The Embro Boy's Big Adventure...Summary

It's all over but the crying...

Wow, it's hard to believe the adventure has come to an end...and to tell you the truth...I'm not acclimatizing back into reality very well. I feel like I'm supposed to be somewhere else seeing new places and meeting new people. So I hope this last posting puts some closure to my trip and allows me to move on with memories that will last a lifetime.

To summarize my adventure in one posting is impossible as I quickly found out trying to pick some of my favourite pictures out of the 3900+ pictures I took. Instead of duplicating pictures you've already seen, I've decided to post others that didn't make earlier postings.



As a quick overview...


The adventure began on October 10th, 2007 and officially ended on December 11th, 2008. During that time I travelled (to the best of my knowledge) 77,000+ kms by plane, 9900kms by bus, 12500+ kms by train and 1700kms by ferry for a total of 101,100kms or almost 8 times around the world. Not bad for a small town boy.



The most frequently asked question I get is 'what is my favourite place' in all my travels. That question is too difficult to answer as every place had its unique charm and my experience will be different from everyone else who has visited the same place because it really comes down to the people that you meet.

With that said, I do have a few of my favourites to share with you.


My favourite countries were Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Spain.

Some of my favourite cities (in no particular order) include Sydney, Vienna, Salzburg, Zurich, Lucerne, Berlin, Munich, Paris, Barcelona, San Sebastian, Porto, Florence, Edinburgh, Copenhagen and Galway city.



Taking it down to a regional level...a few of my favourites included the entire east coast of Australia, the entire south island of New Zealand, Koh Lanta island in Thailand, Santorini Island in Greece, Cinque Terre in Italy, Bavaria in Germany and Western Ireland.



The few places that I was hoping to get to, but for some reason or another I didn't make it to include...Scandinavia, southern France, the Lake District in England, the highlands of Scotland and more of eastern Europe such as Croatia, Poland, Turkey and Hungary.

Although many of you comment on me seeing the world...in actuality...I saw very little of it. The one thing that I did learn during my travels; the world is a very big place with many fabulous sights and places...so I look forward to seeing much more of it.



And taking it down a further notch, my favourite activities (once again in no particular order) included...trekking through the hills of northern Thailand, a multi-day 'safari' of Fraser Island, the train rides to and from Jungfrau Switzerland, bungee jumping in NZ, glacier hiking, Berlin's nightlife, getting my scuba certification (PADI) and exploring the Great Barrier Reef, all the time spent on the Groovy Grape tours in Australia and the Magic Bus ride throughout NZ, all the great wine and port tours, watching beautiful sunsets in many different countries, the coastal hike through Cinque Terre, the Louvre, seeing the Colosseum for the first time, fabulous architecture in every country, the excellent and varied cuisine in every country, definitely the awe inspiring Tongariro Crossing in NZ and the best was seeing friends I had met along the way in their home towns as we crossed paths for a second time.



The lists above could honestly go on forever. They certainly bring back amazing memories for me, but the main reason I list them is to give you a very small glimpse of what's out there for you to discover on your own.

So get out there... see and do them for yourselves or go experience something altogether different. You know you want to...and you won't regret a second of it.

As many of my old and new friends know...I am full of useless trivia. I'd like to share some more with you now.

The adventure spanned 14 months and 22 countries.

The blog now officially has 60 postings with each posting taking an average of 1.5-2.0 hours to complete for a total of 100+ hours or more than two weeks of work. Who says this trip was all play and no work?

I would hazard a guess I tried at least 150 different types of beer.

You can live on wine, bread and cheese for weeks at a time.

And I wasn't going to tell you this, but my best guess is that I had approximately 2050 alcoholic drinks while away. Since I wasn't really working, I thought a least part of me should be...good liver!

I would like to take this time to thank all the wonderful people that I met during this adventure whether they be fellow backpackers or locals who bridged language and custom barriers to help me along the way. It is because of them that this was a once in a life time experience and I won't soon forget.

And for the blog readers...I hope you've enjoyed the blog. I want to thank all of you, especially those that took the time to write comments or sent me emails to stay in touch.

As in this picture...the sun has set on my big adventure.

I look forward to seeing the 100+ backpackers who said they'd look me up in Canada.





And now I find myself back to reality...homeless, unemployed, broke and in dire need of a detox.

But I'm hoping my next adventure is just around the corner.

And now it's time for the Embro Boy to sign off...Cheers!!

Heading Home...Brighton and Gatwick

Well...it has been a fabulous adventure, but it's time to go home and start to face reality again. It is definitely with mixed emotions that I retrace my steps from Zurich, to Paris to England and then on to Brighton to spend my last two nights.

Brighton is closer to Gatwick airport so I figured that I could sleep in a little longer if I stayed in Brighton versus staying in England. As you all know...I need my beauty rest.


I was supposed to meet my long lost friend Louise (Magic Bus) but unfortunately things didn't work and I found myself alone in Brighton.

But don't worry about me, Brighton is a very cool little seaside town that definitely caters to the thousands of students that go there...mostly to learn English.

So as you might guess, there are casinos, arcardes, restaurants, cafes, kebab shops, fast food and more bars than I can count to appeal to my lifestyle. This is good living.

And once again...I found myself with gorgeous weather. So much so that the joggers (did I mention how much I hate joggers...they make me feel pathetic) were just wearing shorts and T-shirts in December.

The blue sky was brilliant and I think the tiny Taj Mahal like structure found in downtown Brighton looks pretty cool even with my camera.



On my second day in Brighton another bizarre thing happened. As I was sitting in the hostel bar reading a book, a pretty girl walked by so of course I looked at her, but this time she looked back at me and smiled. Wow...how weird is that? And then to my surprise she came right over to me. I wasn't sure what to do and then she said...'dude..it's me' and then I realized in was Ana who I had partied with at the Paris hostel. How cool is that? Yes, it's truly a small world. So get your butt out there!!!

I behaved as much as I could on my last night (even though I spent it at the hostel bar) since I knew I had to get up early to catch my flight home.

I was planning to sleep in a bit longer as I figured I didn't need to arrive to Gatwick airport nearly as early since it wasn't a huge airport like Heathrow. However, I would definitely feel stupid if I missed my flight home so I decided to give myself lots of time. I was up early and as I went down to check out...the bar gang was just finishing their night caps (6:15am) and that pretty much summed up the hostel life for me.


I decided to walk to the train station and soon found that Mother Nature was very unhappy about me ending my trip. The temperature had dropped severely and that was just the beginning of it.

I arrived at the train station at 6:50 hoping to catch the 7:00 train to Gatwick airport only to find out that the train had been cancelled. The guy at the ticket booth was extremely friendly and told me the next best train to take would be at 7:26. I still felt comfortable with my timing, but knew I would have to hustle once I got to the train station at Gatwick.

As I sat down to wait for the next train, an announcement came over that main line trains to London may be delayed or cancelled due to ice on the rails over three specific bridges. That got my 'spidey senses' tingling and soon afterwards the 7:26 train showed cancelled. Yes...now I started to panic as the next scheduled train wasn't for another 30 minutes and I didn't like the pattern that was forming.

I quickly rushed over to the first guy in a uniform and told him of my predicament and he quickly gave me instructions on how to reroute and get to Gatwick. I now had to change trains and things were getting tight. But not as tight as the trains themselves as everyone else had to reroute to London as well. We were packed on like sardines, but luckily I found a seat.

When I got to the stop where I had to change trains, I hopped of and only hit a couple people with my backpack, but no one yelled so I guess they expected it as we were so packed in. I ran to the information booth and the guy told me I had two minutes to catch the next train to Gatwick.

Did I mention it's hard to run with a backpack and day bag strapped to you? If not...IT IS!

I made it to platform 4 and the train hadn't arrived. Whew...I'm going to make it. But being a seasoned backpacker...I don't take anything for granted and started to look at the information boards and quickly figured that the information guy and led me astray and the train coming into platform 4 DIDN'T stop at Gatwick. Another catastrophe averted, but time was running out to catch my plane.

I did manage to catch a train to Gatwick 15 minutes later. I was the last one on the train as everyone was pushing me aside and found myself having to stand with no place to hold on. It was train surfing all the way to Gatwick...except for the 10 minutes the train stopped on the tracks. Didn't they know I was in fear of missing my flight?

It was now time to start to panic as I still had to pick up my tickets from the AirTransat booth and no one was there to assist me. However, it was there I overheard people talking about a flight that was diverted to Heathrow and wasn't even at Gatwick. I soon found out it was my plane. I guess I could have taken that train to London and picked the plane up at Heathrow.

I finally got through check-in. When you're as late as I was, it's nice to only have one person to wait behind. And it was even more relief when I heard that our flight had been delayed. Deep breath and relax!!

Unfortunately, the flight ended up being FIVE hours delayed due to ice at the airport. We finally got off the ground and things got better as the flight attendant who was in my section was quite cute and we start chatting immediately. However, she quickly told me to expect 1-1.5 hours of turbulence. Nice...just how I want to end my trip.

The other cool thing was that I was seated beside a Canadian band 'The TenKens' who had just finished up a UK tour and were heading home. They were very cool. And then it happened...the seat belt sign went back on and the ride began. You know it's a bad flight when the pilot comes on to tell everyone that 'all the toilets are full of people being sick and that you should just ask your neighbours for extra sick bags'.

So that was it! I finished my trip with people puking all around me and five plus hours behind schedule. But I guess that was par for the trip and I wouldn't change one minute of my adventure. OK...maybe that's an exaggeration, but it was still definitely a trip of a life time.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my adventures as much as I enjoyed experiencing them. I definitely wish I had done this when I was in my early twenties, but feel very fortunate that I was able to still do it. It doesn't matter how old you are...I can't stress enough that everyone should get on their 'travel boots' and get out into this big, beautiful world we live in!!

I'll finish the blog with a summary posting outlining some interesting facts about my adventure and some of my favourite pictures.

One more for the road...

Wrapping it up...back to Ireland and Belgium

As you can ascertain from the title...this was my second trip back to Ireland and once again...Mother Nature treated me well. Check out that blue sky and sunshine. I do live a charmed life.

The reason to head back was twofold. To see Rosaleen (Magic Bus) in Waterford since I missed her on my first trip and to see part of Western Ireland...Galway to be specific. The added bonus was hooking up with Dave in Dublin...one of the 4 Irish guys who I almost drank myself to death with in St. Kilda Australia.



Although public transit is an oxymoron when it comes to travelling anywhere outside of Dublin, I managed to find my way to the west coast. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but in all my travels...only Ireland has you line up in single file before allowing you on a train. I find that very strange. It felt more like an airport than a train station.



This time in Ireland was the first really cold weather I had experienced since leaving in October 2007...and I was not ready for it. I was frozen, but the compromise was that I had sunshine.

Galway was beautiful and my only regret was not having time to see the Cliffs of Moor. But I had to make a decision and I opted to take a day tour to Connemara and it was breathtaking.



It was then back to the east coast...through Dublin of course because that's the only way trains run in Ireland and finally found my way down to Waterford. Rosaleen picked me up from the train station with her sister Marie and off we went for a fabulous home cooked meal and out to the nightclubs with a few friends.

This is where I saw another side of Ireland. I had partied with many great Irish people before, and therefore was dumbfounded when I found so many extremely rude people at the nightclub. Guys and girls would just push you out of their way as though you didn't exist. Now all the fighting makes sense as I felt like killing a few people as well. It was also here where I saw the stereotypical Irish drunks. I had never seen so many (once again...guys and girls) falling down drunks in one place in all my life. It was bizarre!!! I think I'll stick to pubs if I find myself in Ireland again.


Speaking of Irish pubs...the adhoc jam sessions that go on in most of the pubs are fabulous and the atmosphere is electric without the crazies of the nightclub. Galway was incredible for this and added to the definite beauty of the city. For the culture and the sights...it's another must see for you soon-to-be travellers.

Another RyanAir flight (without the bouncy landing) found me in Belgium for the second time. I really skated through Brussels my first time around and glad I found time to get back to enjoy it properly.

Now Brussels was even colder than Ireland, but that didn't stop most of the population from enjoying a drink or snack on the outdoor cafes. I checked for some heaters and didn't find any, so kudos for them. They must be tougher than I am (which isn't that hard), but I looked at them as more crazy than I am (and that takes some effort).

It was while I was standing at the train station in Brussels waiting to hop on a train to Bruges that I witnessed the first snow fall I had seen in almost 14 months. Unfortunately, it was a half snow, half rain kind of sleet and Australia was looking very good at that moment. Bruges in a very cool little town and I really enjoyed walking along the waterways. It also had two very cool squares which were set up as a winter village selling anything and everything, but even in December...tourists were everywhere.

The big allure for me about Belgium is that the two things it's famous for is its beer and its chocolate...two of my favourite things! So I made sure to try as many of each as possible so that I could give you, the readership, an honest critique. It is my duty to inform you, that both the beer and the chocolate was FANTASTIC! Definitely get the hot Belgium waffles with chocolate on top. Honestly...it's to die for!! The things I do for you guys.

However, the mulled wine (heated red wine with a few other ingredients) did not suit my taste buds at all...(can my drinking buddies from around the world stop reading now)...and I actually threw most of it out...I know...please forgive me for the alcohol abuse. I promise never to do it again...now that's a promise I look forward to keeping.


I'm now down to my last few days and have to find my way back to England, but this time in the student town of Brighton before flying home from Gatwick airport. I can hardly believe it's time to go home. See you in Brighton!!

London England and area...

OK gang...I'm struggling to get through the last few postings and you're not helping with the lack of comments. Remember...tis the season for giving comments. You're still my favourite Sash!

After heading through the Chunnel (the tunnel under the English Channel) I found myself in jolly old England...and not just in the airport this time.


And after the shock of seeing the hordes of people pushing themselves through the crowds of St. Pancras and King's Cross stations...I successfully managed to navigate 'the Tube'...London's subway system. I felt that was a crowning achievement to how far I had come as a veteran traveller. Trust me...it's no small feat to find your way on the Tube and not piss too many people off by hitting them with your backpack.

But like usual...it was a fleeting moment as I soon found myself lost looking for my hostel. I asked several locals who weren't able to help and with sheer dumb luck I found it on my own. Why would a street just change names and then continue on with the old name on what looked like a totally different street.

But all the hassle was definitely worth it as within the hour, my good buddy Gus (from the Magic Bus) was there to commence our reunion and to get the drinks started.

Then it was down to Waterloo station to meet up with Claire (Magic Bus) and off for a night of drinking.

But then something very strange and very scary happened. I was told that many bars/pubs in London close at 11:00pm. What sort of 'twilight zone' did I find myself in? I still have nightmares!

The next day Gus and I went sightseeing and took in the usual suspects like London Tower, Big Ben, parliament etc.

The walk along the water was nice, but I wasn't too impressed with the sights. That was until we reached Camden Town. This place would make the 'twilight zone' look tame. Here you find all the eclectic people from Grunge to Punk to Gothic to I don't know what they were. But the market and the pubs were a 'people watcher's' dream and even I was captivated.


It was then on to the big 'Groovy Grape' reunion with a few 'Magic Bus' people thrown into the mix. The great thing about it...it was like we hadn't been apart and the alcohol flowed freely like it had when we were in Australia and New Zealand. It also didn't hurt that this bar specialized in flights of different types of vodkas.

There were a few casulties of war that night, but luckily I wasn't one of them.

Once again, the first bar closed at 11:00, the next at 12:00, but Gus and I finally stumbled across a bar that stayed open to the wee hours. You can always count on an Aussie bar to be the last one standing.

The next day had us at Covent Gardens watching the street performers and hitting the pubs in the Theatre District.

It was then off to Reading to where Gus lives and then out to see Stonehenge. I wasn't planning to see the strange rock structure as it was out in the boonies, but I was glad I did. It was very eerie to think about the pagan history behind it.

I'm not sure if it would have been worth the money to enter the Stonehenge grounds rather than just taking photos from the highway, but somehow Gus got us in for free. I think the attendant girl succumbed to his charms. I guess he's still got it.


My last day in London found me hitting a few more sights like Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Square and a few of the parks.

London certainly wasn't my favourite city, but seeing the old gang again made it perfect.

Now it's back to Ireland and Belgium for the second time each just to hit a few of the places I missed on the first go-around and to continue the reunions.

See you back in Ireland...

France...Paris, Verseille, Tours and the Chateau region

As impressed as I was with the train into Lisbon hitting 224km/h...I felt like Mario Andretti when the TGV train to Paris hit an impressive 320km/h. Now that's moving!

But even with that, I was quite skeptical that Paris could match the high expectations I had set for the City of Lights and the romance capital of the world.



Boy...was I wrong!

I was quickly overpowered by everything Paris had to offer. Even though I roamed the city during November in which most of the cafes had people huddled inside for warmth and the gardens and parks were devoid of colour...it was spectacular.



It is a definite that I will be in Paris again...this time during the warmer months to see it at it's prime.



Like Rome...I'll let the pictures do most of the talking for Paris, but Oliver (a good Aussie boy) and I were both extremely disappointed in the quality of the Parisienne women. We both expected to see runway models walking down the street in every direction...boy were we misinformed.



I guess Paris didn't have everything, but it sure did have a lot.


Oliver and I hopped on a train to Verseille, only to find out that we were on the wrong train, but managed to hop off at the first stop and were able to catch a second train. Another mishap averted.

Verseille has a beautiful palace that the tourists flock to like seagulls and even in the off season it was pretty busy. Neither of us could be bothered to enter as the price tag was a bit steep so we both decided that the money could be better spent at the bar...so off we went.


Trying to get into the Verseille train station had security coming over to me as I was trying to insert an old ticket. I pulled the wrong one from my pocket, but then eventually found the right one as the security guard was ready to slap a fine on me. So to make sure I didn't make the same mistake, I made sure I threw out my old ticket...unfortuately when trying to leave Verseille...I quickly realized I had thrown out my valid return ticket instead. Back to the ticket booth to buy another ticket.
Stupid is...stupid does!

And then it was on to the Louvre. Now I had seen plenty of art galleries and museums, so I wasn't too excited to go in, but due to the DaVinci Code...I figured it had some allure.

And WOW!! I was blown away by the Louvre. We spent a very short three hours in the place and can easily see why people spend days in the joint. The amount of rare pieces of art they had in each room was beyond belief. Another definite must see for you guys.

I was on my own the next day and thought it would be cool to get out of Paris again and head to the Chateau region in the middle of France.

Unfortunately, by the time I arrived in Tours...a focal point for the chateaus...I only had enough time to visit one of the chateaus as they are kind of off the beaten path and public transit doesn't cut it.

Therefore, if you want to see the chateaus...rent yourself a car.

But I was able to see the very interesting Chateau Chanonceaux and it was worth the painful day of travel. The two things I remember the most about it...first the doorways and beds were definitely made for short people. Although the ceilings were anywhere from 14-20ft high...most doorways were under six feet.

Second...the chateau had a hedge maze. I had always wanted to try my luck at hedge maze...don't ask me why.

But I found it a little anticlimatic since the maze wasn't overly large and the hedge was only about 5ft high...so I could always see where I needed to go. Even Pam could have found her way out of the maze so you know it wasn't much of a challenge.

I had no idea about this phenomenon, but I was informed that for five minutes on each hour after sunset...the Eiffel tour sparkles with light. It was very cool and I managed to see it twice.

Unfortunately...as you all know...my camera sucks at taking night pictures so the picture to the left is a little fuzzy. Oh well...at least I got to see it clearly...I guess that's really all the counts. Sorry!



I hate to admit this, but I drank more beer than wine while in France. I know...very sad. I wasn't able to see France as I wanted to due to me time constrictions, so I also have to go back to see the Bordeaux region as well as the line from Grenoble to Dijon.

So I hope to see you all in France in the near future.

And now it's on to London to really get the reunions going. I can't wait to see the Groovy Grape and Magic Bus gang again.

I'm sure my liver won't like it, but I've convinced it to last at least one more month of travelling...and then maybe the Christmas season before it shuts down forever. I hope it obliges.

Spain Again...Madrid and San Sebastian

As promised, the postings are coming a little faster as the Embro Boy's Big Adventure comes to a close.

Yes, I will have to complete a few of the postings from Canada, but I hope you'll forgive me.

I'm not so sure I'm ready for the cold and the snow. I'll admit, I've gotten soft over my travels.

I took the over night train from Lisbon to Madrid. It was my first night train and it wasn't so bad. However, trains are pretty loud and not the smoothest mode of transport so I wasn't my 'freshest' self when the train rolled in at 8:00.

I was warned off Madrid from a few backpackers as just another big city, but like everything...you have to experience it for yourself and I was glad I did. I thoroughly enjoyed Madrid and would definitely recommend it to future travellers.

Even though I only spent a day and a half in Madrid, I made every moment count. I took a free walking tour, but was disappointed that it was way too much talking and not enough seeing.

So I bailed on the walking tour at the half way point and began my own walking tour. After six hours and a really bum leg, I felt very satisfied that I had seen Madrid. The next morning was just a little cleanup from the sights I hadn't got a good picture from and then it was on to San Sebastian.

The train right north was pretty uneventful and boring until I went to get a beer at the bar car. There I met a couple of Americans who were definitely enjoying the train ride with double shots of Jack Daniels.

As much as I hate Jack Daniels...Aiden and Daniel were good guys and we soon figured out that we were staying at the same hostel.

However, none of us knew the exact location of the hostel...I had vague directions only. So we proceeded to ask the locals and soon found an extremely hot Danish girl, who was going to school in San Sebastian, and she gave us the right directions along with suggestions of good bars to hit and her phone number as she said she'd party with us later. Did I tell you how much I enjoyed Spain?

When we got to the hostel, we met Fiona in the hallway and realized she was from our train and had walked past us as we were asking for directions. I guess we should have followed her.

We all ended up in the same room and after dumping our stuff off in the room, we all decided we should go sight seeing together...which really meant let's find a bar and start drinking.

These were my kind of people.


Just a tasty tidbit for you...literally...as I looked up how to spell the word 'pincho' or 'pintxo' (basque spelling)...I learned that San Sebastian has more Michelin stars (food ratings) per capita than any other city in the world...even Paris. So if that doesn't sell you...let me explain the pinchos.

Basically the pincho is a tapas (earlier posting) on steroids. On top of a piece of bread is placed an assortment of delectable ingredients with seafood being the most common.

These pinchots which look as good as they taste are lined out over the entire bar area. As you sip on your drink, you indulge on these tasty morsels. And the really cool thing is that they go on the honour system. After you've finished eating and drinking...you tell them how many drinks and pinchos you had.

I'm not so sure if that system would work in many other cities, but they all seem to do a thriving business in San Sebastian.

The pinchos were a great way to keep a good base of food in your stomach and it came in handy when hanging out with Aiden as that boy could drink and liked when people joined in.

I ended up being in San Sebastian for four days and I honestly think I gained five pounds. I blame the Spanish and the Americans!

Now, I was only supposed to stay in San Sebastian for three days, but since my cell phone locked me out...I didn't have an alarm clock to wake me up. So I put on my charm and asked a pretty Aussie girl who was staying in our room if she could wake me up at 5:30 so I could catch my 6:30 train. I know...I'm a nice guy!!

Luckily she agreed, but since she was only in Spain for the weekend and working in England these days...she had forgot to change her cell phone with the time difference. She did her part by waking me up at 5:30 and I thanked her big time, but I soon found out it was already 6:30 and I had missed my train.

But since I knew there were more pinchos and beer calling my name...I really wasn't that upset. Just another day in paradise.

San Sebastian...a must see!!

Adios...see you in France.

PS...I almost forgot and knew Dylan would ask...the Danish girl stood us up. Didn't she know who we were? I guess not.