We drove another 45 minutes to a remote military base where we loaded the trunk with weapons. While I was just there for the RPG, our car mates were there for the RPG, Grenade Launcher, Hand Grenades and K57 Machine Gun. Finally we arrived. With a propane tank on the horizon (which we all missed) I set the RPG launcher on my shoulder, put on ear protection an pulled the trigger. It was an awesome experience! I actually felt like I was inside one of the hundreds of video games I’ve played where shooting an RPG is routine. It might have cost $300, but I’ll certainly have a great conversation starter for years to come!

Here’s the video:

Offline (no Internet required):

• GoodReader – An offline html/doc/pdf reader and my #1 app. I have 3-4 different websites backed up on my iPhone, along with countless Lonely Planet pdf files. It’s because of this app that I don’t travel with a guidebook.
• Currencies – My personal favorite currency convertor (except that it doesn’t include Syrian pounds and Lao Kip)
• Babelingo – A travel phrase book with 300+ phrases in 11 languages (but still no Arabic…).
• MotionX GPS – An offline GPS application. When I know I have an upcoming bus or train ride, I often store the destinations as gps waypoints so I can monitor how much longer I have on the journey.
• gUnit – The most comprehensive Unit Convertor for the iPhone
• Your favorite time-wasting game: My current favorites are Catan, Spades Classic, Adikus’ Backgammon and Lux DLX

Online:

• Kayak – The easiest way to check flight prices on your iPhone
• Flight Status – Great interface for monitoring/tracking flights
• Skype – Great for a quick and cheap call home when you find free wifi
• Tweetie 2 – My personal favorite iPhone Twitter client (the latest version supports geotagging tweets)

“Where is the cheapest chicken?” I asked thinking it was going to be at one of the larger grocery stores. There was a moment of silence and then Baraka said with a slight smile, “We will be picking one out at the market and then we will bring it home and slaughter it.” WHAT? Did i hear that correctly?? That’s crazy! Then again, did I really think they bought frozen chickens in the grocery store when most people here don’t even have freezers? Of course they would slaughter their own chicken just before the big meal. Baraka could tell I was intrigued and invited us along for the experience.

The next morning, while Neema visited with her estranged father, Chris, Baraka, and I headed down the road to the market. When we arrived at the chicken coops, Baraka turned to me and said, “Choose the chicken we will eat. And make sure you grab a hen because they taste better.” I gave him a look of horror and bewilderment as I quickly turned my head to my prey. I actually had to grab the chicken out of the big cage? Baraka opened the door and I slowly put my hands in, trying to figure out which bird would put up the least fight. Sadly, I’ll admit that I was somewhat scared that one would turn and bite me and I would come down with an actual bird flu of some sort. Then, when I finally committed to grabbing one, I missed her. They are fast little suckers! Finally, the chicken coop owner became annoyed with my shenanigans, pushed me aside, and grabbed one of the hens by its wing, and shoved it towards me to hold on to.  I positioned both of its wings behind its back to be sure it wouldn’t escape, and I followed the guy behind the chicken coop to the slaughter house. Surprisingly, the chicken squawked but didn’t put up a fight. Thank you Miss Chicken for not making me look any dumber than I already looked.

I knew we were getting close to the slaughter house when the putrid smell of raw chicken, blood and guts roasting in the mid morning sun caught my nostrils. Whoa… it was nauseating! The shack that housed the men working was tiny. The roof consisted of rusted sheet metal and small, aged branches. There were two of four walls built holding the roof up. There was a sign above the shack with pricing on how much it cost to hire the guys to slaughter the chicken. Luckily it was cheap (~ $0.25 USD) so Baraka decided to hire them to do it quickly instead of us doing it at home. Baraka still wanted me to help after he realized that I had never slaughtered a chicken. I was up front and center when I handed the chicken off to the axe man. He took the chicken, threw it down on the ground and with one swift swing of the axe, the chicken was now two. Ugh, there was blood covering the walls and I quickly glanced down at my legs to make sure the blood hadn’t hit me as well. It was creepy seeing the body move without the head but that didn’t stop the guy from grabbing it’s neck and throwing it into a steaming pot of water. He stirred the whole bird (sans head) around with a large wooden spoon to loosen the feathers. After soaking the bird for 30 seconds, he pulled it out of the pot and threw it to another guy who began stripping it of its feathers. I was surprised at how quickly the feathers came out after soaking it. I had to give the guy credit, he de-feathered the chicken in 5 seconds time…no joke. The last guy was waiting for our prized hen, and when he got it in his hands, he showed that bird who was boss. He had the stomach and guts emptied from the chicken in no time and suddenly it was back in my hands once again; this time, in different form.

It was an experience. A true African experience. I am not currently a vegetarian, but after witnessing the kill, it made me want to reconsider.

After renting our Toyota Yaris in South Africa, it never occured to me that I might be able to cut loose on the open road. You see, all over Cape Town there are signs warning of speed cameras ahead. Although I never actually saw one of the alleged speed cameras, it was enough of a deterant to keep me driving just more than a few kph over the speed limit.

Then we crossed the border… I had read in the Namibia guidebook that speeding tickets cost only $1 per km over the limit, which meant at a absolute maximum (given the Yaris’ performance) we’d be looking at a fine of ~$70. Combining that with the roughly 0.1% chance of actually seeing speed checkpoint (based on conversations with people who had driven through Namibia), I felt comfortable going whatever speed I wanted.

The first few hours were on an open paved road quite far from wildlife, so I could literally floor the gas pedal and go as fast as the car allowed. What an incredible feeling! Driving without constantly monitoring the speedometer is how it should always be. In fact, not worrying about my speed or police down the road made me even more aware of the road conditions and my surroudings.

About 10 days later, we arrived in Etosha National Park, where at the main building they had the recently revised speeding fines posted. Evidently the $80 ticket from before the guidebook was written now cost over $500 plus a court visit. I guess I was quite lucky we hadn’t been pulled over yet. Despite that we never once saw a police vehicle for the rest of the trip, we kept ourselves to a more reasonable speed.

I’ll never forget how enjoyable driving is when you don’t have to worry about your speed. Looks like I’ll have to wait until I’m on the autobahn in Germany to enjoy it that much again!

I joined Couchsurfing over a year ago, but was never an active member. I had almost forgot about it until we starting thinking about how we could meet local people as we travel the globe. I remembered Couchsurfing and knew it would be the perfect for our situation. However, since we believed so much in the organization (and because we didn’t have any references yet) we decided to start hosting people at our apartment in San Francisco a few months before we left for our trip. In total we hosted about 15 people from all over the globe and have made quite a few great friends (even some that we’ll stay with while we’re traveling).

Couchsurfing with Ben and Kerri in Rundu, Namibia

So far on our trip, we’ve Couchsurfed with Jonathan in Cape Town, Ben and Kerri in Namibia and Baraka in Dar Es Salaam. They were all FANTASTIC hosts and each had a unique local persepective of the country we were visiting. They all went above and beyond the call of duty to show us around their city and make sure we felt comfortable in their homes.

As we continue our journey, we plan to Couchsurf as much as possible. While not all of the homes we’ve stayed at were as convenient as a downtown hotel, the expierences and friendships far outweighed any commute we had to a city centre. If anyone reading this isn’t already a member of Couchsurfing yet, I highly recommend you join the community and feel free to add me and Amy as a friend.

1. Connectivity in several of the countries we will be exploring is quite expensive (especially for uploading photos)
2. To assist us in covering the costs of our domain, equipment and website/video hosting (for all you techies out there)
3. You’ll get a sweet gift in return… details below…
4. We will commit our time to meeting locals, learning cultures / customs and share everything with you
5. 10% of all proceeds will be donated to a local charity or cause

Donations of all amounts are greatly appreciated! You are what makes it possible for us to maintain this website and share our amazing adventure. Should you donate at least one of the following amounts, you can expect to receive:

• $10.00 or more: A personalized photo postcard from our current location
• $25.00 or more: The above plus recognition on our blogroll and a personalized thank you on our website
• $50.00 or more: The above plus a local gift from our travels

Donate Now with ChipIn

The next morning, we were up and in the car by 5am to get in the line (aka the queue) for enterence into Sossusvlei. We waited for the gates to open until 6am and when they finally did, we went to turn on the car realizing to our horror that the car was dead. Nooooooo! Car after car passed by us as we sat there trying to wave someone down. What were we thinking… no one was going to stop and help us. They had waken up just as early as we had to try to make it to see the sunrise over the dunes. Luckily, Chris had come up with an alternative. He sat in the car as the three of us got behind the car and began pushing towards the gate. Slowly, we built up speed and just when we thought that it wouldn’t work, Chris stepped on the gas, and popped the clutch out with enough speed to start the car!!! YES! Having only lost 20 minutes, we hurridly purchased our permit inside the gate and was on our drive through Sossusvlei. Sixty kilometers later, the road had ended and we decided to park and walk towards the largest dunes 5km ahead. The sun was rising as we began our climb onto the largest dune. The African sun hit the dunes perfectly creating a god-like orange hue on the sand. The shadows exaggerated the perfectly edged lines of the dunes creating unique shadows to each mound of sand. The hike upward drew on as the sun baked the earth. Not yet all the way up, we stopped to strip down to our bottom most appropriate layer. It was then that I recognized that the sun burns so hot during the days that it scorched the sand. The sunny side of the dunes showed a black hue on the surface from the heat of the sun’s rays. ‘Did I bring enough water with me?’ I thought as I wiped sweat off my forehead. This hike had better be worth it.

Reaching the top turned out to be more than worth it. It was breath taking! More so, it was one of the most amazing things that I’ve ever seen in my life. The orange hued sand contrasted dramatically against the bright tourquoise blue sky. There were few green shrubs that managed to survive the heat of the sun below. In certain areas where water would collect at the base of the dunes were white sand floors. From above the white sand pools looked like a winter’s lake frosted over with snow. The sand dunes extended in all directions for as long as we could see. It was brilliant, beautiful, breathtaking, energizing, and peaceful. Enjoying the scene, the four of us took off our shoes, put our toes in the sand and enjoyed this once in lifetime view.

All Foreign Driving

1. If you’re driving on the opposite side of road for the first time in a few months, it REALLY helps to have a second person in the car to help remind you when you’re driving on the wrong side of the road (something all four of us have done at one point or another).
2. Carry a bag of zipties, they’ve been a lifesaver at keeping dangling car parts from falling off the car.
3. Depending on the country you’re in, fill up your gas tank as frequently as possible. We found in Namibia that its quite normal that you could drive 250 miles without ever seeing a gas station.

That's Our Toyota Yaris!

Foreign Car Rentals

1. In addition to checking the car for dents and scratches, ALWAYS check the inner and outer tread on ALL the tires. Our need to replace two tires in Namibia could have been completely avoiding had we looked carefully at our back tires before leaving and realized what poor condition they were in. Also, don’t forget to double check your spare tire.
2. If you will be driving ANYWHERE that doesn’t have well-kept tarred roads, get the best insurance coverage possible. It didn’t cost us more than US$2-3/day to have a $0 deductible and I assure you it was worth it…
3. Make sure you read the insurance coverage very thoroughly AND make a copy of it for your records. I’m currently writing this from the middle of Namibia where we know that we’ve banged up our Toyota Yaris quite a bit, but don’t have the paperwork to know if it’s going to actually cost us anything when we return the car.

1. Learn to drive a standard (manual) transmission. Unless you’re always around expensive luxury cars, you’ll find that almost every car in the rest of the world has a manual transmission, and on the rare occasions that we’ve seen an automatic transmission car for rent, there’s been a very hefty “fee” for that luxury
2. Learn the metric system. Not only does the metric system make far more sense than our antiquated imperial system of measurement, but also it is the way EVERYONE else in the world measures just about EVERYTHING. No need to know absolutely everything, but having a sense of some ranges of temperatures in Celsius and knowing how to convert lbs<>kg, mi<>km and ft<>m will make all the difference in the world.
3. Understand that almost everywhere you go the power outlets will be 220 volts instead of the 110 volts we have in the states. While many modern electronics (iPhones, most laptops, etc) will all accept 220v power, some will not. Look at your device/charger and if you see 110-240v, you’re in the clear. If not, then you’ll either need to get a new device or buy a power convertor (which will definitely add some weight to your bag)

Summary:

Wanted a DSLR for the quality, but thought they were too big. Looked at high-end point and shoots and decided to get the Panasonic Lumix LX3. Two weeks later realized that if I can’t fit my camera in my pocket I won’t shoot any photos. So I sold the LX3 and bought a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1. It’s a great 12MP camera with a 28-129mm lens that is waterproof, shockproof, dustproof AND shoots 720p HD video. For me, size meant everything!

Long Version:

The process of picking the camera that would travel with me for almost 8 months began almost 8-10 weeks ago. I’ve dabbled with photography for the past few years and naturally wanted to take a nice camera. Thinking that a DSLR would definitely be the way to go (and it would be compatible with my current Nikon lenses) I started off borrowing a Nikon D50 from a friend. At one point I was 100% set on purchasing it from him, until I saw the website for the Canon G10. Now I had forgotten about the DSLRs and decided to look at the high end point-and-shoot market.

There are two clear front-runners in that market. The Canon G10 and the Panasonic Lumix LX3. The pro for the G10 was its 28-140mm lens (the LX3 only had 24-60mm). However, the pro for the LX3, which eventually won me over, was that it shot 720p HD video. So I was now set on the LX3, but needed to find somewhere to buy it. At the time the only store in the country that had the LX3 in stock was down in San Jose, so off I went. After playing around with the LX3 for a bit, I saw out of the corner of my eye, a new small DSLR from Nikon, the D5000. All of the sudden DSLRs were back in the game. However after about an hour of mental debating, I stuck with my gut and bought the LX3, primarily because it was much smaller.

So after about 2 weeks and 200 photos, I really started to get attached to the LX3, but it had one MAJOR flaw… it didn’t fit in my pocket. Right about that time, I read Vagabonding by Rolf Potts (now my favorite book), which suggested take something small, light and durable. I immediately starting reevaluating my purchase. I ended up selling the LX3 and started searching for something smaller.

I knew that I wanted a durable, light camera that still shot HD video. It took me only a matter of minutes to stumble upon the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1. A waterproof, dustproff, and shockproof 12MP camera that has a 4.6x zoom and shoots HD video. I knew the second I read about it that it was the perfect camera. I picked one up on eBay and awaited its arrival. Now that I’ve had some time to shoot with it, I can say that it’s certainly not a DSLR, but it almost seems indestructible, and still takes a decent picture.

My advice: Unless you already know you MUST bring your DSLR, take something small an durable that will last you the length of your travels.

Anyways, I took all the providers I could find and put all the plans relevant to someone taking a >6 month international trip in one spreadsheet here. Travel Guard was instantly out due to their $5/day surcharge for trips longer than 30 days. Most of the other providers were either too expensive or were only providing medical coverage and none of the extras (e.g. flight cancellation or delays, lost luggage) that a complete travel insurance policy would include.

Not surprising, I ended up deciding that World Nomads was the best policy. I made this decision for the following reasons:

• Everywhere I turned (blogs, books, travel websites) there was another person saying that World Nomads is THE BEST travel insurance company out there.
• Despite that their policies are for a maximum of 6-months, they can be easily extended online.
• You can file any claims with them from their website instead of having to use fax or mail.
• They cover quite a few adventure activities (see full list here).
• They have a beautiful website… Hey, I’m a geek, and when a company gets web design / web 2.0, it makes them that much more attractive to me.

So if you need a travel insurance policy, I would highly recommend you checking out World Nomads.

• Travel Independent . Info – This has to be the most valuable website to any traveler… I think I’ve actually read every single page on the site.
• Vagabonding by Rolf Potts – This book might be my favorite book of all time, I’m considering buying a PDF version for the trip.
• Lonely Planet PDFs by the chapter – Buy only the chapters you want without  the weight of a book.
• East and Southern Africa: The Backpacker’s Manual – Despite that it was published in 2001, this book is a must have for anyone planning to travel through the region.
• The Man in Seat 61 – The MOST comprehensive source of train, ship and bus schedules for the entire world.

Runners-up:

• Thorn Tree and BootsnAll Forums – Two fantastic travel forums. Anytime I had a question, my first stop was always to search these two sites.
• Wikitravel.org – a free, open-source travel guide for the entire world. Also checkout Oxygen Guide, which is a downloadable version of the Wikitravel.org content that you can take with you.

Tom and Jeremy started in Grenoble, France and traveled through India, Southeast Asia and China and are now spending 2 months crossing the US. Sarah started in East Yorkshire, UK and has traveled through Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Hawaii.

• The undeveloped world does not run on a timetable, so always be patient.
• Do your best not to worry about the little things (e.g. Am I going to get sick? Will the airline lose my bags?).
• Don’t forget earplugs. There’s no need to get anything fancy, just make sure they fit your ears.
• For Malaria prevention, make sure you get a good mosquito repellant (DEET works) and ask locals for more information about infected areas. Often times the doctors in your home country make country-wide suggestions because they don’t have information about specific regions.
• Don’t use your guidebook to plan out every last detail, let things come naturally and just use it as a “guide”.
• Don’t bother bringing a sleeping bag or sleeping pad unless you’re actually planning on sleeping outdoors regularly.
• If you’ll be changing climates, just pack what you need for the first climate and buy things along the way.
• Anticipate that you will want to change your dates/routing, so make sure the fees for doing so aren’t too high.
• Carefully choose the music you bring, because it will keep you going when you need it the most.
• Bring something for water purification. Despite that almost every hotel/hostel/restaurant will have drinkable water, you never know when you might need it.
• Don’t bring anything that you’d be devastated if you lost (e.g favorite t-shirt, expensive watch).
• In most countries, consider internal flights when you’re looking at buses and trains, sometimes (specifically in SE Asia), you might find the flight to be cheaper.
• Leave *some* space in your bag for buying things, but don’t forget that it is VERY easy to ship a package home from anywhere in the world.
• Don’t bring 100% Cotton clothing. Active/quick dry clothing is definitely worth the higher cost.
• Don’t bring anything white, it WILL get dirty.
• ALWAYS SMILE! You have no idea how far a smile can get you. Also, getting angry almost never helps the situation.
• Some shower areas have no good place to set down your toiletries bag, so it’s best to get one that hangs.
• Bring a lot of ziploc bags. They’re great for food, liquids, wet things and more!
• Definitely bring a small computer. There seems to be WiFi everywhere. Just don’t bring anything too expensive or heavy.
• Don’t buy your shoes at the last minute, they might end up not fitting like you expected.

Then I found the Safeway Travel Clinic (not just at SF Safeways). They were able to give me those two vaccines without having to pay a $40 consultation fee. Even better, I could get everything done during my routine grocery shopping without having to make an appointment.

The Typhoid Vaccine (injection version) was $73.99 and the Tetanus (Tdap) shot was $59.99. Those prices were a few dollars more than the competition, but without the consultation fee it still came in less than anywhere else in town. I would highly recommend the Safeway travel clinic if you know exactly what you’re looking for.