Happy Birthday Atchoum - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**Canadian Dude** · 09-24-2003, 03:09 PM

Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear atchoum

Happy Birthday to you!!!!

**travelpunk** · 09-24-2003, 03:27 PM

I would like to second that! Haven't seen you in a while, hope that all is well!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY- ATCHOUM :D :P

^_^ B) !

**Esterina** · 09-25-2003, 08:53 PM

That was a surprise !!! Thank you so much to both of you ! I could hear you singing from my place ! I'm laughing and I'm touched at the same time...

I've been working outside my hometown for the past 4 weeks and could not often have access to a computer which explains my long silence... But I did come to glance from time to time.

I'll be back home in a few days for 6 weeks, before flyyyyyyyyiiiiiiiing away for a whole year of travel ! :D

Thanks again !

**travelpunk** · 09-26-2003, 05:48 AM

Hey you! Great to see you and hope that you had a great birthday

!

Wow! You're a busy little bee! Taking off for a whole year! I love it when people reward themselves. It's the simple secret to enjoying life. Seriously, we slave away day in and day out to help the rich get richer while digging ourselves a bigger whole, and before you know it, we've lost track about what it is that we really want and need in our lives.

Glad to hear that you're on your way, girl. Talk about a birthday present B) !

TheCross · 09-26-2003, 12:41 PM

I've not met you before but HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

And a year of travel! That sounds really nice. I am in the process of saving for my first big travel experience, can't wait to get on the plane.

-TC-

**Esterina** · 10-03-2003, 12:12 PM

Thank you TheCross ! Nice meeting you also...

You're getting prepared to leave for you first trip ? Scary and exciting, isn't it ?! My legs feel kind of weak when I think that next month I'll leave my comfort zone for such a long time...

I wish you the best time !

**travelpunk** · 10-04-2003, 02:14 AM

Hey Atchoum, where were you heading off to? Sorry, it's just that the board got a little bit bigger in the past month or so

was it Australia?

**Esterina** · 10-04-2003, 07:37 AM

Please don't feel bad, you've got plenty to take care of, we all know that !

My long trip starts around mid-november in Australia, where I'll meet my longtime friend from university who knows lives there, which is the easy part, then begins the real adventure : travel through the eurasien continent from south-east Asia to Eastern Europe. Thailand-Laos-Vietnam-Nepal-India-Kazakhstan-Russia-Ukraine-Moldova-Romania-Bosnia-Germany !

With such different countries to visit in a year, I will sure get a new understanding of the planet... well, I hope so ! It's part of the project, to link neighbouring cultures and histories, to see how the grass is really greener on one side of a frontier, and learn why... One continent, one piece of earth, but those tiny lines put by the human beings to preserve their territory have built great inequalities...

I've planned three long stations in Nepal and Romania (three months each) where I should be working with children organisations, and one month of russian course in Moscow. I know myself, I can't watch other people living for long, I have to get involved in some ways...

Can't wait to leave, but I'm getting also really scared... one year apart from my family and friends...

And you Travelpunk, when are you leaving again ?

**travelpunk** · 10-06-2003, 06:45 AM

Wow, Atchoum! That's the MOTHER LOAD!

Sounds like a dream about to come true for you, eh? Good for you!
I'm glad to see you even making the effort to get involved with childrens organizations in those countries.
Working in the film industry, I'm sure that you know how to hustle and get things done in a teamwork style atmosphere. That's way too cool and I'm sure they can't wait for your arrival!

I on the other hand, have to get back to work (it's been a while) and I may not be able to head back overseas until later next year, but I will try to negotiate a 2 or 3 week leave of absence before getting hired. Hope they'll bite

I know what you mean about being apart for a while, but with regular contact and updates through email and phone calls, you'll see that nothing much will change in that year and it will fly by FAST! It may even fly by faster for you than it did for me, because you'll be working and staying busy with flying through many countries, the course in Russia, and the organizations, so you'll have many reasons to wake up in the morning as opposed to sleeping in a lot (like I did

).

I'm so excited for you and we'll keep you company on the boards throughout your adventures B)

**worldwidemike** · 10-06-2003, 07:15 AM

Wow. What an amazing trip you have planned! You make me want to chuck it all and head out on the road, too.

That's great that you are at a point in your life where you can take a year off and do this. You know, I have to say "trip" is too mild a word. I think "adventure" is the word needed for your planned itinerary. Have fun, and if it is possible to post from the road, I would love to hear how it is going.

Heck, TP, I think we should have a welcome home party for her when she returns to Canada in a year. I'd fly up for it. She should have enough stories to keep us entertained for days...

Amazing. Take care, Atchoum!

worldwidemike

**Esterina** · 10-06-2003, 03:33 PM

Do I like this family !!! Travelpunk and Worldwidemike, thanks so much for your kind words ! And by the way, I live in a huge apartment, we could party here...

Yes, it's a dream coming true. I'd say it's many dreams coming true at the same time : meeting the world, working in NGOs, hoping to do some photojournalism as well... and all that for long enough to break any habits or patterns that could have been tying my soul up. So I hope it becomes an initiatic adventure. Even better to do it during your mi-thirties than at 18...

Tp, you already went on a one-year journey ? I'd love to hear more about it. And going back to work after so long is also kind of a life turn around, isn't it ?

Wwm, I encourage you to do so ! We only have one life (or remember one at a time !!!) !

Hopefully, I will be able to come here to read what's going in everyone's life and travel, and leave a post as well. What is sure, is that I'll write before leaving ! Friday Nov. 14th... ciao !

**travelpunk** · 10-07-2003, 02:37 AM

Yeah, I was in Spain for 13 months, came back at 5 months ago. I didn't travel around like I had originally had planned, because about 6 months into just hanging out in Madrid (also went to Portugal, and western Spain in that time), we started to work on a story to film digitally. It was such an ongoing ordeal to create this independent story of ours, constantly gather the people that we needed, and then film it four hours south of Madrid on available weekends. I told myself that I wasn't going to leave until I had what I needed. 7 months later and 40 hrs of tape later, I flew back. I could've done it all in less than 10 tapes, but it was a first for me, in terms of being in control, and I figured that I would get more coverage than I needed, just in case.
So, really, it ended up as a work related trip.

WWM a welcome home party would be a great idea! Hopefully I'll have made the big duckies by then and can get some time off for traveling. Looks like we got a place to crash

:D

!

I hope you document your trip Atchoum, like a blog (blogger.com, blogspot.com) or some toher online journal. It can and will be a source of inspiration to many people for years to come!

Heck, I'm already inspired

:D B) !