We really are only a few seconds away from anywhere in the world!

“Check out this sweet early ‘70s van I’ll be buying next week in New Zealand,” my friend Jordan told me while in Chile. You see, my friend Jordan is traveling around the world. Seeing a window of opportunity to accomplish one of his many life goals Jordan decided to leave his job at Google in London, where he had been transferred six months prior from New York. He and his girlfriend had decided to book an Around the World ticket taking them from Florida to China by route of Latin and South America, over to New Zealand and Australia, up through Southeast Asia into China then?????? Who knows? With the Around the World program you purchase travel destinations, not travel dates, and have one year to travel to these destinations. So when Jordan called me from London to tell me his latest adventure I figured, “well I’ll talk to you in a year. You have my info get a hold of me when you’re at a stopping point.” However I believe I have corresponded and been updated with Jordan more since he has traveled through Latin and South America as I have when he was living in New York and London combined.

Ironically enough it is Google that has been primarily keeping us in contact. Through Gmail and Google’s chat feature we can talk and share files no matter where he is as long as he has an internet connection or cell coverage. In the instance of the van, Jordan sent me the link to the ad where he found the van in New Zealand. I was updated the next day when he was robbed by the police, chatted with him while hiking in Patagonia, and received pictures from the top of Machu Picchu. I can also send him updates from what is going on here; music, pictures, stories, etc. I believe that helps with any of the home sickness that might be felt. But we all know how this works, the internet connects everyone to everyone no matter where in the world, it might be the only thing constant around the world. But my inquisitive mind had some other questions for Jordan and those questions also sparked interest for my own research.

I noticed that I was talking with Jordan not just in large cities like Buenos Ares, but also in small towns throughout his trip. When I asked if his hostels all had computers he was using he said yes, but most of these areas, even the small towns, have internet cafes. Internet cafes are nothing new, but in the last five to ten years bandwidth costs, even in rural areas have decreased so dramatically it allows for areas to establish connection to the Interweb for the citizens. When I asked Jordan if it was only tourists and business people in these cafes, he responded “I wish.” Apparently bandwidth is inexpensive however cost of the computer to access the world is still an issue in most of the areas he has been. So the cafes are filled with locals downloading music, movies, watching viral videos, etc. Jordan has said it can be a bit distracting when he is trying to write his blog and update everyone and the 13 yr old kid next to him is loudly singing Miley Cyrus (can’t escape it anywhere). While none of this is breaking news of what is available I found it interesting that someone can backpack around the world and not have a day go by where he is not updated from home and is not updating people at home of what is going on. We really are only a few seconds away from anywhere in the world.

If you would like to catch up on Jordan's travels and follow the rest of the trip visit his blog....
http://ilivevicariouslythrume.blogspot.com/

This was Michael Martin's latest conversation with Bill