To sum up the last year in a few words it goes something like this: rally race, adventure, travel, love, Los angeles, work, street art….. and now yet again packing for another world wind adventure.

I will be embarking on another world tour in 5 days. I will be starting in a place that i have always wanted to visit….. ICELAND!

I will do my best to update this site often, but also check out my street art blog where i will probably be doing the most updates on www.iamswift.com

Hope you’re well!

ShareThis

So after spending 3 weeks hiding out in my small little apartment in the old Jewish ghetto of Kazimierz, I decided to skip town for a bit and find some better weather. I trip to Moscow to see my girlfriend was the perfect answer. I spent 3 weeks in Moscow spending time with her and checking out Moscow (which I’m not a fan of), but after spending 3 weeks in Moscow all the things I needed to do before the race were starting to pile up. Back to Krakow I went to finish my never-ending to-do-list. It’s been 3 weeks since then and I can finally say that most of the stuff is done and for the most part I’m ready other then finishing the paint on the car and getting some spare parts and extra tires.

I am now heading back over to Moscow for a week before I leave for the race. We leave Krakow on July 25^th for destinations unknown. The goal is to make it around the Black Sea, but I just realized I have spent more money on spray paint then I did for the car… so if this baby makes it 200km I will be amazed. Here are some photos from the last 2 months.  SORRY for the really lame update, i just can’t pull it together to write anything worth reading:-)

[Show as slideshow]

[Show as slideshow]

ShareThis

Having just spend the last 6 months living in India it was a bit of culture shock when i touched down here on thursday evening to freezing cold (8 degree) fresh clean irish skies.

I stepped off the place not only looking like an indian slum dog, but smelling like one too. It’s true you smell like what you eat. Spending the last 6 months eating curry, i now stink like rotten leftover indian take out.

First thing i did when i made it to Conor’s place was take a long long HOT shower to wash off the last 6 months. It’s sometimes strange how you can take the little things in life for granted. The feeling of hot water running down my back was purely magical, the feeling of laying in a soft bed with clean soft white sheets was something legends dream of.

Going out into town was a bit overwhelming. People all dressed up moving about in a busy city pace made me feel like i have been living in a cave wearing rags. I sort of felt like Tom Hanks from the movie cast away. Instead of being stranded on a remote island talking to a volleyball, i have been living on a beach talking to crows, monkeys and any other animal that would listen to my random thoughts/ideas.

It’s now been 3 days and i am starting to get used to being back into the western world, but before i can get too comfortable it’s now time to push on. I leave for Poland in a few hours. I will be spending the summer in Krakow Poland….. more on that later…. time to catch my flight!

[Show as slideshow]

ShareThis

I’m looking forward to going to a print shop and having the order come out right and on time, I’m looking forward to having someone tell me they are going to do something and they actually do it! I’m looking forward to ordering food and getting what I ordered.  But most importantly I’m looking forward to something new, something challenging and something that’s rewarding.

But India wasn’t all bad and negative, during the last 6 months I have spent a lot of time really enjoying the outdoors with friends. I think the problem was trying to mix business and pleasure.

Anytime you leave a place there is always things you will miss and not miss. Here is my list:

What i won’t miss

- power cuts

- water cuts

- internet cuts (i pay $70 for “high-speed internet which works 40% of the time, and if its high-speed then i can walk on water and have 3 dicks!)

- indian drivers

- indian drivers that love to flash their high beams at you to almost make you crash

- indian drivers that drive with no lights at night because they think its better on gas

- driving on the wrong side of the road

- road hazards including: cows, water buffalos, sleeping dogs, dogs humping, people, people sleeping in the road, monkeys, chickens, pigs, the one legged guy down the street and the guy with no legs on the skateboard

- ants in my bed, ants in my food and ants in my pants

- coconuts falling

- crows

- mosquitoes

- the humidity

- fire crackers

- indian food (for a bit)

- hindi music that my neighbors blast at all hours

- the fact that the maximum you can withdraw from the atm is $200

- indian tv

- indian cell networks

- headphone parties

What i will miss

- indian food including: chicken tikka masala, cheese naan, seafood biryani, seafood fried rice

- fresh calamari at turtle beach

- anything cooked at dropadi

- my black enfield

- random motorbike rides into the jungle

- the beach

- the sun

- frisbee (getting pretty good after 6 months)

- old monk

- karan & Jess

- Coffee (not the drink, the dog)

- Loveheart (although loveheart is dead, so i guess i would miss him anyways)

- Rocky

- coconut & pineapple boys

- my monkeys

- my roof

- my hammock

- the ocean breeze

- coconut man

- gosh the beach guru that lives in a cave

- watching the trains go over the bridge near my house

- my maid

- the fat cow down the street that i call big girl (which looks like the actor Michael Clarke Duncan if he was a female cow)

- and probably the most important…. the pure beauty of this place!

ShareThis

Here is My 2010 proposed country list:

Ireland
Poland
Sweden
Spain
Portugal
England
Ukraine
Russia
Georgia
Turkey
Bulgaria
Romania
Hungary
Slovakia
Austria
Czech Republic
Germany
USA
Columbia
Venezuela
Ecuador
Panama
Costa Rica
Nicaragua
Cuba
Brazil

ShareThis

Also I’m finding that the Indian food as much as I love it is packed full of things that make you fat and gives you zero energy. After eating you barley have enough energy to find a good shady spot to lay your head for the much needed mid day nap. I sort of feel like a bear that’s hibernating from the winter, although I’m doing it in a steamy jungle rather then a cold dark cave.

Also dealing with everything Indian in terms of “trying” to start a business or work in India is proving the most life draining/maybe someday rewarding experience of my life. I have run multi million dollar projects with less stress then one week of work here. For me the biggest problem is nothing ever really gets finished or at least finished in any way close to what you set out for. Time seems to stand still; things just take forever and for no reason at all. Trying to figure out why is even more challenging, something that has sent the world’s brightest minds to metal institutions for trying to understand the ways of India.

I come from a world where pride, honor and your word mean a lot. People here will make promises with no intention to actually follow through they just say it because they think that’s what we want to hear. I mean they “try” to do what they say but it seems they have not a care in the world if they promise you something and never deliver. They even go as far to say 100% tomorrow, but all tomorrow brings in 100% let down! In every country I have ever been to if this happens they will do their best to explain why it didn’t happen, but here there’s no explanation its just normal. But I’m not trying to sit here and say why this country is better of worse then others… I am just trying to paint the real picture of how “I” feel India is as a functioning country.

Other foreigners here would think I’m crazy for saying this but they are looking at it from a touristy vacation spot, which of course you avoid all this stuff when sitting on the beach with not a care in the world. But living and working here is another story, so maybe I need to start looking at this place the same way I did 5 years ago when I fell in love with it. A place that’s full of color, life and a place where truly nothing makes sense to our foreign eyes and while the rest of the world continues to become the same, India will push on into the future as this wonderful crazy country that’s says NO to logic, NO to reason, NO to time…. But yes to being 100% different!

ShareThis

The Sidecar Rally is taking shape… slowly but surly. I feel that the watches here in India have extra gears in them to make things seem to take years to get anything done! I am hoping to have the first race March 28th leaving from Goa with who knows how many people… it might just be me and my pet dog Loveheart.

I have finally sorted out my house. I have a maid/cook/comic that comes everyday to bring me grief and laughter. She likes to drive me crazy always asking what she can do and talks and talks but in a language I don’t understand. She sort of babbles on and on and I just say, “yes yes”.  She has planted me a garden with something in it, im not sure what it is… but it’s growing. She’s also teaching me to cook, which is kind of rough since I can’t really understand much of what she says. But that said it’s nice having her around, we make a good team. I even help her fish a dead crow out of my well.

The monkeys and crows are getting bolder and are moving in closer and closer each day. The other day I woke up to a monkey sitting on my motorcycle. The crows better watch out because in a few days I going to head into town and get some sort of gun, most likely only an air rifle… but I’ll take something bigger if they’ll give it to me.

I’m used to writing about traveling and taking photos, but right now I’m not doing either. I picked up my camera yesterday for the first time in a while. I will be heading to northern India next week for business so I might bring it to document the trip.

Here are some photos of the two things that are on my mind the most…love&sidecars!

[Show as slideshow]

ShareThis

I started the 2000’s as a 21 year old boy fresh into the world without a passport and unaware of the world that surrounded me. I now find myself 10 years older and have been fortunate enough to have visited over 100 different countries and now have friends in almost every city in the world.

I’m not sure where I will be in 2020, but wherever it is I’m sure it will be great. Life is one amazing journey and I’m enjoying the ride!

I wish you all a Happy New Year….. 2010 is going to be one… awesome year!

Here are a few photos from New Years and also some photos from the ealry days of the Sidecar Rally!

[Show as slideshow]

[Show as slideshow]

ShareThis

Here are some pictures of my new house in Goa. I am in the process of building a bamboo hut on the roof that will act as my office and party place. I am finding that getting workers to actually work here in India is like pulling teeth! Hopefully this will be done before 2020!

[Show as slideshow]

ShareThis

I never thought living in India would become such an adventure and so rewarding!

The last month has flown by leaving me thinking at this rate life is going to be over fast… but i wouldn’t change this moment, this place or anything else for the world!

A friend of mine comment on my facebook saying that she believes i am living in some Motel 6 in Cleveland and stealing photos from the internet! Growing up i would have never ever guessed my life would become interesting enough for people to think i was lying or faking it…. i guess that’s a good thing. Life is good and i am 100% enjoying it…. this is my reality take it or leave it.

I have been focusing a lot of my time here on the future and success of my new project/company here in India. The Sidecar Rally is taking shape nicely. I am in the process of building/pimping the Sidecar Rally house/headquarters where i will live/work. I have also been finalizing the deals for all the Motorcycles and Sidecars, along with setting up meetings with the charities that we will be raising money for, also the small stuff like: making a website, flyers, logos, business legal stuff, bank accounts, insurance, painting the motorcycles, picking the routes, researching the routes, promotion, marketing, meeting with sponsors and the most important thing… learning how to work here in this crazy place called “India”!

The future has never looked so good! I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be one…. AWESOME year!

Here is a “Before” panoramic view from my roof top. After photos to come!

ShareThis