A few years back I started the personal tradition that instead of making up some short lasting New Year’s resolutions, I rather look back and make a mental list of great moments of the last year. Well, as you might guess 2012 was a special year for me. So the list this New Year was pretty long.
I came back to Austria just before Christmas, a bit earlier than planned due to some health issues. Now with this last entry in this blog – at least for the time being – it is a good moment to reflect about “365 Days of Summer” and share some final thoughts about the last year.
Some statistics
Let’s start with some figures: I left Vienna on December 28 in 2011 and returned 356 days later on December 18. My journey brought me to 8 countries on 5 continents and I spent my days in 11 different time zones. In total I traveled estimated 95.500 km. Logically most of it I did by plane and with my 23 flights I “collected” 73.400 km. On the road I made 15.000 km, including 3.400 km while hitchhiking and 4.200 km on the bus. By train I traveled another 7.000 km. Only roughly 150 km I did by boat, not counting my beautiful 3 day sailing trip in Airlie Beach, Australia.
I slept in 88 different beds (or seats). Of course mostly in comfortable rooms in hostels and at friends places, but also 11 nights on planes/buses/trains, 5 nights on boats, 4 nights under the beautiful stars of Australia in a swag, 1 night in Bernhard’s luxury camper van and 1 night in a not so luxury, very small rental car. Not counted is one long afternoon nap at a comfortable bench close to a helicopter landing site in Franz Josef, New Zealand, after being exhausted from unsuccessful hitchhiking.
Looking back
To be honest, there is not much I would do differently, given the opportunity again to travel for a year. The time was long enough, that I was able leave home behind for a bit, but not so long that I had the feeling of loosing contact totally. Warming up in easy-to-travel countries like Australia and New Zealand was a good start and right then, when I felt the need for more adventure I came to Japan. About three month in each country gave me the time to experience the peculiarities of the people and do more than just scratching the surface and seeing a few places.
For me it is amazing how different the experience in every country was, both in terms of the people I met but also the personal thoughts and feelings I encountered. Starting the trip outside Europe with a warm welcome by the Dobson family in Melbourne, the vastness of Australia and those special places like Broken Hill and Alice Springs, gave me the time and space to get used to this new way of travelling. New Zealand afterwards felt almost cozy and I’ll never forget this beautiful moment of stepping of the plane in Queenstown. After a landing between the mountain ranges, the fresh and perfectly clear air of autumn and the already slightly tinted trees just left me gazing. The color green again full and strong.
On the second day I met Mocja from Slovenia and starting hitch hiking with her for about two weeks, I enjoyed this way of traveling for the next two month. At the end of my stay in New Zealand I was cold almost all the time, so I was very eager to move further to Japan.
Not only the weather changed, but while being part of the common crowd in Oceania, it is quite obvious that I’m not Japanese. This leads to a special treatment – both in positive and negative ways. It is still difficult to explain my fascination for Japan. I don’t believe it is an easy place to life due to the strict rules and expectations. Cities feel very functional and rather generic and unharmed nature is limited due to the lack of space. Still I met a lot of great people who have been very enriching for me – maybe especially because attitude differs in so many ways and it gives you the opportunity to experience yourself also from a different perspective. I’m looking forward to returning soon.
After leaving Asia I had the feeling of being full of impressions and my spirit to explore almost vanished. A short stop in Hawaii, then the Jones family gave me a home for some weeks. My little sister Lisi and friends came to visit as well and I enjoyed taking it a bit slower. In Washington I then experienced hurricane Sandy before leaving the continent.
My last big stop was Brazil. Definitely not a country for me to travel, as the security situation sets quite some limits in your daily routine. Still, getting to know the warmhearted people of the “Fraternidad Palavra e Missao” was a great pleasure for me and I very much enjoyed my time and talks with Pe. Cyzo about “Gott und die Welt” (God and the whole world).
Looking forward
With lots of ideas and inspiration I’m still not sure what the next months will bring and I’m looking currently into my options. However, using the time at hand I started working on my photos and you will find them in my photo blog www.re-creation.net gradually uploaded over the next weeks. Have a look!
Thanks for following my thoughts about my journey in this blog 😉