Tallying Up the Numbers

In 4 1/2 hours, I'll be starting the very LONG journey to Sydney. As I sit here in Paris wasting time before heading to the airport, it seems appropriate to run through some numbers from this part of the trip:

For the record, my travel will consist of a 7-hour flight (Paris to Abu Dhabi), a 3-hour layover, and a 14-hour flight (Abu Dhabi to Sydney). That is a mind-boggling 24 hours of travel. Due to the time change, it will take up 34 hours of my life. Turns out Sydney is 10,543 miles away from Paris.

Moving on to somewhat relevant numbers:

-70 days of travel completed

-25 destinations visited in 11 different countries

-most destinations in 1 country was Italy with 7

-foreign languages I've survived = 10 (you could argue more than this though because trying to understand English peoples' English & Aussie peoples' English is like hearing a foreign language)

-average amount of words I learned to speak in each language = 6 (yes, no, hello, goodbye, please, thanks)

-23 different hostels

-21 "long-distance" train rides

-3 short flights inside Europe

-countless bus & metro rides in almost every major city

-7 cabs taken (more than I had hoped for, but most of those came at 5am in Barcelona after leaving a club)

-8 books read (including one book, Shutter Island, that I read in 3 1/2 days)

-2 TV shows downloaded & watched from iTunes: current season of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" & "The Wire" (which I will be done with soon)

-over 1,750 songs on my iPod that I've easily listened to in its entirety

-number of days out of 70 where I didn't have my small backpack on for significant time: approximately 4 (hence the permanent back/shoulder damage)

-number of days out of 70 when it rained: 7

-pub crawls attended = 5

-amount of beer drank = incalculable

-soccer games watched in person = 1, watched on TV = about 13

-in contrast, only 4 NFL games watched (including 2 Patriots games)

-only 7 "art museums" visited (this doesn't include non-art museums like the Heineken Museum in Amsterdam) By the way, went to the Louvre finally today. Great museum even though the crowds are ridiculous and the Mona Lisa is beyond overrated. Seriously, least impressive famous painting....ever.

-days spent on the beach = 3 (Australia here I come)

-cathedrals & castles seen = too many

-number of Australians traveling in Europe: approximately 1.3 billion

-4 cigars smoked on entire trip (surprisingly low)

-amount of homeless/beggers/pan handlers in Europe = almost equal to # of Australians

-amount of money given to these people = $0.00

-2,012 pictures taken (I'm planning on throwing a party in SF when I get home where I walk everyone through each picture, stopping to talk about each one for 3-5 minutes...bring your sleeping bags)

-number of times somebody said, "Oh Ross, like from Friends" = 75

-number of times I gave an annoyed look when somebody said that = 75

-number of times someone said I looked like Seth Rogen = 1 (3 days ago in Paris)

-percentage of people I've met who think I'm Jewish = 45% (guess I gotta cut the Jew-fro to avoid this)

-amount of coffee & cigarettes purchased = 0 to both (I have a theory that I have spent less money on average than other travelers because of this. Actually, I might have had to skip Australia all together if I drank as much coffee & smoked as many cigarettes as some people I've been around)

-number of times I've used my alter ego (Henry): 4 or 5 I think

-number of times I've been called out for giving a fake name: 3

-amount of people who thought I said my name was "Russ" = 0 (and yet Nicola thought this was my name for like the 1st 8 months I knew her)

-amount of money spent: not even gonna go there. I'm more scared of looking at my online bank account than of watching "2 girls, 1 cup" (please please please don't go googling that if you've never heard of it)

-number of chocolate croissants eaten for breakfast...let's see I've been here 70 days, so probably about 62

-times I ate an entire cylinder of Sour Cream-n-Onion Pringles in 5 minutes: 1 (2 nights ago walking home from the Pub Crawl with my roommate James at 4am)

-current height (in inches) of my afro: 2 1/2 maybe?

I think that's all I've got for now. I leave you with a few more pictures of Paris, and I'll talk to you all from the other side of the world.