(Day 776 on the road)After ten days in Mexico now, I finally feel that I have arrived. The first few days here had felt a little surreal somehow, but now that I have seen a bit more of the country and its people I got a much better feel for it. It just feels great to be in a completely different region of the world again - after almost 18 months in (south-east) Asia and and then six months or so in mainly western countries (Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the US), I am ready for some different experiences. New cultures and everything that comes with it await. How very exciting! As with most countries that I go to, I had very little real knowledge about Mexico, apart from the usual information one gathers over the ... read more

(Day 766 on the road)San Francisco at last. I have been looking forward to coming here for a while now. I guess it is just one of these cities that I can associate various different things with, a city that somehow captures my imagination. Who wouldn't think of the Golden Gate Bridge spanning the bay, of ancient Cable Cars rattling around the impossibly steep streets, crooked Lombard Street, busy Fishermen's Wharf, forbidding Alcatraz, the Summer of Love and much more? I had been in San Francisco when I was about 14, and my memory of that time is pretty much reduced to Ghirardelli Square and the Golden Gate Bridge. In a way, not remembering much about a place is a nice thing, as it meant that I could explore it all over again. All the same, ... read more

(Day 753 on the road)Say you are spending the night at Los Angeles Airport, on one of these typically uncomfortable benches that were just not made for sleeping, and a mean-looking cop with a shaved head and a big gun wakes you up just after two o'clock in the morning: "Hello sir, wake up, sir, wake up now." What would you think? Well, I was thinking that I was in trouble, and that he was going to move me on. With little, sleepy eyes I squinted at him and realised he was carrying something big under his arm. Turns out he was offering me an enormous (pink!) blanket so that I wouldn't be cold during the night. I am not sure why I aroused his attention, but I have the feeling that me being wrapped in ... read more

(Day 745 on the road)A 25 minute flight took me from Honolulu on Oahu to Kahului in Maui, the Valley Isle as it is know, where I was to spend the next week or so. I bunked in a pretty busy but still atmospheric hostel in Wailuku with a good mix of people from all over, which interestingly included a considerable number of Americans. Whilst it was very nice to meet "locals" so to speak (even if they were from California), that was something of a novelty - as typically you only meet foreigners in a hostel but hardly ever people from the country you are travelling in. There seem to be two reasons for that: For one, Hawaii is of course a very popular destinations for Americans, but I also met a number of people ... read more

(Day 735 on the road) "This bus is alwayson Fiji-time, mister!" The young Indian woman gave me her widest smile, exposing her perfect teeth. I was in the predominantly Indian village of Tavalu on Viti Levu's northern coast, Fiji's main island, waiting for the local bus heading east. After my disappointing stay on partying Mana Island it was time to dig a little deeper and search for the "real" Fiji. As many visitors to Fiji stay around the city of Nadi (where the international airport is located) and the adjacent islands of the Mamanucas and the Yasawas, chances were good that the rest of the country would be blissfully devoid of many visitors. Before I start however a word on my last blog entry about my second anniversary of travelling: Thank you all for the countless ... read more