“Can’t stop this thing we started” – Bryan Adams.
“It feels just like we just got started” – Louise Wener.
“Carry on, carry on” – Freddie Mercury.
“Where it began, I can’t begin to knowing” – Neil Diamond.
The journey musters on, it’s a massive world, nobody can see it all – there’s just not enough time. All we can do is see what we can see in the timeshell we’ve been given. It’s why I can’t stop and don’t stop. COVID came and went, I sauntered on. An engagement and supposed wedding fell by the wayside, I mustered on. The Starogard Girl came into my life and danced her merry dance then quit, I meandered on. I fell into deep depression, I floundered on. I sometimes feel I’m just on a lifelong mission to complete a jigsaw. It’s never going to be complete is it? Are we airport loyal at 5.32 a.m. again? I’d say so.
“A man’s work is never done” – Anon.
“As the day was dawning, my plane flew away with all the things caught in my mind” – Noel Gallagher.
Teenage crushes on perky Louise Wener were fads, flashes in the pan over girls who didn’t share my globe, or need to backpack the world with me. They came, they enjoyed a bit and then they went back to their boring, non-descript lives. It really happened. These quotes, I didn’t share and for once in this life, I won’t name and shame these girls, because I liked them, and they were perhaps…RIGHT. You can be sure the photos are coincidental.
“I think I’m too boring for you Jonny” – Her.
Sunday’s Inspiration: Can’t Stop This Thing I Started
“What do you do all day Jonny, sitting there drinking coffee and typing on your laptop?” – A Different Her.
Whackpacking Kyrgyzstan as a proper nomad
“I want to know how your mind thinks, Jonny” – A Different Her.
Coffee Loyal, from Wi-Fi cafes the world over.
“I won’t join you Jonny, this is your dream – have fun out there” – A Different Her.
Table football at Budapest Away
We put barriers, obstacles, stoppers in the way. Oh I can’t get a visa, oh it’s too far away, oh it’s too dear, oh Mummy won’t let me and even the oh the world is dangerous. If you want something, go get it, go fetch it. I wanted it, fetched it and got it.
Drinkingpacking in Taiwan
“You are my motivation” – A Different Her.
My long term backpacking travels slowed down to a halt in 2016. For the 2 and a half years prior to that, I had worked completely for myself from my laptop. I had cracked professional travel blogging and it was easy. I kept moving, I was a real-life nomad. I had no home, no flat. I was getting sponsored stays every night, sponsored tours, I was working as a blogger for myself and as a writer for a host of big travel and writing companies including Hipmunk, Copypress, Culturetrip and Expedia. Everyday was the same, a golden dream. Wake up, check emails and social media, write articles, blog, earn money, plan my onward trip to the next place, get the visas, build local contacts, get freebies, promote all the businesses that supported me and move on.
Almost every day was like this from 2012 – 2016.
“You can’t backpack the world forever” – A different her.
I guess Gdansk in July 2016 was the moment it all changed. I was travel weary, nomaded out, whackpacking nuts. I had to stop. Since then, I’ve basically been renting flats in Poland. That’s 8 and a half years. But I still cannot stop my travel dreams. I want to visit as many countries as I can. I want to at least visit all the countries that I personally recognise. So it’s off on my travels again this week – properly backpacking for a month.
“Oh I’m so jealous now, it’s my dream Jonny” – A Different Her.
I’ll see you on the other side.
Sunday’s Inspiration: Can’t Stop This Thing I Started