Now that my big travels are over, I can answer a couple of questions Anna asked me during the trek.

Best things about travelling alone ?

Going at your own path, meeting people, doing only what feels right to you, what you want to do.

Worst thing?

Travelling with people you know. That sounds antisocial… maybe it is… but try to understand the gap : the lone traveller is often a backpacker travelling on a budget, used to meet people, to travel with them for a few days and then to part away, that’s his/her life.

The people he /she knows who come to travel with him/her are usually on vacation, with a regular income. They expect certain standard of comfort the lone traveller can’t always afford. They are used too rush everywhere to see the most of everyplace when the lone traveller is used to go slowly, slowly, the lone traveller is used to follow feelings more than guidebooks…

It’s not that he/she doesn’t like his old friends and/or family, it’s that the expectations are often too different to match.

A good demonstration of this : http://www.demotivateur.fr/article-buzz/voici-la-preuve-en-14-photos-qu-il-y-a-une-difference-entre-un-voyageur-et-un-touriste–2825

Best food – Thaïland : ahhh rice noodles! But Nepal comes close second with Dhal Bats and momos and Gurung bread and then Laos and Cambodia.

Best people –

Best local experience : Cambodia, Thmor Sor. Talking with the hands, sharing what we could and the smiles …

Best smiles : Laos, with kids’ Sabaidee and the shy smiles of people in Nepal and Cambodia.

Best people in general : Nepal, Nepalese and Tibetans are profoundly generous and grateful. Even when their country is devastated, they care about you foreigner, they help you, they thank you if you have the smallest gesture of kindness toward them.

Best trek –

Nepal, no hesitation, no question. Everyday you can see a wonderful landscape, everyday you will find a nice place to stay with good food, everyday you will meet wonderful people (locals and foreigners) and you visit the most wonderful mountains.

But New Zealand comes close second with so many different landscapes and savage, almost untouched places.

Best sunrise –

ABC

Best sunset –

In the plane to Bangkok. A true red sun giving all the meaning to the Asians red suns on some flags.

And in Laos, sunsets over the Mekong, so peaceful…

And Hawaii, every night… the best of them was over the mountain giant in Kauai.

Best stars –

Nepal and New Zealand

Best rainbows –

Hawaii, they are everywhere, every sort…

Best life changing experience

Paragliding in Wanaka.

Best friends

Every person you meet on a trip like this is precious. But some are really special persons, special bonds :

– Lisa, my very first travel mate who pushed me so far away out of my comfort zone I would never want to go back

– Joel, the most positive person I’ve met so far. And all the friends from Wanaka who were quite positive too.

– Anna, for our wonderful trek experience and because the earthquake helps bounding even more.

Favorite big cities

The most literally fantastic – Singapore

The most peaceful – Luang Prabang

The one I could see myself live in – San Fransisco

The place I could see myself living in?

New Zealand.