December 30, 2007
No it’s not a type o… I didn’t mean Lost in Translation like the movie… I’m lost in Transition. I’m having a hard time transitioning from the hot beautiful beaches in South Goa India to the cold wet winter in Tokyo Japan. Tokyo has been called a futuristic city, and if that’s the case then India is in the Stone Age. When I left India from Mumbai international airport I found it odd that a huge airport like Mumbai didn’t have any computer screens to tell you that your flight was on time or in my case delayed. But when I arrived here in Tokyo I felt as what a caveman might feel if he was unfrozen and thrown out into the modern world. My brain started to hurt from all the sounds and beeps and lights from computer screens all over the place. India is one of the cheapest countries to live in and Tokyo is the 4th most expensive cites in the world. Years of growing up being brainwashed in the consumerist western world came rushing back to me as if I was a boy in a toy store… I want that… I will take 2 of those… It’s freezing cold here so the first thing I had to buy was some warm winter clothes. I’m spending today trying to get used to the weather and most importantly my new world!
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December 29, 2007
I’m learning to expect the unexpected when traveling. Today when things started to get a little crazy Joe Barrows a famous Bollywood Actor came to the rescue… well sort of. Today started out like the rest of my days in Goa with my normal breakfast in a hammock on the beach. But instead of heading back to my room for a nap… I was jumping in a taxi bound for the airport. I guess all good things come to an end… and this was my time to say goodbye to Palolem beach and all the great friends I have made over my month long stay… but I digress. The underling theme of this story is delays and the unexpected. The mission for today was to fly from Goa to Tokyo Japan via Mumbai and Delhi. Well to start off my taxi was 20 minutes late to leave… so I rushed to Goa airport to find that my flight to Mumbai (where I catch my Tokyo flight) was “delayed” for 2 hours.
I started to panic thinking that I would miss my flight to Tokyo, which was “Scheduled” for 6:30pm. So now I would be arriving at 5pm which would barley be enough time to get my luggage and take the 30 minutes ride to the International airport. Intro Joe Barrows… while I was on the flight to Mumbai I noticed a few kids asking a nicely dressed man sitting next to me for his autograph. Now I have lived in Hollywood for 10 years, so I have met every famous person you can imagine… so I wasn’t afraid to talk with him and at this point I needed answers. So I asked him how far it was to the international airport… He answered and started asking about my impending doom about missing my flight. When we landed he sprung into action like the true Bollywood star he was. He seemed to demand great respect from everyone. He started talking with the flight crew and then him and I were escorted off the plane first and then he proceeded to convince the ground crew to pull my bags off the plane rather then wait for them to arrive at the baggage claim area. He then started arranging transportation to the international airport; at this point he felt I was in good hands so he left. I said “Thanks for everything… and have a Happy New Year!”
During this whole process, which was only 10 minutes he was signing autographs and taking pictures with people. I could tell that the Indian people were like “Who cares about this American guy, I want my photo with Joe Barrows damn it!” So within 10 minutes he was gone and I was reduced to a commoner with no celebrity friends. I decided to have the tour information guy call Air India and let them know that I was on my way (like they would hold the plane for me…haha) But I was surprised to hear that he said my flight was “delayed” until tomorrow morning! Now it was only around 5:30pm and most airlines wouldn’t delay a flight that long they would just cancel the flight until the next day… but again this is India we are talking about so you cant think straight… instead if you think backwards and a little sideways you might be close to understanding. But that said I still wasn’t sure who to believe because this (tour info guy) could have been talking to the wrong airline. So I decided to rush to the international airport anyway.
When I finally got there I ran around like a chicken with its head cut off… guards telling me to go that a way and then other people saying to go back where I just came from. I finally found the Air India check in… I said to the guy “So my flight is delayed until tomorrow?” He looked at me puzzled and then yelled “No”… “It’s about to leave… hurry hurry!” So I ran to the gate like a mad man knocking down old ladies and small children that would run in front of me like a cat that runs in front of a car. I finally made it the gate to find the sign reading “Boarding Calcutta”.. Hmmm Calcutta? I sure don’t want to go there! I asked at the gate and found that my flight was indeed delayed by 3 hours although 2 minutes earlier they checked me in and told me the plane was leaving and sent me on the 100 meter dash. They must have just been messing with me…because they cant be that stupid. But in the end it turned out ok. I finally boarded my flight for Tokyo at 9:30pm, the flight was empty so there were tons of seats to sleep in and there was a super cute flight attendant… so at least something was going right. But I also learned a lesson or two in life. 1) Never count on anything in India to be on time. And 2) Bollywood actors are nicer then Hollywood actors. And that was my story about how a Bollywood star sort of saved the day!
Oh and Joe if your reading this… Have your people call my people! 
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December 25, 2007
When I think of Christmas I think of spending time with family and friends, my dog and the sounds of people opening presents under a Christmas tree. But here in India I have none of that, so I decided to do a Christmas Treasure hunt! My friend and I bought each other gifts and buried them somewhere on the beach and then gave each other Treasure maps to find them. My only problem is that I’m nursing a bad hangover (mostly from dehydration) and a small dose of the old “Delhi Belly”. So while most of you are at home with friends and family opening presents under the tree, I will be stumbling around the beach in the burning hot sun digging random holes! From Palolem Beach, Goa (India) I wish you all a Merry Merry Christmas! Here are some photos from Christmas Day…
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December 20, 2007
I can’t believe its only 5 days till Christmas! If it weren’t for my calendar I would have never known. Other then the scary Santa Claus that comes around at night to beg for money there is hardly any sign of Christmas. I guess that’s what you get when you spend Christmas on an exotic beach. Don’t get me wrong this place is paradise, it’s just sometimes hard to get used to Christmas with palm trees, a burning hot sun, the sound of the ocean and the smell of coconuts. I haven’t wrote much lately as there hasn’t been much to talk about other then me lying on the beach getting sun, eating amazing food and meeting some interesting characters. I call them characters because I feel as if I have fallen into some sort of TV show like Beverly Hills 90210.
Everyone here knows everyone and knows whom people are talking to and who is hooking up with who. It’s like being back in high school but I will leave it at that, as it is almost impossible to describe what is going on here! Today my friend Dharmesh and I are heading into town to buy some kick ass fireworks for Christmas Eve and some Christmas decorations if they exist. When Dharmesh told me that he was getting a Christmas tree I got excited but when I went down to his restaurant to check it out I found a small tree which was more like a plant then a Christmas tree. So we will see what kind of decorations this little thing can hold. I hope everyone back home is enjoying the holiday season, but remember it’s better to give then to receive. The sad but true fact that 82% of world’s population is much much worse off then we will ever be and are waking up on Christmas morning with nothing under the tree.
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December 6, 2007
I apologize for not writing lately… after that roller-coaster of a trip through the bowels of India I have completely let the beaches of Goa take my soul. It’s hard to believe that this place is still India… it’s like an oasis in the middle of a war zone. My days are now spent lying on the beach becoming part of the sand and my nights are filled with great food and endless drinks under starlit skies. Most people in the world have routine’s… you get up, go to work, have dinner, sleep….etc. But when traveling it’s hard to get into a routine cause nothing is ever the same and that makes it hard to predict what tomorrow will bring.
So it’s nice to be here in Goa where I have found myself in a routine for the first time in a while. Now don’t get me wrong this is not your normal routine. My day starts around 11:30am sometimes 1pm… where I then walk down to the beach for a late breakfast (just a way I can fit in 3 meals a day!) Then I lye on the beach for a few hours getting sun and listening to music… then its back to my house where I shower and then a nice 2 or maybe 5 hour nap…. Around 5pm I wake up and head back down to the beach where I take in the sunset over a few ice-cold beers! Then its off to dinner around 7pm…. Where I fill my face with as much food as I can fit into this little stomach (but its growing )From there it’s off to one of the bars on the beach where some nights end early around 11pm and other nights where we watch the sun come up the next day! I know this probably doesn’t seem fair since you are probably at work right now while your reading this…. But trust me this is hard work!! You never know when one of those coconuts will come falling down on your head!
Anyway so that has been my routine lately… but things are changing…. Brian, Shizue and myself are getting 2 Royal Enfield motorcycles and heading south. Last time I was here I told myself that the next time I’m here I’m getting a motorcycle and doing a road trip. Well there’s no time better then now and I would rather walk then get back on one of those Indian trains!
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