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Published: October 22nd 2008
Well I've made it across the Atlantic.
Seeing as I haven't written an entry in over five months and it's unlikely that I'll be able to catch up on the ever-increasing backlog, I suppose a quick summary of the last few months is in order. Let's see, after coming back from the hike in the Himalayas I spent a few more weeks travelling around Nepal. Then after flying to Hong Kong, I crossed China by bus, continuing by train through Mongolia and Russia, ending up in Helsinki. There I met up with my dad, caught a ferry to Tallinn (Estonia), bought some second-hand bikes and together we rode via Riga (Latvia) to Vilnius (Lithuania). After selling the bikes I caught a bus to Berlin, where I "bumped" into some old Aussie friends of mine (some of you may remember Yun and Michael, they are still alive), followed them to Amsterdam and Paris, before ending up at my dad's place in the south of Germany. There I spent over two months just chilling out, going on the odd bike ride and visiting friends and family around Germany, but also travelling to Switzerland, Belgium, England, Wales and Ireland. That pretty much brings us
up to speed, well almost.
After getting absolutely blind drunk at the Stuttgart version of the Oktoberfest (yes, we are talking benchtop dancing, singing along to German oompta-oompta muzac with a stein in my hand - I was led astray by my dad and my cousin), where I unbelievably managed to imbibe close to three litres of beer (those of you, who have seen me struggling through my second middy at 'The Contented Soul' on a Friday night after work, probably wont believe this, but there are witnesses) and after madly racing to the bus stop and somehow managing to retrieve my backpack from a locker (I dont actually remember this part), I passed out on a park bench, unable to move or speak for the rest of the night and subsequently missing my bus to Lyon. My dad ended up having to call his cousin and her boyfriend, who were kind enough to pick us up and help my dad drag my sorry ass back to his place, where I then spent another two days, mostly in bed.
After a teary farewell from my dad, I caught a train to Lyon, where I had an important meeting with an
agent from Interpol (I can't divulge any more information at this point), then hopped on a bus to Lisbon, and after checking out what I found to be one of the most charismatic cities in Europe, I finally boarded a cargo ship bound for Canada.
As it turns out, there is only so much time one can look at sky and water, pondering the vastness of the world's oceans. The only passenger on the ship, I ended up spending most of the weeklong journey watching dvds and brushing up on my knowledge of the history of philosophy (by reading 'Sophie's World', a book aimed at teenagers, which I had actually started reading back in Thailand - yes Sai, I really finished it). Apart from rewatching the first season of 'The Sopranos' (just in time too - I had been suffering from withdrawal symptoms), another highlight of the cruise was the daylong trip up the Saint Lawrence river coming into Canada, watching the stunning fall colours of the Quebecan countryside.
And now I've spent the last four days kicking around in sunny Montreal, battling the oncoming symptoms of a cold and trying to come up with some sort of plan for
Real trekkers
Kabi, Heinz, Daniela, Mads, Hayley, Del, Andrea and Alexthe rest of my journey. So stay tuned.
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Paul S
non-member comment
Woo Hoo!!!
So besides all that have you done anything interesting lately? I have to tell you to check out auto driveaway http://www.autodriveaway.com/ This is a US company that relocates cars from one city in America to another. You can often get a car across country. I took one fronm Seattle to LA and was offered a corvette to drive from LA to Miami. You pay for the petrol but you et a car and plenty of time to make the trip, just one more option. Try to get to Yosemite it is just stunning and New York is the capital of the world. Stay well and have heaps of fun. P