Life is the moment we are living right now and someday this moment will just be a memory!

The unfortunate part of this thought is, it now is just a memory. Coming home was bittersweet seeing my friends and family who I have missed so much during my 17 month adventure around the world. I get asked everyday, "What was the best part?" I guess I must say the best part of anything in life involves the people you interact with through out your life, the freedom like I never knew was possible, and realizing a dream. During the 520 days I spent traveling I didn't work 1 single day, and I lived every moment as much as I possibly could. I traveled in 41 countries total and I can honestly say that I don't feel like I am the same person I was when I left. Looking back at my 31 years, I could probably say that 50% of the things I have done in my life happened in this one single trip. When I left I had a piece of paper which was a list of things I always wanted to do and see, an ATM card, a camera, and some clothes. I can't say I checked everything off on my list as it grew through my travels, but I ticked off more things on the list then what was originally on the list in the first place. The best way I can explain ending my trip is like breaking up with someone who you really love. Your excited to see the ones you have neglected for so long, but your gut churns and misses that experience so much, and most of the time. I hope this feeling goes away here soon and I guess it's like everything in life, time heals all things!

Most popular questions asked.

1. Favorite Countries Nepal, Burma, Colombia, and Argentina.

2. Most fascinating places- India, Burma, and China.

3. Worst food- Certain things in China.

4. Most nerve racking moment- Going inside San Pedro prison in Bolivia

5. Amount of times being robbed- O

6. Favorite moment- Standing on top of Chimborazo (20,704)

7. Percentage of time alone- 20%?

8. Hardest country to communicate- China

9. Most dangerous spot on trip- South Carolina, USA

10. The moment that made me the most thankful for what I have- Touring Cerro Rico, a mine in

Potosi, Bolivia.

11. Overall most fascinating country- India

12. Favorite Hostel- El Retrio in Semuc Champey, Guatemala

13. Scariest thing I did- Take off on this trip alone!

2nd- World highest bungee platform in Macau, China (764')

England






I met Sakit in Panama. He was an amazing host as he spent 3 days showing me around London.




Richard and I traveled in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Too bad we only had about 2 hours to catch up in London, but thanks for being a big part of my adventure.

With England being my last stop, along with it being the most expensive place on my trip, I didn't see as much of it as I would've liked to. This place seems to be the place your typical American family goes, so I am sure I will return to see more someday.

Scotland

Traveling with Caroline has been great. We spent several months traveling together off and on through-out Asia and Europe. It was really tough saying goodbye to Caroline. I really wish you the best of everything in life! You will always have a friend in me!



For my 31st Birthday we took a tour up to Loch Ness to try and find the Loch Ness Monster! It was a good way to see the countryside although I regret to admit, I didn't get to see Nessy!

I loved this guy!

Blue sky in Scotland may be a myth only!.....It's always cloudy

Wow, Scotland is a bit chilly and something about this place feels cold and odd. Everywhere I went I had this eerie feeling and it always seemed that it would be the last place I would like to live. On another note Edinburgh is a beautiful city and Scotland is an amazing country. The history was very interesting as well as the people. 

Paris, France

There she is in her shining glory! ZE MONA LISA

The Louve

Amsterdam, Netherlands

The home of Anne Frank.

Dacia, a co-worker from home came to travel with me.  Thanks for taking the time to be a part of my trip!

It's been 12 years since I've seen Jordy Kool, a friend from Ft. Lewis College. Jordy is a busy guy with a family these days, but it really brought back some great memories of College. I had told myself for years that I was going to get to Amsterdam to catch up with this guy and I finally did it! Good to see you ole' pal and thanks for taking the time to meet up!

Amsterdam

The sex and drug capital of the world! Half the tourist here are high as a kite and sit around glossy eyed munching of french fries. The locals seem a bit disgusted with the drug abusing tourist and don't associate with them to much. When you walk through the red light district, There are girls in the window in their underwear trying to get you to come in for an expensive little visit. Outside of this, the city is a beautiful place with an interesting history.

Berlin, Germay

Sten, Stefan, Caroline and myself all actually traveled together for a bit down in Thailand. It was great catching up with them all together and these guys, who are both cops in Berlin should win an award as the most thoughtful people on earth. Everything we did or everywhere we went they would both go out of their way to make things as convenient as possible. We stayed here for free for nearly a week, had some great times, and made Berlin one of my favorite stops in Europe although it seems I'm starting to have a lot of favorites! They both work late and they even saw me off at the train station, although I knew they were both exhausted and I left early in the morning! Little things can mean so much some times too!

Here in Berlin I also said goodbye to Caroline who had spent nearly a month with me in Europe. I felt a bit bad for Caroline since I am on quite a tight budget since I have been going for this long, but she never once complained about cheap accommodations, budget eating places, or doing things that hard way to save a buck or two. We both got hooked up big from Edwin and Martina, Glenn, and Sten and Stefan finding us free places to stay and there were other times where the accommodations weren't so luxurious. All and all it was a great experience and I wouldn't trade this time for another 1 of traveling.......Maybe a year but no less ??? JK!

Gonna miss ya!

Prague, Czech Republic

This was the views from my rooftop balcony!

Here we are once again.....On our cycles.

I lived next door to this building!

For the last 1.5 months or so I had been traveling around on the motorcycle and after I left Austria I headed back towards Germany to drop the bike back off. At this time Caroline was in Austria with her car since it was only a 5 hour drive from Switzerland. Our next plan was to head up to Prauge and travel on the weekend since you can get cheaper train tickets then. I spent a couple evenings with Edwin and Martina again, and then we caught a train to Prauge. If I were to just buy a train ticket from where I was to Prauge it was going to cost me around 125 euros. Since I was able to better understand how to take the trains I got to Prauge for less then 30 euros. I once again said goodbye to Martina and Edwin and was still amazed the he lent me his motorcycle for that entire time, and not only helped me save a ton of money on transportation costs, I had a blast crusing around in different areas that not everyone goes taking public transportation. Over the time on the bike I drove around 3500 kilometers and saw so many places that.......although I don't have photos since I was driving a bike, some of the small villages along the way were as neat as the bigger popular cities too. EDWIN AND MARTINA>>>THANK YOU!

Coming to Prague I am going to visit Glenn Spicker, an American guy who has lived here for 17 years and although he is in his 40's, you would think that he was still in his 20's. I met Glenn and his friend Martin in Chile and the entire time we hung out, we cycled anywhere and everywhere. Glenn always said, "Come to Prague dude, I will hook you up!" Well I went to Prague and I didn't realize that he was going to hook me up like this! When I arrived he says...."You are not going to believe the place I have for you to stay, it's in the best part of town and you have the penthouse." Prague is an amazing city and this was just the beginning of all the things that Glenn did while I was there. We go to a hip Bagel place for breakfast and since he owns the chain of them in town.... free. That evening as go out to the bar.......he owns.....free. He gets me a really nice bike to tour the city on with him and at the end of our tour, we pull up to a restaurant and walk in and they have food waiting for us as we walk in the door. I felt like the president everywhere I went with this guy. Along with doing all this stuff for me, Caroline who was with me got the same red carpet treatment. If you knew how I feel as a budget traveler, always watching how much money I spend, a treat like this was exactly what it was.....A treat! We had some great laughs and great times and thank you Glenn for my week away from being a budget traveler.