Editor's Note: The course directors give Joe an A+. It was an absolute pleasure to travel with him throughout our time in Cambodia and Bali. We will surely miss him over the last stretch of our trip. However, we will enjoy the extra sleep...
Here's Joe:
Things I've learned and things I have not.
This trip has been more than simply an experience - it's been a crash course in third world travel. With Dr's Lewis as course directors, here's my grades on the various final exams.
Wet wipes management C-: Only took me three packages to understand the fact that these little blessings are meant to be accessed in a resealable manner, rather than torn open in moments of desperation. The fact that I brought my own package saved my grade here.
Haggling, bartering, and just saying no B+: I made great strides in this area. While over-solicitation thickened my consuming skin, grossly over paying for ubiquitous trinkets taught me there's always a lower price. Sometimes it takes walking away to find out how low that may be.
Water regulation D: Considering I did not stop sweating the entire trip, an IV drip would have been preferable to the 2:1 beer to water ratio I maintained. Also, using the sink water to rinse my toothbrush probably had something to do with my abdominal pains.
Avoiding certain death A-: Risk mitigation was fairly solid. Outside of buying our taxi driver beers, things were generally on the safe side across the board. Sometimes redirection was necessary (ie Marta shooting down Drew and my trip from Ubud to Kuta, or Drew questioning the sobriety of the motorbike driver I was boarding to the beach party), but that's what friends are for, right?
Final grade for the course: Pass. Only failing on the risk avoidance exam would have resulted in a certain failure.
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