Travel Show

Since I returned from my last trip to Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia I've started giving serious thought to filming a travel show.

I enjoy learning about cultures and languages. Every time I travel to a foreign country, I make a list of at least 100-200 words that I may need.

It may seem like that amount of vocabulary would be limited, but it's very helpful. On many occasions, I have benefited greatly by being able to communicate in a foreign language - even at such a low level.

The hardest part of this (show) process for me, is the subject matter. What do I want to focus on? I was thinking about focusing on what each country is best known for, but I still have a lot of planning to do.

I will be living in Germany by April, so naturally European countries will be the first on my list.

To Cambodia In April

I just went on a well known website to book a flight and the best it had to offer from Germany to Cambodia was a 40 hour trip. Lately I've found it easier to book each leg of a trip independently.

This will be my second trip to Cambodia and I think I wanna explore the northern part of the country this time.

Japan Day 2

I woke up early in the morning to start my second day in Japan. I was awake for well over a day and only slept for a few hours, but I was fine. I already knew what I was up against. A new culture and an inability to speak the language have created some obstacles for me, but nothing I wouldn't be able to overcome. Thankfully we live in a digital age and I had my laptop.

My plan was to explore the local area and attempt to become familiar with it, but not so much to establish a routine. Once I find myself going to the same places everyday - morning coffee at the same place at the same time - it's time for me to move on to a new location. I try to maximize my experience by moving around a lot.

I rewrote my phrase and vocabulary list in order to make it a little more organized. I proceeded to look up a few things on the internet. I enjoy parks, botanical gardens, markets, villages etc. I wanted to try some local food and do what the locals do. I think that is a fairly common goal among travelers. What's the point of hanging out in McD's all day...or a 5 star resort for that matter. If I can do it at home, for thousands of dollars less, why not just stay at home? Travelers are looking to experience a different culture.

The streets were just as erratic as the previous night. Except, instead of teenagers running around from arcade to arcade, smoking out on the street and courting girls under the Big Screen, it was locals in suits and dress pants. This still messes me up when I travel. I often forget that not everyone is on vacation like me. Life is continuously moving.

I was staying in Shinjuku and I wanted to take a train to Harajuku. This was the location I had originally thought Tokyo was, when I first came to Japan. Girls dressed as Manga and Lolita characters, hanging out on the bridge all day. Using my phrase paper, I successfully asked for directions to the train station. I was quite surprised and pleased. It was a strange feeling to say something in a foreign language, be understood and gain knowledge of a train station from it.

I am an artist. The reason I bring this up, is the fact that reading and writing Haragana and Katakana is an art form. I asked the lady at the counter for a ticket to Harajuku. I walked up to a large map, which was all in Japanese and found out which train line Harajuku was on. I then followed the signs through the terminal and got on.

First Trip: Japan Day 1

My first introduction to international travel happened in August 2010. I was on a flight en route to the Republic of Korea. I departed from Raleigh, NC and had connections in Atlanta, New York and Seattle. By the time I landed in Tokyo, I had one last leg to my journey, but was more than happy to stay in Tokyo for a bit.

At this point in time I had been traveling for approximately 18 hours. This would be my first foreign country, I had never traveled internationally prior to this. I was not familiar with the language, I had no idea where to go and not a clue what to expect.

I bought all of my tickets from an online website. Since I had no experience with this type of situation, I didn't know if I would be able to change my original travel plans. I walked up to the counter of the airline I used, told them my intention and they changed my ticket right then and there. I gave myself about a week to explore.

At this point in time it was about 8-9pm. I went through customs and got my Visa stamp. In my mind, I imagined walking out of the airport into a world of neon lights and girls dressed in Manga and Lolita outfits. That assumption couldn't be further from the truth, although I would have been perfectly happy with that.

I wasn't nervous in the least, just very confused. Telling someone you want to visit Tokyo is like saying you want to visit New York City. Well...what part? Are you going to Midtown? The Village? I went to a counter near the taxi stands to grab a map. Nothing was distinct and there was no clear indication of where I should go. I wanted to see everything in the movies, everything you see on TV and what we as foreigners think of when we hear the word Tokyo.

The lady at the counter suggested I go to Shinjuku. I told her downtown. From my experience, everything downtown is better than uptown - and usually cheaper. So I bought a ticket for a bus and off I went. The trip from the airport to Shinjuku was roughly 1 hour. It arrived at the drop off point, which was a hotel I reserved at the airport.

I was completely exhausted. I was awake for about 20-22 hours now, but there was no way I was going to sleep. I am in Tokyo, this is supposed to be exciting. How could I possibly sleep, at the very least I need to go outside and just walk around, see what's happening. I dropped off my bags, I took a quick shower and changed then I left the hotel.

At this point in time is when I realized I had been lied to. News articles and other sources always talked about how English was the most popular language in the world. That it is practically spoken everywhere. I distinctly remember reading articles that said China...Japan etc. all taught English as a second language. Then again in America, Spanish is taught as a second language. How many people habla espanol? Exactly.

All I wanted to do was eat. I lived the entire day off of airport/airline food and wasn't all that happy. I started walking down the street and everything was lit up. It's late at night but people are still moving around and I felt at home. However, everywhere I went I couldn't find a single person who spoke English. I finally got desperate and went to McDonalds. I couldn't even order from there. I was completely down, but I wasn't out.

I walked back to my hotel and broke open my laptop. I started writing Japanese phrases down in my notebook. "May I have ____?", "How much for ____?" and similar phrases. Then I made another list of items that I would need. Water, chicken, rice etc.

I finally got food. I made it back to my hotel. I passed out for a solid night of sleep.