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

Airport mayhem

Yesterday I went to the airport to say goodbye to my dad who's going to the Galapagos Islands and Peru with National Geographic . What we didn't count on was that the taxi drivers made a protest and stopped all the traffic from getting to the airport. So my dad and his friend Cenneth Sparby had to get out of the car in order to make it to the flight. People got totally crazy since they had to catch their flights.

Streetsmart

Stylecheck: Those glasses and her top. She was also the sweetest!
Profession: Running a recordstore on the street of McLeod Ganj, India
Age: What did I tell you about asking ladies about their age..?

Foxy Lady

Style check: Notice the cigarette she keeps behind her ear.
Profession: Cashier at Wal-Mart (Hawaii, US)
Age: Don't ever ask a woman above 20 about her age.

Old news...

People wanted to see the winning film several times during this trip. So here it is again - my application film to MrJet that made me win the competition going around the world!

The story goes like this: my dear stepmother phoned me and said "There's a job I think suits you perfectly. An online travelagency is looking for someone going around the world to wherever they like and blog about it". I didn't think she got it right. When I realized it was true, I quickly put a filmclip together and didn't tell anyone about it. Then I went to France for a scriptwriting workshop that I'm doing this year. Less than a week later I've got a phonecall from MrJet; "Where are you, we already interviewed the other two people that went to the final and you're not even answering your mail." Since I was in France I couldn't make it to the interview, I wouldn't be back in Stockholm until the week after and then it was too late. Then MrJet decided to postpone the deadline for chosing the finalist, and I went for a nervous interview the following week. Afterwards I thought I didn't get it, and went for a sad lunch with my mother. When we were having our coffe I've got the phonecall; "Do you want to make your dreamtrip around the world?"

So, as a classic oneliner I'd like to say; I wouldn't been able to do this without the incredible support of my mothers! Thankyou.

Paris

I went to Paris in the weekend with Marietta von Hausswolff von Baumgarten (the scriptwriter who met up with me in Chiang Mai two weeks earlier). Met some wonderful people and most of all; had REAL French croissants for breakfast! Oh lala...

What's your dream, Gasper?

Gasper 18 years old working in a café in Paris dreaming about being happy. It seemed like he was already living his dream. He makes pretty good omelettes with goatscheese and mint (!) too.