Plans for the Year

I guess an appropriate first post on this travel blog would be an itinerary for my year.

On September 10th, I'll be flying from Houston to Brisbane in the Sunshine Coast of Australia, where my Uncle Gwyn has been kind enough to let me stay with him in Buddina.  From there I travel to Melbourne, only staying a couple of nights before I head out to the Grampians.  The Grampians are a mountain range that have recently become more and more a focus of hard bouldering, with professional climbers establishing dozens of hard new climbs.  I'll be camping, but I'll probably retreat to a hostel for a couple nights in the middle as I'll be there for almost 3 weeks, till October 9th.  October 10th I fly from Melbourne to Perth to stay with my friend Kat, visit some family friends, and enjoy the beach.

After Perth I leave Australia, flying to Hanoi on October 15th.  On the 17th I travel south east to Ha Long Bay in the South China Sea.  It's a crazy place for climbers because the bay is filled with limestone towers and arches with huge stalactites and climbable features, and because of the deep water you can climb them without ropes or gear.  Falling just means a big splash.  This short video (less than 5 minutes) shows people climbing in this style (deep water soloing) in Ha Long Bay.  I'll climb there for 6 days before returning to Hanoi until the 29th, when I fly to Mumbai.

When I first get to India I'll stay in Mumbai for just a night as I'll be going to the a festival held in Hampi, Karnataka.  Hampi was the capital of an early Indian empire before being conquered, and is now just a village surrounded by royal and sacred ruins.  The annual Hampi Festival is a cultural event, and has been celebrated since the ruins were a city.  In modern times the original reason Hampi was chosen as a capital, the existence of thousands of granite boulders that were used as construction materials, has now made it a climbing destination.  Here I'll do more bouldering, while enjoying the cultural festival.  Three weeks later, I'll head back to Mumbai to do a week long yoga course.  I haven't been doing much yoga recently, but studying yoga in its country of origin is an opportunity I can't miss.  By then it will be the 1st of December and I will travel south to Goa and its beautiful beaches.  Two weeks there and I'll be ready to return to the hustle and bustle of Mumbai for a couple of days, before flying out of Mumbai to London on December 17th.  The end of my Eastern tour, just in time to celebrate Christmas with family.

January 2nd I fly to back to Houston.  But it's not over!  After staying there for couple of weeks, I'll work my westward across the South, visting friends in college and climbing everywhere I can.  When it starts to heat up towards the end of spring, I'll either travel northward, or maybe fly to Europe early for the climbing season there.  My family will be visiting the UK and our extended family over summer anyway, so I'll end up spending some time in Europe regardless.  But it's starting to seem more likely I spend most of my summer in the US.  It's cheaper over here, and without a car in Europe I'd have a hard time reaching the mountainous and more remote areas where the best climbing is.

Either way, I am extremely excited for the next year, more so now as I only have a week until I leave!