TravelTalk - Couchsurfing

Aloha everyone,

I am writing my first blog in Zagreb, I still have many pictures to post, but I am writing from my phone and I just wanted to write a little bit about couchsurfing and a little bit about my philosophy on life.

First,  about couchsurfing. Couchsurfing is an organization where people from around the world want to exchange cultural ideas and thoughts through meetings,  hosting and traveling. I've been very fortunate in my travels to have met wonderful people worldwide. People who have made me appreciate Hawaii and life even more. Living in Hawaii, sometimes we take for granted what is there and what we live with on a daily basis, sometimes it takes a visitor visiting Hawaii for the first time to reinvigorate our passion and desire and reignite the love we have for Hawaii - visiting sights we might not otherwise visit because we are too busy with work, family.... And life.

Couchsurfing has helped me experience cities, cultures and cultivate new friendships based on our passion for traveling and our faith that people are good. To invite a total stranger in one's home and to treat them as a guest takes exactly that - faith that humanity is good. Many may question (friends and family included) , how you can host total strangers or how you can go somewhere and meet someone that you have never met...  Then again...  Isn't that living?

You maybe surprised about my decisions to travel and stay with people, but to be honest some of my best experiences and friendships are based on the aforementioned principles that bring people together...

What am I surprised about? I am rather surprised that we teach our children not to talk to strangers. We close ourselves from people even within our own communities because we are afraid.

Please, don't be afraid. People have life, experiences, richness and culture that we can all learn from - even if we don't agree with their point of view. I have been blessed to have met so many wonderful people and make friends worldwide.

Live. Love. And travel.

Special thanks to everyone who I have hosted, who have inspired me to travel more and trust my instincts to experience life.

Special thanks to those who have hosted me, who have shown me that kindness and openness appears worldwide and allowing me to experience things that people only dream of.

Special thanks to family and friends, for your support. I miss all of you and I hope to see you all soon.

PS. Instead of teaching your kids to "not talk to strangers"... Teach them to say hi and hello.

Ecuador - So Much to See... So Little Time...

Originally, I planned my trip for 10 days thinking that that would be enough to see Ecuador, when in actuality I barely sort of skimmed the surface, Ecuador like many countries has a lot to offer, you just have to have an open mind and a propensity to try Spanish!  jajajaja (my new Spanish laugh)

Edu... yes he's petting an iguana...

When people ask me, is it worth it, I never understand how to correctly answer the question... Example, I'm talking about Baños and then someone asks me, is it worth it...  To be honest, sometimes, I'm on the fence, to me having an experience (even bad ones) are part of traveling and what shapes you as a person... but for the purposes of this blog.  Ecuador is worth it.

On this short trip, I managed to make a couple of friends in Guayaquil, party like a rockstar in Porto Lopez and do a lot of adventury-thingys in Baños... (yes, I just took an overnight bus from Baños to Guayaquil and waiting to check into my hostel, so if I'm making up words - you know what I mean...)

Ms. Adriu and moi...

Guayaquil is a pretty cool city, its mostly a business district with access to great boardwalk along the water, lots of cheap foods and hotels you won't find online.  For example, if you walk along Malecon (the boardwalk on the water) food is rather expensive, by expensive I mean cheap by US comparison ranging from $3-$6... where you can just walk inside the city and find many many many restaurants ofering breakfast, lunch or dinner ranging in the $1-$2 range... and they're complete meals with drinks, a salad and even soup to satisfy your hungry tummy...Thanks to Adrienne and Eduardo for showing me around Guayaquil and introducing me to cheap eats!!

In addition to finding cheap foods and cheap hotels (see tweet - Me encanta! Hotel Casa Blanca en Banos, Ecuador por $10 a noche! Un cuarto privado! http://twitpic.com/5lay8d)... It's possible to even find cheaper rooms... I would almost suggest not booking online (unless you're in a time crunch) as 90% of the hotels are not online!

Porto Lopez is a cool place!  Thanks to my Couchsurfing host, Patricio for dragging me along and allowing me to experience the city, an awesome party, great people and good food... did I mention caña?  Everything is just along the beach, this quiet town has a lot to offer... Maybe next time I'll stay a wee bit longer...

Baños was an adventure!!  See my previous posts... In addition to the small quaint city with lots of adventure, I was lucky to make a new friend... yes, we did a couple of activities together, such as rafting (CLICK HERE), canyoning - both a first for me and jumped off a perfectly good bridge... lol... Other than that, just hanging out, a little shopping - you guys know of my bag obsession... as well as lots of food and a half day of treatment! bwah hah hah... Sort of well needed as the overnight bus right from Baños to Guayaquil was somewhat brutal... A quick 5 hour bus ride at night, 7 on my way to Baños which was during the day..., sleep was hard... swerving through the mountains and the temperature change of the cold, mountain breezes of Baños to the warm, humid weather of Guayaquil...

New buddies!

Weird part is, I almost didn't go to Baños... My mind was set on Galapagos or Cuenca... But a $400 ticket and a $100 entry fee knocked Galapagos out of the equation... so spacial thanks to Patricio who told me of Baños... a city I've never heard of!!  Also, best of luck to Hueling in Lima - Macchu Pichu (consider me jealous!)!!




Thanks to all of you for making this trip so awesome!  and yes... I didn't forget about you Fernando, for which I probably would not have had this awesome opportunity...

Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

Torn Apart... + Ecuador Edition!

Torn Apart...

Yes, torn apart... Not between external  forces, but within my own mind (be very scared...)

I've been fortunate to travel to 6 continents, tons of countries, made a few awesome friends along the way, but traveling is starting to have a different meaning for me...

Before my mantra... "if I waited for a friend to travel with me, I'd never go anywhere..."

Now that I'm actually traveling for an extended period of time, I might be having a change of heart...

Porto Lopez, Ecuador

Not saying that I'd travel with just anyone... But if you're probably reading this, you're a significant part of my life... I think I'm at the point of my travel career that I've done a lot of exploring on my own... And maybe I'm ready to travel with a friend to new places, or to just visit friends in general...

I've done a little bit of both on this trip... Visiting friends and family in southern California, Washington D.C., and Florida... whilst (ha! <3 that word!) exploring Guatemala and Ecuador...

Me + couchsurfing hosts...

I'm having a great time here in Ecuador... I'm currently in an awesome place called Porto Lopez, yes a place where not too many tourists venture to, and it if wasn't for my awesome couchsurfing host, I would have never explored this place on my own... An oceanfront restaurant celebrating his friend's birthday.  Great good, great company and great music...

I guess what I'm saying is it's about time that I head back to Australia and visit friends I haven't seen in ages... Yes, Melbourne! :) and perhaps also Portugal, and maybe a new place like Winnipeg, Canada...

Apple pie... Ecuadorian style...

I can't say it enough... I've been fortunate to have been to many places, but I am even more fortunate to have made some really awesome friends along the way...

Yes, I truly miss you and I can't wait to see you soon...

Ha... On that note, I'm still in exploration mode with 7 more weeks of awesome exploring to go!

Desserts and laughter!  :)

Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

Major Accomplishment

Major Accomplishment...

What could it be?!

Graduating College?  Nope

Getting Married?  Nope!

Winning a million dollars?  I wish.

I just arrived to Guatemala earlier this week and yes a major accomplishment.

I received my 50th passport stamp!!  :)

I have so truly lucky, blessed, to have the support of my friends, family, couchsurfing and hospitality club.  

You've made this all possible.

Mahalo for reading. 

Until next time.