Tall Matt's Travels

As you might suspect, it takes a while to digest a trip like this. I've been home for a couple weeks now, and at times it all seems almost... fake. Sometimes it feels like it happened a long time ago. Sometimes I wake up and forget I'm actually home. It's hard to describe.

The time has however, allowed me some time to go through some things and reflect a bit. I've had a chance to compile a few numbers. Below are some interesting facts and figures I've managed to generate. A bit of an "at a glance" sheet if you will. And I will.

General:

• Start Date: January 8, 2007
• End Date: January 8, 2008
• Total Days on the Road: 365
• Continents: 7
• Individual Nations: 43
  (Does not include USA, Hong Kong or Antarctica)
• Cities/Towns Visited (at least one night's stay required): 101

Distances:

• Total Miles: >70,000
• Total Kilometers: >113,000
  *The circumference of the earth at the equator is 24,901.55 miles or 40,075.16 kilometers. These numbers do not include day trips, metro rides, walking...
• Longest bus ride: 31 hours - 1657km/1030mi
  (Arica, Chile to Santiago, Chile - includes 3-hour breakdown in Atacama desert)
• Longest plane ride: 14 hours: 12516km/7777mi
  (Sydney, Australia to Vancouver, Canada)

Transportation:

• Flights (including connections): 35
• Individual Airlines: 24
• Bus Rides (inter-city): 56
• Rides in friends' personal vehicles: >15

Miscellaneous:

• Languages Encountered: >25
• Currencies Used: 36
• Pages Filled in Passport: 27 of 37 possible
  (extra pages added at US Embassy in Buenos Aries)
• Stamps/Visas in Passport: 81
  (includes all entry and exit stamps/stickers - number is not indicative of countries visited for a variety of reasons: My request for Israel to not stamp my passport, the Freedom of Movement agreement in the EU, etc.)
• Longest time in One Country: 32 days (New Zealand)
• Longest time in One City: 21 days (Beijing, China)
• Movies Seen: >25
• Haircuts: 4
  (Cape Town, South Africa; Dublin, Ireland; Beijing, China; Perth, Australia)
• Emails Sent: >800
• Emails Received: >1600
• Toothbrushes: 14
• Bottles of Antibiotics: 2
• Immunizations: Polio, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Typhoid, Tdap, Yellow Fever) + weekly anti-malarials
• Contacts Around the World: >55
• Books Read: 12 (not counting 5 guidebooks)
• Total Unique Visits to www.tallmatt.com in 2007: >13,000
• Pictures Taken: >21,000
• Journals Filled: 3
• Pens Used: 5