December brought change and familiar faces. I swept through Transylvania, seeing might castles, medieval Saxon villages and lots of snow. Sigishouara was a highlight for sure, and I think I got back some latent drawing skills. Staying with Stefan and his grandmother in Sofia was a lesson in hospitality and generosity. I wish I had a little more time in the ancient Roman city of Plovdiv. On to Istanbul and a jaunt into Asia. What an dynamic and rich city. I go to sleep dreaming of the pomegranate and orange juice. I could spend lots and lots of hours wandering the streets and alleys of Cihangir. There is still so much to see there. Finally heading south and beginning my African leg with Jimbo in Capetown! We did some things, and we didn’t do some things, and it was a ton of fun.

Just before heading south I hit the three month wall experienced by a lot of travelers. I Was just tired from the grind of travel, and moving from place to place. It is something a lot of people get, and a lot of people get through. So it was great to catch up with Jim to get a little piece of home. As I write this from the latter half of January, I am still feeling it somewhat, but I think it is because I am back to solo travel and remembering how to travel as a single entity... You can’t dwell on it for too long, as there is so much to look ahead to.

In this month of December I have visited new countries: Bulgaria, Turkey and South Africa, and celebrated an amazing 24 hours where i visited three continents! Everywhere I visited during the month was a new destination for me: Cluj, Sighisuoara, Sibiu, Brasov and Bucharest in Romania, Sofia and Plovdiv in Bulgaria, Istanbul in Turkey and finally Capetown, South Africa.

I have no idea what I am weighing these days... but I am looking kind of thin. I’ll see if I can get to the bottom of this for the January update. I do know I need to get a lot better about doing my daily stretches for my knees.

I am also going to pass on the music update for this month, but will revisit it come January.

The money is going to take a big hit in this update! Africa is not too cheap, especially when traveling with Jim Hanusek. At least we avoided shark diving which would have set me back another couple of hundred. Revisiting Romania, I finished off spending $52.10/ day. Not bad, as there were a lot of guest houses in there. What an amazing and beautiful country. Bulgaria came in at $57.36/ day. I am not really sure how it came in so high, as I stayed for free. Perhaps it was all of the travel. Significant train journeys into Sofia from Bucharest and then on to Istanbul. Some Visa fee’s in there as well. In Turkey I spent $83.39/ day. Normally I’d say ‘Ouch!’... but with South Africa coming up next, that is child’s play. I guess the big thing to remember about South Africa is that the costs include some expensive accommodation and the $1,000 flight down there from Istanbul. So... in South Africa, to wind of the year, I spent $248.08/ day. That one really hurts. But Tanzania could get even worse! My average per day jumped up big time, going from around $70/ day to $90/ day.

And here are the Instagram pics from the month of January.