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Published: September 8th 2006
Vincent
IrelandThis is Vincent. To be honest the idea of having an entry for friends we made on our way, came from his web site(www.planetvince.com). This friendly Irish guy, with his 40 centimeter beard, is always the central attraction for the locals when walking on the streets!! His Irish accent is almost incomprehensible, but fits very well with his role of a drug dealer in the movie he took part in when he was in India. He is a very funny guy, but he's always complaining about being bored.... hehehe.
We first met in Istanbul and then in Olympus, where we started to travel together until parting in Syria. We met him for the third time while
Relaxing in the Red Sea. He is member of the
syriainvasion.com group.
Rebbekka Warner. Also known as the Crazy Australian. I think she love us. We met first in
Cappadocia. From there she has been with us until Lebanon when she flew back to the UK. Later, she joined us for a short trip in Egypt. And now she will be with us again... oh God, not again... in Zambia, for a South Africa tour. It will be very fun. Our stomachs always hurt from so much laughing with her. She also has the biggest backpack I have ever seen.
Amandine Alard. We first met her in Toulouse. After that she joined our trip in Kenya (
Lions, elephants and giraffes), South Africa (
The southernmost point in Africa), Swaziland (
Honours to the King) and Mozambique (
Portuguese).
In Toulouse (France) she was our guide for many parties, introduced us to many new friends and she cooked us delicious French cuisine (I (Claudio) did not fall behind; I cooked once too... hehehe). Her apartment was the base for many all night long Crêpe and wine parties (not just crêpe, but cheese, pistachio, gateau de roi, etc). She also was our taxi driver... hehehe, thanks to the frequent bus strikes in Toulouse. Together with us and other friends we went on many weekend trips to cities near Toulouse. On her apartment she has a whole wall with maps, pictures and postcards that Claudio send from every country we visited. Apart from that she is a very good dancer.
Games Thorn, also known by a few as James. A backpacker at heart. We meet him in Petra (
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), Jordan. He was on the last 4 days of his trip, when he decided to join us and other backpackers on a trip to Dahab (
Relaxing in the Red Sea), Egypt. The only problem is that his flight home was from Aman which is north of Jordan; 4 days for crossing south of Jordan, entering Egypt (the ferry takes almost one hole day), spend some days (??) there and cross back to Jordan to travel south back to north and take the airplane. Easy job! Hehehe... As you can predict, he had to change his flight... huahuahua. He's one of the best people to travel with. Carrying his 140 litres black hole bag to find accommodation, the smaller the budged the better. Detail: he always carries a 2 meters kite with him (just in case of emergency... hehehe). Hopefully we will meet him again in South Africa.
Michael Benz. Knowing that his is German and his last name, you can automatically guess he wasn't traveling by foot like the other backpackers. But he wasn't using a car either, as you might have guessed. He came all the way from Germany with his motorcycle. We met him the first time on the ferry, crossing from Jordan to Egypt. He stayed together with us in Dahab (
Relaxing in the Red Sea) and we met him again in Cairo, in front of the
Piramids. He is an excellent vendor. He did what anyone would think is impossible. He actually sold a post card from the pyramids to one of the hassler vendors around the pyramids itself. You could consider this tougher than selling ice to an Eskimo.
Sam O'Brien. With the amazing ability to show up in the least expected places (Not just once but twice), he is one of the friendliest Australian backpackers we've met so far. We met him for the first time in
Cappadocia in Turkey, as part of the
syriainvasion.com. We travel together trough Syria, splitting up in Damascus. The second time we met was in the forbidden land. On our second day in Tel Aviv the receptionist from our hostel told us we would have a surprise in our room. Guess what, no naked girls, but Sam again. Our third meeting was in Egypt. Waking up the hotchickensoup (or something similar) temple we crossed with this familiar face again to our surprise. If you ever meet him, ask him to tell you the grenade story, the best ever.
Fabian. This tough solo traveler goes only to places where no one else would go. He is the one that invited us to hike up the Nyragongo Volcano in Congo
Dangerous.... and afterwards visit Rwanda
Le Pays des Mille Colines. A passionate hiker, easy to spot in this very small backpacker world. We heard about him some 4 months after we split up. In Lusaka there was an Australian girl impressed about a German guy who left their tour to walk 10 hours just to see a waterfall!! We knew it was him, when she told us the German was coming from a trip in Congo with 2 Brazilian brothers!
Alex and Lizzie (the couple on the right of course!)If you want to know how to travel light ask them. They have been traveling for a few years around the world carrying only one backpack and one day-pack shared between both of them. If this is not enough, you should know they carry a water kettel in their pack to prepare some coffee in the morning! We met them in the film set of
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Petra-Jordan) spent a few days
Relaxing in the Red Sea and finally split after visiting the
Piramids. We will try to meet again in India 2 years from now!
Ralf. This dutch guy is our idol. We met him in Sofia drinking
2 litters beer, shortly after the beginning of our trip (mar/06). By that time he was on the road for 4 years. For us, beginners at the time, it was the most amazing thing someone could do. Not only this, but how could such an extraordinary guy be that friendly and patient to answer again and again the same questions "How do you pay for it?", "What is your favorite country?", "Where have you been?" and so on. After leaving Hungary we met him in Istanbul. Still in Istanbul, we arranged to meet again in India, in 2 years time. You know what? We did it. We met again in Goa, India in December 2007.
Cris & Anto. While we were traveling with the Crazymobile, we meet many people (this was our goal, wasn't it?) Our longest guest was this Aussi/Chilean couple. Although we had met in Namibia (
It doesn't seem like you're in an African country.) they joined us only since Cape Town
The southernmost point in Africa. From that day we had great partners for the trip. Not only good for wine tasting, they were brave and jumped together in the cage to see the great white sharks! Anto knows everything about mechanics, ask her about the chewing gum and the tampon in the radiator!! hehehe. Lately, Cris went to Brasil but we didn't met because Fernando returned to Yemen a few days before his arrival. Next time OK?
(no picture yet)Erica. Originally from Argentina, she is a doctor from the heart. We met in Nairobi after our trip to see
Lions, elephants and giraffes. That day she explained to us she likes to work where people really need doctors and there are none: war zones. After working in Darfur, Sudan(
Adventure), she was working in Somalia when she was shot, and for this, forced to leave the country. A few months after the incident she was in Kenya waiting for her flight to Sierra Leone!! Good luck girl, we need more people like you!
(No picture yet)Tom. A fine example of what the army does to people in Israel. One day he arrived in the
Hotel California after surviving a big fight between Zambian and South African football fans. Instead of being annoyed with it, he was smiling and told us "I was missing the smell of tear gas!!" At the beginning we were afraid about offending his religious believes and didn't know if we should invite him to join us to eat a Brazilian traditional dish that Fernando cooked, because there is lots of pork meat. A few minutes later he was fishing the pieces of bacon in the pot and joking "Hummm I don't believe this pork is kosher, but I'll eat it!"
Marino. Italy. We know him as Marino Fully Booked. He is manager in a big hotels chain, so he knows all the funny stories from the backstage. No one can imagine what the hotel staff had to handle from behind the counter. From random people calling to know the weather forecast, guests asking for "strange" things in their rooms and the best is the insistent people at the reception:
- Do you have a single room?
- Sorry sir, we are fully booked. (politely)
- And a double room?
- Sorry sir, we are
fully booked. (with emphasis)
- Are you sure?
- Yes sir, I'm sure.
- You can't get me any room?
- No sir, we are fully booked. (patiently)
- Please, a room only for this night!
- Sorry sir, we are fully booked. (and still have to smile)
- But and for the day after?
- Tomorrow we have!
- But I needed it for tonight!
Amai. The only Mongolian guy we know. We met him for the first time in Lusaka for a few hours. He arrived when we were leaving after selling the Crazymoblie. A bit too short but we had nice conversations with this exotic backpacker. Amai (www.amai.mn) at that time was already long time on the road. He had worked in many places and traveled in peculiar ways. We said good bye and left to Malawi. Surprisingly three days later he got bored in Zambia and showed up in Malawi too, to spend a few more days with us. Specialist in some Mongolian vocal sounds he is a whole attraction by himself!
Rick & Forest. Father and son, from Alaska. We shared a big family-style dinner in the Hunza Valley - Pakistan. Not only the same food we shared but the same route too. Only two days in front of them. We kept meeting or contacting to update them with the latest information about the places we went. This way we traveled from Pakistan all the way around China until Tibet. In Lhasa we join forces (read: money) to hire a tour to take us around Tibet, the Everest Base Camp and arrive in Nepal. Thankfully we had these guys around. Rick is one experienced mountaineer guide and could help us cope with the discomforts of altitude sickness. Forest kept us entertained with chapters of the "Chicas & Caballos", gymnastics every night and also contributed in this blog with the
The two men bus text.
Nikkita & Family. Nikkita followed her daughter Hettie to Yemen in order to study Arabic. In reality we know she didn't study much. She was mainly chatting to her teacher about the cultural differences between the west and the middle east. Of course half of it is our fault, we always had a list of questions to ask to a Muslim women but we couldn't (not in Yemen) so we asked Nikkita and she asked her teacher! We had much fun with them, talking for hours we didn't feel the time go by. When they left back to the UAE, she invited us to visit there one day. We did it. A few weeks later we went to Abu Dhabi and spent 12 days with her. Together with the family we drove to Dubai for some indoor snowboarding and of course, to visit the wonders of this
Artificial World.
Maria, Norway. Maria arrived with other 16 beauties in the
Hotel California. They were working on their suntans ...ops... I mean, school project, while we were selling our minibus. After her project we arrange to meet again in the
Turquoise Waters of Zanzibar. A few months later we organized to meet again in Dubai, but we were too late like always and she had to go to Oman, the
Rich Arabia to meet us since we were having trouble getting our Emirates visa.
Miriam, Paula, Alessia and Marghe. From Switzerland and Italy x 3. This is our Yemeni family. We met all while studying Arabic in Sana'a. We shared the house with Miriam and were considered "the
haram (sin) boys" for kissing Alessia and Paula good morning at the school. We laughed lots about it!!
These girls made us stay in
The last true arab country and still remain mentally sane. They were our partners to dozens of dinner parties, movies on the computer and all kinds of excursions around the city.
Thank You for the great times girls!
On the back: Marghe, Paula, Aitzi, Fernando, Miriam. In front: Lili (SPN), Alessia. He is the example of Iranian hospitality. We met him on the bus to Shiraz. Curious to talk about the east and the west, we spent the hours of our journey in deep conversations. By the time we arrived he asked us where was our hotel. Like always we haven't booked any, so he invited us to stay in his house with his family. His grandmother cooked lots of traditional dishes for us. They took us to visit all the sights in the city. Having him and his cousin with us, we had the best guides someone could wish for. We spent three days with them. In the last days we didn't know how to thank them. We were so grateful. As we sit in the taxi to the bus station, the cousins approached our window and gave us a small gift for us to remember them and their family.
I probably never told them this, but Iran is our favorite country ever, thanks to you guys!
PS:
Terrorists? Only in G. Bush's dreams. Mateo, Italy. One night in the hostel in Bam (
Terrorists? Only in G. Bush's dreams.) we were cooking some spaghetti when we noticed another backpacker around. He was looking tired and hungry like us. We immediately invited him to eat with us. It was a big responsibility for Fernando to cook pasta for a Italian guy! After dinner he said it was very good
(he is very polite or didn't have spaghetti for a long time). From there we started traveling together towards Pakistan, (
Lost Kingdom of Shangri la). Unfortunately we couldn't keep on due to our return to Tehran for issuing the visa. During our times in Pakistan we knew he was just a few cities ahead of us but it wasn't until Kashgar in China that we met again for a few bottles of wine in our dormitory parties.
Robert & Joe. How do you call someone born in the Island of Man? Islanodofmanerrrr? Tripod?(have you seen their flag hehe). Well, this brothers are born on this small island, that has no more than a TT race track and 35.000 people ...(actually only 34.999 after Robert left!) The 2 brothers (like us) were traveling India (like us) going from Hampy to Goa (like us). We met many times in different bars, had lots of beers. They were traveling by motorbike and they invited us to join them on the journey to Goa. This was Claudio's dream. We accepted immediately.
Joe is a motocross passionate, Robert is a trance party freak, he doesn't miss a single one! Always in a very good mood, he doesn't get annoyed even by the worst, pushy, rip off seller. I swear I'm trying to be like this!
Two months after our farewell in India we met again in Thailand (
Easy Backpacking)!
Marina. We call her our cousin because we grew up together in Brazil. One day she got bored at her job in Dubai and joined us to travel Rajastan in India (
Sacred Sex, Holly cow), an old dream of hers.
At the beginning she was shocked with all the dirt in India but got used to it very quick. After one week she got the spirit of India and wouldn't shower and change clothes any more, even after a 4 days camel tour! Well, family is like this, we can't choose. We like her anyway!!
PS:hehehe We don't blame her, the day after the tour was cold and the shower freezing!
Joseph. The story of this Frenchman has to be told. On some part of our trip we decided to go camping in the desert. Unfortunately we couldn't do it alone with our two wheel drive car. Luckily we met Joseph and his friend. They had a big 4x4 Land Cruiser and were planing to camp in the desert too. Having their support we drove in to the desert, made a nice bon fire, cooked some food and had great fun with this guys.
Six months later and 5.000Km distance, we were in India at the headphone party (just a big party where everybody uses headphones because the local laws don't permit loud music after 10pm). Suddenly someone appears from the crowd screaming "Hey guys do you remember me? Joseph, from the desert in Oman!" Of course we remember, and this was the biggest coincidence of all. All the other travelers we met 2 or 3 times was kind of way, but this one was pure coincidence!
Flavia. Our cousin. Real cousin this time! She was going from Spain to Australia and did a connection in Bangkok to join us for a few weeks travelling South East Asia. Instead "The lord of the rings", she was "The lady of the computer". She had her notebook with her and we could steal internet connection everywhere! Nice to see her after 4 years!
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Nathalie
non-member comment
allo mes amis Breziliens!!!!!
Hey guys, just looking at your web site, saw yuor pictures of me and the girls, I was so excited to see that u made it up the volcano in the Congo. How is everything, r u still having a blast..... I hope your having fun, where are you now.... u know what maybe in december if ure still traveling ill meet u wherever u are, well hope your doing fine, have fun and write back soon. nathalie,,,,,la quebecoise canadienne....