My Journey Round The World

Today 15 December 2010, it’s been 6 months since I came back from this amazing adventure… 6 months of routine life, more or less back to normality, that I somehow still enjoy. 6 months with up & down experiences as life always gives you…

I would have never imagine to be so glad to come back after such a journey but believe it or not, I was!!! What a release to be in the plane from Sydney back to London - I can tell you I didn’t miss this one! I enjoyed very much Australia & met wonderful people – as said I’ll probably go back to visit them again! - however during my travel back to Europe – during which I could hardly sleep! – I enjoyed every single minutes – even if I was a bit jealous of my neighbour sleeping like babies: remembering my travel, watching the earth from the sky: seeing fire rings between Australia & Singapore – by the way, if someone knows what is it, I’ll be happy to know! – sunrise on the Caspian Sea, crossing Poland, missing Berlin, Germany & Belgium as I finally fall asleep just before the breakfast, having a great view of London which I felt so good to see: back home! Back to Europe!!! Two weeks to meet family & friends before going back to work in Germany and meet my colleagues again, do a job I know & enjoy to do, being useful again, going back to “normal” life after 9 months of wandering… I was overwhelmed by happiness! Glad to be back & happy to have realize a dream I had since more than 10 years.

First month back to “normal” life was paradise! Pure happiness! Such a good feeling to arrive to a known environment. Great to know what I do next morning, next week, next weekend… No more planning: just go to work, come back, enjoy the summer evening on the terrace with a wonderful view, have dinner, go to bed… It even felt hard to organise meeting people at the weekend…

Lucky me, when I came back, I was welcome in a big home as a princess – I could hardly dream better place after being homeless for a year! – I enjoyed very much this peacefulness & serenity after such a long trip. Insidiously, step by step, this paradise became hell… It seems that I wasn’t still really back to hearth and between work & facing routine life again, I hardly had time to realize what was happening… – I can tell you that landing was really painful! – Today, I’m still wondering what really happened & still feel really hurt, disappointed & sad about this last adventure. Losing someone you trust & love, especially when you don’t really understand the reason why, is extremely hard, and also difficult to let go when you see each other nearly everyday.

Anyway, you cannot feel sorry for yourself all your life unless you want to miss it… Good and bad experiences allow you to grow up. I’m intimately convince that things happen for a reason – sometimes I’m really wondering why, but hey I need to find a reason to reassure myself! – and that life always put you through things you can handle… Sometimes it’s pretty hard though! As my dear friend Tanya advice me: “Feel sorry & hug yourself no more than 2min per day & keep going”. Luckily, even if they are sometimes far away, I have wonderful friends all around which helps a lot and as I already learned before, you’re the only person who can really make yourself feel better.

When I think about it, this travel was a wonderful opportunity. I took it. I won’t say it was hard, as it really feels as a continuity, as something which meant to be, everything seems to call for it: working contract ending and not being extended, wanting and a need to escape routine life rather than settling down after such 2 difficult years, money saved to buy a new car… I would imagine this was the time, as every project you can have in your life such as creating your own company, building a house or having kids. I guess as I didn’t want or hadn’t the possibility to realise this ones, I found another project to keep going and I’m glad I did it!

This 9-months travel experience in Latin America, New Zealand and Australia allowed me to develop my open-minded and outgoing personality, as well as my eagerness to meet new people. I’ve enjoyed discovering new countries, culture, and environment. I’ve also enjoy so much being back to work, even if it was sometimes hard & exhausting! All these experiences, from work to travel, taught me to respect a different way of thinking, to take common decisions and come to compromises.

So now, what’s next?! I didn’t finish to discover the world!!! – I guess you need more than a life for that! – I still have to experience Asia, North America, Alaska, Africa, more deeply Latin America… Or shall I settle done now and move around from here? As this is such a nice feeling to have a cozy “home” where to come back to – a place where I feel safe & secure. Let see what life brings… Canada, Asia, Europe… All open possibilities, just a matter of opportunities and what I want to do… One thing I would advice you to do – and everyone can do it! Even for the smallest little thing: try everything you can to realize your dreams, it can be hard sometimes but when you feel you’re on the right path, and achieve it, it makes you feel unbelievably good & happy! That’s worth it believe me…

Something I learned & experienced during this journey is that life is a matter of knowing what you want. When you know that and put all you have to achieve it, you feel so good and life seems so much easier, even if sometimes you don’t succeed you learn a lot out of the experience. Life is also a matter of choice out of the opportunities you have in front of you. You always have the choice, then it’s a matter of what you want… Good luck!

Thanks to this journey, I met an incredible number of great people… Hope to see you again one day!

Such an amasing park! After one crasy night in Tamarindo, we finaly managed to take the bus to Santa Cruz, then Nicoya in order to reach Barra Honda National Park. We arrived just on time to start a visit to the cave. Apparently we were the only tourist for the all week – what a pity, as it is an amasing park. We did see more animals than anywhere else! On our way to the cave, our guide show us different plants & fruits such as Amapola & Coquito – kind of redcurrant but on a tree – that we could eat on our way up. We heard & saw howler monkeys as well as different birds. The visit of the cave was quite impressive – especialy the way down & up on the stiff ladder! We came back pretty dirty… We had the chance to sleep inside the reserve & had a good breakfast before heading back to Nicoya where we finaly separated. Guys went back to another beach and I made my way to San Jose, in order to be sure to be on time for my flight to Peru the next day

After the disappointment visit of Monteverde Biological Reserve – 17$, we couldn’t see anything as it was really cloudy & most of the trails were closed for renovation. Sebastien & Tanguy managed to drag me to the beach… We ended up at Playa Grande by night, hoping to see some turtles. Unfortunatly we didn’t It was 25$ to spend the night on the beach waiting for them. We were pretty dead after the bus travel we had that day… After speaking with 2 German tourists who didn’t see any for 2 days, we decided to give up & go back to the hotel. Good night there & wake up with a bath in the swimmingpool before breakfast Great!

After breakfast we decided to head toward Tamarindo. What a surprise when the taxi driver let us walk to a peninsula – as it was quicker this way (at least for him!), telling us that we should be able to cross by foot… It was fun! Walking for 15 mn with our backpacks – well I just had to carry the small one while Seb & Tanguy carry my big one, lucky me as it was really warm! – & arriving on this peninsula where we finaly had to cross by boat…

Visit a bit disapointing – expensive entry for little to see as trails were on renovation – but still we had fun & could make some picture even if weather wasn’t exactly good… On the way back we were lucky not to wait for the bus! When I asked at one time was the next one, a guide told me that he was going back to Santa Elena & he could bring us there Lucky us, no need to wait 2 hours there

Hello you who are looking at my blog from time to time, I’ll be really happy to have some news from you here!  How are you over there?

• How are you over there?
• How do you like it?
• …any comments for improvement and/or to make me feel I’m note doing this blog for nothing & that you’re enjoying it a bit too…

I’m trying to update it as much as possible – still lot to tell you! - a laptop would have been a great tool! There is WiFi everywhere! Back to San Jose after 4 wonderfull days with 2 crasy french guys – Tanguy & Sebastien – between Monteverde, la Playa & Parque Nacional Barra Honda… Unforgetable moments! Tomorrow direction Perou to meet Ariane & Gregoire for the Machu Pichu trek!!! Great patchwork pictures will arrive later as Ariane is having a break with me She deserve it!

I look forward to receiving some news from you soon…

I’m having great time but don’t forget about you for sure!

Read you soon!

As I was really disapointed of this last tour, I decided to move to the cloud forest – Monteverde – the next day. What a wonderful landscape, crossing the lake to the other side of the volcano as well as the bumpy road to Santa Elena! Arriving there, same story, hostel are jumping on you. During the crossing I was with a Belgium guy – Luc – from the previous hotel. We ended up in El Tucan hotel, with really friendly landlord but so noisy place!!! After a quick check in the city, I decided to hike which seems to be the only free spot here: Cerro Tres Amigos (3 friends hill – 1842m ascending ruoghly 300m, in 3km…) recommended by our host.  Seems to be a sign… I met 2 special french guys Tanguy & Sebastien on the strenuous way to the top, with whom I spent the next 4 days. We had lot of fun going down the mountain – from where we didn’t see anything! Too cloudy…  - talking about our life experiences! They invited me for diner in there hostel & to join them at 6:30am for the cloud forest tour the next day.

As soon as you arrive somewhere in this area, all tourist agencies or hotels are welcoming you. As I didn’t want to end up on my own, I just ask 2 foreigners if the found a place to stay. We went together to visit 1 hostel, really basic but with a wonderfull view on the Arenal Volcano! I shared the room for 6 dollars with a friendly canadian & danish guy. I won’t recommend the Red Lava agency who brought us there – really good for convincing & selling their products but not really good regarding the service! I booked a lava tour through them, visiting the national park – beautifull but really short time there, pity! Better to go on your own with a local bus as you get a map at the entrance & treks are well indicated. Still we could see some animals – as the beautiful rana frog - and discover some plants but no lava as the volcano is not really active at the time! Sustainable tourism is not really respected with them… How many plants will die after the passage of all this tourists group!!!

Arriving in San Jose, I decided to leave the next morning to La Fortuna in order visit the Volcano & the National Park. I made my way with local bus there. People are really helpfull & I ended up ¨chatting¨ with a friendly guy while buying my ticket as well as in the bus. Everything went well until I realised he was intensively flirting with me, saying that I was cute, plus some other things that I didn´t get… I started feeling a bit unconfortable but lucky me I knew he wasn´t going to the same place as I was & still he was behaving himself – Anyway in a bus I was safe! Anyway, I could´nt move. Local bus are quite comfortable, when you´re sitting… However, as in Guatemala, they are filling up the bus as much as people can get in. People might be standing for the whole trip. It was the first time since I started my travel in Central America that I saw a men giving his seat to a woman – ok he was going out at the next stop, but still! Usually, even when they are old or with small kids it doesn´t help! And the landscape was wonderful the whole way!!! On the evening I went to see the volcano by night – with moon & stars it was beautiful & ended up in hot spring before going to bed. Great!

On November 1st,  I left for the airport in Guatemala City to fly to Managua – Nicaragua, in order to meet Sandrine, I haven’t seen since 2 years. We met in former Copeland in Welkenraedt while working together for IKK show 2006.

What a nice surprise when in the plane I ended up in first class!!! I double checked my ticket, it was written economy… However I was in first class… GREAT!!!

I had a real good relaxing 3 days in Nicaragua – perfect as I was a bit sick while arriving! –  visiting Granada with the whole family as well as Masaya artisanal market.