Chronicles Of The Return

I lived in San Antonio most of my life, not counting the three muggy years in Houston while studying at the University of Houston, but consider Austin, Texas home now.

Oh yeah, and there was that one year I was an English teacher in Seoul, South Korea, not to mention time spent in Istanbul, a city I miss more and more each day.

Between then and now I worked for Morgan Stanley in asset management for 11 years and in sales for Solar Winds software, based out of Austin for a year and then was shipped off to Singapore. Now there is a story.

But I finally managed to escape corporate America and am wandering the globe for the next several months, making my way home slowly. There are only two rules to the trip: no flying (only surface transport, i.e. bus, train, car, feet and boat) and I must see penguins in the Tierra Del Feugo or Antarctica at some point.

In the meantime I’ll be heading to India at some point, then Pakistan and hopefully Afghanistan. After that I’ll be going through the Middle East and hope to give Northern Iraq a try at some point, and then Syria, the Palestinian Territories, Israel and Saudi Arabia. But that’s a long way off.

I’ve been a travel writer, former radio host, and before that, as I already mentioned, an asset manager for a Wall Street investment bank that is still (barely) alive. As previously mentioned I recently left a fantastic job in Singapore working to travel the world for a year.

I founded The Agonist, in 2002, which is still considered the top international affairs, culture and news destination for progressives. I am also the Global Correspondent for The Young Turks, on satellite radio and Air America.

I’ve traveled in more than 43 countries including Iran, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, China, Nepal and India. You can read some of my travel writing on Iran, here.

I blogged the aftermath of the unrest in Oaxaca, Mexico and wrote about it for the San Antonio Express-News.

In early January 2007, I traveled to Ethiopia, on a fact finding mission aimed at a better understanding of the issues facing Eritrea, the UN Border Mission and the Ethio-Eritrean proxy war in Somalia.

I’m currently completing a book on the Silk Road. You can read my travel-blogging at The Agonist, which is updated regularly, or here at seanpaulkelley.com, Taking The Long Road Home, a chronicle of my (mis)adventures as I slowly return home to America.