“Who’s goin’ to ride that chrome three-wheeler?Who’s goin’ to make that first mistake?Who wants to wear those gypsy leathers?All the way to Fire Lake?” – Bob Seger.
Sunday’s Inspiration: I’m Backpacking Again – Who Wants To Go To Fire Lake?
I haven’t done a “Sunday’s Inspiration” post for ages and suddenly then, TWO on one day, on the same Sunday. Ah well…Life takes us on so many journeys. The older I get, the more I forget. I often travelled without ambition, without purpose. I travelled because there was nothing else to do. Down those years neither English Lauren, nor Northern Irish Gemma, nor Hungarian Noemi, nor Hong Kongese Panny Yu could change me into a stationary man. I wanted to go to fire lake. I dreamed big, far and wide. I left all the world behind. I lost myself. I even got infatuated by everybody’s favourite Starogard Girl, but nothing lasted and nothing got faster. Life slowed down to a halt in the wake of mid-life crisis and depression. I was going nowhere. But I need to complete this jigsaw. A crown of the world. My dream.
“I need to live in dreams today, I’m tired of the song that sorrow sings” – Echo And The Bunnymen.
Sunday’s Inspiration: I’m Backpacking Again – Who Wants To Go To Fire Lake?
So I’ve booked a new backpacking adventure, with my flatmate Marek – we met in Sao Tome in March 2024 and shared the same dreams of backpacking the world. We had to secure a lot of visas this time, it hasn’t been easy.
Two Weeks later with our visas at the Embassy Of The Republic of The Niger
In the middle of all of this, I’ve had money issues, laptop issues and website issues. I haven’t solved them all yet. It has been mental. My laptop keyboard completely broke, thanks to my brother Daniel, a replacement was sent over. Then the website crashed, the renewal failed and the laptop screen crashed. Oops…
Laptop problems
Laptop problems
But I have to try and leave that all behind for now, as I focus on this trip, I still want to be blogging 24/7 like a lunatic but it doesn’t get any easier.
“Who wants to take that long-shot gamble and head out to Fire Lake?” – Bob Seger.
Having wine and Thai food with Marek at Berlin Wannsee, Germany
Oddly, this trip is possibly more extreme than ever before, I’m testing myself again as a backpacker. Sure, it’s only for a month this time – December 2024 to January 2025. If you want to follow that backpacking journey, I’ll be trying my best to update it daily on these platforms – of course it depends on internet access, especially in Africa…
Don’t Stop Living on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/donotstopliving
Don’t Stop Living on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonnyblair
Don’t Stop Living on Instagram: https://instagram.com/jonnydontstopliving
Don’t Stop Living on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ulsterczyk
Don’t Stop Living on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonnyblair.bsky.social
Don’t Stop Living – A lifestyle of travel. I’m a travelling Northern Irishman.
Don’t Stop Living on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jonnyscottblair
I will start from my current base in Olsztyn in Poland, then head to Warszawa Chopin Okecie Airport for the first flight. There will be some oddballs, a few random repeats (due to flight connections) and surely some wacaday madness.
“No fire where I lit my spark” – Neil Finn.
Backpacking in Swaziland: House On Fire, Swaziland’s Arty Nightclub
So do follow this one as it could be a new dawn, or even the final countdown to me finishing what I deem to be the every country list, the crown of the world…
Music by the campfire on a special night in Wadi Rum, Jordan.
My world is incomplete with the gaps below, and still this doesn’t include a close up of many islands and micronations that I wish to swallow.
“Who wants to take that long-shot gamble and head out to Fire Lake?” – Bob Seger.
You might need the fire – it does get a tad exposed and cold in parts…
At the pink lake in Namibia
Enjoying the swim at Cape Maclear, Lake Malawi
Crossing Lake Togo to Togoville
So that’s all for now – I’ll see you on the other side hopefully.
Backpacking Loyal
“You don’t already know how to go” – The Eagles.
Buy my Backpacking Centurion book series –
Volume 1 – Don’t Look Back In Bangor
Volume 2 – Lands Down Under
Volume 3 – Taints And Honours
Volume 4 – The Black Volume
Buy my This Is The Next Century Series –
Volume 1 – Aftershot
Volume 2 – Starogard Girl
Volume 3 – Fool Circle
Volume 4 – The Darker Volume
By my book on Supporting The Northern Ireland International Football Team – Champian Stewartnova
Buy my story on How A Northern Irishman Ended Up In Poland – I Went To Gdansk With Somebody
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