In mid 2014 I quit the job I loved and travelled the world for a year. I was heading back to Singapore from Dubai, the long way home. After a 14 hour direct flight from Dubai to Rio de Janeiro, I stood at the end of a bus queue in the terminal, wondering to myself. What are you doing? Backpacking in South America, without a plan. Alone. I had bought my ticket just days before. Travellers that I would meet later told me that they planned for months. Brazil is almost like a continent. How do you know where you want to go? Lencois, I would answer. It’s a desert with lakes. During the winter in the North East of Brazil, the valleys collect rain and pools form in the valleys until they
Buenos Aires is not the prettiest city in the world but it’s my favourite. Maybe it was that electrifying feeling I got from just roaming on the streets or the amazing people I met there. Anyway I planned only to stay for 4 days but ended up staying there for 3 weeks instead. I just didn’t want to leave. AIRPORTS There are two airports in Buenos Aires. One within the city area called AEP or Jorge Newbery and another 22km away called EZE or Ezeiza. When I flew to El Calafate from Buenos Aires and back it was very handy to fly to the one nearer to the city. FOOD Get a steak everyday. Best steak I ever had was in Argentina and it’s one steak + one big glass of red wine for 10 USD. I’m not
Long Way Home – The Argentinians 1. Atins, Brazil. 31 August 2014 The thumbnail of my Long Way Home video features Martin, the hero of my travels. Because of him I became the special guest of an Argentinian superstar everywhere I went. We met in a Brazilian desert so remote that you needed to climb a tree to get phone reception. I have a map of the tree if you ever find yourself there. Incidentally the map is that piece of paper flying in the video. 2. Buenos Aires, Argentina. 23 September 2014 Martin introduced me to Hernan, his ex bandmate, when I arrived in his hometown, Buenos Aires. I had asked Martin if he knew another guitarist as cool as him there. He was right. Hernan was aweso
