Dispatches Globe, circumnavigated! Now what?Globe, circumnavigated! Now what? |
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| By Lauren Girardin | Mon, June 22, 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 A year later, our buzzer label's still here | Photo by Lauren Girardin On June 17, 2009 Todd and I walked through the door of our San Francisco apartment for the first time in 11 months and 8 days. During our round-the-world trip, we visited 15 foreign countries - not counting a day-long layover in Slovakia - often taking many weeks to explore each place (click to see our route). Moving mostly ever eastward, we've circumnavigated the Earth. We're a little dizzy, but that's probably due to all the gluten suddenly injected into our diet. While we were away, America elected its first black President, the global economy collapsed, a labor union became a major shareholder in an American auto company, gay marriage was voted down in California but up in Iowa, all the bank names have changed, John Edwards revealed himself as a low down cheating dog, fancy ice cream became all the rage in San Francisco, and while it's barely rained in California, constant rains in New York are washing the beaches away. (Faithful email and RSS readers, visit www.ephemerratic.com to find out what now?) If you compare our route and our dispatches, you'll easily see that there's still a lot of places without stories, photos, and art on Ephemerratic. Though we're back in San Francisco, we've only told stories through Laos. Yeah, we fell behind. Blame it on the wine in Spain, computer viruses, days and days without power, bouts of food poisoning, that Todd stopped writing after Morocco (unless pestered), and the insurmountable temptation to go out and do something instead of sitting in front of a computer.  Let Freedom Ring! Caw! | Photo by Lauren Girardin But, just as Todd's art don't stop at home or on the global road, neither will this website. Some of our most tragic, dramatic, and embarrassing stories are yet to be told. Watching Thai kickboxing with transvestites in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Eating pig's throat in Chengdu, China. Getting a 75 cent foot massage with Uncle Danny in Cebu City, Philippines. Just to keep you confused and enlightened, we'll also start peppering in more tips and resources for those of who who are ready to get out of your armchair and travel yourself. There have never been better airline deals and no one's working anyway, so might as well get up off your duff and go. We'll try to help. If you can't handle our location dislocation, just pretend we haven't come home yet.  First Mission burrito in 11 months | Photo by Lauren Girardin Finally, if there's anything you want to more of, less of, or never again on Ephemerratic, please leave a comment at the end of this post. Ask us questions about our trip. Insist upon longer stories, larger photos, more art or just the opposite. Seriously, I could really use the input. We're listening. P.S. We're also both looking for jobs. Todd for an Associate level job at an arts or education nonprofit. Me for a Manager or higher position at an organization that needs my problem solving, marketing, community building, or project management skills, non-profit or otherwise. Let us know. A few photos from our San Francisco homecoming
If you can't see the photo slide show above, view the photo set on Flickr. |
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