That's a wrap

As promised, here's some small summary facts -the map (see below) is largely what took me so long to creat this posting.  Enjoy!

Alright - I'm not exactly sure how this is going to look (format wise) - but hopefully it makes a little bit of sense. This posting is going to look very long as I can't exactly upload a simple spreadsheet.

Countries travelled to and associated dates:

1. Australia: May 19 - June 22, July 20 - August 26
2. New Zealand: June 22 - July 20
3. China: August 26 - Sept. 14
4. Japan: Sept. 14 - Oct. 21
5. Singapore: Oct. 21 - 28
6. Thailand: Oct. 28 - Nov. 26, Jan. 9 - 13
7. Laos: Nov. 26 - Dec. 11
8. Vietnam: Dec. 11 - Jan. 5
9. Cambodia: Jan. 5 - 9
10. Jordan: Jan. 13 - 24, Jan. 28 - Feb. 3
11. Israel: Jan. 24 -28
12. Turkey: Feb. 3 - 28
13. Finland: Feb. 28 - Mar. 13
14. Estonia: Mar. 4
15. Germany: Mar. 13 - 29, April 5 - 10
16. Czech Republic: Mar. 29- 31
17. Austria: Mar. 31 - Apr. 5
18. Hungary: Apr. 4
19. England: Apr. 10 -12
20. Belgium: Apr. 12 - 21

Hartford, NYC Apr. 21 - May 1
Seattle May 1 -3
Home: May 3rd, 2011


Number of days spent in each country (not exact because I didn't fully decide on what to do with the "half-days" or days where I spent part of it in one country and then another part in another.
 
1. Australia: 70

2. New Zealand:  27
3. China: 21
4. Japan: 37
5. Singapore: 7
6. Thailand: 35
7. Laos: 16
8. Vietnam: 24
9. Cambodia: 5
10. Jordan: 17
11. Israel: 4
12. Turkey: 26
13. Finland: 12
14. Estonia: 1
15. Germany: 21
16. Czech Republic: 3
17. Austria:  5
18. Hungary: 1
19. England: 2
20. Belgium: 10

Hartford, NYC: 11
Seattle: 2
Total Number of days Travelling: 347
 
Total Number of Photos taken in each country:
 
1. Australia: 1,048

2. New Zealand: 525
3. China: 811
4. Japan: 1,221
5. Singapore: 112
6. Thailand: 1,069
7. Laos: 428
8. Vietnam: 827
9. Cambodia: 379
10. Jordan: 748
11. Israel: 160
12. Turkey: 1,224
13. Finland: 203
14. Estonia: 106
15. Germany: 553
16. Czech Republic: 213
17. Austria: 135
18. Hungary: 104
19. England: 58
20. Belgium: 199

Hartford, NYC: 162
Seattle: 2

--Top 3 (most photos taken) - Turkey, Japan, Thailand

Average number of pictures taken per day for each country I was in - a very biased proxy for which country was the most "photogenic" (and clearly some of these data points should not be used based on a sample of a "single" day in places such as Hungary and Estonia - but they're there anyway)

1. Australia: 14.97

2. New Zealand: 19.4
3. China: 38.62
4. Japan: 33
5. Singapore: 16
6. Thailand: 30.54
7. Laos: 26.75
8. Vietnam: 34.46
9. Cambodia: 75.8
10. Jordan: 44
11. Israel: 40
12. Turkey: 47.08
13. Finland: 16.92
14. Estonia: 106
15. Germany: 26.33
16. Czech Republic: 71
17. Austria: 27
18. Hungary: 104
19. England: 29
20. Belgium: 19.9

Hartford, NYC: 14.72
Seattle: 1

Approximate number of miles travelled by...(I should underline approximate here about 10x.  I mapped out my journey using google maps as best I could.  By no means is it perfect - a lot of the "lines" I drew ended up not snapping to roads, and when it came to train lines I couldn't map those out perfectly either - so this is the best estimate I can give)
Bus: 10,876 miles
Car: 7,518 miles
Train: 4,465 miles
Plane: 32,620 miles
Feet: Your guess is as good as mine

Approximate total number of miles travelled: 55,479

Here's a Link to the map I made.  This took a long time to make - you can zoom in and out and move it all around - and you can see on the left hand side more details of the lines of travel I created.  This is how I approximated the "distance travelled" part above.  Obviously, it's not even close to exact, but I figure it can't be off by more than 5,000 miles.  Good ball park estimate.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=217452300878184348652.0004a2c7a5190ad134eac&ll=48.458352,112.5&spn=170.413936,134.296875&z=1

Books I read while travelling (and personal rating):

1. What is the What by Valentino Achak Deng (10/10)
2. Digital Fortress by Dan Brown (6/10)
3. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (8/10)
4. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (8/10)
5. Inside the Kingdom by Robert Lacey (9/10)
6. Come back to Afghanistan by Said Hyder Akbar (8/10)
7. Out of Captivity by Marc Gonzales, Keither Stausell, Tim Howes with Gary Brozek (8/10)
8. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (9/10)
9. Blink by Malcom Gladwell (10/10)
10. A Year without Made in China by Sara Bangiorni (2/10)
11. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (10/10)
12. Factory Girls by Leslie T. Chang (8/10)
13. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (8/10)
14. The Girl in the Picture by Denise Chong (10/10)
15.  Survival in the Killing Fields by Haing Ngor with Roger Warner (11/10) - In my opinion, a must read for everyone - be warned it's terribly sad, terrifying, and horrific - but it gives us perspective on the value of our own lives and those of others.
16. Too Big Too Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin (7/10) - would have rated this higher but I didn't fully understand every piece (I have no financial background what-so-ever), but despite my lack of knowledge on the subject I still felt like I learned a lot about the economic crash of 2008 - Unbelievable amount of detail and research
17. The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux (7/10)
18. The Celestine Vision by James Redfield (6/10)
19. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (7/10)
 
A bit of an interesting array of books - sometimes I didn't always have the greatest choice of books to read.  On the travelling road you trade and cycle through books everywhere.  It's usually foolish to have more than 2 books at a time because they only weigh you down.  I was often at the mercy of what was available in hostels or cheap black market print books in places like SE Asia and China.
 
Injuries, sickness, etc.
 
Australia: Ear infection
Thailand: Food poisoning?  "Traveller's sickness"
Cambodia: "Traveller's Sickness"
Vietnam: Root Canal
Jordan: "Traveller's Sickness"
 
Longest time being with "Traveller's Sickness": 5 days, Jordan
 
Longest time having the opposite problem of "Traveller's Sickness" (aka - constipation):  7 days, Thailand
 
Cheapest Beer: c.a. 25 cents - Hanoi, Vietnam (look up Beer Hoi - literally street beer they serve out of kegs as you sit on small stools along the road)
 
Longest time in One Country: 70 days (Australia)
 
Total number of countries visited: 20
 
Most Expensive entry ticket to a tourist attraction/site: Petra, Jordan - c.a. $75.  Quick note, single day ticket was about $70, two day ticket was about 5$ more.  Reason: A lot of people visit Petra in one day from Cruises on the Red Sea.  To get all the money they can from these people, they charge an absurd amount for a single day ticket.
 
Longest time without showering: 16 days - While living out of a van and travelling around New Zealand.  It sounds gross, and I can confirm...it was.  Haha
 
Longest time wearing the same pair of jeans: 25 days (nearly all of my time in Turkey)
 
Number of Journals completed: 3
 
Total number of Journal entries: 218 (out of 347 days, that's not too shabby)
 
Different places I slept:
Van
Car
Train
Bus
Hotel
Hostel
Mt. Hut
Beach Cabin
Internet Cafe
House
Airport
Cave on Beach
 
Number of Facebook friends added (which would represent a tiny fraction of the number of amazing people I met while travelling): 90
 
Well that's it folks.  I hope you enjoyed following along as I much as I enjoyed sharing with you.  If you have any questions, comments, or still wondering if you want a calendar - just let me know.