So here it is, my first trip away from home. I got this crazy idea to go to the other side of the world by myself with only a backpack, a map and a push button phone with no experience. I think the original intention was to test myself if I could survive alone in a completely different environment. I couldn’t have chosen a better one… The preparation, I think, went smoothly. A giant backpack, packed to bursting, with things I don’t even need (looking back, I was just a llama). And on top of that, I planned a trip to Australia and New Zealand in a row, from September till the end of February 2014/2015.
Saying goodbye to family is the worst part. I think my mother had a tear in her eye. It was like tearing two pieces apart. It’s a feeling I can’t get used to even after all these years. I’m going to Prague to the airport and this is where it all starts. I go through check-in and they call me back after a while. I felt like I had killed someone. I get to the checkpoint and they ask me to open my backpack. I had a gas cylinder there for the stove. As I say…llama. Then everything was ok and I flew off to meet the adventure.
The flight plan looked something like this. From Prague to Frankfurt, there boarding a big plane flying about 14 hours to Taiwan, Taipei. That was a crazy flight. A baby was still crying not far from me, so I didn’t sleep at all. I was saved by a neighbor who kept talking to me. We landed early in the morning, around eight, and I had to wait eight hours for the next connection. What am I going to do here for eight hours?? I wanted to go out, but the fear of not being able to make it back again discouraged me. After thinking for a while, I finally made up my mind and went out. I took out some money and jumped on the bus. It was an amazing feeling. I looked like Alice in Wonderland on the way.
I’m in the city center. Now what?? All I wanted to see was the local tallest building, Taipei 101, which I saw on the way from the bus. I wandered around the city a bit, visited the train station, where there was a large hall and people were relaxing there, rather lying on the floor. Nice environment. Then I’ll go to the skyscraper. I will ask people on the street. No one even stopped and said something to me in their language. I find the subway, get in and look for the route map. That’s when an angel comes to me.
A nice lady who saw my desperate face and approached me and asked if I needed help. In broken English, she gave me a map, recommended other places and finally led me to the train. I thanked her about a hundred times and she even gave me a pomelo on the way. She’s an amazing lady. It was a powerful experience for me… (be careful here! I like to write with humor or with a sarcastic humor and don’t wanna use emoticon all the time 🙂 it should be taken into account)
I get off as ordered, get out of the subway and not far in front of me is a beautiful building, Taipei 101. My first question in my head was „Can I get to the roof?“ I’m going to find out. The closer you get, the more powerful it is. The most beautiful thing about it is the shape of the building and the color. I walk in, and to my surprise, the first few floors was a shopping mall. There is a reception on the ground floor where you can buy a roof ticket. If I remember correctly, it was about £20 at the time.
As you exit the elevator, you’ll come across a giant golden ball hanging on strong steel cables that serve as the building’s leveling device. I finally get to a room with a 360 view of the entire city and the surrounding area. But that’s not all, there are stairs one floor higher that lead up to the roof and it’s much better there. Beautiful view, it’s a pity that I don’t have good weather. The building is called 101 because it was built to 101%…we’ll see.
I jump on the subway and go to the next stop to visit a temple. It was located in a kind of square and as if it didn’t even belong there considering the buildings around it. However, inside, behind the great wall, was a beautiful gem, as if you had stepped back in time. An old temple where pillars, ceilings, walls, everything possible was carved or full of symbols. I loved the roof with dragon statues on it.
Afterwards, I walked a few streets around the temple. It was incredibly hot that day. You can buy various things at the market, but what I personally was most interested in was the meat hanging on hooks and the eggs displayed outside in the heat. Otherwise, it is quite clean here and the main means of transport is the scooter. You will notice this right away because they are absolutely everywhere.
It was time to head back to the airport and hop on the next plane. This flight was „only“ about 12 hours. After this endless flight I am finally in Sydney. I haven’t slept the whole way since I left home to get here. I was so high on adrenaline that I didn’t even think about it. Next comes the worst part…the immigration department.
I will come to passport control, hand in the completed form from the plane and my passport. The lady stared at it for a long time, then asked me where I would be staying. At that moment I realized that I had the papers in my large luggage. I only told her a quarter of what I remembered. She called someone and I suspected trouble. The gentleman comes, she mumbles something to him and he points his finger at me „Come on young man“. I swallowed and my skin color turned white…dead white.
I had to give him all the documents, payment cards, bank statement. They asked what I was doing here, how long I would be here and how come I didn’t have a return ticket. I had to explain everything and waited there for about a quarter of an hour to see what would happen next. The first problem was that I confused the first name with the last name on the visa. But the biggest problem was when I wrote on the immigration paper on the plane that I would be there for 4 months. But according to the visa, I can only be there for 3 and then I have to leave the mainland, even if only for a day. And that was a real problem. I had to rewrite it for 3 months and then the policeman calmed down…and so did I.
While I was waiting there, there were several of us, and a lady from Taiwan was sitting across from me. They asked her the purpose of the trip and if she knew anyone there. She said yes and gave them some contact paper. They called there. They came back in a moment and told her that the person didn’t know her and so they won’t let her in, so she had to fly back. The lesson is: I never know anyone.
After a while, the nice policeman came up to me with his murderous look. I was so nervous and almost had a heart attack. I felt like a criminal. He gave me back all the papers and let me go… I was so relieved that I almost…damaged my underpants. I walk out of the airport feeling victorious and now…now what? I had no idea how to get into town. I asked a gentleman and he advised me to take the train, so I followed him. I buy a ticket, sit on the train and breathe heavily. Too much stress today.
I walked around town like Alice in Wonderland with my mouth open. Tall buildings and clouds of people everywhere. The people there are very nice because someone kept asking me if I needed help. I must have looked very lost. The first thing I had to do was find a place to stay. I went to the Kings Cross area. A place full of hostels, but also drugs and light women (that’s what I heard :)). I recommend earplugs… a lot of people snore or it’s busy in hostels.
I spent about 4 days in Sydney, home to 4.5 million people. But I managed to see and visit a lot of interesting places, mainly thanks to the group I joined. So places from Opera House, Harbor Bridge, Westfield radio tower, through various parks, memorials, churches, beautiful railway station etc. One day I took a bus to the beach and walked from Bondi beach about 5 km to Coogee beach. Beautiful! Too bad the water was still ice cold.
But since I get tired of cities quickly, I had to move. Next stop…Blue Mountains National Park. I found a train connection and set off. In the village of Katoomba, somewhere on the outskirts, I found an abandoned place and thanks to the fog I hid there. In the morning I was woken up by a terrible sound. It sounded like some wild monkeys roaring nearby…I later found out it was Kookaburra birds. It’s so small and so loud at the same time.
Just beyond the village was a beautiful canyon, full of waterfalls and all wooded, where it looked like a jungle. There were cockatoos everywhere, both white and brown, which I have never seen before. They had an enormous wingspan. I happened to meet Pete here. He came to me and asked if my back was hurting. Terrible, how does he know? I must have looked terrible. He taught me how to properly carry a backpack and use trekking poles. Amazing guy, he’s over eighty and goes hiking every day. He showed me around, visited a top spot called Three Sisters, and then took me to other places I wouldn’t have been able to get to on my own. I will be forever grateful to him. And you can see from the photos, the name of the mountains has nothing to do with the color. They are called so because of the blue haze produced by the local trees that can be seen from Sydney.
Unfortunately, it was time to leave there too. Peter invited me to dinner at his house with his friend and I left in the morning. I will never forget. I took the train further up the east coast and got to Newcastle. Late in the evening and I was again looking for a place to sleep outside. But the police were keeping a close eye on it there, and there were camping bans everywhere. I reached the beach and there, after a long wandering, I asked a lady if she knew where I could spend the night around there. She was so willing to help me, called her friend asking for an advice. But at the end she offered me to spend the night at her house. Her name was Justina. She made me a delicious dinner at home, did my laundry, and then we chatted. The next day she even drove me out of town so I could start hitchhiking. So, thank you very much to Justina for your help too! I was in shock how nice and good people live there, unbelievable…
Here we go. My very first hitchhiking. I had my first car within fifteen minutes. Then it was easy. On the East Coast, hitchhiking is the perfect solution for those looking to save on expensive buses and trains. Sometimes they stopped me themselves and offered a ride, there are very nice and helpful people here…again. My first ride, however, was sad. An old man who gave me the lift was coming back from a funeral…so we didn’t talk much. It happened to me again that the next lift, Sean, let me sleep at his garage. That’s how I got to Coffs Harbor. We bought beer and pizza and chatted the whole evening. The next day, in the city, I went to a viewpoint where whales are observed… but unfortunately, nothing.
On the way to the Gold Coast, I was picked up by a guy with a van. It looked exactly like one from horror movies, all rusty and old. I was really thinking…should I stay or should I go? We drive along the coast and suddenly, out of nowhere, he went off the road. To the fields. I immediately perked up and asked what he was doing, where was he going?! He says he wants to show me around. I already had my hand ready in my pocket with a knife (you just never know)…but there was no need. As we drove through the sugarcane fields, he began to describe what they grow there and so on. Then he took me to a small town where there were huge trees whose crowns were full of bats. I‚ve never seen such a thing in my life. At last, he took me back to the main road. I almost had a heart attack again. A four-hour drive from the redneck followed. A nice elderly man who talked and talked (even though I couldn’t understand a word) until he made me fall asleep.
When I woke up, I see us driving, passing big white buildings. I’m in the Gold Coast. I had to find accommodation but it was a problem this late at night. I didn’t even know where I was. Some homeless man caught me there and started following me and offering accommodation. I got rid of him only in front of the hotel, where I asked a gentleman for help and he found me a hostel not far from there. I was really lucky.