Adopt a Backpacker

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog about how much I've enjoyed meeting up with old friends and how lucky I've been to have been offered a place to stay for a lot of my trip so far. For me, getting to stay with locals – especially ones I'm already friends with – makes travelling that much better.

Sometimes though, it goes even further than that. Sometimes you get to stay in a situation where, not only do you stay with your friend and have them show you around, sometimes the whole family adopts you.

I've been in a situation like this for the last few weeks in Mexico City. Since catching up with my room mate from Melbourne I've been welcomed by her family and friends as one of their own. Not only have I had a place to stay, I've had the best tour guides ever, been given some great information and taken to the best food places.

Waiting for our "Tacos Al Pastor" 

Its not the first time I've been fortunate enough to be adopted while on the road. My first backpacker adoption came courtesy of my sisters new in-laws – the House Family - in England. While they are in fact also real relations, at the time they adopted me they barely knew me, and yet they helped to create my first “home away from home” when I first started travelling.

Since then I've been fortunate enough to have home cooked meals and a place to stay with families in countries all over the world, and its something that I truly appreciate every time. You sometimes wonder what the adopting family gets out of the situation. Are they just being polite? Or do they really want to share their culture and thoughts with someone from another country?

Christmas in Mexico has to include a piñata

Christmas is a time of year that many backpackers miss their families. Often travellers will organise “orphan Christmas” with fellow foreigners and celebrate as they would back home. I was fortunate enough to have the House family – my sister included – during the Christmases I spent in the UK, however my first Christmas in Canada saw me sitting in a cafe by myself, and I'll admit to feeling quite alone. While Christmas, for me, is not a religious thing, it is a family thing and the following year I was lucky enough to be adopted by my Ottawa room mate's family for Christmas. And while he forgot to mention it to his family beforehand (awkward!), they still welcomed me into their home.

This year I was able to be part of a Mexican Christmas, witnessing the traditions, eating all of the amazing food and even getting a couple of gifts. It was great to be a part of a family environment, even if it wasn't my own family, because to me that is what Christmas is all about.

My Mexican Family for Christmas

Being adopted while on the road doesn't just have to be at the Holidays though – it is appreciated at any time. While it has always been an amazing unexpected surprise for me, I'm hoping to encourage some people in Brazil to get into the spirit in June and July. Yes, I know this is a cheap plug, but there will be a huge amount of travellers hittingBrazil in June, and many would love to see not only the World Cup, but plenty of the Brazilian culture and lifestyle.

So come on Brazil, open up your doors and adopt a backpacker!

I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays, however and whatever they celebrated and I wish everyone a happy new year! 

Extra Baggage

They call it the Heathrow injection. The extra few kilograms that Australians tend to come back with around their mid sections after a working holiday in the UK and Europe.

Whether its the stodgy food, the copious amounts of ale or the cold weather comfort eating, its rare that an Antipodean returns home from his or her time abroad without a little more to love.

Fish & Chips in England

I'm far from immune. After over two years in the UK & Europe I returned home with around 15kgs (33lbs) extra baggage – and I'm not talking about souvenirs. Just to prove that Heathrow is not the culprit, I returned with a similar result after two years in North America.

One of my favourite things in Canada, Poutine

This has become an inevitable part of travel for me, and one that I'm willing to accept. Why? Because I love food. For me, trying all of the local food in each country is a huge part of the reason I travel. Sure I lovemeeting people, and obviously have an addiction to live sport, but on a day to day basis, its almost always the food that is most memorable.

The last two weeks in Mexico have been foodie heaven. There's been tacos, enchiladas, tostadas, chalupas, mole, quesadillas and many other types of food that I cant remember the names of. Everything seems to come with salsa, cheese, cream and chili – even at breakfast - and its becoming evident that my travel gut is well and truly back.

Tostadas

It didn't just start in Mexico though. After leaving Australia in pretty good shape, things were actually looking pretty good for the first month or so, travelling through Burma and India, where I ate a mostly vegetarian diet to avoid falling victim to any sketchy meat handling practices.

Vegetarian tali

And then I got to the UK. While I think British food is sometimes unfairly maligned for being boring and drab, there is really no doubting that the traditional fish and chips, pie and chips and increasingly these days, kebab and chips are anything but healthy. Throw in the aforementioned copious amounts of ale and the need for a “full fry up” to ease the inevitable hangover, and the beginnings of travel gut 3.0 were well established.

One of many fine ales consumed in England

The next leg of my trip saw me return to the US and Canada where I caught up with a lot of good friends, but also got reacquainted with some of the food I'd been missing. Poutine, chicken wings and visits to my favourite burger places were almost daily occurrences. By the time I'd finished in the US, I could start to feel my travelling diet catching up with me. I certainly wasn't the same person who completed the Tough Mudder event in February.

A Krusty Burger

All of that, though, was just a warm up. It's been Mexico that has given me some of the most delicious food I've ever had, but also the biggest contributor to the gut. It appears to be virtually impossible to eat out in this country in a healthy way. To be honest though, I'm loving it.

Enchiladas with mole (chocolate & chili)

Arriving in Mexico City after a long day of delayed and cancelled flights, to be greeted with enchiladas swimming in a delicious salsa verde, its hard to be too conscious about your body shape. You just have to enjoy.

Some of the best street food in the world

And if nothing else, when I arrive home and people ask if I bought back any souvenirs, I'll know I brought with me the best reminder of just how good a time I had.

As I move ever closer to Brazil for the World Cup starting in June, I'm looking forward to trying all the food that Central and South America can throw at me. And hey, its almost Christmas...

Who else loves eating as much as me when they travel? What are your favourite travel foods and what are you most looking forward to trying on your next trip? 

Surfing Champion?

When I first visited the USA four years ago, I noticed a trend. When meeting any new American woman, within five minutes I would invariably be asked, “Do you surf?”

Growing up in small country towns up to 500 kilometres (~300 Miles) away from the nearest coastline, surfing was not something I often had the chance to do, and by the time I did live somewhere coastal, the closest beach was St Kilda, which has about as many waves as your average coffee cup.

The problem I had was that the look of disappointment on the faces of these American women was hard to take. I was shattering their image of what an Australian man really was. I guess not being six feet tall and having long blonde hair played a part, but the no surfing thing certainly helped.

I've realised recently though, that I'm actually somewhat of a surfing champion. While throwing on a wetsuit and running out to the waves with a board may never happen regularly for me, I've found something else I love to surf: couches.

Poutine; one of the things from Canada I missed the most

Anyone paying attention will note that I haven’t added to this blog in well over a month. What have I been doing in that time? I've been travelling through Canada and the USA meeting up with old friends, going to my favourite bars and eating all of my favourite food all over again. In short, nothing remotely new. Unlike while in India and Burma, I haven't been discovering new cultures, cuisines, cities and people. I've gone back to a bunch of places that I'd already discovered.

While this may not seem like the greatest use of my time (and limited money) while out of the country for a year, it has reminded me of the number one reason I love to travel – meeting and becoming genuine friends with people in other countries.

In the two months since I left India (including my time in the UK, Spain and Sweden) I've been fortunate enough to be welcomes into the homes of many different people. These people vary greatly in their backgrounds as well as my level of familiarity with them before coming into their homes.

My second time at the Daily Show

I've been hosted by not only my sister and some great friends who've hosted me numerous times before, but also people whom I've not seen in up to seven years, and others that were probably best described as “friends of friends” that welcomed me as though we'd been close forever.

I have also used the official Couch Surfing website where I've stayed with people who were literally strangers before staying with them, but for the most part I've stayed with people I've met through my network of travelling friends. To put it into perspective, in the 64 days I've spent in Europe and North America since leaving India, I've spent just 10 nights in paid accommodation, and only two nights since arriving in North America six weeks ago.

A group of my friends in Montreal, Canada

To me that says a lot about the welcoming and kind nature of the people I've met in my last eight years of travelling, and one of the reasons its going to be so difficult to let go of this lifestyle I the future.

While I may not be discovering any new cities just now, it has been far from boring. Reconnecting with people I haven't seen in years is as much of a reward as seeing a great monument for the first time. Just as those said monuments have stood the test of time, so too do many of these friendships.

And hey, some things do change. When an American girl asks me if I surf these days, I answer with a firm “Yes, of course”.

How to Vote: From Delhi

I've been on the road to Rio for just on a month now and I've had an incredible trip already. I've seen one of the Seven Wonders of the World, I've met some of the friendliest people in the world, and I've also found the spiritual homeland of my feet.

Sometimes though, you need to take a break from being a traveller, and get some stuff done. Last week in New Delhi was just such an occasion.

Anyone outside of Australia is probably blissfully unaware that we have a federal election coming up this Saturday, while I'm sure those back home are drowning in it. While in New Delhi I discovered that early postal voting was available to expats and travellers in India at the Australian High Commission. Having missed every national (and state) election since I started travelling in 2005, I decided it was finally time to start having my say again, so I took a few hours out to head down to the High Commission and place my vote.

The thing was, on the walk down I was still unsure as to who I was going to vote for. The two major parties have some pretty deep flaws, while the myriad of small special interest parties didn't excite me in the least.

Indira Gandhi with former Australian PM Gough Whitlam

On the way to the High Commission I came across the memorial and museum dedicated to Indira Gandhi, one of India's most influential political figures of the 20^th century. She was Prime Minsiter on several occasions and helped shape India to being the country it is now. She was also somewhat divisive on many issues and was ultimately assassinated before finishing her final term in office in 1984. Her son, Rajiv, followed her as Prime Minister, and unfortunately, suffered the same fate as his mother in 1991.

Listening to some of the rhetoric and campaigning going on back home, you'd think that Australian politics was as heavily divided as it can be in here in India. Depending on who you listen to if 'wrong' party gets up on September 7^th, the country is doomed. I don’t buy that.

Australian High Commission in Delhi

The major parties in Australia, like the overwhelming majority of the population are very close to the centre of the political chart. Both parties will act the same way on the majority of issues and neither side will see the country turn into a basket case. Yes, both parties have their faults – not least of which the leader of each – but show me a political party that doesn't.

One thing that is sure to spice up the election is one Mr Julian Assange and his new “Wikileaks” party appearing on the Senate ballot. If he manages to get himself elected it will surely make Australian politics a little more interesting at least.

Indian Parliament

So I turned up to the High Commission and place my vote. I even voted below the line in the Senate, filling out all 97 preferences to make sure the likes of Family First, the Christian Party and One Nation get nothing from my vote.

So to my Australian friends: Go vote Saturday. Vote whatever way you feel but just keep in mind, whomever our government is when we all wake up on Sunday, Australia will continue to be a great place to live. I'm not saying our vote is not important, just that we're lucky enough to live in a country where people aren't killing each other over disagreements in policy.

We are very lucky in Australia and not even Krudd or the Budgie Smuggler can change that. 

I promise I'll get back to some more travel related content next week! This isn't a political blog, I just thought I'd share my thoughts.