| 1.1-1 Introduction |
A trip around the world. A trip of a lifetime. A dream come true. But is it a dream
come true if and only if all goes well, all goes as planned? What happens if one
physically travels only a portion of the world and yet spiritually, one's world is
totally turned upside down? Is it still a trip of a lifetime? Is it still a dream come
true? You bet it is! And I can say this with certainty and conviction, because this
is exactly what happened to me. But I want you to decide for yourself. Come
along and take the short trip with me so you can see how my plans for a long
journey turned up short and how my trip around the world turned my world upside
down.
My travels began on February 4th, 1991 from my parents home on Vashon Island
in Washington state, a beautiful pine tree covered island just thirty minutes by
passenger ferry across Puget Sound from the bustling city of Seattle. But I’m
jumping ahead. Before I begin my trip let me give you some history so you know
where in my life journey I was at the start of my trip.
The whole idea to travel around the world came to me on a beautiful spring
morning when I saw a small ad in the travel section of the LA Times for an
‘Around the World’ air ticket for only a few thousand dollars. I was spending the
weekend in the town of Avalon on Santa Catalina Island, an island off the coast
of Los Angeles, California. I was probably over relaxed and day dreaming about
what to do about work, more like how much longer to stay at my work. Like many
other workers, I was not thrilled by my job. In August of 1990 I was about to
reach my fifth year anniversary as a software engineer with General Dynamics, a
San Diego defense company - five years too many if you ask me. I was ready for
a change. But before I changed I wanted to have a break. The newspaper ad
for a trip around the world caught my attention - and so that’s what I decided I
would do after leaving my job. It seemed like a great way to relax, figure out what
I would do next in life and have some fun after all that hard work and overtime for
the past five years.
I began planning my trip well before quitting my job. And once people found out I
was going traveling, requests came in for me to visit them along my way. The
first such person was my friend and ex-boss from UC San Diego, Tara who was
now living in Boston. I would stay in Boston a couple of weeks with her before
heading to Jamaica. I had seen a travel program showcasing Jamaica and I
decided it would be a great place to spend a large chunk of time. I would bicycle
around the island for several months, camping out and staying with locals in their
homes via a program from the Jamaican Board of Tourism. After Jamaica I would
fly to Europe to see at least Norway, the land of my ancestors, then Germany
because I had take German in high school and then on to India, Nepal, Eastern
Asia, Hawaii, and then back home. But these stops were just an outline. Over
the next few months I would plan out my trip in more detail.
On August 18th, 1990 I finished my last day of work at General Dynamics. I
would have left on my world wide tour that very day but my presence at a family
Christmas gathering was required this year. So, I rented my house out to my
friends, packed my belongings in the attic, and drove up to Seattle to attend my
parents 40th wedding anniversary celebration and to visit with my parents. I now
had the luxury of time to fine tune my travel plans and here is what I worked out:
A few days after New Years Day I would fly to Boston and stay two weeks with
Teryl; I would buy a bike in Boston and then fly to Jamaica and bike around the
island until June; I would begin my Around-the-World trip by flying first to Oslo,
Norway. I would them take the train to a northern coastal town named Buda
(spelling I think is Bóda?). Buda is just above the Arctic Circle and is a great
place to view the midnight sun on the longest day of the year. I planned to be
there June 21st or 22nd in time to catch this event . I would then head Singsas, a
city below Trondheim, where I'd stay with relatives I've never met. Singsas is the
birthplace of my father's grandfather and grandmother who emigrated to the
United States in the late 1800's. I would stay in Singsas about a month and a half
then I would train to Stuttgart, Germany via Amsterdam, Holland. I would stay
another month and a half with my Army friends in Stuttgart until Oktoberfest.
Next, I would fly to Greece where I would stay a couple of weeks. From Greece I
would fly on to India, take a train to Nepal, train back to India and fly to Bangkok.
For this I allotted a month or two. Next I would go on to visit Singapore, Kuala
Lumpur, Bali, and Hong Kong for another month or two. I would then fly to
Honolulu and back to San Diego or Seattle. Once back in the States, I would
need to find a new job. This time, however, I would not work for a defense
contractor. In fact, I wasn't even sure I wanted to be an engineer anymore. This
would be something I would decide during my travels.
After celebrating my parents 40th anniversary I headed back to San Diego to
make some improvements to my house before my great trip. A week before
Christmas 1990, I finished my work on my house and I flew to San Jose, California
to visit friends. As I mentioned before, I was due to be in Seattle before
Christmas to go on a one week family get together on the Pacific Coast of
Washington. This would be the first time the whole family would be together for
any kind of vacation since my childhood days. By no means is thisan easy task
for my family. Although I was the only family member living outside of the Seattle
area, it is still difficult to gather everyone in the same place at the same time for
even a day, let alone a week.
The main reason for this is that my family is fairly large. My parents had six
children. So, today when I say family, I mean my mother and father, my second
oldest brother Keith, his wife Donna and their twins Jim and Mark; my oldest sister
Keeanne, her husband Derik and their son Jerry and daughter Jessica; my third
oldest brother Roger, his wife Kelly, their daughters Odessa and Tammy, and
son Jared; myself; and finally my younger sister Jane, her boyfriend Tommy, and
Tommy’s son Jerry.
Christmas for my family has been a difficult time for the past six years for my
oldest brother Michael had passed away just two days before Christmas in 1985.
Since then, Christmas hadn’t been much of a family affair. We’ve all just done
our own thing to keep the emotional pain at bay.
Michael was an early casualty of the HIV virus; one of the millions. One thing is
certain though. He had a family that loved and supported him always. His illness
was diagnosed at Christmas of 1984 and the virus stripped him of his ability to
fight disease and his ability to think clearly.
My mother and father took it upon themselves to care for him at their home until
the last month of his life. This was not an easy task, and definitely above and
beyond the call of parental duty. But, it shows the love my parents have for each
of us in the family. Michael’s funeral was a time to reflect but it was also an
uplifting event, as are all funerals my mother has a hand in arranging. His
service was flowered with music of the Christmas season as well as music he had
composed himself.
You see, Michael was a Christian, a born again Christian and he had devoted his
life to Christ for the past 15 years. He was a talented pianist and vocalist and he
used his talent to write music for his church. He eventually became the choral
director for both of the congregations of his church. But, in 1983 he was
excommunicated by his church for not accepting the practice of demon removal
and other abnormal practices the church began to take on. It was a trying time
for both him and other church members who admired him.
World Turned Upside Down
Vashon Island Photos
Vashon Island Photos
Catalina Island - The Casino
Vashon Island Photos
Music - Roam by
The B-52's
The B-52's