If you’re one of those people that think that love is the answer to having complete and total happiness and satisfaction in life, then we would do anything to have it…right?
You’d think! But love isn’t that easy to find even if love is just down the street. What if you’re not even carrying the same passport? And when conflicts arise in a relationship, what happens then? But I get ahead of myself…plenty of time for relationship matters…compromises to endure and persevere, for better or for worse.
What I’m talking about is when you do find love and you have to pursue, and to orchestrate and facilitate and go way out of your way for love…those are the things we do for. 
I once took a 36 hour plane ride from Kathmandu, via stops in India and then to Moscow. There was a free breakfast at four in the morning, with big beefy and mean looking soldiers armed in the Moscow airport. Then a plane ride to Paris, a train ride to Grenoble and a taxi to an apartment in the banlieue. There, what I thought was love waiting for me, was a letter telling me to go away. I didn’t. The things we do for love.
In OVERLAND, Danny does the most incredible and maybe dim things for love. But in the end, it was all worth it!
Mark Stephen Levy published his novel Overland in 2009, a fictional account of an American stranded in Kabul, Afghanistan on December, 27, 1979 the day the Soviets invade.
The cyber global community is just that…a community not unlike a small town’s town square. Just that we are all scattered out there and all over. This Overland blog has been up since last September and the Overland website a month before that.
Here are some interesting statistics from the countries that has visited the Overland website since January 1st:
Countries Pages Hits
Unknown ip 581 899
Network net 342 1328
Commercial 328 916
Unknown local 124 124
Russia 51 51
Germany 34 34
India 30 128
Australia 11 50
Canada 9 49
Slovak Republic 8 28
Bulgaria 8 45
Belgium 7 26
Netherlands 7 27
Non-Profit 6 28
Indonesia 4 24
Seychelles 2 2
Colombia 2 2
Brazil 1 1
Fascinating! Like the medal count of an Olympics.
You Dear Readers are on the front end of what will become the truly global heartfelt story that is OVERLAND.
Mark Stephen Levy published his novel Overland in 2009, a fictional account of an American stranded in Kabul, Afghanistan on December, 27, 1979 the day the Soviets invade.
The last time I had fried chicken was almost five years ago after a night of debauchery and ultra-violence. I always wanted to say that ever since “A Clockwork Orange” became an instant classic. For the record, it wasn’t really debauchery and ultra-violence except what was imposed upon my system.
The greasy components draped within this chicken tasted absolutely delicious. “I was cured alright”. The ills that the night produced just seemed to go away after consuming that chicken, however I have not had fried chicken since. Our tastes change over time, maybe our bodies even dictate what’s good for us, and what’s not.
The food we eat effects how we are, and over time we have learned what food is good, and what is not. In OVERLAND, Danny spent so much time in a foreign land in the east that his tastes altered so much that couldn’t adapt back to western tastes:
He lifts one of the metal plate covers and underneath is a plate of fried chicken and mashed potatoes. He takes a bite of the chicken, and puts it down in disgust. The American food tastes strange as his pallet has completely converted to Eastern tastes. He covers up the food with the metal plate. He calls room service and orders lentil soup and rice as he is incapable of eating what they provided for him. There isn’t any lentil soup but there is chicken noodle. It will have to do. While waiting for room service, he turns on the TV, and happens to catch a news story about himself, and his arrival in Paris. The story is a watery over-glamorized version of what he really lived.
We change with the times, sometimes because we want to, sometimes because we have to. Survival. That’s what it’s all about. See how Danny survives his trials and tribulations in OVERLAND.
Mark Stephen Levy recently published his novel Overland, a fictional account of an American stranded in Kabul, Afghanistan on December, 27, 1979
Being a long term traveler means one thing: the more time spent on the road means the more encounters and experiences you will have. Most will be pleasant, amazing, and memorable. But some could be real painful. These are the memories that somehow become the most unforgettable…and not meant to be in a bad way: just more profound and life transforming. And when you come out of it to the other side of it, you become free from the pain and hurt and life begins anew. And I don’t mean physical pain, although the third world can pack a punch with some serious intestinal issues.
I’m talking about mental and spiritual growth…these are the growing pains one experiences being on the road for any length of time: Loneliness. Alienation. Estrangement. Isolation. Remoteness. Seclusion. Detachment.
Awesome! Highly recommended. The rest of your life will be so much more rewarding because you will remember where you came from.
When you read OVERLAND, you will see how Danny’s character growth evolves during his lengthy adventures.
And so will yours and if it hurts along the way, it’s probably worth it.
Mark Stephen Levy recently published his novel Overland, a fictional account of an American stranded in Kabul, Afghanistan on December, 27, 1979
…for life to change. It could be anything, a frozen moment in time that alters your life forever. An observance, an experience, something that you will remember forever because it changed everything you had thought you knew. For me it was entering the Middle East for the first time. Hearing the call of the Muezzin, the man that calls all of Islam to pray five times a day, and is called over a loud speaker so all can hear, is an eerie one. It is a compelling sound. It is a spiritual sound. It was my wake up call.
Instantly I was drawn to the sound while having my “I was not in Kansas anymore” moment. And something I will never forget. It was a cue for me to realize all we knew back in the homeland of the west, was not this. It was my cultural wake up call, and I liked it! 
A few blog posts ago, I wrote that “we are what we write”. There were many travelers’ moments I recalled when writing OVERLAND. This was a forceful one. I had crossed from the South of Spain through the Straits of Gibraltar, a 45 minute ferry boat ride to the northern tip of Africa in a country called Morocco. Tangiers is the gateway city in Morocco where one can experience a cultural quantum shift faster than a winter sunset. It was my first moments in the Middle East. Within minutes and without any prior awareness and expectations, the supernatural sounds of the call to prayer radiated throughout and I was transformed forever.
Danny had the same experience in OVERLAND when entering Istanbul, Turkey. When he heard the call for the first time, everything stopped. He shifted his head a little, and was never going to be the same again. What it did do, was allow for him to experience and embrace all that he was going to live and experience that followed this moment. He embraced it, all of it, and made him a much better man along the way.
What was your wake up call, your “I’m not in Kansas anymore moment?
Mark Stephen Levy recently published his novel Overland, a fictional account of an American stranded in Kabul, Afghanistan December, 27, 1979
