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Thursday, April 26, 2012

Bogota!

I made it alive and in one piece to Bogota! I had a few dramas with boarding my flight because they FORCED me to purchase a return flight back to America even though I had no idea when I was coming back. I found out only later that Colombia MAY check for a return flight but it is not REQUIRED like my stupid airline forced me to believe. Well luckily I was able to cancel the return half and get my money back.  Other than that, nothing too major happened and the security process both at home and in Colombia was a breeze in both countries the security people were nice and friendly. When I got to customs in Colombia I got a very friendly and heartfelt  "Welcome to Colombia Sir" and not just a "Next in line!".

I look forward to seeing more of my friends here and making new ones. Everyone is so friendly here thus far and my friend is so nice for hosting me. Soon I will be working and everything will be well in the world. I am hoping to have my own place and steady job hours very soon. So far so good in my new country :) Soon I will be writing a "newcomers" blog post about my experiences here. One last thing, I am raving about how great Colombia is, and it is... but, there is still dangers of course. It is not the safest country in the world but, as long as you are smart and don't do anything stupid, generally speaking you will be alright. Bad things can happen to good people anywhere! I got pick pocketed in Buenas Aires but never (So far knock on wood) in Colombia. Basically I am saying that you should NOT believe everything you read/hear about Colombia and you should give this wonderful country (and people) a chance but, you also need to be smart...

That's all for now, til next time-Tyler

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Tom Petty and The Beavers

I know, I know it is Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers but I went with my dad and uncle and cousin to wage war on some beavers this past weekend. More on that later, first I want to tell you about the best concert of my life! I bought two tickets to see Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers when I was in Thailand. I have always dreamed of seeing him my whole life and I knew if I didn't see him now I might never get the chance. So I jumped on the chance even though the tickets were expensive it was so worth it! This concert was not even in Texas, it was in Arkansas so we had to drive 700 miles round trip just to go. It was worth every mile though! Tom (and The Heartbreakers) put on an amazing show! I got see a band that I have literally grown up on, my dad was having me listen to Tom Petty from the time I was just knee high. I knew every word to almost every song and so did the most of the rest of the audience. It was a sold out crowd of 15 or 20 thousand and everyone was into it!

The best part of the whole deal is I got to go and spend time with my dear old dad and I know that when he is 80 years old and when I am 80 years old we will both look back on our lives and remember what a great time we had at that concert. It was so amazing when Tom would just be silent and let the audience sing part of the songs. He is 61 or 62 years old but he looked and acted like he was 32! He feeds off the energy of the crowd and is always so relaxed (I bet its because I highly doubt it was cigarettes that we saw him smoking haha) You would think that all that smoking would tear up his voice but after 40 years of hard living and touring I highly doubt he is going to change now lol. He was such a great showman and has an amazing band to back him up. After 35+ years together they are just so in sync with each other.

My only complaints are that I didn't spend more money to get floor tickets, they didn't face any kind of big TV screen towards our section (though we were close enough to see him pretty well) and leaving the concert it took us like 45 minutes to find a taxi! I did get myself an awesome shirt though :) So overall I had an amazing time and I am going to put a little clip on here uploaded from another concert goer so yall can get a little taste of this. Oh ya, one other thing I will never forget, Most people these days don't have real lighters anymore to bring to concerts but it was amazing to look out and see all the iphones waving and glowing in the dark haha.


Friday, April 20, 2012

Bogota in less than a week!

In less than a week I will be in Bogota Colombia starting my new adventure! I am excited to be living in a new place, at a new job and having new experiences with new people. People often wonder how I can so easily start over in a new place knowing no one and having nothing. Well my answer is, usually I have SOME connections there (at least one person) and I don't own much of anything so it's not like a huge move for me. I enjoy the new experiences in new places. I do have a few specific goals for my time in Bogota. I want to learn Spanish fluently and correctly so that I can be as knowledgeable as possible in Spanish, I think that is just a great life skill to have, especially being from Texas. I also want to try something new whether it be learning to dance or play an instrument just try something new. Also, of course I want to travel and get to know as much of Colombia as possible. My time in Texas has gone quickly! I have loved being with family and friends and I am actually glad I chose to come home for this short time but now it is time to move onto my next adventure :)

You know, I believe your life is just a sum of your experiences and memories. When someone dies I am sure as they near death they look back on their entire life and remember everything that made their life, "life". Some people have great memories and experiences, some people have bad memories and experiences and I am sure that some people are unsatisfied with their lives at the end, wishing they had or did more or something different. I am just happy to say that I am happy. I am pleased with my life and how lucky I have been to see and do the things that I have thus far. I look forward to many more years of memories and experiences but, were I to die tomorrow I would still be a happy man. I have great family and friends from all over the world and I am not lacking too much ya know? My life certainly is not perfect and never will be but it is pretty good really. Not everyone has the luxury to say that.

Today I am going with my day to Arkansas to see Tom Petty. It has been a life long dream of mine to see him. I have seen Paul McCartney,Eric Clapton,Steely Dan and a few others of the classic rock era so Tom is really one of the last real great ones for me.  I saw they had tickets for sale and they were not cheap and his Texas shows were sold out but this will be so worth it! Also, last night I saw a film called "Compliance" at the Dallas International Film Festival. It was a really good film about what happens when people blindly comply with authority without question. I don't want to give too much away but it was based off what happened in 2004 in Kentucky at a McDonald's with someone pretending to be an officer of the law.

Well this is all I have really. Wish me luck and yall take care,Tyler

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Just a little update

Hey yall just wanted to let you know that I have my own website now! I am now hosting my blog on www.travelingwithtyler.com  (if you have my old Google blogspot link it will redirect) so you wont really have to change anything if you read my blog but I just thought I would let those who are interested know anyway. In the near future I want to try and increase my blog content/viewership so this is just the first step. Thanks alot yall take care,Tyler

Monday, April 02, 2012

Adjusting to home

Well I have been home a few days now and am slowly readjusting to Texas time zone and food. Those are always the biggest hurdles for me. After six months of eating rice and noodles almost everyday my stomach is just not used to this American diet again. It is amazing how adaptive your stomach is and how hard it is to go back to "normal" American food. In Thailand their food is so fresh and natural because they shop at daily open air markets and not traditional grocery stores so they don't have any prepackaged or shot up with hormones or chemical additives. But, back in America like it or not most of our food is shipped to grocery stores,prepackaged, shot up with hormones and chemical additives :( Thailand is also 12/13 hours ahead of Texas so right now my body is still "in the future" so to speak.

All has not been bad though! I have gotten to see my family and soon for Easter holidays I will go down and see the rest of my extended family which is good. I have slowly but surely been visiting my friends with the time I have left here in Texas until I leave on April 26th. I still have more people to see and more things to do. Lots more to eat once my stomach gets better but, I am getting there! My family is generally same same as they say in Thailand. But, no news is good news right? My brother is growing like a weed and almost out of high school! Of course the town I grew up in is ever changing now but generally things are pretty much the same.

I do miss Thailand though. I miss the people and the culture. I miss my friends and Noong especially. I miss the care free life style and not being told what I can and can't do and treated like an adult with common sense and not a child. I miss driving my motorbike as fast as I wanted, any way I wanted. I miss the great food culture and eating things people would never touch over here! I miss the great weather and I miss my beach friends. I also miss my kids at school who sometimes drove me nuts but overall were great kids. I really do look forward to my next adventure in Colombia but I will miss many things about Thailand and certainly do cherish my learning experiences of living and working there.

As they say in Thai, râm laa or in English, goodbye til next time. -Tyler