Back home

Okay, It's been a while. I was too busy flying and doing other things, that I forgot about this weblog. But rest assured, I'm going to give the wise words that you probably all expecte from me.

When I was in Prague, the second day, I stood on the sidewalk waiting for the light to turn green, and all of a sudden a smile got on my face and I laughed. I tried to cover it and not show it to the other people, but I couldn't stop lauging, because despite all the difficulties that came along with it - I had done it. I'd travelled around Europe, my all-time favourite continent, and seen a lot of what I'd always wanted to see. And I had done it by myself, made all the decisions, right or wrong, myself. And I returned safely home without so much as a scratch from a fall on an escelator in Budapest. That's why I laughed, I'd only realized this then. I thought that now I was in a position to be telling people 'That ain't working, that's the way te do it! Get your money for noth.......' (Don't know that song? You're missing out)

I had only three minor issues and one larger issue, in Berlin. This all may be sounding very selfish, but I'll be frank and say that I'm proud of myself. How many people of my age, and even how many people of any age, can say that they sat in Slovak en Czech police stations awaiting their 'Justice', nearly jumped in a driving train in Paris, heared two Austrian gothics having the time of their life above my bed in Berlin, but most of all, has seen almost all major European cities that have a history to them.

Summarizing it all, I've been to Berlin, Paris, Innsbruck, Munich, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Bratislava, Budapest and Prague. And please, everyone realize, I travelled around 25000 km in total and only left the European Union once. Europe is certainly not what it used to be, fortunately for a large part and for another large part very unfortunately. It won't change my support for the Union, but I've got to say I'd have liked having stamps for every country (I have about 5 stamps now), have every officer check my passport and visa, and paying in another currency every 2 days. But that's just not the way it is, and, as I said, that makes me happy yet sad.

I love to travel, and by this journey I realized even more it's my other hobby, next to flying. About flying... I went to the airfield again this weekend and made one long flight, 45 minutes, which was only limited by the size of my bladder that had recently been filled with water. Once I took off I immediately climbed to just over 1 km altitude, and was at the surface of the clouds, severely enjoying myself cloudsurfing (a popular thing amongst pilots). I returned with a perfect arrival route followed by a perfect landing, which was followed by a swift opening of the 'door', running as fast as I could to the ditch and having the most incredible piss ever. (Men, you'll know what I'm talking about) You think you can't hold it in any longer, but when you're focused on such a thing as flying airplanes, your bladder is larger than you think. You just have to get out asap when you land.

I'm going off topic, back to business. I can talk about Europe, it's history and it's present, for ages, but I'll cut it off here. I didn't tear down a part of the Berlin wall, when I'm in Amsterdam I don't eat any spacecake or smoke any joints, I didn't make love all night to a beautiful French girl on rooftops in the Moulin Rouge, I didn't go skiïng in the Alps (I have done so, just not this trip...) and so many things that are typical for a country, I did not do. But I still saw the people and their cities, be it good or bad, beautiful or ugly. As a European you don't see Europe the way, for say, Americans or Australians do, but we all still call it Europe and we all secretly or less secretly consider it ours. And to see nearly all of it, is something any European, if not every human being, has to have done. But then again I dislike other tourists, so let's keep Europe my very own little continent, just sort of shared with 709,608,850 other inhabitants.

This is the end of this weblog, there will be no more posts, but maybe one day I'll bundle it all together in a small book, or translate it into Dutch.

I hope everyone who has been reading this weblog liked what they read, and maybe even learned something from it. I've gained uninmaginable amounts of knowledge on this trip, and I'd be glad if even a part of it has reached any readers, please do accept these 'wise words' from a 16 year old adolescent snotneus.

Byron Sterk