on a northern Brazilian beach for the country of Argentina, where our dollar goes a little further. But not before we took a little side trip to the world's biggest waterfall.

The Iguazu Falls reside right on the borders of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay, so they're both a tourist destination and an obvious place to rest for a few days on your way to somewhere else. Even though all three countries can claim a town chock full of accommodation choices conveniently located to the waterfalls themselves, we chose to stay in Brazil's Foz Do Igaucu, the largest of the three.

Our hostel was our first real "hostel" on our entire trip so far, full of backpackers bunking in dorm rooms, a communal kitchen and living room (where at any time of day at least three guys would be passed out on the couches during an encore presentation of "Gladiator"), a dinky swimming pool most often used as a base for flirting, and a little bar that blasted techno music after 9 p.m. while hoards of kids sat at tables smoking cigarettes and browsing their Lonely Planets. Kind of like college. A little too much like college, actually. We paid for our own a/c double room and felt old.

You have some choices when you visit Iguazu Falls, which is inconveniently two separate national parks, one in Brazil and one in Argentina. The problem is that never having seen the falls you have no idea which one is better (guidebooks will say that the view is better from the Brazil side, while the Argentine side is better for getting up-close), and so everyone inevitably visits both.

Our first stop was the Brazil side, which is basically just a mile-or-so walk through the jungle with various views of the countless falls along the way, edging closer and closer to Devil's Throat, the biggest of them all. Pretty cool. I don't know what it is about waterfalls, but they're always a crowd pleaser, aren't they? I doubt anyone in the history of the world has ever said, "I hate waterfalls." I was actually even more impressed with the abundance of butterflies in the park and was able to give my macro setting a nice workout.

After a few hours spent watching water lose to gravity, we headed across the street to the neighboring bird sanctuary and spent the next few hours chilling with an amazing number of different South American bird species, many of them rescued. I love birds . Brendan doesn't love birds at all, but even he agreed the park was well worth the $10 entry fee.

Going to the Argentine side of the falls is kind of a hassle if you're staying in Brazil because you have to cross the border and do the whole passport thing, which took us an hour and a half on the way in. But the park itself is much nicer than Brazil's. There, I said it. If you are ever in a town near Iguazu Falls and only have time to visit one park, go to Argentina's. What's great is that you're right up alongside everything. Waterfalls of this volume are pretty from afar, but they're spectacular up close- and you're so close on the pathways here that it's impossible to stay dry. You can also do stupid stuff like ride a boat into the falls themselves, which is tons of fun. Save Devil's Throat for the late afternoon on a sunny day if you can. The rainbow's a nice bonus.

After four days, we said goodbye to the hostel crew, crossed the border again, and boarded a plane from Argentina's Puerto Iguazu airport into Buenos Aires, where we'd rented a studio apartment for the month of March (the same studio from which I'm writing this very blog, coincidentally!!!).

It's good to hear Spanish again, even if they sort of lisp it like those crazy Europeans. More on this fantastic city in a few days...

La La La... Carnaval.... La La La

About two hours north from Rio de Janeiro by plane, Salvador is the capital of Bahia state and arguably home to Brazil's biggest authentic Carnaval celebration. Or at least that's what we read beforehand - that while Rio's parades are flashier and splashier, Salvador's Carnaval is still the big neighborhood party. We hoped the latter was more our style.

Luckily, we've been staying in Pelourinho, Salvador's gorgeous old part of town. It's half-trendy, half-crumbling, and exploring its architecture (especially Catholic churches) makes for a wonderful afternoon on foot. That is, if it's not raining buckets. Which it has been every single day, at least for an hour or two. Never leave the house without an umbrella in Salvador, no matter how sunny it looks at the time! Thankfully the weather always passes and we've never been stuck indoors all day. But it's hot, hot, hot all the time. Sticky, steamy hot.

We arrived a few days before Carnaval officially began (Feb 15), in order to get situated and figure out how to participate. At first, the choices were daunting. At any given time over a six-day period, there are several different parades in full-swing throughout the city, though the main two happen in Campo Grande and Barra. If you want to join a parade (bloco), you choose which band-on-a-float (trio) you want to walk with, pay the requisite fee, at which point you get a special day-glo t-shirt that will identify you as belonging there come parade time. Our problem was that we weren't familiar with any of the acts playing, and didn't want to choose unwisely only to be stuck with crappy music for six hours. But the organizers at the offical "Carnaval ticket store" assured us that all the parades were fun and there'd be so many people it wouldn't make much of a difference who we chose. So in the interest of diversity, we decided to join a nighttime parade Thursday night on the Barra Circuit, sit in bandstand seats all day Sunday in Campo Grande, and then walk in a daytime parade in Campo Grande on Tuesday, and paid no attention to the musical selections.

Obviously, we couldn't possibly have realized how big of a deal Carnaval really is in Salvador. Every parade is huge, packed with thousands of people of all ages dancing and screaming along with the band, hugging each other and spraying, beer, water, and shaving cream in the air. Mayhem. And you start hearing the same tunes over and over as the hours pass by. It's as if the entire country learns five songs beforehand word for word, and then goes ape-shit every time they hear one of them. I'm not sure if these are official "Carnaval" songs played year after year (ala Jingle Bells), or if it's just the latest pop tune everybody wants to hear. Either way, the energy is infectious, and on that first night Brendan and I danced our asses off with the rest of the world, hugged strangers, and politely dodged sloppy tongue kisses.

I will say that the Carnaval mood is one of true happiness. I saw a lot of spandex, heavy petting, and public urination, but not once during the entire week did I witness a fight or even a negative exchange between anybody (and these people can drink). The masses come out to dance and sing and share in the craziness, pure and simple. It's so much fun. That said, I had to leave my camera at home to avoid having it lifted by pickpockets, who have a particularly nasty reputation in Salvador. That was a huge bummer since now I just have a few shots around the ´hood, and none that illustrate the major parades themselves. Oh well. Better safe than sans Nikon, and you gotta love these guys. One of them offered to pay me $2 for Brendan. I declined.

Tomorrow we fly south to the point where Brazil meets both Paraguay and Argentina, to see world´s most impressive waterfall, Foz do Iguaçu. They say it makes Niagara look like a trickle. If that´s true, I´m stoked!