“When I arrived in my own set of clothes, I was half a world away from my home.”

“We all see what we want to see. When Coffee looks he sees Russian Subs, you have to look with better eyes than that” –The Abyss

I was reminded of this quote some time ago. I was going through a bad mood and one of my friends at home got in my ear somewhat. He reminded me of something I already knew, but had forgotten. When we feel bad, when we hate the world we will only see things that encourage those thoughts. We will see, and concentrate, on the bad, to the point that they are blown out of perspective. The reverse is also true, when we are happy its we see things in a different light, we can laugh easier at the madness of the world instead of being further upset by it. That little pep talk made quite some difference, and although it isn’t always possible, it was worth keeping in mind.

Anyway that was actually applicable ages ago.. I just kept forgetting to type it.

So im leaving Europe, not goodbye but farewell.. ill be back sometime not in so long. Its just an interlude in a long wild ride. Just an interlude for a bit of sun, some coffee, different company and maybe a bit of real education.

Having been away for a little time Id like to do thankyous again. This trip, as they say, woudnt have been possible without the help, friendliness, and generosity of people everywhere. I have spent about 2.5 weeks in Youth Hostels, 3 weeks in Hotels in Latin America, and 3 weeks in Hotels with my mother. The rest of the time has been spent with people, pretty much.

As a summary:

3 weeks tour of Peru and Bolivia with Intrepid

1 week Northern Norway (ARR/ESC)

Some days Oslo/Stockholm

1 week Manchester

2 months Portugal

1 week Germany (ISSC)

1 week London

2 weeks Wales/Scotland

1.5 weeks Belgium

2 weeks France

1 week Toulouse

1 week Paris/London

And no it probably doesn’t actually add up.. but that’s approx. there was also one overnight bus, and one overnight train. So that’s the general gist. There were a few highlights.. most of them are those weird random moments. But Macchu Picchu was awesome, the whole of ISSC was brilliant, seeing the millennium centre in Cardiff.. that was totally fab. And that’s enough for highlights.

I think the biggest mental jump was going straight from Bolivia (one of the poorest countries in Latin America) to Norway (one of the richest countries) that was intense.

Actually most of the trip has been pretty intense.. awesome though.. I don’t think there is anything I would have not done, although there are things I won’t do again. There was also a lot that I learnt. Simple things like some French and Portuguese, different edible and inedible foods (china still has the highest percentage of inedible foods.. kungee is not edible.. it is mushed cardboard.. sorry to all those chinese kiddies out there) etc.

One of the least expected things that stands out the most this second that ive learnt is that sexism is still alive and well. And there's nothing surprising about sexism in Peru, China where ever.. you expect that. But it was in Belgium, that was surprising, and hardcore. I had to that point taken it for granted that my opinion was respected (in developed countries, by the majority of people) and that I would be treated like an equal, and when I wasn’t (by people of my generation, and above) well I wasn’t impressed (in a kinda teenage petulant way) I was also kinda shocked. That wasn’t the only problem that I had in Belgium, but I think it was the easiest thing to pin point and learn from, and to remember that we cant take things like equality for granted. We cant assume anything, and nor should we, we appreciate things more when we don’t assume that they will be so.

So with that in mind I would like to thank everyone who has treated me like an equal, and who has respected my opinion even if they didn’t agree with it. Eivind, Brad, Ben and my father stand out in this. (I just had a long train trip.. waaay too much reflection time)

I have also stayed at a lot of peoples houses, Eivind’s, the Raanes’, The Field/Rhyds, a D’Aloia’s, the Matosi (for two months.. thanks guys), Ben and Amy’s, my cousin/Aunt in Uig, and lastly Patrick’s. So thankyou again to you all, wonderful people that you are.

Particular thanks to Brad, Ben and Patrick because for various reasons staying at those homes was more than just having a roof over my head and something to eat.

And to my friends at home, because this blog isn’t soppy enough yet :P. Thanks to those who kept in touch.. and reminded me that Australia hasn’t fallen off the face of the planet.. and that its not quite as screwed as I thought (I checked the news one day someone had been shot in Melbourne, people had been arrested under the new laws, there had been floods and the drought was still going, and we had sent troops into the outback.. that wasn’t cool to see, I genuinely thought my country had gone to the clappers) and I look forward to a catch up. To being brought up to speed. And I am constantly warned that when I get back ill be disappointed in my friends, because they wont have changed, they wont care about the travel etc. But.. I don’t think that’s the point. I don’t want to come back and see that the whole world has changed at home.. the world out here is mad enough without that happening. If you want change you can go and find it. There is sanctuary in normality, in non-change. There is a kind of freedom in talking about nothing over coffee.. this blog exists to keep people up to date if they want. With it people know about 70-80% of whats happened.. so I don’t have the need to share everything with everyone.. what needs to be said has been, and although there are some storied that are left for the telling, the general impression has been communicated. So I don’t think people need to be as negative as all that, saying people don’t care, because they do.. everyone just shows it differently.

And my battery is about to die.. I think this blog will need editing, but that can be done another time.

And for the last goodbyes.

We say goodbye to the autumn, to the coming winter and the cold. To the irrationality of the French, to the randomness, the pissing and the wine. To the Euro, the churches, narrow streets and driving on the right. (and cycling in my case.. talk about hair rasiing)

As much as the pissing is somewhat unnecessary, I don’t think it’s the worst national hobby I’ve come across. I still think the huge Urns full of phlegm in China, with the “hoicking” takes the cake, that is pure mank. There is soemthign feral about a flower pot containing what is technically a liquid, although mutant lifeform would be more accurate, that is the contents of a million chinese smog infused lungs. It looks like a strike of lightening would give it a kind of life only seen in Calvin and Hobbes cartoons.

That’s about it really.. Anonymity in London here I come.

Well here I am actually.

Saw the Greenwich line.. the meridian thingo. That was cool. There was a bloke there telling stories about the place and about how well.. its amusing actually. There is a line marking the Meridian, with a little sculpture and everything. So people go up there, take their picture, jump over the line etc. and then they discover that that’s actually not the line at all. What they are infact doing is jumping around like a mad person in an entirely insignificant part of Greenwich. Since the line was placed down, it has infact moved to another part of Greenwich that isn’t actually marked. Not quite sure why you would move a line just a few metres.. but im sure there is some kind of map making logic to the whole thing. Or English logic. Either way.

And now I have a 4hr wait, because the shops don’t open until 12 on a Sunday.. so I think ill actually buy internet.. and post this.. and generally kill time (poor thing). And then sit around and think of all the other things that I forgot to write about.. as always.

So take care, and smile