"To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world. You are surrounded by adventure."
   - Freya Stark, Baghdad Sketches, 1937

This website is my chronicle of a 12 month trip beginning in August 2008. My hope is that it serves three purposes.

First, I write stories and take photos for my own enjoyment, so that I might better remember the great, sun-laden, character-filled days in locations suitable for the Gauguins of the world, but also so that I might remember the roughshod, monsoon-induced, late-waking, bus-missing days.

Second, I document all aspects of packing, planning, budgets, and routes in order to help future travelers planning similar trips, through which I hope to repay the debt I owe to other travelers who have similarly helped me.

Third, I attempt a travel narrative of a different form from most travel blogs. Entries on this site will consist solely of stories; you will find no discussions of the "I went here, then I went there" nature. The implication of this is that posts will be somewhat irregular. I plan to post about once a week, but if there is no story worth telling, then no story will be told. Photography will be treated similarly; ten photos per week is a fair estimate of what I hope to post. My perspective on travel writing is of one who enjoys great travel writing - Jeffrey Tayler, Peter Hessler, Peter Fleming, Wilfred Thesiger - but who is bored by the vast majority of travel writing on the internet. I hope not to bore you.

Now, who am I? I'm a 24 year old American. Name Kevin Bryan. Born in Boston. Then Maine, Mass., Oregon, Boston, Beijing, Virginia. Formerly a Federal Reserve economist. Loves the Sox. And sports in general. And travel. London, 2003. China, 2005. North Korea, 2005. South Africa, 2006. Singapore and Borneo, 2006. The Great American Road Trip, 2006. Road Trip Part II, 2007. UAE, Oman and Yemen, 2007. Enjoys languages. Studied Spanish. And Chinese. 100 words of many others. Former graduate student in math and economics. Will miss Chipotle while on the road.

I can be reached at kevincure@yahoo.com