360 Degrees Longitude

To the wonderful people of Lushoto, Tanzania.
May I someday be able to return the favor
.

Author's Note

        
 
0.
    
Countdown

Part I. Splat

        
 
1.
    
Geothermal Sludge and a Good Advertising Agency (
Iceland
)

        
 
2.
    
Home Is Where Your Stuff Is (
England
)

        
 
3.
    
Egad! Cowboys and Croissants! (
France
)

        
 
4.
    
Cyclus Interruptus (
Switzerland
)

Part II. Shattered Bones, Shattered Plans

        
 
5.
    
Gargling with Razor Blades (
Czech Re/files/19/83/30/f198330/public/Poland
)

        
 
6.
    
Have You Hugged Your Lawyer Today? (
Poland/Sweden
)

        
 
7.
    
Chocolate Vomit
Is
a Medical Emergency! (
Denmark/Germany
)

        
 
8.
    
Touch It, Wimp! (
Switzerland … again
)

        
 
9.
    
The Incredible Disappearing Force Field (
Italy
)

Part III. Out of Our Comfort Zone

        
10.
   
Exploding Postal Scales (
The Planet of Turkey, with a Dash of Greece
)

        
11.
   
A Dangerous Place to Be a Chicken (
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
)

        
12.
   
Stranded by Our Stupidity (
Tanzania
)

        
13.
   
Eat First, Ask Questions Later (
Mauritius/Japan
)

        
14.
   
The Cruise Ship of Pain (
The People's Republic of China
)

        
15.
   
Immigration Purgatory in the PRC (
The Special Economic Zone of Shenzhen and Hong Kong
)

        
16.
   
Nipple-Nibbling Fish (
Thailand
)

        
17.
   
The Ugly Side of Humanity (
Cambodia
)

        
18.
   
The Cute One and the Danish Postal Pin-Up Girls (
Thailand, Again
)

        
19.
   
Busted In the Ladies' Room (
En Route over the Pacific
)

Part IV. Home Is Where Your Stuff Is

        
20.
   
Danger! Banana Crossing! (
Costa Rica
)

        
21.
   
A Pirate in the Caribbean (
Panama
)

        
22.
   
Please Pass the Armageddon Pills (
Bolivia
)

        
23.
   
Armageddon Pills—Don't Leave Home Without Them (
Bolivia/Chile
)

        
24.
   
Roll, Puke, and Yaw (
Chile/Argentina
)

        
25.
   
Aerobatic Maneuvers Not Permitted (
Bolivia Again!
)

        
26.
   
One Tough Kid (
Peru
)

        
27.
   
Kitchen Ballistics and the Cruisers of Paradise (
Belize
)

Reentry

Appendix of Fast Facts

Appendix of How To

Appendix of Stupid Facts

Google Earth!

Acknowledgments

T
ravel can change a person, and it can change the world. That's a bold statement, and I believe it.

As we look beyond our borders, it is easy to see how
different
people are,
over there
. It is a lot harder to see how
similar
they are. I'm convinced that you have go and spend time
over there
to accomplish that. It can be hard to do, which is why I wrote this book: to take you to distant lands and meet the people who live
over there
to show that, at the end of the day, humankind in all its wonderful weirdness is the same all over the planet.

A large part of this story is contained within the pages of this book, but there is more than what you are holding in your hands. Whenever you see the Google Earth logo
there is more waiting for you online. The Google Earth companion layer that is available online contains the “Director's Cut” of anecdotes, photos, video, and stories that couldn't be presented on mere paper. Google Earth is free and is probably the coolest piece of software developed by humankind. The extra features add a dimension to the manuscript that will connect you to the places around the globe in a way previously impossible. There is a quick tutorial in the appendix that explains what you need to know to use these features.

The
Appendix of How To
is chock-full of details about how one would go about planning their own around-the-world adventure, from basics on budgeting, to homeschooling children on the road, to getting immunizations. Even more information can be found at
www.360degreeslongitude.com
. If there is anything you want to know about world travel in general or about this story in particular that isn't in this book or on our Web site, send me an e-mail at
[email protected]
.

“
Y
ou're awake, I can tell. What are you thinking about?”

It was my wife, September. I really didn't want to be talking about this, as we had already discussed everything there was to discuss. “Same thing as you.”

“I've been looking forward to this trip for over ten years,” she said. “Now that we're just weeks away from leaving, I'm afraid.”

“It's just nerves. Once we're on the road, we'll get into a rhythm, and it'll be fine.”

“Then why are you awake?”

“I can't turn my brain off. You know. EBS.” EBS is shorthand for Energizer Bunny Syndrome—my brain just keeps going and going. As an engineer, I am duty-bound to reduce everything to three-letter acronyms. September just accepts it.

As it applies in this case, EBS meant going over and over scenarios about what could go wrong during our 52 weeks abroad. I had a pit in the bottom of my stomach.