IN A NUTSHELL

In February and March of 1999 I took three weeks off of work and flew around the world.  I used Companion Passes on United Airlines, thanks to my Mom, a flight attendant.  At the time, United was the only single airline which had daily scheduled flights clear around the world (the service has since been scaled back).  On these passes I flew standby--the lowest-priority traveler on the planes.  Rather than taking this as an annoyance, I used it as an excuse to do very little planning and to make no reservations for places to stay.  It was "flying by the seat of my pants," as Dad says.

I started in my home of Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A..  My stops along the way would be: Phoenix, The United Kingdom, India, Hong Kong, and San Francisco.  Somehow I managed to bookend the trip between two weekends with my family, starting with wild javelina hunting near Phoenix with my folks, my brother and sister-in-law, and my uncle's family; and ending with my Dad's 60th birthday festivities in Sausalito, California.

London and Cardiff, Wales were the only other stops where I knew people I could call for a place to stay.  For India and Hong Kong, I packed along the Lonely Planet's guides and a couple lists of recommended sightseeing from friends.

In all, I spent 3 days in Phoenix, 6 days in the United Kingdom (mostly Wales), 6 days in Northern India, 4 days in Hong Kong, 3 days in the San Francisco Bay Area, and what amounts to about 2 full days in transit.  What follows are journal entries, photos, sketches, and paintings from the trip.

Explore as you please.  If you would like to browse the travelogue entries, photos, and drawings chronologically, use the buttons with the red arrows at the bottom of each page (or the text links for "Next Entry" and "Previous Entry").  Or you can jump to a specific area using the globe at the bottom of each page (or the text "Jump To" links).

Thanks for visiting and enjoy your explorations here.

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