Episode 3: 'The Return of a Newly Born Travel Fanatic'

- What surprised you most?

I was positively surprised of how friendly people were. I was warmly welcomed everywhere, people helped me out, let me stay at their place and so on. Without ever bothering me in any negative sense.

A good tip to remember though, if you sometimes "couchsurf" at peoples houses is:

- Always leave the place nicer than when you arrived
- Pay the bill of your host if you eat out
- Bring a small present, flowers, fruits or something sweet before you leave

Episode 2: 'The Return of a Newly Born Travel Fanatic'

Rule no 1: Never look into the kitchen where they make your food. This is were I had my last dinner before getting food poisoning. It was all tasty and lovely until the next morning.



- What was your lowest point during this trip?

It was for sure getting food poisoning in India. Since if I knew it beforehand - I've been pretty ill in Kerala before - I planned the trip putting India as one of my last destinations since I didn't want to risk getting sick in the beginning of the trip. Anyway, when I woke up in the tent on top of that mountain in Himalaya, not feeling too well, I knew I had to get down as soon as possible. My body wanted to turn itself inside out while hiking down with very few places to get off the track to...go to the toilet...then it was no fun. And being alone when I was having 40 degrees fever the following couple of days was the only time I wished that I wasn't alone. But hey, one week later I was fit for fight again, so it was totally worth it!

Episode 1: 'The Return of a Newly Born Travel Fanatic'

Q - What was the best experience during your trip?

A - I think the trip litterally 'peaked' when I reached the top of the Mt Dhauladhar behind McLeod Ganj in northern India. I don't know if it was because I had to make such an effort to reach the top of the mountain, or if it's just the last positive experience of the trip before I returned to Sweden - no matter what, it was truly magic!

My top 5 highlights would be:

1) Hiking Mt Dhauladhar (Dharamsala, India)
2) Catching a wave in Kauai (Hawaii, USA)
3) Beach weekend in Malibou with the Beastie Boys crew and hanging out in LA
4) The best-ever massage at the Esalen Institute (Big Sur, California, USA)
5) The Chedi Spa experience (Chiang Mai, Thailand)



Catching my first wave!

THE CONCLUSION

Dear friends,

I know you probably believe that I would never be back here by now. That I just ran off to the Swedish forest and would never touch a computer or anything starting with www again. But, don't despair - I will keep my promise and end this properly with the crème de la crème of the trip! I just had to catch my breath after the big return...

During the following days I will answer some questions that I've got during the trip (+ some questions I didn't get). Please let me know if you want to know anything else than this:

Questions

- What was the best experience during the trip?
- What was your lowest point?
- What surprised you most?
- Do you regret anything you did during the trip?
- Was it lonely to travel alone? Why/why not?
- What country/city would you travel to again? Why?
- What country/city would you not travel to again? Why not?

Best & Worst

- The 5 best packing tips and tricks for a trip around the world
- Best hotel/place to stay
- Worst hotel/place to stay
- Best airline/airport
- Worst airline/airport experience (Frankfurt airport!!! Sorry...couldn't wait to tell you...;)
- Best food
- Worst food

Tomorrow we'll start the incredibly exciting 'The Conclusion' Episode 1, which might even involve pictures and film clips...

;) Å