I have decided to travel early. For one reason or another, I decided to postpone until later the usual university or tradesman steps of life, and get off the beaten track, and as soon as I could afford it I landed in Copenhagen. A few friends of mine had made their way through Europe, but most of them had undertaken guided ‘tours’ (beer drinking tours) to only the most popular capital cities. This style of travel wasn’t for me, I thought, so I bought myself a bike, loaded it with junk. Rode it to London. Great fun. Being close to the ground, to the outdoors, to the local population and places few tourists ever saw changed my perspectives, and dare I say, my life. Days after I left, my original plan of 2-3 months in Northern Europe on the backpacker trail changed to 2 years cycling all over Europe and 2 years overland from London to Brisbane.
I have been addicted ever since. I repeated the process of working some temporary jobs in Europe and England, and got back on the road, this time making it from London to Central Croatia where my trip was unfortunately cut short by a truck. Cue lengthy hospital visit. I found myself back in Australia after a four day long coma, three weeks in a Zagreb hospital, and worst of all, the long flight back home. To me, Australia felt like the end of the line. The dead stop. Two months later, now healthy; I left to cycle New Zealand and worked in Wellington to recover money lost to the hospital.
I just finished cycling 3000km through Patagonia. Was full of Triumphs and Disaster. Still alive.
