30 Wonders

I was having dinner with two very good friends of mine yesterday and we had a very interesting discussion about religions and since it was an important aspect of my trip (more about that another day hopefully), we ended up going over the pictures of some of the holy places I visited. In addition to being appropriate to the season, it brought back a lot of fond memories and I have to say I even got goose bumps and felt a bit melancholic.

Well. It brought me back here and I realize I have not posted for 3 months!!! Man, life goes fast. I have been busy getting back on track and got pulled deep into crunch mode at the new job I started Oct 1st. blah blah blah… .

Anyway, that little discussion of yesterday evening brought back a lot of fond memories. But while you could think I remembered more some of the places I visited, it is actually not the case. The strongest memories that came back to me are all related to people that were nice (crazy!?) enough to accept to hang out with me while I was traveling or even to worry for me or support me through this blog, emails or pure thoughts. This is what means the most to me.

Extending this to the full year, I want to thank you all, all my family and friends I knew before or I met in the last year. Thanks for welcoming me in your life, even if it is/was for only 5 minutes, 1 hour, a day, a week or forever. Thanks for being here. I appreciate every minute of your friendship. You are all great people.

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for 2007.

Wish to hear from you or, even better, see you soon.

As I got my computer back, I stumbled on the bookmarks I had done while I was planning my trip and I started opening some I remember liking. It is when I realized how much websites of people that have traveled or are traveling have inspired me to go through with my decision.

Of course, as I have written before in this journal or in other parts of the site, my desire to go on a long trip did not suddenly grow out of one source. It was a slow process that lasted for many many years as I was learning about the world, meeting people that had done it or even as I was traveling myself for short trips complaining that I did not have enough time to really enjoy the places I visited.

Anyway, most of these people have had amazing experiences and have gone past their limits more than once. They usually have great advices for wanna be travelers and some of these websites are just amazingly well done.

Daniel at Neverbecomplete quit his software engineering job and went on a trip for 6 months then came back and went away again for 4 months. He has cool stories to tell and seems to have found his way at the end. He also produced an animation that I really like to watch: Never be complete. If you only check one thing, make it that.

Hector Around the World, a Spanish guy that have travelled from Turkey to Egypt along a similar path in 2 months. His writing style is very pleasant. I got a lot of information from his site and today, I can even compare notes .

Megan at Me-go is quite the traveller and an inspiration. When I meet a woman that tells me she would be afraid to travel by herself, I think about Megan. Frankly, that girl has been in places I might not dare go! And as an added bonus, she is a great graphic designer and has cool sketches on her sites.

Good stuff!

One last warning: Be cautious, this is contagious 8-).