Good bye United States

Today I left the United States, with it’s vast diversity in cultures and nature. A continent in which everything can be found from native Indian tribal life to the vibrant hectic rush in the cities like New York and San Francisco. The US made it possible for me to do my cross continental trip on a motorbike and I am very grateful for that. But more that riding along the Route 66 it gave me so many new friends, that it is quite hard to say good bye.
Thank you, United States!

It starts with a plane.

Every adventure on my trip started with a plane. The routine of checking in and wandering around alone on the airport makes me feel like a lonesome wolverine looking for his partner. Reading a book in the corner on the floor and watching people chatting, waiting, looking forward to reaching the destination they chose to go. Usually I fly in shorts, flip flops, my hat and no hand luggage. All I need for enduring a flight up to 15 hours can be stored in my pockets easily. Two books ( a travel guide and the assault on reason), some napkins, my passport, ATM and credit card and mp3 player. The only disadvantage is that it takes me minutes to reassemble myself after security screening. I had a nightly 10 hours stopover in Florida. So I slept on a park bench at the Fort Lauderdale Airport using the books as a pillow, the hat as a blindfold and getting protected by the police, which had it’s standby spot right next to me.
Thinking back on the stories that I found so far on my trip makes me melancholic. Someone asked me once if it’s not boring to go alone on vacation for so long. I think it would be boring if it actually was vacation, but the truth is that the fundamental difference between travel and vacation is that travel is not always fun. Ups and downs mark my way around the world. The fact that nothing is fixed and nothing is organised seems like an expression of pure freedom. But at the same time there is no place to call your own. And the absolute lack of stability can get to you deeply. To overcome all these kinds of strange situations and to cope with challenges, that is travelling. And the outcome must be to be able to appreciate what you’ve got from life on a deeper level. And it all starts with a plane.

Where are you now?

Oh, by the way, I just arrived in Colombia. Imagine you arrive at Bogota airport and notice that you just looked up how to say “my name is” in Spanish. You are sure that at some point in time you learned this nice language for 3 semesters, but your brain doesn’t care about that fact at all! The immigration officer asks you if you speak Spanish…in Spanish “no” is your answer but your counterpart tells you all the important immigration information in the same language. 5 minutes later you are on the street. Once again in a country where you are practically deaf, numb and illiterate. As you climb into a taxi and play charade with the driver to get downtown, you realise: Next destination: SPANISH COURSE!!