I can retrace my journey on every map, or in my mind.
But I can also retrace it with the people I have met along the way, the friends I have made.
It is amazing to see how many people I have met, and how much they contributed to shape this journey.
In the end, it didn’t matter where I went, I would meet amazing people all over. And even if I was sad of having to leave after four weeks, I also was curious of the next stop, and the people I would meet there.
Thank you for sharing your tim with me, for taking me along to parties and events, for showing me your favorite spots around town, for presenting me your friends.
It’s been such an amazing ride with you.
But it’s also sad to know that there was so much more out there, people who I did not manage to meet up with, or only saw once… all the potential friendships that could have developed…
In the end, I guess, this journey is less about the places and cities I visited.
It’s about you guys.
So here’s a different map of the world, the story of my journey:

Carlo, hair dresser in Cape Town

Steven, a Brit-gone-Aussie, Melbourne

Sebastian, Chilean from Vancouver

Ceres, a fellow traveller in India

Alan, from Mexico City

Jonathan from Santiago

Nathan, English teacher in Moscow

Steph, working at Radio Canada, Montreal

Raffi from Montreal

Fernando, my favorite bar keeper in Hong Kong

Gustavo from Chile

Paul, student of Japanese, Tokyo

AJ and Daniel, English teachers in Santiago

Warren, my playa buddy

Eder from Spain, met in Mexico City

Liran from Tel Aviv

André, a fellow traveller from Montreal

Fabulous Ari, and English teacher in Buenos Aires

Matias, allrounder and musician from Buenos Aires

Sara, one of my Melbourne hosts

Lily, my host in Seattle

Joe, my favourite painter, from Seattle

Andrew, whom I met at a Madonna party at Burning Man

Craig from Seattle

Ari, whom we met in India

Jessica, an english teacher in Santiago (and Daniel)

Amazing Hannah, with Mayo

Kurt from Cape town

Gorgeous Georgios, from Chicago, met in Hong Kong

Arié, the Hug Train from Montreal

Dario, from Buenos Aires

Guilherme from Sao Paulo

Lucas from Porto Allegre

Xavier, drinking buddy in BsAs

Tony, Italian designer in Hong Kong

Francois, Air Transat flight attendend and friend form Montreal

Olivier, flight attendant for Air Canada

Hannes from South Africa

Serdar, a curator in Istanbul

Guido, my Santiago guide

Ardarsh, a banker in Hong Kong

Fellow traveller Robin

Guilherme, my host in Sao Paulo

Artur, a Polish roof top bar expert in Melbourne

Fernando from Buenos Aires

Beautiful May from Chile

Connor, from London, whom I met in Hong Kong

Fellow Madonna fan Johann from Peru, living in seattle

Cihan, in Istanbul

Jaime, a Chilean diplomat

Eduardo from Santiago

Timothy from San Diego

Gary from Ireland, whom I met in Melbourne

Fabio, whom I met at the Sao Paulo Film Festival

Fabulous Cate, an Australian diplomat

Sunny Chris from Baltimore, English teacher in Santiago

Andrew from Buenos Aires

Danilo, from Brazil, met in Uruguat

Sammy, my Hong Kong photographer

Gonzales, from Santiago

Craig, our Burning Man Tree house architect

Jerome, Montreal party animal

Fabio, a Braxilian from Montreal

Osamu, a designer in Melbourne

Mau, my host from Rio

Antonio, Nacho’s friend in Mexico City

Sawyer, the playa mama

Sebastian, a casting director and my Chilean guide, Santiago

Russ from Seattle

Rodolfo, one of my hosts in Mexico City

Mike from San Francisco

Pablo, a musician in Buenos Aires

Anton, Cape Town buddy

Javo from Buenos Aires

Egnaldo, my host in Sao Paulo

Jarrel from Montreal

Party animal Clinty, in Auckland

Lovely Belinda from New Zealand

Leonie, New Zealand party animal

Meike Winnemuth, whom I never met, but who inspired this trip

Marcello from Tigre, Argentina

Arno from Cape Town

Colin from Shandong MaMa, with Mark

Daniel from Mexico City

Ron from Tel Aviv

Marco from Mexico City

Angus, from Sydney

Joe from Vancouver

Ryan from Montreal

Roberto from Sao Paulo

Daniel, a fellow traveller from Montreal

Jimena, the best Mexico City guide

Kate, the best, from Melbourne

Sammy, Melbourne drinking buddy

Mike from Taipei, met in Buenos Aires

Marco, my Google maps expert from San Francisco

Amazing Mallory at the Taj

Artur from Mexico whom I ment in Varanasi

Federico, Tour guide and German student form BsAs

Branden, a writer and book worm from Cape Town

Handsome Mayo, Santiago

Greg from Montreal, who knows the best places to party

Harvey, my host in Ponsonby, Auckland

Manav, my Howell’s drinking buddy

Police Otter Michael, Auckland

Guilherme from BsAs, now in san Francisco

David from Atlanta, met in BsAs

Fabuouls Josée from Montreal

Stefano, a buddy in Melbourne

Wim, Dutch-American sailor and nurse, Seattle

Jaime, a journalist and PR manager in Santiago

Matt, my Burning Man camp mate

Canadian Brandon, Joe’s cousin from Vancouver

Henri, Cathay Pacific flight attendant and my host in Hong Kong

Aldo, Ignacios boyfriend from Santiago

Amazing Mioh, UN diplomat in Bangkok

Geraldo from Mexico City

King Leon, from Hong Kong

John, my Burning Man camp mate

Amazing Nina, Auckland

Corey & Kylie, from Melbourne

Ignacio (Nacho) a Mexican IT specialist in Santiago

Wayne from Sydney, Australia’s biggest Madonna fan

Will, my host and friend in Melbourne

Gustavo, Mr Hermes in BsAs

Montreal Brandon, my crazy ass buddy

Tim, playa buddy

A Schlumpf in Tel Aviv

Jessica, in Melbourne

Guy, a lightning designer in Cape Town

Alvaro, who showed me Santiago

Sophia, an English teacher in Santiago

Michael, my Melbourne buddy

Maxi from Buenos Aires

Yasar, my host in Istanbul

Oliver, my roof top bar buddy in Hong Kong

Kieran, a Japanese teacher in Melbourne

My Ramen buddy Robert, Seattle

Joel from Montreal, at the Tam Tam

Andres, my machine-gun Spanish teacher and DJ from Buenos Aires

Mateus, my host in Rio

Jen at Burning Man
This gallery is far from complete (and it’s a randomised order, if you wonder 😉 ).
I am still going through it all, these are mostly the people I am in touch with through Facebook or other social apps. But I will keep on uploading more.
So if you’re not (yet) there, don’t be sad, I’m catching up. Message me!
I stole most of your pics from your Facebook accounts, they are public anyway, so you can’t complain (but if you’re unhappy with a pic, let me know and I’ll exchange…).
When I saw the progressing upload of these 150+ pictures into my blog database, and you guys appeared one by one, I just burst out into tears.
Thank you guys, to each and everyone of you.
You made my journey.
Thank you.
Keep in touch!