AHMEDABAD, India - With Thushan and our host Leila both recovering from illness, we rested up and continued our chai-drinking binge in Ahmedabad. See it all in today’s photo gallery.

AHMEDABAD, India - With Thushan fading fast, we head to the doctor’s office for a diagnosis, but not before watching the Celtics win the NBA championship in style on tape delay. See it all in today’s photo gallery.

AHMEDABAD, India - After an all-night bus trip north from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, our friend Leila’s adopted Indian home, we were all feeling a bit under the weather. Thushan, however, was hit worst of all, with a fever, body aches, and general exhaustion, all early warning signs of one of the region’s biggest killers… malaria. See it all in today’s photo gallery.

QUSAYBAH, Syria – Though our visit was short, we witnessed the transformation of Lebanon in just seven days. On our taxi ride out of Beruit back to Syria, massive posters could already be seen, sporting images of the incoming president Michel Suleiman, a former Lebanese Army General, all over the city and countryside.  Head back to Syria in today’s photo gallery.

DAMASCUS, Syria – With no time to waste, and reports on the ground of an end to fighting in Lebanon, we head through the mountains to Beirut. Less than a week after a short civil war engulfed the country, we were hesitant to visit Lebanon but after receiving words from friends in Beirut that fighting had ceased, the decision was made to go. Enter Beirut in today’s photo gallery.

BAB AL-HAWA, Turkey/Syria – Without Syrian visas we headed to the Turkish-Syrian border crossing called Bab Al-Hawa with hopes of being admitted entry to our next destination. Cross the border in today’s photo gallery.

ANTAKYA/HATAY, Turkey – After a week of exploring Istanbul’s bustling streets we jetted on a flight across Turkey to the southeastern city of Adana and then bussed it three hours to Antakya a.k.a. Hatay in preparation for our border crossing into Syria. Take your flight to Asia in today’s photo gallery.

HAMBURG, Germany – The question arises from time to time, sometimes when I’m hungry or tired, and sometimes when I’m uncomfortably wedged between too many people on a foreign public transportation system.

Most of the time, the days are too full of new engaging things to see and do, new people to meet, and new maps to decipher. But there are those days when I wake up at four in the morning on another night train, somewhere in Bulgaria, when I can’t help but wonder, even if just for a second, “why am I doing this?”

Inevitably, before I can answer this question I’m interrupted — by a brusque customs official who, with a mere momentary glance, makes me feel like I’ve already overstayed my welcome, or by my large and inebriated Serbian train car neighbor who doesn’t seem to know or care why he’s paying me a visit (but will not leave) — and it is buried away until further notice, perhaps a week down the line, as we are unwittingly shot at by BB gun wielding Turkish boys on the shores of the Bosphorus.

Eventually, the opportunity to reflect on the motivation to travel arises and things become clearer. Not only are the hellish moments not that bad in hindsight (and good fodder for storytelling), but the ups and downs that make up the travel experience give it the incredibly dense learning potential that it has.

It encourages, and sometimes demands, an attentiveness to the here and now that is vastly different to sedentary life, allowing for a different, and valuable, perspective. When ordinary experiences occur in front of new and unfamiliar backdrops, they can stand out, revealing nuances that you never knew existed. (more…)

ISTANBUL, Turkey – At about four in the morning with no shuteye to our names, Brian and I were sporting some huge grins. Supremely tired, with the sun brightening the horizon and a lone rooster beginning his morning routine, we were still banging away on our keyboards. Six – no, make that seven – days into the trip in Puebla, Mexico, we were about to launch LongJaunt. An idea years in the making was minutes away from coming to fruition with the first round of posts. Publishing the first pieces from the road, we couldn’t help but say it out loud – “This is wicked.”

It’s a memory that will stick for a long time.

Since the beginning of the journey, we didn’t exactly know how long Brian Rogers would be on board. He was definitely in for the Central and South American hauls, bringing his expertise in Latin American culture and fluent Spanish to the table.

Four and a half months since we first jumped on a plane down to Mexico City, the day where we would have to say goodbye to him finally arrived. Straddling the divide between Europe and Asia, realities of the trip came down on the shores of the Bosporus River in Istanbul. (more…)

SARAJEVO, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA - After just a tease of Sarajevo, we took off on a night train to Belgrade, the capital of the former Yugoslavia and the currently independent nation of Serbia. A relaxing trip turned into a wild ride when we were paid a visit by a very energetic Bosnian. Check out all the action in today’s gallery…