Hey Everyone, Come Look at How Much Fun I´m Having

Years and Years ago (OK, three and a half) I embarked on a misguided attempt to chronicle my spoiled year of travels to parts of Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia on an impossibly cute travel blog known as Boy Meets World. And while to the unwashed masses Boy Meets World will always be about the Thank Goodness Its Friday travails of a puberty-ridden youngster played by Ben Savage (younger brother of Fred!) as he attempts to navigate his adolescent years with a delectable girlfriend by the name of Topanga, to approximately four people it´s a name that only brings about memories of following the admittedly self-indulgent, self-aggrandizing, and probably selfish travails of a youngster named Dunc while he attempts to navigate his post-adolescent years without accidentally lighting himself on fire while dancing with Kenyans around a fire in the African brush or while craashing hot-air balloons.

I still think about that year all the time, obsess over the memories, think about the lessons learned and name-drop the hell out of all the rugged, unique places I went no big deal. For (double) example, I learned about the peaks and valleys of traveling alone while I was in Greece, about the magic of Africa, about the bizarre and definitely not recommended job of teaching Engrish in Taiwan, about one of the most oppressed populations in the world while traveling in Burma, about the hedonistic joys of Thailand and the addiction of scuba diving... I could go on and on. And if you don´t think I will, then you don´t know me well enough.

There was also learning about how I can never extensively travel for a long period of time with someone who doesn´t know Seinfeld (I´m sorry Dave, but it´s true, you have no idea how many hilarious coincidenes we missed out on laughing at because of your arbitrary and capricious lack of Seinfeld knowledge), about the joys of spending a long time in one place in Thailand and the frustration with not spending nearly enough time in many places in Vietnam, and about how incredibly (and downright awkwardly) much I cherish my friends and family while I was alone in Greece and then throughout the rest of the year, to the point where FOMO now basically runs my life.

Boy Meets World helped me realize and retain a lot of those lessons, so I figure that, other than severely embarrassing myself or irreparably harming my career opportunities in the future, which are distinct possibilities, there isn´t much to lose in continuing BMW (I never noticed those were the initials... I would have preferred VOLVO, but preferring Volvos to BMWs is a family curse, right up there with clammy hands and admiration for the Boney M Christmas CD). And hey, I´m sure it will be a pretty differing blogging experience... a lot has changed since 2007! For example, my Dad knows how to turn off our house alarm AND how to use an ATM; I learned what the word ¨scrump¨ means; Sebi Goodfellow was diagnosed with Asperger´s; and we said goodbye to George W. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/royaltech/3214948026/)

Hopefully it will be fun for me to look back on in the future and fun for the four people who have committed to reading it, or what I like to call, ¨critical mass¨. The 4 include the 350 pound Peruvian woman in the concrete hut internet cafe I´m currently sitting in who keeps speaking rapid Spanish and using ¨I Love You¨ sign language, Mama Fin, Papa Fin (we will know my Dad is one of the readers if any of the comments include short and to the point messages written in all capital letters. I turned on his Capslock 6 years ago and he either can´t figure out how to turn it off, hasn´t noticed it´s on or simply enjoys the command it gives him in conversations. DEAR DUNC, COME HOME AND HELP ME MOVE THE COUCH, CALL YOUR MOTHER, LOVE DAD.... there are just so many reasons to love my father), and the waitress/caterer at my sister´s wedding who told me after my speech that she would totally follow me on Twitter if I ever twatted.

So yes, I´ve gone away. I´m doing my last semester of law school at the University of Cape town in South Africa. Luckily though, it doesn´t start until februrary, so I had the opportunity to come down here to South America before heading over. I chose South America merely because I was randomly typing in flights on the most incredible website known to man, other than someecards.com of course, which is kayak.com (this website scans all the cheap flgiht websites. IT is a gift to you from me. You deserve it if you have made it this far without lighting yourself on fire) and came across a $400 flight that was $1000 cheaper than the next cheapest flight. Hoenstly, I still get incredible joy out of finding that flight. Imagine the look on Paige´s face if she came across a barrel full of sugar packets, or of Rich Lib´s if he walked into a room of mirrors, or of Matt Jet Jewell´s if he was electronically sent a perfectly detailed, airtight itinerary of plans. That was the look on my face.

After South America, Africa will feature some trips to Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana and hopefully up Mt Kilimanjaro, and who knows what else. Feel free to join, I´m done school in late May.

Anyways, I will get into some reasonably hilarious stories soon, but I am woefully underprepared for a 5-day jaunt that starts tomorrow in the mountains to get to Machu Picchu (no biggie). So now I must go locate shoes.

With a love that will ring throughout the ages,
D. Charles George