What a Journey ! Enjoyed reading your adventures. I was particularly interested in knowing how your travels changed you. It looks like traveling enriched your life experience immensely, but my question is, did it make you a better person ? You've grown to be more confident, assertive and learned to stand up for yourself, but traveling also made you less caring and indifferent. Reading other travelers blogs, this seems to be the emerging pattern. Bad experiences through traveling toughen and harden one's soul.
What a profoundly reflective summation of your incredible journeys... I note that there are still some large empty spaces on your Journey so far map...China, Mongolia, Russia, etc. so we all expect to hear more from you if settleing down, getting married, getting a mortgage, etc doesn't work out....but I hope it does work out; but with a balance between work and travel. I never did figure out how you could afford to be on the road for so long.
Simply Awesome :) There are so many lines in your blog that I wanted to pull out and comment on so I read the entire thing twice and all I can say is thank you. Your blog is almost..naked..in a literary sense, thanks for letting us inside your head and seeing where you have come from and where you are going, where ever that may be. The honesty in this blog is beautiful, and im really glad you never shat yourself...gotta keep the Aussie reputation intact. Welcome home Drew.
I cannot believe that it is over.... What a fantastic finale to a series of remarkable journeys. You are one of the true adventurers of Travelblog - someone who dares to take the path less travelled (both in terms of destinations and travel style) and is not deterred by uncertainty or difficulty. It has been a pleasure to read your blogs and I sincerely hope that there are further travels in the future.
Thanks Travel Camel I guess now I have time to get jealous of everyone else on this blog traveling. Actually I still did when some good blogs came out. Maybe it will motivate me to get back out there. Will see. Thanks for the comments of the past few years. It was appreciated.
I got a little nervous when you said people aren't usually too welcoming to solo travelers when they're in groups haha I really hope thats not the case too much. I really like the sound of the rock bar! and slammer bar:)
Ios Yeah you shouldn't have a problem making friends there. Thanks for the comment. Santorini is not far away from Ios if you need a break from the party.
Ios Yeah you shouldn't have a problem making friends there. Thanks for the comment. Santorini is not far away from Ios if you need a break from the party.
You have me half convinced :) Drew..I read your blog with a very open mind because like you, as an Aussie I have serious issues with US cultural impacts on the rest of the world and now particularly Aus. A local supermarket opened here the other day with a million dollar fireworks display and applause from a thousand strong crowd - when the hell did we get like this?. I have relatives in small towns in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas and as much as I try I cannot get over how DUMB redneck swamp people they are...after reading your blog I felt that perhaps I needed to reassess my own prejudices to the US and perhaps take a chance on finding people like Dave and MJ and not tarring the entire country with the same brush...hope no offence caused to any of you from the US. Thanks Drew.
The best sea ever see Such country in East Africa i never dreaming with it but is a place to be.How lovely is and i thinks the people of those country are modest and peace full people. LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLest go
great country I have several good friends in the USA. I like the country. I think most people in the world should learn to separate people/government. I still have to go to Nashville, Chicago, the Great Canyon and New Orleans. They are on my list.
Thanks for taking the time We would have loved to meet you but know your time was short. Thank you for taking the time to look around and give us a chance to change your mind about us. We are kind and generous and don't always fit the stereotype. I'm always sad when someone comes to visit the US and only see Vegas, LA and New York because they have not really seen the US. They leave with the wrong impression. The US is about small towns and the people in them. The heartland of America. Thanks again for sharing your impressions.
"But I’ve realised finally that I am not American. I am Australian and..." - Good on ya, mate! So I'm assuming you're back in Australia now, working a job? Probably a good time to stop acting like a Yank, at home they'd probably glass the shit out of you, at least in Northbridge. :D Hard to imagine that this was your last blog for this seemingly never-ending trip, but I do have to say your ramblings got more and more outlandish towards the end. Maybe it's the US and A's bad influence. :) By the way, I've never thought of backpackers having to produce pick-up stories, maybe that's just me, but I'd file it under TMI anyway. Pretty cool that you saw Crowbar live ("heavy metal music" - lol), too bad you didn't enjoy it as much as I'd have. Well, cheers for the blogs, hope the transition went relatively smoothly, and sorry you've had to put up with my acerbic comments. I just don't have it in me to write generic shit like "Nice blog, great pictures, looks like you had fun!!1!11!" Cheers,
Jens
Thanks too for the comments you have always put me in my place haha Heavy metal - its hard to put complex music into a simple genre that most readers understand. You should give Prong the time of day though.
I've got two more blogs in me before my time is up. I never realised how 2 years away from home can subtly change your way of thinking of life but hopefully I will get to that in a couple of weeks in my last blog.
Back at work now Jens. Life resumes as normal for the time being...
Thanks too for the comments you have always put me in my place haha Heavy metal - its hard to put complex music into a simple genre that most readers understand. You should give Prong the time of day though.
I've got two more blogs in me before my time is up. I never realised how 2 years away from home can subtly change your way of thinking of life but hopefully I will get to that in a couple of weeks in my last blog.
Back at work now Jens. Life resumes as normal for the time being...
LA I'm yet to spend more time in California. Besides LA, there are great many areas in the state worth exploring like Yosemite and San Francisco. I really enjoyed reading your blog. Great photos too.
No need to apologize, mate. Sorry about my previous rant, I've taken a little nap and I'm more upbeat now. I liked your Central American and African blogs a lot better, maybe I just shouldn't read your USA blogs if I'm not really interested.
Why do you gamble when you can't afford to lose money? And when the guy asked you where you've been to in America, you should have started counting your countries like "Let me see...Uruguay, Suriname, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Bolivia, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago...". Would have loved to see his face. I just have to say this one time: writing stuff like "America is a great country" makes you sound like a brainwashed bogan. Not that the USA isn't a nice country to visit, but chiming in with people from the US and using the name of the whole continent to refer to their country and their country only is terribly grovelling. If you spoke a little more Spanish, you could have asked people in Ecuador or Nicaragua about that, and you would have realized that they find this highly offensive. "If only they are Americans, what are we?" Anyway, sorry about that, it's 6am and I can't sleep, so I'm a bit too grumpy to be writing friendly, reassuring comments.
Cheers,
Jens
USA Always good to get a comment from you Jens. Yes I was told about the whole America thing but sometimes every now and then it pops in. When you've been brainwashed for your whole life its hard to change. I have made a concerted effort to not refer to the country throughout like that but every now and then I slip up. Apologies
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What a Journey !
Enjoyed reading your adventures. I was particularly interested in knowing how your travels changed you. It looks like traveling enriched your life experience immensely, but my question is, did it make you a better person ? You've grown to be more confident, assertive and learned to stand up for yourself, but traveling also made you less caring and indifferent. Reading other travelers blogs, this seems to be the emerging pattern. Bad experiences through traveling toughen and harden one's soul.