Back in the saddle!

Saddle... boat... oh well, you get the picture. But before I go further into this whole new thing I'm starting, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank all the people that have sent me encouragement of all kinds in the past weeks. Getting shipwrecked isn't as cool as it sounds, but all you people – you know who you are – really were a tremendous help. That being said, I had no idea I would have as much trouble as I had getting on the road again. In the first days after the shipwreck I thought I should take it easy and recover a bit, but I never expected it would take nearly seven weeks for me to leave!

I guess the main reason was that, once I recovered from the immediate shock and was thinking of getting back on the road, I couldn't quite motivate myself in the same way to go to Patagonia anymore. For some reason, I still don't know exactly why, this feeling of “YEAH! Let's go to Patagonia!” wasn't there anymore, and it didn't have me dreaming at night anymore.

So eventually I figured that I would need a new goal, a new point on the horizon to look forward to. Something that I would be able to dream of whenever I would really have hit rock bottom in terms of motivation somewhere along the way; something that could keep me going. This being easier said than done, however, my mind went in all directions. Mongolia? Cameroon? Cuba?

All of these places seem wonderful to visit, just like Patagonia, but none of them had this extra bit of connection that I needed. What would be there when I would get there? What would I do there? Some might not need an answer to these questions, but I discovered I needed something to be there. So my mind eventually wondered to the wonderful city of Vancouver.

Why? Well, aside from having a name for being a beautiful city, with the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains both within reach, it so happens that part of my family migrated there in the 1950's, and I've never met most of them! It seems I have a small army of cousins there, one of whom came to the Netherlands as an au pair this past year. Meeting her made it all the more obvious for me that I would really like to go there one day to meet all the others, and thus presenteth itself a fine goal to travel towards.

Now, those geography nerds among you will have noticed: Vancouver isn't anywhere near Patagonia! A fact, indeed. It is, however, on the same hemisphere, which gives me the excellent opportunity to check whether I have any permanent anti-sailing-across-oceans-sentiments etched in my subconscious since I won last month's edition of the “I bet I can wake up in a nastier position than you”-contest.

Therefore, the plan is to fly to the Canary Islands this Tuesday, the 20th of December, in order to find a boat there that could carry me to the Caribbean – don't worry, I will do a double check for any signs that they registered in contests regarding waking up or nasty positions.
Then, having arrived there, I will find a way to get to the mainland of Central America so I can slowly start hitchhiking/traveling my way North, in order to end up in Vancouver around March/April/May (alright, I really don't know when I'll get there...). Hopefully that part will get more clear as the trip progresses.

In the mean time, I'll be making some valiant attempts at keeping all of you updated on all the profoundly stupid, yet mostly harmless situations I get myself into.

Doei!