American/Canadian Booty: Australia

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On Wednesday, at 8am, I came in for my final stop - Sydney, Australia.

It was the final stop of what will be definitely the trip of a lifetime. 42 days, one huge arse drag along suitcase that was threatening to be overweight, one backpack that had a daypack tearing at the seams, and two stuffed toy animals that have become the symbol of a very exciting trip through Northern America.

It was the longest time I've had away from home but also the best time I've had away from home. This trip was filled with the good, the bad and at sometimes ugly, but overall it was definitely an experience I'll never forget.

The Tourists:
Johnny
Baz the Malayan Sun bear
Kaz the Kangaroo
Dani (she's a real person from Fair Haven, VT USA to Toronto, ON Canada. She is not a stuffed animal...)
Brooke (Las Vegas, NV)

This trip was several years in the making and I spent time with some of the best people on the planet:
Rob, Dianne and Stephanie Schaefer
Ginny Smith, Tim and Ginny's little brother Jeff
Brooke-Louise McAullay + the Contiki bus (and no, Brooke and I DID NOT GET MARRIED!)
Vanessa Padgett + Ishmael
Dave, Lenka and Arthur Lundsten
Dani Brown, Richard and Trish plus Deena
Kryssie and Jade Urquhart, their Mom, Richard plus Phil aka Batman (Kryssie loves Batman! Batman loves Subway!!)
Natasha Dryden, Spencer White-Bacon and Cael

That's not to mention the many great people I met along the way and in the various hostels that I stayed in around the USA and Canada.

A first for this trip - the amount of animals that I stayed with as well! There were

14 cats (could have been more! I am not including the pack of feral cats out the back of the hostel in St Louis!)
3 dogs
1 guinea pig
1 rabbit

Thankfully, no animals were harmed on this trip.

I say that this trip took years, mainly due to having the right circumstances but most of all, funding! I am very thankful that a girl that used to work in my office (she now works on the road), Yvette, was able to steer my finances in the right direction, and not over the bar on huge weekends! This trip would probably have not been possible without her *insistence* (in the nicest, possible way!)

Also I need to give a huge wrap to Callie at Escape Travel Parramatta who made organizing the trip look so effortless. She also made sure I got the best deal on tickets, organized my internal flights in Northern America (yes, all 9 of them!) and matched a quote on travel insurance - my big sister told me about Escape Travel after receiving a similar red hot deal going to London! So now I am telling you about them and the next time you need to travel, think...Escape Travel!

Speaking of which, I need to give a special thanks to my family, who were there for me when I needed them the most - my big brother Julz and his gf Ana, my big sister Toni and her fiancée Big Gary and my little sister Paula.

Also, I could say that I had a family away from home - The Schaefers and the Lundstens were very helpful in my dilemma (wait until you read what I did on the third day - you just have to wait for the tour diary!)

While the piggy bank needs to be fed, one can only imagine where the next trip will be. However, my little sister is going to the UK at the end of this yr for two years. She will be taking Baz with her, a partner of three away trips as well as many infamous encounters with the ladies, he is so smooth! It's now left to Kaz the stuffed Kangaroo to continue the fine tradition of tacky poses in front of busy monuments and tourist establishments.

Until next time...
(if there was anyone that I left out, I didn’t mean it!)

xxx
j

Distances
San Francisco - Sydney: 7420 miles, or 11941 kilometres
Total Canadian Distance: 1964 miles, or 3160 kilometres
Total American Distance: 11792 miles, or 18977 kilometres
Total distance done on the actual trip: 13756 miles, or 22137 kilometres

Total distance travelled: 28596 miles, or 46019 kilometres!! Amazing result, the longest I have ever spent away and also the longest travel ever!

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Photos

Kaz
in Portland, Oregon enjoying an icy cold beer!

Baz
Cross Country Man Whore

Times Square, NYC
No matter what anyone says, i think right now this is the best city in the world.

Toronto, ON as viewed from the CN Tower
My favourite city of the whole trip

the CD is out now!!!
44 awesome tracks, i might still have a copy lying around!