Hitchhiking

I wiped the sweat off of my brow as the jungle sun shined its rays down upon me on a cloudless, summer day. Highway 1 continued all the way until Singapore as I walked along the shoulder of the road headed towards Yong Peng. The summer heat made the walk unbearable, but the shade from the palm trees kept me going. I wandered through Labis, Malaysia and took refuge at an abandoned bus shelter, catching

My flight was delayed by two hours and I arrived in Manila at 2 AM. I sprawled out on the cold tile floor trying to rest in the airport, but security continually woke me up, nudging me with their feet until finally kicking me out at 4 AM. The taxis outside badgered me with their antics convincing me to pay for an un-metered ride to a "budget hotel" at 4 AM...I thought,

I pushed my flight back until November 14th while my visa processed for New Zealand. With the sudden change of destinations I decided to venture to the Big Island of Hawaii, taking the first leg of my flight to Honolulu and redirecting to Kona Airport. My wife and I flew together side-by-side out of Phoenix for the first leg. We spent the prior weeks visiting her mom in Sun City, her friends, sister and nephews,

We waved down a bus on the outskirts of Belmopan heading towards St. Herman's Blue Hole National Park.  It stopped.  A skinny man with light, tan skin, and dark, wavy hair pointed to the tight luggage compartments under the bus where we squeezed our bulky packs, stuffing and punching the bottoms to slam the metal doors shut. I walked the aisle looking at a myriad of unfamiliar faces, strangers from different parts of

We woke up early in the morning in Bahia, packed our gear, cleaned, cooked breakfast, and bid farewell to Brindle, Mama, and Shaggy.  They were the stray dogs we had befriended over the past week, who slept on the porch, or under the patio in beds dug out in the sand, or simply in the lawn by the banana trees. With no real plan other than to tramp further south, we set out by foot