Trip Details

Without further ado, here's the itinerary in all it's glory:
 
March 9: leave Austin for Sydney (connects through Los Angeles, and arrives in Sydney March 11)
March 22: leave Sydeny for Tokyo
March 29: leave Tokyo for Bangkok
April 4: leave Bangkok for London (time "spent" in London will also include Amsterdam and Brussels)
April 17: leave London for Cairo (also includes Athens)
April 24: leave Athens for Budapest (also includes Prague & Vienna)
May 2: leave Budapest for Austin (connects through Frankfurt & DFW)  

As for the logistical considerations, I don't have a GSM phone, so unless an extreme emergency were to occur (like the local pub running out of Chimay), I have no plans to use my phone. Instead, I'll be available live through Skype (my handle is marc_sell) and Gchat (gmail address is marc.sell17@gmail.com). Of course, you can always email me and I'll get back to you (you can also leave comments on this site). I have a netbook, so I'm hoping to give updates fairly regularly, or at least until I'm mugged.

My hope is that this trip is fairly eventful -- strange shit tends to mysteriously happen to me when I travel overseas (see: Bogota, Bahamas), and I'm hoping that the same holds true during this trip. My singular goal is to keep this site as entertaining as possible for my flock.  There probably won't be too many updates discussing a museum's marvels.  I'll try to give you more of a feel of the culture.  That being said, my frame of reference is not that of a seasoned international traveler, but rather more of a toddler experiencing snow for the first time.
 

Finally, I was asked a really interesting question a couple of days ago: "What city are you most excited about?" As I sit on a plane bound for LA, I gotta say that right now my top three (in order) are:

Tokyo: Flying Robots!! Flying Robots!!
Sydney: music festival + beach
Cairo: threat of death + sand castles