No child ever dreams of growing up to be a gypsy… In fact, personally I wanted to be a pirate… or a mermaid… or a, hmmmm, I forget … PLANS CHANGE!
In fact, by the end of university I planned to start an empire and retire by 30 with 7 children and a white picked fence, a few llamas, and a husband who puts the Hoff to shame.
Back in 2007 I agreed to explore deepest darkest Africa with a few friends – head out into the abyss and see what happened… 3 – 6 months MAXIMUM and then…
You experience all these weird and interesting cultures…
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| Bahar Darar, Ethiopia |
You find ancient castle ruins
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| Gondor, Ethiopia |
You see snow for the first time in your life…
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| Mt Kenya, Kenya |
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| Summit of Mt Kenya |
You meet masses of incredible people…
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| Lake Malawi |
You sit for hours staring into beautifulnesses…
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| Malawi |
And although it happens every day, you’re always breath taken by yet another perfect sunrise or sunset…
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| Sunrise over Lake Malawi |
You learn how best to appreciate ancient relics…
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| Lallibella, Ethiopia (There’s amazing rock-hewn churches too) |
And go to places most people only read about…
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| Lake Nakuru, Knya |
Next thing you know, you’ve been contaminated by the innumerable wonders of the world, you’ve got a lethal case of the travel bug and you end up a gypsy.
I ENDED UP A GYPSY.
As a gypsy, I followed my routes back to the start of gypsism, in Europe…
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| Paris, France |
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| Venice, Italy |
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| Stone henge, England |
And then my baby brother was concerned that I’d acquired an Australian accent and talked me into a long drive. So we bought a car and started driving.
and we drove into Asia…
And we drove through Canyons….
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| Charyn Canyon, Kazakhstan |
And we drove through snow…
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| Mongolia |
And we accidently camped in animal graveyards…
And visited places that were illegal for tourists….
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| The door to Hell, Turkmenistan |
And every now and then we broke down…
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| 3 flat tyres at once, Mongolia |
But we raced through 17 500 + KM of awesomeness….
And finally we made it to Ulaanbataar
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And a flick of the coin dictated I visit China next…
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| The Night food market in Beijing |
And an expiring visa led me to South East Asia…
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| Cambodia, 2009 |
And I got a semi-addiction to hitch hiking….
And I hitched across Southern Africa and Australia
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| Lickng the Sydney opera house, Australia |
And I aquired my longest standing travel buddy yet
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| The deterioration of a giant Teddy over 6 months of good life |
And I motorbiked across Vietnam
And cycled across South East Asia
And got lured into all sorts of wild adventures…
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| Buiding a raft, Malaysia |
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| Sinking a raft |
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| Shipwrecking on a deserted island |
I’ve seen things most will never see, licked things most will never lick and had the best years of my life. But I never planned to be a gypsy…
At 27 I find myself homeless, unemployed, and single; and a lot of it’s been tough, but I wouldn’t change a thing. I have no idea what the next 5 years – or even the rest of the week – hold; But whatever happens, I plan to make the most of it… I hope you’ll be doing likewise!
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2 Comments
Martin A Bolton · July 31, 2012 at 7:14 pm
Flippin awesome!!
You must get some Plax to clean out your mouth- the rest will all fall into place!…
Tim · August 1, 2012 at 6:46 am
Great story, superb traveling! Missing the old days when i read your story's! So keep on traveling!;)