As we all know, I was babying my parents around Italy and Switzerland. Babying might be a wrong term to use here... No, it's the right one. I was self motivated to make sure our caravan got to every destination with as little hassle and distraction as possible. I was often volunteered by my parents to be the asker of questions, orderer of food, and expert negotiator of cheap souvenirs. How much this costs, where that hotel is, why don't I have 5 different kinds of cheeses on my plate. I am not quite sure why they had me do it. Most of the time my italian was so rough that I would soon be forced to just speak english to them. It wasn't just any english that you speak to a foreigner. Most people think english is the universal language of the world. I am here to say NAY, the language of the world is broken english. My mom speaks english very well, but didn't understand that when one speaks to foreigners you don't say "what per say are the circumstances in which a favorable outcome may come to pass?" In BE(broken english) you say "what I do good times later?"
We were having a smashing time in Italy and Switzerland when we left out of Zurich to get to Istanbul. I had bragged about Turkey so much to my parents that they felt intrigued to see what fuss I was making. We were in the airport going through customs when the dark cloud of ignorance manifested above me and let out its furious monsoon. You are saying, "Brian, I am not even sure what that last sentence means, please explain". Don't interrupt! I was told prior to my visit to Europe that I can only be in Europe for 90 days but, could hop in and out of the EU to renew my travelers visa. This seemed like an awesome idea. I could stay forever with a forced vacation every 3 months. If you recall, my brief stint in Norway was my attempt at jumping through what seemed like a giant loop hole. The loop hole was actually just a large pit with skunks at the bottom ready to stank me up. The law as it stands today is that one can be in Europe for 90 days. But you have 180 days to spend those 90 days. So from the day of entry in January 20 I had 6 months to spend 3 months of time there. It sounds a bit confusing at first, but when one get interrogated by Swiss police you understand very quickly. Luckily for me they believed I was ignorant of my crime and only fined me 400 francs. They informed me that 3 days later I would have been in huge trouble with possible jailing and deportation. I am very lucky that my parents were there to help me keep me calm and to help pay to keep me from having a European record.
We made out way to Istanbul in a three hour flight. Needless to say I was a bit of a debbie downer. We plopped our stuff at our respected hotels/hostels and met up to see what the city was offering. If you have ever been to my parents house, to say they are Persian carpet enthusiasts is a modest description. We were now in the midst of thousands of middle east carpet shops without the guns and danger. They were lured into each shop in Istanbul with the promise of a carpet show and apple tea. Now I am not sure I counted all of them, but in one day I am sure 30 cups of tea were consumed by each of us. I can not say no to the sugar and bitterness that bless my tongue with each burning sip. Three days of site seeing and shopping left my parents wanting more. They were so happy with Istanbul they wanted to prolong their stay. They couldn't, but they wanted too.
After I got into Istanbul my parents did what parents do for children that would be thrown in jail if were caught in Europe. They used their flight miles and found me a ticket back to Tucson. So at the end of the Istanbul insanity we flew to Rome where i left them at the train station. Now it is important for me to reveal a moment of clarity that washed over me like water in a bath(man i just cant get away from that bath water). When I left 22 months ago to Europe the first time I left with a feeling of excitement and shock when I left Phoenix. Upon arrival in Madrid I was scared, freaking out, and question what the heck was wrong with me for doing this. I had found my way to what was a "hostel" the size of a cell block and just as comfortable. Then just a few days ago I was coming back in the same exact order but backwards. Crappy hostel with a flight out of Madrid. But this time when I left Europe I had a different feeling consume me. Instead of the nervous twitches and confusion with life, I had felt I had accomplished something that gave me confidence that would not be attained any other way. I am not much for signs, but when the beginning and end are mirrors to itself it felt like a conclusion was made to my backpacking days. I have gotten what I can out of the meandering world, and now it is my turn to give back for all it has offered to me.
I want to thank everyone that has been reading this blog during my incredible journey. Hearing that I actually had readers inspired me to keep writing. I want to thank my mother and father for their love and support. If not for them I would not have been able to accomplish my traveling dream. Friends that kept me sane whilst in my slumps and laughed with me during my peaks. Lovely Lori for taking a masterful picture of my after picture shown below(not much has changed since the first one except i need to learn how to use an ironing board.
Moral of the story, get off you butt and have an adventure. There is too much out there to see.
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