February 24, 2010
Wow, I am stunned at the response to my entry for Nomadic Matt and GAP Travel’s Costa Rica contest. After languishing in 7th and 8th place for a day, my friends on Facebook got busy and started spreading the word high and low. I think I’ve kind of gone micro-viral, (I just made that term up and want credit if it catches on) with dozens of people I’ve never met cheering me on and helping out. It is an amazing and heartening thing, and I am soooo grateful!
I’ll wrestle a monkey if I win — preferably a small, toothless one.
There has been significant cost to my pride, however. I have resorted to groveling, begging, and pleading — I’ve even offered to wrestle a monkey if I win. My friend Floyd has been enticing his buddies to vote by declaring that I am a “dirty hippie” and that he wants me out of country longer so that I don’t offset his vote come election day. The joke is on him because I’m allergic to patchouli and showered today.
My friend Lexi took a different angle: she posted that I was a raging drunk and needed to go to Cost Rica to “dry out”. This is completely false: I plan on getting hammered when I get there. When that didn’t get much of a response, she tried the sympathy angle claiming that my pet gerbil died and I wanted to bury his ashes in the mountains there. I think Twinkie will very happy in Costa Rica. *sniffle*
Thanks again for all the support and if you haven’t voted yet, please do (I’m #8)!
February 22, 2010
A few weeks I entered to win a two week trip to Costa Rica in a contest sponsored by Nomadic Matt and GAP Adventures. Voting has finally begun and my entry made it to the final round! Please hop over to Matt’s site and vote for me if you think I’ve made a good argument for winning the big prize. There are 15 finalists and I’m #8 on the list.
I noticed that one of the contestants promised in her entry that she would keep her clothes on. I, too, would like to reassure everyone that I will remain fully-clothed throughout the trip. Unless there is drinking involved, then the pants are a maybe at best…
There is also a very good chance that if I go, I will be attacked by a monkey. I’ll take photos.
Thanks for your support!
My entry: On Winning a Free Trip to Costa Rica: Making My Case for Inadequacy
Contest link: Vote here
February 15, 2010
The website continues to grow faster than I ever expected! Louise at TravelPod’s TravelBlogSites emailed me last week to let me know that JohnnyVagabond.com had made the top 100. Not only did we make the list, we debuted at #65 — I am well and truly flummoxed.
I have no idea how this happened but I am extremely happy and grateful that it did. And because Louise is so awesome, she even wrote a nice profile post for the blog, going so far as to suggest in the photo caption that I have “conquered the world.” The truth is that I can’t conquer my sock drawer, let alone the world — I can only guess that before writing the post, she’d started sampling that case of wine I sent as a bribe. (I’m kidding, of course. It was vodka.)
All the support and positive feedback has really helped me breeze past those “what the hell am I doing?” moments with ease.
I’d like to take this moment to thank everyone who reads this for all the help and support I’ve received since launching this site just a couple of months ago. The response has been amazing — I have invites to visit new friends in half a dozen countries and have been given travel advice by dozens more. All the support and positive feedback has really helped me breeze past those “what the hell am I doing?” moments with ease. Thank you all so much.
That said, with only two weeks left until my departure, I will now return to my previously-scheduled freakout.
Happy Travels,
Wes
Looking through my old photos is really making me antsy to get out in the world and capture some more. In the meantime, here are a few I had at hand. Click on the image for a full-size view.
Haircut by the Ganges
Picture 1 of 6
Preparing for the Shiva Festival in Varanasi, India -- all of the barbers were kept busy.
