I arrived in BA this morning at 11am in a pretty shell-shocked state, after a red-eye flight from perth to sydney, a six hour stopover then a further 14 hours of flying I was not looking my best.
I got out of the plane feeling totally wired. There is no sense of freedom like you with a backpack in a strange country. The language barrier makes even the simplest things tricky. It took me as long while to figure out you have to have coins to take the bus, and most places will not trade you coins readily (theres some sort of coin shortage?!). I eventually managed to get on the number 8 bus from the airport and managed to squeeze out some broken spanish from the back of the lonely planet guide to the guy sitting next to me, who was kind enough to show me the right stop and even walk me to my hosts house! What a great start.
I had dinner with my hosts nico and sol tonight, they are really genuine people, great personalities. Tomorrow nico is gonna show me a bit of the city, we might go to a punk rock concert as well. I am trying to speak what little spanish I know as much as possible, I think with a crash course I can get the bare essentials down by the end of this week.
I am pretty tired but exhilarated right now
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Friday, 21 October 2011
Goodbye to Oz...
So I leave Australia for Argentina this time next week. I have been working hard these past three months to save for an extended period of travel and I have put together $16,000. Not as much as I'd have liked, but a respectable amount that should keep me on the road for at least the next six months.
I have no idea what the next year will hold. I have only the vaguest of plans for where I will actually travel to and when, it will truly be seat-of-my-pants travelling with only my travel guitar and lonely planet guide for company. I know I will start out in Buenos Aires in Argentina, then possibly travel north to Iguazu Falls but after that, who knows!?
This picture illustrates a whole lot, I think. Am I nervous about committing to an extended period of time, by myself, with no real plan, in a strange, huge and potentially hostile country, where I don't even speak the language yet? HELL YEAH! Is that going to stop me or even slow me down one iota? HELL NO!
Doing the things that make us most nervous are the things that cause us to grow the most. My one goal on this trip is to always be pushing my comfort zone. Recently I discovered couchsurfing.org. It is a worldwide network where people can offer couches in their homes as hosts to allow travellers to stay, or search for a couch to sleep on. I think this is a fantastic idea. Couchsurfing is more risky than staying in hostels. There is no real guarantee of a place to even sleep, and if you do have someone willing to host you, who knows what they'll be like? But the potential rewards are boundless, this could be one of the best methods I have ever seen to meet a incredible, kind-hearted, likeminded people all over the world! The uncertainty is what makes it worth doing!
I have already organised my first hosts for when I arrive in Buenos Aires, a young couple called Nico and Sol. I can't wait to meet them! I plan on taking a crash course in Spanish the week I arrive and then just speaking it as much as possible after that. Hopefully I will pick it up quite quickly.
It's sad to be leaving Australia, but with such a journey to look forward to I won't let it hold me back.
Ladies and gentlemen of Australia, it has been an incredible privilege to share your country. I have met so many amazing people, done so many things I would NEVER have thought possible before, and begun the process of truly discovering myself. I think it's safe to say I am now a radically different person than the scared, lost individual that arrived here 51 weeks ago.
To Australia - thanks for showing me a land of such opportunity and energy.
To all the amazing friends I've made here - THANKYOU for enriching my life and showing me who I truly am capable of being. You know who you are. I WILL BE BACK.
To my uncle, Jenny and Josh, it's been just incredible staying with you guys and thankyou so much for your love and support, I couldn't have made this leap without you guys.
Next update will be from Argentina... Stay tuned!
I have no idea what the next year will hold. I have only the vaguest of plans for where I will actually travel to and when, it will truly be seat-of-my-pants travelling with only my travel guitar and lonely planet guide for company. I know I will start out in Buenos Aires in Argentina, then possibly travel north to Iguazu Falls but after that, who knows!?
This picture illustrates a whole lot, I think. Am I nervous about committing to an extended period of time, by myself, with no real plan, in a strange, huge and potentially hostile country, where I don't even speak the language yet? HELL YEAH! Is that going to stop me or even slow me down one iota? HELL NO!
Doing the things that make us most nervous are the things that cause us to grow the most. My one goal on this trip is to always be pushing my comfort zone. Recently I discovered couchsurfing.org. It is a worldwide network where people can offer couches in their homes as hosts to allow travellers to stay, or search for a couch to sleep on. I think this is a fantastic idea. Couchsurfing is more risky than staying in hostels. There is no real guarantee of a place to even sleep, and if you do have someone willing to host you, who knows what they'll be like? But the potential rewards are boundless, this could be one of the best methods I have ever seen to meet a incredible, kind-hearted, likeminded people all over the world! The uncertainty is what makes it worth doing!
I have already organised my first hosts for when I arrive in Buenos Aires, a young couple called Nico and Sol. I can't wait to meet them! I plan on taking a crash course in Spanish the week I arrive and then just speaking it as much as possible after that. Hopefully I will pick it up quite quickly.
It's sad to be leaving Australia, but with such a journey to look forward to I won't let it hold me back.
Ladies and gentlemen of Australia, it has been an incredible privilege to share your country. I have met so many amazing people, done so many things I would NEVER have thought possible before, and begun the process of truly discovering myself. I think it's safe to say I am now a radically different person than the scared, lost individual that arrived here 51 weeks ago.
To Australia - thanks for showing me a land of such opportunity and energy.
To all the amazing friends I've made here - THANKYOU for enriching my life and showing me who I truly am capable of being. You know who you are. I WILL BE BACK.
To my uncle, Jenny and Josh, it's been just incredible staying with you guys and thankyou so much for your love and support, I couldn't have made this leap without you guys.
Next update will be from Argentina... Stay tuned!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)