BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi everybody, my name is Thor Fjalar Hallgrimsson and I´m a native of iceland, if there is anything I can help you with concerning this island, feel free to contact me.
My traveling experience is rather limited, I spent a year in Quebec, Canada when I was 16 and I have lived a few years in Denmark. I have however daydreamd about traveling since an early age. When I was 10 I announced that now I was going to start saving up for my trip to China when I was old enough or 12. Still haven gone though. I guess my failure at not traveling more is due to a faulty philosophy, I always intended to first pay my dues and then go travel around the world, preferably never to return. Now I see them dues just keep growing as I get older so my new philosophy is to take shorter trips and travel as much as employer/bank will let me get away with. I also used to tell myself that the places would still be there later. Now the World Trade Center, The Great Buddhas of Afganistan and The Three Gorges in China are all gone and the Middle East is effectively of limits to western travelers. So now I´m going traveling, no matter what. My first trip will be to Lithuania in august this summer.

hiya,

My name's Mei and I'm from Malaysia. I'm 20 and I'm a journalism student here. I haven't travelled extensively; I spent a year in Japan as an exchange student in 2003/04 and prior to that, I'd been to Japan twice (1 week and a month respectively). I've also gone on a few trips with my parents but nothing fun- just tours and plenty of themeparks!- to Australia, Indonesia , Singapore and..ehm that's about it! I've backpacked to Melaka and Penang with friends, once in a 1969 VW Bug which was really hot because switching on the air-con would kill it . Looking forward to 10 days in Perhentians in June and in December, I'll head to the Netherlands for a year Countries I wanna go to : ..well everywhere really! But especially Nepal, Morocco, Czech Republic, Bhutan, Poland, Estonia and India.

Howdy Ya'll. My name is Sarah Carriger. I was born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Perhaps not surprisingly, I started fantasizing about travel to far flung places at a very young age (the farther flung, the better was my feeling all the time). Not that Chattanooga's such a bad place--largest freshwater aquarium in the world (who knew catfish could get that big?) and let's not forget the Towing and Hauling Museum--but like the Johnny Cash song says, "Chattanooga is a fine old town, but get a little crazy and you're buggerhouse bound." (The song, by the way, is Chattanooga Sugar Babe--way better than that Choo Choo song...although I must say I've been surprised and charmed to have "The Chattanooga Choo Choo" sung to me in the most unlikely places--in a cab in Gujarat and in the middle of rice field just outside Manila are two that were particularly memorable).

I currently live in Amsterdam, The Netherlands (not the one in Georgia) and before that it was five years in Sri Lanka. I've pretty much contented myself with exploring the Netherlands and surrounding countries for the past year (it's great - you cycle for three hours you're in Belgium...not that I cycle). But my one year anniversary is next week, and I'm feeling the need for a change of scene (and just when the weather's finally getting nice!). Not quite sure where I'll go...keeping my eye peeled for cheap last-minute fares (one of the numerous advantages of being self-employed - you can take advantage of these things). Kind of leaning towards Africa, but really I'm open to just about anything. Hoping to find a bit of inspiration and encouragement here.


Sarah

Hello all...

Name's Gaz. I'm a 29-yr-old lawyer in New York. I'm tired of the job, and I've decided to give myself a hell of a 30th-birthday present: I'm taking a year (at least) for an on-the-cheap RTW. I'll be leaving in January, so I've got lots of time to plan... my biggest concern now is figuring out some sort of general itinerary, and an idea of how much money I will spend. I know that I want to spend some time in NZ, and I will probably get a WHV there. I also want to hit Thailand, Korea, and Japan. Besides those, I'm completely open, and want to see as much as I can.

I'll be detailing my prep (and then my trip) at gazgap.blogspot.com. Perhaps that will get moved to a BnA blog, since they have them free for members. We shall see.

Any advice, ideas, comments, encouragement, etc, are much appreciated.

Hi Everyone!

My name is Paul Jimenez, born and raised in Bogota, Colombia. I am a business manager, but I am officefobic. I have spent all my money in traveling wherever I can.

I have been to Europe (germany, France, Spain, Italy, and England), The US, Panama, Brasil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Aruba.

I know a lot about my country since I've traveled it too!. My mother was born in the middle of the Colombian Amazon (in Leticia) a wonderful place to visit!.

I love sports, and I love beer. I am married to a wonderful caribbean woman that was born in the Little Island of Old Providence (Colombia). I am totally interested in giving out all the information you guys need about coming to Colombia! so please PM me!

Thnaks for this space!

Hello, I'm a 29 year-old lawyer from Miami and for my 30th birthday I want to visit the Middle East. In particular, I want to go to Jordan. For some reason, I think I will fit in quite well with the people there. Then I'd like to go to Egypt and Israel.

I was born in a spanish-speaking island in the caribbean and came to the states when I was 15. I traveled abroad for the first time when I turned 25. Since then, I've been to Italy (rome and florence), Switzerland (all over), Spain (madrid and barcelona), France (paris), Costa Rica (san jose, puerto viejo), the Dominican Republic (all over) and the Turks and Caicos islands (all over).

I love to travel so much that if I could I would be in a new place every week. If anyone has any tips on travel to Jordan or Egypt, please let me know. Everyone around here seems to think that it's not such a great idea to go to the Middle East nowdays, particularly since I will be traveling alone. But while I see the danger, I don't think I should not trvel to the area.

I'm looking forward to exchanging travel ideas and information with all of you.

hmmm...

well i'm only 20 but consider myself fairly well experienced when it comes to travel (compared with my peers that is). i had the great fortune of living in europe for three years before moving back to the united states where i became enslaved by the american public education system. so i spent my time dreaming of the day where i would escape and set forth into the world, free of the restrictions of the rest of society...

that day came and went, and i did set forth- only to quickly fall on my face and learn several very important lessons. like money, while not completely necessary, does help a lot, and that, no, i can not survive on my charming personality alone. so i joined the united states army, lured by promises of travel.

so now i travel...back and forth between war ravaged middle east countries and the united states, a prisoner yet again. not exactly what i had in mind.

that's me. i'll be in europe this summer for several weeks, and i've already seen most of the big stuff, so if anyone has any recommendations of some of those not big things to see (you know, the ones that truely make traveling worth it), i'd appreciate the suggestions. i'm planning on probably starting in spain, working my way up through france and belgium, and finishing in netherlands. thanks.

Hello
M eRaju Thapa from Kathmandu Nepal.i just finshed in bachler degree in Sociology and anthropology.Now work as tour leader organized group tours and individual tours in Himalaya ROOF OF WORLD TIBET and Nepal trekking, culture tours, adventure tours etc.
I enjoy travelling music, hiking taking of romance blablla
i owned the website:www.nepaltravels.com
www.travels-asia.com
www.nepaltravel.or

any memebers or visitor intersted to take any kind of tours in Tibet and Nepal, do remeber me.
Raju thapa
Explore Tibet and Nepal trekking

greetings to all the newbians!! you all sound like such interesting people! Please post well and often and I hope we'll be talking more soon

Hi everyone, this is Sharon, wasting her office-time with an fast description!

Born in Germany to a German father and a Brasilian mother (jup, strange combination) , I was oscillating between Germany and Brasil in my early years – pretty sure this laid the foundation to my travel bug.
As my school seemed to share this enthusiasm, I visited a couple of places in Germany with my class, and my first foreign language brought about several stays in Paris and the Auvergne.
I started with 16 to work besides school to finance trips to the Netherlands, Hungary, the Czech Republik, Italy and Teneriffa.

My first bigger Trip brought me and a friend for 6 Weeks in an RTW through Italy – my first and last RTW holiday! We’ve had an awesome time, for sure, but this is just not my type of thing.

Well, I don’t remember why and when (must’ve been while a short hiking trip in Germany), but I got the fixed idea to do a hiking tour in Ireland. And as I seem to be very convincing, 3 friends accompanied me and we did an awesome 2 weeks hike in Kerry with fantastic scenery, hundreds of sheep, merciless sun and the most gentle and funniest natives, busying themselves with taking care of us whenever they could and keeping us learning almost all Irish folk songs ever known while hanging out in Irish pubs.

My luck got me to my last trip last year, as I was choose with 49 other Germans to spent two weeks in Moab/Utah with part time jobbing and full time exploring/fun *yaey* With my decision to work with the forest ranger in this Area, I bumped in exactly the right guys, what got me, next to some hard work, an invitation to stay.
OK, what would you do? No question, as 49 Germans heading back to Germany I took my stuff up to the Ranger Camp in the La Sal Mountains, Canyonlands and some awesome places in Colorado. Loved it!!

Back in Germany I quit my job (yeah I’m kind of spontaneous...) and moved a bit more south as I was offered a new job there.
So I’m actually living in Koblenz, spending my time with friends, skating, climbing etc.pp. and prepare for a trip to Rondane National Park / Norway at the end of August.

All right, feel free to ask me questions, I'm back to work now *g*
Sharon

an introduction...

my name is nick, i was born in canada, though have travelled between there and australia ever since my parents divorced. so i suppose it's half and half, as i do count as a citizen for each country, which has its nifty perks btw.

i've visited new zealand briefly, falling in love with every bit of it, and have spent time in hong kong, and los angeles during connecting flights. i've also been to other places in the USA but not much i can remember since i was rather young. my time in australia mainly revolved around being in some part of queensland, or in south australia, visiting relatives in adelaide. as for canada, i've been as far out to BC from where i reside here in ontario, but not really anyplace inbetween.

i suppose i've always had an urge to travel, it's just all been a matter of school, my young age, and money. however, it wasn't until after highschool that i got a job and saved up enough to fly to australia all on my own terms.

...and so it begins...

after a year i saved up again and made the long trip back home, picked up another job pretty swiftly, and now only after a few months have aquired the desire to travel once again. yet this time, more long term, for however long, if anything. as of where to, asia comes to mind as a first, that or back to NZ.

i've thought about college and university, yet have never sat to confidently on what i wanted to take or become. let's just say that there's nothing more sure for me right now than the road ahead. of course i do have a few personal missions which i wont disclose now, but perhaps in-the-making instead.

at the moment, i'm keen on selling the little part of what i own but certainly don't need, and taking on the trail with everything on my person. i've been a little stressed on the money issue, as i won't have more than a few grand, yet hope to pull it all off somehow. i've considered taking a course to teach english as i go, but i don't have any degees beyond high school to make me more qualified for that. or then there is becoming an air courier, which has become very appealing, though i'd like to get some feedback on people who've done, or are doing that right now before i jump the gun. other than this, i hope to do odd jobs here and there, or meet up with the handful of people i know around the world.

*gasp*

i know that went on for a while, but hopefully it'll give you an idea of where i've been, and where i'm going.

i randomly bumped into bootsnall, checked it out for about a week, and think it's pretty rad that there are so many other people doing there own thing.

look forward to posting and hearing from you all.

-beyourmuse

OK I'll bite.

My name is Christine and I was born and raised in Manila, Philippines. I am of Swiss, Spanish and Filipino descent and am 31 yrs old. I lived in London recently for 2 years but am back in my hometown. I , like you all, am plagued by Wanderlust. I've been fortunate enough to travel to many of the places I used to only dream about.

This site is great! I stumbled upon it recently while looking for blogs about Egypt. Plan on going in September with some friends. I can't wait!!

I am definitely looking forward to reading everyone's posts and living vicariously through you all as well.

čau, i'm joie and i teach english in pardubice, czech republic, about 40 minutes from prague. i love this town and i am trying my hardest to learn the language but it's HARD.

as far as my traveling experiences - i grew up with it and it's in my blood...you either know what i mean or you don't. i grew up as a missionary kid in senegal, west africa and have since lived in quite a few places in the usa - the longest in chicago - as well as switzerland and mexico.

i am hoping to travel around eastern europe a bit this summer and would like to make some friends to see on my travels - i am happy to reciprocate by letting people stay with me in my awesome communist-era flat here in pardubice.

ok, nice to "meet" you all...
joie

Hi there!

I'm currently living in Kazakhstan, where I've been for two years. My husband works for the Foreign Service and I've done some work for USAID. I also work as a freelance writer and have been doing quite a bit of "travel writing." It's more a hobby than a profession at this point and I've been having alot of fun with it.

In August we return to the States and me back to law school in D.C. I'm going to miss living abroad, but I'm sure in a few short years we'll be on the road again.

In the meantime, I'll soak up all the adventures of other travelers from BnA!

Hey everyone. My name is Jo and I'm twenty-one years old. I currently live (and have always lived) in Liverpool, which I think is a really cool city (but i'm biased). I've just finished my second year of an English Literature degree and i'm hoping to teach eventually! I've visited Barbados, various parts of Spain and the Canaries and a few places in France including Biarritz, Paris and Cognac. This summer I am off to Barbados again with my boyfriend and I can't wait! I would love to backpack round Australia once I finsh uni and one day I would like to visit Hawaii. Anyway, it's good to be here and you have a really cool site! Jo xxxxx

My name's Kevin, I'm currently a VSO volunteer working for the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria in Abuja, Nigeria.

While I was at school and university I travelled around western Europe quite a bit and when I graduated I decided that spending two years working in Antarctica sounded like a good idea.

On my way back (in 2000) from there I passed through the Falkland Islands, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, the USA and Canada. Later that year I spent a month in Slovenia before heading off to spend a couple of months working on the Kerguelen Islands.

Between then and moving out to Nigeria at the start of 2005 I lived in Cambridge, England, and made use of cheap flights to places like Iceland, Austria and Spain.

I'm originally from Stirling in Scotland, although I haven't lived there since 1997 apart from short visits to see my family.

Hello all, I'm Ed. Currently 31, work as a web site designer.

At the moment I'm doing the year long trip round Australia having been here briefly in April'04.

Also travelled round a lot of Europe, Western Europe mostly but had a fun 2 weeks in Russia as well. Had 2 weeks in the USA last year and should be going back next year for more.

After that I'll just go wherever the mood takes me.

Home is York in England, which is a city I love and will never be able to totally leave.

Hey i'm Pietro. 22, born in the Philippines and raised in beautiful sunny Southern California. I will be a student for 2 more weeks and then I graduate college with a business degree with an emphasis in marketing/advertising.

I think I inherited the travel bug, my mom worked for Air France and traveled all over the world. To this day i'm still finding out some of the different places she's been.

Last summer was when I really became a full-blown travel junkie. I "studied abroad" in Italy and Greece and had the best time of my life. This summer I am going to the Philippines then 5 days later I am leaving for SOUTH AMERICA! I'm so excited!

I'm really glad I stumbled upon this site because I can ask for tips and info about the places I'm going without generic guide book answers.

Hey, Im Mike, im 18 and currently at uni in Dundee, Scotland. Im from a pretty smallish town and decided I really didnt want to spend the long uni holidays there. So Im making my first real travelling and will be working in New Jersey a week today.

Im hoping to work there until September 5th and then take a week and a bit to travel. My flight home is from California, so Im just planning to see whats on the cards come september and try and make my accross seeing as much as I can. Any advice on what to see/how to get there as cheap as possible would be really welcome.

Cheers
Mike

Hey,
My names David, i'm from Chester, north England. I've been living in London for the past four years studying music. Never really settled into London life and just bought a ticket to Thailand & Australia, which was a last minute thing, and now i'm sort of crapping myself as i don't think i have enough money for a planned 5 months in Thailand. Oh well, beats Cornwall for a third summer! Done India a couple of times & spent quite a bit of time there & in Nepal in my mid Teens. Thailands totally new to me though and i'm getting lots of conflicting stories on what to do and what not to do (hence crapping myself). So i'm gonna go ahead to the forum & ask a million questions! Loving the site & i'm sure you'll be pestered by me quite a bit over the coming months. Cheers