He just kept going

By D. Daniels, Globe Staff, 02/10/02

		Destinations  Travel gear  Student travel  Sensible traveler

Peter Kurze wasn't initially planning to travel for 15 months. He had been living in Tokyo managing a trade association (and saving money), when he decided to take time off before returning to his parents' home in Middletown, R.I. He wanted to go trekking in Nepal, and, well, India was right there, and then there were the Olympics in Sydney. And so the list kept growing.

In November, he returned home from a trip that took him to 30 countries. (For the curious: Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, France, Belgium, Holland, Iceland, Vatican City, and the tiny Republic of San Marino.)

Travel "is in my blood. Every three years an alarm goes off, and I get jittery," says Kurze, 37, the son of a diplomat in the foreign service. He was born in Nepal, grew up in India, and his parents and brothers and sister all speak English, French, German, and then some.

The bulk of his transportation was on a round-the-world

ticket with United's Star Alliance network. His $4,100 pass was for 39,000 miles, to be completed within a year. He stopped at 38,700. His final three months, in Europe, were mostly with family and friends. In the end, he spent about $30,000.

Kurze, who has international studies degrees from American University and Johns Hopkins, wanted to focus on his love of the outdoors and his attraction to historical and religious sites.

He started with a three-week trek in Nepal, to the Annapurna region. "It wasn't just the mountain scenery but the villages along the way that made it so nice."

He hiked to many mountaintops, especially for sunrise. His most memorable include Mount Bromo in Indonesia, from where you can see volcanoes spouting smoke; Mount Sinai in Egypt; and Adams Peak in Sri Lanka.

In New Zealand, Kurze helicoptered over Mount Cook, the country's highest peak at 12,349 feet, and the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, and later hiked up Franz Josef. Another amazing flight was in a small plane in Nepal from the Katmandu Valley along the Himalayas to Mount Everest.

Kurze also sought out religious shrines and spots, such as Hindu temples and Muslim places of worship.

"People always ask me, `What was your favorite place?' My most memorable was the Golden Temple," the holiest Sikh shrine, in Amritsar, India. "It was the most spiritual place I visited on the trip." He spent almost three months in India in several intervals and finds it "fascinating but difficult to travel in. You're bargaining the whole time."

As keepsakes, he collected wood carvings, mostly masks, and took 5,500 photos (155 rolls), which he sorted and put into 12 albums after returning home. He would frequently mail carvings, photos, and country guides (the "Lonely Planet" series) back to Rhode Island to keep his load light.

For now, he's working on his travel journal, which he's considering turning into a book, and deciding whether to move abroad again or stay put. At least until his alarm clock goes off again.

Send suggestions for "Where they went" to ddaniel@globe.com.