About Me

My photo
NOMADIC LIFESTYLE, EARTH, United States
After getting my first passport in 2006 and traveling to climb Kilimanjaro in Tanzania my life changed. I began the process of getting rid of all my possessions and traveling the world. Traveling to over 125 countries and all 7 continents, hostels have been my home. This "new life" has taught me what is important and it was NOT accumulating money or possessions. Traveling is the best education. I hope my blog will encourage others to travel. My World Tattoo was a way for me to express my PASSION FOR TRAVEL.

Search This Blog

COLORADO, Grand Canyon, South Rim to Phantom Ranch

November 5, 2010

Caught the 8 am shuttle from the Amtrak station to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. This is the area that most people visit when they go to the Grand Canyon. After being dropped off we got a sandwich for the 9.2 mile hike down the Bright Angel Trail and made sure out water bottles were full. The canyon view from the South Rim was spectacular. We began our hike down the trail around 10:40 am expecting a 4 hour hike to Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon. We passed several packs of mules with riders coming up from Phantom Ranch and many struggling hikers. We walked for what seemed like an eternity with our knees taking a beating on the descent of the trail and then realized we were only half way after 3 painful hours of hiking. We finally reached our destination after 5 pm where we were supposed to signal Morgan and the others to raft across the Colorado to pick us up and return to the camp site. However, we saw a raft on our side of the river with 2 life jackets in front. We decided they must have left us the boat for us to row over when we go there. Scott manned the oars and off we went to TRY and cross the river. 2 minutes after rowing we heard a voice screaming to come back. Seems they were all on our side of the river looking for us and we were not meant to try and cross. Hate to think of what would have happened had the Colorado River gotten hold of our raft with our inexperienced crew.















WORLD TATTOO


While sitting in the Pirate Bar in Utila Honduras waiting for the World Cup to begin, I quickly noticed a girl, Jules, who I had met earlier in Antigua. After speaking for a moment she quickly turned around to speak to someone else and that is when I noticed it, a tattoo outline of the world. I, along with many other backpackers, quickly told her how awesome it looked. She also said that she planned putting a red dot on all the places she has traveled. While sitting at the table looking almost hypnotically looking at her tattoo every time her back was facing me, I realized that I had finally gotten the inspiration for the "travel" tattoo that I had been thinking about since my trip to Thailand. She told me that she had gotten the tattoo from Mike at Tattoo Antigua in Antigua, Guatemala. I realized that if I was going to do that it would have to be a tattoo of the entire World including the specific countries. I also knew that I would like to color in each of the countries that I had traveled to. I went back to Antigua and got the outline of the world done by Mike and then got the countries colored in by Natural Mystic Tattoo in Pineville, Louisiana. The following pictures are of my initial tattoo and the progression of coloring in the countries. 70 counties so far with hopefully many more to follow.










HONDURAS, Copan Ruinas

Wednesday July 21, 2010

"During the Classic period (AD 250-900), the city at Copan Ruinas culturally dominated the region for centuries. The architecture is not as grand as Tikal's but the city produced remarkable sculptures and hieroglyphics. Its culture was so developed, it is often labeled the 'Paris of the Maya world '."   Lonely Planet


 
 

HONDURAS, Utila, Great Diving on North Shore

July 15, 2010

Just realized the last 2 posts were dated June. While backpacking days of the week don't mean a thing and obviously the months are not too important either. Dove the North Shore of Utila today and went down to 110 feet, a new personal best for me. It was like swimming in a box of crayons with all the wonderful colors of fish and coral. No Whale Sharks today but maybe later.