Skipped flight home, wandering turkey, georgia, Armenia

[OutsideYourWorld]

So I was supposed to be travelling for only a few months, then head back to canada for tree planting.. That was the beginning of may... Now I am South of Istanbul, and following the coastline towards Syria. The idea is to hitchhike, couch surf, wild camp, and volunteer my way east. There are places I would like to see quite close to the Syrian border... We will see how dumb I get.

From turkey I will go to Georgia and Armenia, where I will then decide whether I go to Iran, or up into Russia towards Finland.... If I go to Iran I will be damn tempted to make this a hitch from Europe to South East Asia. Very tempting.

I think this might turn out to be another yearlong trip.

So anyone else going to be on these areas?

 

[Whereamiwhatdoido]

Hey that sounds like a totally awesome adventure! I'd really like to hear from a first hand experience how things are as a caucasian vagabonding those parts of the world at this time.

Where else have you been on this trip?

Take care of yourself ! ::bag::

 

[OutsideYourWorld]

Well I have a lot of people calling me Viking. Randoms off the street talk to me more than I thought.

I'm South of Istanbul now, so not so many people bugging me about carpets. Gonna see how people are the closer I get to Syria. Will keep, or try to keep up, with my blog

 

[sd40chef]

hey man, I might be crossing your path somewhere along your journey, if you decide to go the Iran and further on to SEA. im in western Australia right now, which im so very bored of.

my plan is to fly to kuala lumpur in early September then head west from there, going with the flow and seeing what happens. ill probably have to fly from india over to turkey or eastern Europe somewhere, and continue on west until a cheap flight destination to return to Canada.

all the power to you man, your blog was a good read. safe travels, maybe catch ya in asia!

 

[Rob Nothing]

generic question here but pertinent. do you speak other languages? if not, how in hell do you guys get by?

 

[OutsideYourWorld]

generic question here but pertinent. do you speak other languages? if not, how in hell do you guys get by?

Oh man, sorry for the late reply. I don't speak other languages... Well, not fluently. I can speak words of Hungarian, Greek, Turkish, Russian.. But not even full sentences. Once you know key basics, sign the rest of what you need to convey. It's pretty easy once you learn how people understand you when you're trying to mimic what you need.

Although, I gotta say once I hit Kazakhstan it got pretty difficult. Nothing in English, and the Western Kazakhs are kinda dicks. So if i'm gonna learn a language first, it'll be Russian.

 

[Hillbilly Castro]

Good lord "viking", your travels look incredible. Do you have any money? I am running low and it has me hesitating to leave the US, but I sense you may be the sort who does not carry much on you.

 

[sd40chef]

Good lord "viking", your travels look incredible. Do you have any money? I am running low and it has me hesitating to leave the US, but I sense you may be the sort who does not carry much on you.

by my impression hes an experienced treeplanter so if i had to guess i would say he more than likely has decent savings before leaving for a trip.

 

[OutsideYourWorld]

My first big two year travel around Europe and North Africa I didn't have much, just what I saved up from the army. Spent like 6k in those two years (6k Canadian, mind you!) This time I think I spent...4k in those 10 months.

I always travel with money, because I do high paying, high stress work back here Chef, I wouldn't call myself experienced but treeplanting and the following forestry work definitely pays for my travels. I'll be going back to that this May, and likely working until next winter/spring until I figure out what my next adventure is.

I wish the Appalachian Trail and/or Pacific Crest Trail was in Canada so I could do them while receiving EI benefits