A Dream Come True

“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”  – Eleanor Roosevelt

May 19, 2010 was the day I decided I wanted to raise $1000 for the charity, Doctors Without Borders.  I chose this specific charity for the work they do abroad in providing aid to people in nearly 60 countries whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect or catastrophe.

It took almost 9 months from the day I had the idea for a fundraiser to the day I made it a reality this past Thursday, February 10, 2011.  The night was filled with dozens of people enjoying a night out in DC, buying a number of photographs from my trip and bidding on items from the silent auction. In total, over $2700 was raised in just over three hours, which was nearly triple my goal! The amount of support, the comments, the number of people who showed up, the silent auction…it was a huge success beyond anything I could have imagined.  The amount raised is enough money to provide one week of clean water to over 27,000 people!

Thank You
A special thank you to the 9:30 Club for allowing me to hold the fundraiser in the Backbar, Chrissy Gilroy for coming up with the suggestion to hold the event at the club and to Karen Traeger for her bright ideas and endless support from beginning to end.  I also wanted to thank Matt/Amanda and Kelly for their blog support. Last but not least, a huge thanks to all those who contributed to the silent auction/raffle and to each and every one of you for your continued support.

Future Fundraiser
With the success of this recent fundraiser, I’m already in the process of planning another fundraiser before the end of the year.  Several people have already expressed their interest in helping out,  so my hope is have a bigger and better event with a goal set at $5000.  I’ll be sure to keep everyone updated on any details.

Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for all your support and help these past few months.  I couldn’t have done this without you.

Listening to: James Blake – James Blake
Up Next: The sky is the limit…

• My Photos
• 365 Day Photo & Music Project

DWB Fundraiser Confirmed!

I am pleased to announce that a fundraiser to benefit Doctors Without Borders has finally been confirmed!

What:
I’ve had the idea to raise money for Doctors Without Borders for the past year. The time has finally arrived. In addition to a silent auction, the fundraiser will have drink specials, a raffle for concert tickets, photos from my trip for sale and good music. Invite your friends and family as we enjoy a fun night to raise money for a good cause!

I’m currently looking to see if anyone had anything they wanted to contribute to the silent auction. Any goods, services, giftcards, or anything unique you had in mind. Send me a message if you would like to help out. A list of silent auction items will be available early next week.

When/Where:
Thursday, February 10th
7:00-10:00 p.m.
@ 9:30 Club Backbar (Downstairs)
815 V St. Washington, DC

Transportation:
A limited (free) number of street parking is available if you arrive early enough. Green line metro is only 2 blocks from the 9:30 Club (Stop @ U St./African Amer. Civil War Station). If transportation is an issue for you, I have no problem picking up/dropping off anyone before or after the event.

Goal:
$1000 (All proceeds will go directly to the charity)

You can learn more about the charity, Doctors Without Borders, by visiting www.doctorswithoutborders.org/aboutus

Click here to view the flyer for the DWB Fundraiser.  I encourage anyone to post or email the flyer to any of your friends and family.  If you plan on attending, please visit the Facebook event page I created.  If you have any questions, email me.  I hope to see you all there!

Upcoming: DWB Fundraiser on February 10th!
Listening to: Destroyer, Kaputt

4 Months and Beyond

Keeping my feet on the ground

*Scratching my head staring at a blank wall..*

Hard to imagine it’s been more than four months since I arrived back home.  These past few months I’ve been looking to write this post you’re reading now, but I kept making excuses to postpone something that helped me communicate a majority of my life experiences during 2010.  Prior blog posts were written from dodgy internet cafes about strange, new and interesting events during a two week block.  Things have changed a lot since then.  I’m writing from a couch inside my parent’s house. No skydiving or bungy jumping stunts. No outdoor rock climbing or scuba diving adventures anytime soon. Reality has officially settled in.

The transition home was something that I always expected since the day I left on December 27th, 2009.  In some way, shape or form, I would be a different person.  It was inevitable.  The first thing I did with my family when I got home was share many of the pictures and stories I had from my trip that couldn’t be relayed over our common form of email and phone communication the previous eight months.  Seeing their faces, hearing their questions, re-living those memories and being around them meant the world to me because I was able to share something that meant so much to me.  I’ve only sat down and shared my pictures re-telling stories to only one other person besides my family.  It wasn’t until just the other week that I realized the real importance of those moments and the people with whom it was shared.

My reaction to seeing people for the first time in so many months was mixed and different with each person, that I ended up being frustrated everyday I was home.  I look back and each time someone asked me the question of where I was, what I did and how it all went, my answers were refined and much shorter with each time I answered them.  It wasn’t anything they did or didn’t do.  Looking back I see myself being frustrated at lots of people because I couldn’t answer those questions in 3 minutes and have it do any justice to my travels.  It’s hard because the trip was a lot more complex than that.  There were pictures, people and odd stories to go along with those 8 months that whenever I retold some of my stories, I felt like a kid again…and I wanted that feeling to run through me over and over again.  We live in a digital world now where a medium such as this blog is supposed to be enough to explain to everyone the highlights, and in the end you could say it did just that, but to me it accomplished the opposite.  It told a story so basic that some of the best parts were left out that I wanted to share with everyone.  In a way it had the same effectiveness as a text message does to actually talking to someone in person. It’s weird. I have no idea if it’s selfish to have wanted that, but it’s how I felt at the time.  I don’t say all of this to make people feel bad or point fingers. I just felt the need to express it on the blog as part of my experience in transitioning back to society.

My Photos for a Cause project to raise $1000 for Doctors Without Borders, which has been something that I’ve been meaning and wanting to do for several months has been anything but moving forward. I have 30 of my favorite pictures printed on 8×10 prints and in my possession, but finding a way to hold an event and raise money has been a struggle. It’s strange because I had so much motivation and passion for this project while I was traveling, but living at home, not having steady work and dealing with a lot of things as of late has caused me to put it all on the back burner.  Another issue I had was pricing.  How much would someone be willing to pay for a picture where they weren’t there to experience the image captured?  To me, it sounded like an easy thing to do at first, but in reality I don’t know how to move forward with it.  I’ve plugged away at numbers and at a reasonable price of $10 donation for an 8×10 picture (cost to order and ship from shutterfly.com would be about $4/each), I would have to sell 100 pictures and on top of that i would have to shell out $400 of my own money to cover printing/shipping costs.  I guess what I’m looking for right now are ideas.  From what I know, I can have the charity event downstairs at the 9:30 Club in DC and the idea of having a friend DJ an event down there has been raised. I also have the thought of selling the 30 prints I have on me now, where people can view and order the prints online or in person. It would only raise less than 1/3 of my goal, but it would be an excellent start and a good morale booster to motivate me in moving forward with an actual event.  Don’t worry though, I will get this done. It is on my list of top three bucket list items to get accomplished in early 2011.

A few weeks ago I also thought of an idea to start up a professional looking charity based website where photographers (amateur and professional) would be able to upload their pictures to a site and sell their images online, and money would go directly to a charity of their choice (it would be limited to a number of charities available on the website).  It could get big too and eventually all different types of art, not just photography, could be sold with money going to charities.  The design and logistics of the website would be large and the cost to hire a webmaster and run everything would be pricey, but it’s something that’s been on my mind.  If anyone knows of a website designer or contacts of whom I could talk to discuss an estimate or even a ballpark range of how much something like this would cost to create, please let me know.  As far as money is concerned, I have the idea of creating a Kickstarter account to try and generate funds to get this started.  Even if you have ideas or think you’d be interested in helping in any way possible, email me.

I was interviewed by RateYourStudyAbroad.com back in July, but I completely forgot to post it on the blog.  A link to the interview can be found here.

About four or five months into my trip, with my hair growing long and my wallet growing thin, I decided to grow out my hair out until it was long enough to donate to Locks of Love. My hair grows fast and at 367 uncut-days strong I’m already looking at a mid-January cut!

Care to take the Polar Plunge and run into the freezing waters of Maryland with me on January 29, 2011? I started up a team a few days ago to help raise money for Special Olympics Maryland.  I need team members to join! If you’re interested in joining the team, all you have to do is raise a minimum of $50. Click here to sign-up.  If you want to make a quick and easy (no amount is too small) donation, click here.

To say the least, 2010 has changed me.  It’s worth saying that I’ve learned a lot about myself here and abroad.  I’m always hoping to better myself year in and year out, learning from experiences and mistakes that have challenged me over time.  With all this being said, I can only hope that you too will be there with me as I take in 2011.  Clear eyes. Full hearts.

Upcoming: Get a job and move out ASAP
Listening to: Jeff Buckley, Grace (one of the greatest albums ever)

A New Beginning

134 Meter Bungy Jump in Queenstown, NZ

Over 200 days and 7 countries later and this is what it has come down to…less than one week.

Whether you like it or not, you live in a fast pace world as a backpacker.  People come.  People go.  Memories are made and then they fade away as you anticipate the next phase of your trip.   Over time I’ve learned that making new friends from countries all over the world can be the highlight of a place rather than the destination and sights itself.  It’s the times I’ve spent with these people that I’ve learned to cherish the most.  Being out here and doing new things I thought were impossible with people I just met creates a unique bond where trust is made within minutes rather than years or even a lifetime.  A lot of the people you meet you’ll never see again, and for the most part that’s fine.  It’s a part of traveling.  Then there is that very small number of people you meet, perhaps you met them in the kitchen, your hostel room, or even when getting a random lift to the next town, but these are the people you’ll never forget.  These are the faces you hope to see again.   They are the ones when you show pictures to your friends and family that you’ll think back to that time or place and just smile and laugh about how simple and good life really is.   Then the ever burning question repeats over and over again in my head and I ask myself something that I can only hope for, will we meet again?

I’m sure it’s not a surprise to anyone, but my passion for traveling has skyrocketed ever since I started this trip.  Back in June while I was in Cairns, Australia, I did some thinking. A lot of thinking. Lots of writing and random thoughts were jotted down on a notepad, and then it hit me. I felt the need to do some public speaking to upcoming high school and college graduates about the importance of world traveling/studying/teaching.  I don’t think a lot of students know about or are educated about the possibilities abroad and the importance it can make on their life, but I’m hoping to change that in one way or another.  Public speaking is something that scares me, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.  At the moment, my idea of public speaking is just at the beginning stages.  Once I get home I hope to get some concrete brainstorming ideas down, make a draft presentation and go from there.  Any help or ideas on this would be much appreciated.

My love for photography has undoubtedly grown in 2010.  While I’m by no means a professional, I will continue to take pictures with hopes to improve my techniques and style.  I have brainstormed a future blog that will be dedicated to any new photos I take in the future.  Over time I think I can narrow my three favorite types of pictures to reflections, silhouettes and yes, clouds.  I’m still planning on selling a number of my photos in a show/party of some sort once I reach home.  100% of the proceeds will go to the charity, Doctors Without Borders.  As stated in an earlier blog post, I hope to reach my goal of $1000 in donations.  More details on this will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

The entirety of the trip can only be compared to a dream.  A lucid dream. Words can’t describe what I’m feeling right now.  Yes, I’m still the same Massoud who smiles a lot, has big teeth, tells the occasional good joke after several bad ones, but at the same time I’m much different than I was just 7 months ago. so bear with me if I have a hard time getting used to things at home.

I plan on writing one, maybe two more posts after this one.  It’ll be more or less of an update on how the transition home has been and any changes I have on my future plans. Before I forget, I wanted to thank anyone and everyone who helped me along the way.  To my sister for influencing me to do a trip beyond anything I could have imagined myself.  To my family for putting up with me through good times and bad.  To those who helped to try and find me a job in Sydney or just gave me advice. To the countless people who let me stay at their house, live in their tent or sleep in their car.  To old friends and new ones.  I couldn’t have done this without any of you.  From the bottom of my heart to yours, thank you.

With Love,
Massoud

Upcoming: San Franscisco, California in two days
Listening to: The waves of Waikiki, Hawaii

The North Island of New Zealand

Tongariro National Park

On the first of July I took a short three hour flight from Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand. My remaining flights leading me back to Washington, DC are booked, which means my month in New Zealand is more or less on a deadline.  While I’ll still have the freedom to pick up and leave a place at my own leisure, my list of places I want to visit and things I want to see has led me to create an organized timeline and be a little less spontaneous with choosing my whereabouts.

The winter weather here in New Zealand has been much more tame than I had originally expected.   I was expecting cold frigid temperatures and heaps of snow throughout the country, but in actuality it’s been the opposite.  Sunny days with short scattered showers and an occasional burst of high winds set the tempo during my two weeks in the North Island.

Hiking is called tramping in New Zealand.

The 19.4 km Tongariro Alpine Crossing has been listed in several local publications as the best one day hike in all of New Zealand.  A trek that starts with a hike through steep volcanic terrain, a number of lakes and ends with a walk through a lush green forest.  It sounded both doable and scenic, but there were two key factors that proved to be the biggest challenge in completing the crossing, wind and snow.  Doing the crossing in the winter isn’t recommended so an experienced guide can be hired, but at a cost of $130/per person.  There was no way I was going to pay that much for someone to walk with me for a day so I tried finding a mate to go with me for the following day.  Most people at the hostel were there to ski and snowboard, but after striking up some conversations with people over dinner I found someone who was interested.  Funny enough, they were from the US and went to school in Washington, DC at GWU.  The hike was closed to the public the last three days due to high winds, but the day we decided to go, the receptionist at the hostel said the weather improved enough for it to be safe to hike.  I don’t remember a whole lot from the Lord of the Rings, but the first hour and a half of walking on the flat terrain torwards the Tongariro Alpine Crossing seemed straight out of the movies.  During the next two hours of the hike, a change in elevation became our worst enemy and showed just how out of shape we really were. A dusting of snow soon covered our tracks and a short time later our grip on the path got bad enough that we had to put on our crampons.   Not even 10 minutes later hell froze over.  A heavy set of clouds came in from the north, covering the sun and dumping 90+ kph winds and snow.  It was my first taste of snow in a long time, and in July, nonetheless.  I knew it was bad when I saw dark clouds below us and not above us, but I figured we were almost at the point that we would be descending on the other side of the mountain so we pushed on.  I’m not sure how high we got or how far we had reached at that point, but the weather went from bad to worse and my crampon for my left shoe was now hanging by a string.   From time to time I would slide down one side of the rocks, but prevent myself from falling even further thanks to my properly fitted right crampon.  The paths were non-existent and the winds, wow the winds, they were down right brutal to the point where you could fall back and not hit the ground. My thin gloves I received from my moms friend’s house in Melbourne couldn’t hold out the cold air from the wind and snow so my fingers were starting to numb.  It wasn’t the easiest of calls because we thought we were close, but the decision was made, so we turned around.  It’s a bit hard to describe the entirety of the day through typing, but I’ve never been so scared in my entire life.  Even writing this right now has started to make my heart pump faster and faster.  I had just finished reading a book several days earlier about Bear Grylls (Man vs. Wild) and his successful summit of Mt. Everest.  Where we were cannot compare to Everest even on the smallest of scales, but the moment things got serious and I could start picturing scenes from the book, where people had to turn around from the summit, it made me feel like I was on Everest.  It was probably one of the dumbest things I had done on this trip because I felt completely unprepared in the snow, but with time it has become more of a learning experience for future hikes.  Seeing the sun again on the descent down to the car park put a big smile on my face.  Thankfully, we were alive!

I hate it when you wake up and you go to clean your eyes of the gross gunk that was created in just a few hours time, and when you remove that one big chunk it irritates your eyeball so you can’t help but shed a few tears.

For the duration of my time in New Zealand I’ve been taking buses to all of my destinations.  There are a number of services that travel to all parts of the country, which has made getting around quite easy.  I chose to use the NakedBus for my travel needs since it was one of the cheapest and more convenient options out there. Cheaper has proven not to always be the greatest choices. With the winter season in full force and not as many backpackers roaming around, there have been several times where I have been the only person on the bus. To cut to the chase, the bus service had some issues and forgot to pick me up for my trip to Wellington.  I was pissed, but had no other option than to stay another night at the hostel in the National Park.  Come to find out the hostel was already booked full.  Desperate, the guy was nice enough to help me out.  Since there was a climbing wall gym at the bottom of the hostel, he put a mattress on the floor and said I could sleep there for the night.  Cheers mate!

Tires in New Zealand and Australia are spelled, tyres.

Over the last few months a number of people have asked me how I’ve been able to fund this extended trip.   To put it in a nutshell I’ve worked two jobs for the better part of the last five years.  Long hours and hard work helped me save up for this once in a lifetime trip.  To make things work I took 25-30% out of each paycheck and placed it in my savings account.  Splitting my time living at home for a number of years and with cheaper than average priced accommodation with some friends for the better part of 2009 was a huge help in saving.  While it wasn’t something that was accomplished overnight, I can say that it’s something that anyone can do.  The amount of time it takes to raise money for a trip this size depends on a number of factors.  Where you want to go, the type of accommodation you choose, what you want to see, what you want to do, the length of your trip, your choice of transportation and so on.  The flight to your destination is going to be your biggest expense by a long shot, but from then on out it’s up to you on how your money is spent.  Staying at hostels instead of hotels, preparing your own meals instead of eating out at restaurants and taking slower modes of transportation such as a bus as opposed to a flight (in most cases) can stretch your dollar even further than one might think.  At home in the states I would go out to eat with friends or hit up the bars, but I was conscious of how I would spend my money.  I would constantly think, alright, I could get two beers at a bar or I could have accommodation for one night in a hostel.   The decision was easy at times, but of course you’ll have the nights where you’ll cave in and have a big night out.

I think knowing that I wanted to do this trip and having a goal of how much I wanted to save was key in getting me out here.  Even if you end up running out of money on your trip (as I have right now), you shouldn’t stop yourself from doing the things you want to do.   “Who knows if I’ll have the opportunity to do such a trip again?” is a common question I ask myself at times when I have no money.  Yes, I will be in debt when I get home, but who cares, I know it’s something that I know I can eventually get out of when I get back to the work life again.

As I stated before, I created this blog with the purpose of getting others inspired to hopefully do an extended trip of their own.  If anyone has any questions at all, even if extended traveling has skimmed through your mind for a split second, feel free to contact me.  I don’t care if you’re a complete stranger who I haven’t talked to in ages or someone I’ve never met, just ask me and I’ll do whatever I can to help.

Pictures during my two week visit to the North Island of New Zealand have been uploaded and can be found on the Photos page.

I’m currently in Nelson, which is in the northern part of the South Island.  Tomorrow I’ll leave for Abel Tasmen National Park to do some hiking and kayaking over three days.  The 13^th of this month marked the one-month countdown till I get home and I’m not quite sure what to make of everything just yet, but I have a lot of questions that need to be answered.  What will I do when I get home?  How long am I going to have to live at home before moving out again? Will my transition back home be easy? Hopefully by the time I write my next post I will make sense of these questions, but one thing is sure for the moment, home is right around the corner.

Listening to: This American Life Podcasts
Up Next: South Island of New Zealand for 20 days