Alone, New Friends, One Friend, A Cousin, The Whole Fam (or not), Good Friends

[Note: this is a very long entry with lots of name dropping but not much travel info. You might want to skip it - depending on what you're looking for in a travel blog. Whatever suits you - just know that I know it's a hicup in the "flow" of the blog. Deal with it.]

It should be pretty obvious at this point, but I didn't have just one travel companion for this adventure. And frankly, that's probably a good thing. I do enjoy travelling alone (some people don't; I do). But I also enjoy travelling with people, but usually spending too much time with the same people can be dangerous.

So on this trip - I mixed it up quite a bit. And since people have repeatedly asked "Who did you go with?" (and before I left, "Who are you going with?") I figured I'd give it a go at detailing the varried companionships.

Yemen and Oman:
I went to both of these countries alone. At the time, I was quite happy (I'm a hermit) to be rid of all the craziness that comes from frequent and responsible relationships with people (my list of "to do's" in LA for work, friends, roommates, etc... was no longer fun or fulfilling, but rather just tiresome and frustrating). It was nice (for a while) to have no one to report to or do things for. It was a very quiet week and a half (3 days on planes, 3 days in Yemen, 3 days in Oman). But, I got to listen to my iPod (post on thit later) and see a lot of great places at my own pace in my own way).

Nepal:
As I've already indicated - Rachel, Hassan, and Ted joined me (or rather, I joined them) for the 4 day (+ 2 travel days) trip to the Kathmandu Valley. It was fun adding two strangers to the itinerary and great travelling with another Broadbent (since we "got" each other's travel styles, and such - or so it seemed to me).

Dubai and Abu Dhabi:
In January 2007, I joined Jen Birtcher and some of her wonderful friends on a trip to Kenya to build a school in a small remote village. I tried to get several of them to join me on this adventure (admittedly this was not as service oriented a venture, but they were good people - worth travelling with again). Unfortunatly (and fortunately) Jen Birtcher was the only one able to match my travel schedule. So, Jen and I spent 5 days "seeing" and living in the U.A.E (while Rachel graciously hosted us but went to work each day - leaving us to fend for ourselves: we're big kids and this suited us fine). Joshua and Melinda considered joining me, but my schedule didn't match theirs and so they actually beat me to U.A.E. by a month. Even so, they still deserve some print space in the blog!

Lebanon:
Rachel and I took a late night flight to Lebanon and had a couple days there (no Hassan or Ted this time). She had been there before (and not seen everything she wante dto see); therefore, she had list of "hot spots" worth hitting and frankly - that worked just fine for me. I know almost nothing about Lebanon, so having and "experienced guide" to take me to the Cedars AND "The Music Hall" suited me well. She had to get back to Abu Dhabi for work (people and their jobs: shaaa!), so I stayed a bit longer and saw some thing she saw on her first trip.

Abu Dhabi x 2:
After Jen went back to Kenya - where she now lives - I had a day to myself in Dubai. And when I returned after Lebanon - I had a day outside Abu Dhabi (visiting the camel traders, etc...). It was nice to have these 2 days to mix things up and relax before heading into yet more legs of the adventure.

Los Angeles:
I passed through LA en route to UT/ID. I think I was there for 20 hours. It seemed like most people had already taken off for the holidays (understandably so), but thankfully Brandon was around to pick me up at the airport and Amber and I got to see some Christmas lights before I packed up again and flew off for family Christmas fun. 20 hours is not long enough to switch modes from "summer heat and desert travels" to "cold snow and frostbite destination." So, my methodical plans to avoid the jet lag due to the 12 hour time shift were derailed by staying up all night prepping jpeg files for Rachel and the fam, doing laundry, and packing for yet more travel fun.

[Note: I didn't expect this to be a long and detailed a list of people and places, but I guess that's what I get for not realizing (before or after) how crazy long and intricate this whole thing was).]

UT/ID:
This year, we (the fam) decided to do Christmas in UT and ID (yes, both). The plan - fly to UT, do Christmas dinner with Catherine, Grant, Mom and Dad... then drive up to ID to bask in the leisure of the Lava Hot Springs with the whole Kearl clan (thus bringing Rachel back into the agenda yet again - ha ha). That was the plan, but snow closed the roads and eliminated the whole Lava part of the world tour.

So, as much as I wanted Gary, Mima, Rachel, Anna, Susan, David, Matthew, and Katie to have a place in the travel blog - this (this sentence) will suffice as their moment of fame and glory. The 5 of us stayed in UT and made SLC our vacation haven while the 6 of them dug their way out of the 17 feet of snow surrounding their house.

And the 5 other "Broadbents" (aka Snarrs) - Sara, Jeff, Hannah, Megan, and Ali - they too get "honorable mention" in the blog because - after all - it is Christmas and they're family too (even if travelling with three small kids from NY to ID just didn't fit the "holiday spirit" - understandably so).

California:
And finally - as I write this, this hasn't happened yet - I expect to enjoy my final week of vacation from the comfort of my own bed (or at least my own ThermaRest - since a camping trip is in the works): editing, cleaning, planning, camping, reading, watching TV, playing with friends, and who knows what else.

Maybe I'll do some of this alone (like Yemen and Oman).
Possibly with new friends (like Nepal).
Per chance with old friends (like U.A.E)
Or simply those I consider family (like UT or Lebanon) - or at least those I consider family (my 2nd family)...
And if I'm lucky - maybe I'll do some of it with those vying to be my future family.

Did I really say that? Really? Seriously? Oh come on - you know you're laghing; it's funny. And you never know. Really, you just never know. Trust me - I know about not knowing. And about not knowing often.