The conclusion... This is my noted diary from my facebook...

Well its that time again in the traveling Life of Tim Leyshan to write some form of semi-conclusion to this chapter before my next journey.

I want to apologise to anyone that is reading this and have already been overfilled with my journey so far, your more than welcome to ditch the wagon at this point But I hope you can read on... The story thus far... 104 days, 18 countries $10,000 3245 photos later, I have finally arrived back to sunny Canada.

This journey has taken me from the derelict streets of Phnom Penh to the brilliant cliffs of the norwegian fjords. The mystical marshlands of estonia to the majestic dunes of the western Sahara. I have met more people in 4 months than I have in 4 years. I have camped on more couches, walked more distances, witnessed more sunsets and eaten more food than I could have ever wished. My photos are just an introduction to the fulfillment I have gained from having done this trip this time in my life.

My life leading up to this point was... well what you could say.. 'very complicated' to put it in the simplest form. Having had mixed feelings of my previous traveling to finally have the freedom, motivation and open minded attitude to embrace and explore the world in a whole new way.

I began traveling through a network of like minded people called Couchsurfing which opened my eyes to the world of hospitality, and kind people everywhere, in hopes I could not only save some money, but bring down some of those pre conceived stereotypes between cultures. This was definitely a success, as I have made good friends I look forward to joining again in the future and continue our friendships. I spent a total of 15 days in Hostels throughout the entire 104 days. I cooked and mingled and immersed myself into the local culture by just hanging with my hosts and their friends, attempting to learn the languages and understanding the diverse ways of living.

I have learned a lot about myself, respect for other people in new ways and enabled myself to let go of those inhabitions that restrict you from being yourself and just being me. I can't even begin to describe the diverse array of activities I have had the privilege to take part in over the past few months... I recommend viewing my facebook profile pics and you will get an idea.

You are probably wanting to know what country I thought was the best I have visited, now that is more complicated that you think. I have now visited 40 countries and counting (I thought it was more lol...), but this trip was definitely on the highlight list of best countries visited in my life. One of the stand outs was definitely Morocco followed by the east coast of Norway, Eastern Baltics and Portugal. I had missed some of the places I planned to visit this trip in sacrifice to see other places and to stay longer in some of the destinations I visited. I think I made the right choices. I also had a first on this trip for me, having touched down in northern africa, I have now completed all main civilized continents on earth excluding the polar ice caps.

I still have a dream of visiting 100 countries before I am 30, but I am going to base myself here in Canada from here on in. Now there are some of you who are thinking, and who know of my past few years story, and no... is the answer, I no longer have reasons to have to stay in Australia beside family (they invented planes for a good reason), hence the reason why I am traveling and will be basing myself in Canada for a more prolonged period of time now.

My next journey will hopefully be to Alaska in the summer of 2010 with hopes to cross the Arctic circle and mingle with the local fauna.. i.e. Polar bears and reindeer, then I hope to complete another of my dreams in the summer of 2011 which will be taking a rather extensive bike ride from one side of canada to the other in hopes to raise money and awareness of impoverish countries in need of support, education, housing and basic emergency needs focused around children in Africa, Asia and Central America therefore I hope to get foundation support through UNICEF. This will be a huge task, but I would greatly appreciate any support in organization and sponsorship assistance etc in the buildup to Summer 2011. It seems like a long way away, but I know best at how quickly time flies when you are busy and working toward something you enjoy. This is the first time I have made an official announcement regarding this project but in order to make it a reality I need to make it vocal and known to people, therefore I am more than happy and open to suggestions, ideas support etc to make this happen. I would have ideally liked to do the ride this summer but I wont be ready with sponsorship and I need to get set up here in vancouver first.

So that is an update on my life thus far, I am looking forward to hearing back from you soon regarding how you are, families, jobs, travel stories anything really... And I will continue to update my profile and soon be configuring a blog in anticipation to raise enough attention to help with getting my fundraising project off the ground... Inshallah (God willing)... Arabic.. This is the only word I remember in Arabic... haha

In conclusion, if anyone has any need for advice on travel, organizing of holidays, not sure of places to visit, feel free to shoot me an email for free advice, I am more than happy to provide you with some secret squirrel info to help you out.

Until the next time the jet fuel flows and the wheels are turning... Keep safe, take care and Hope you all have a fantastic christmas.

Adios

Your local Nomad Tim