“Why do we have to listen to our hearts?"

“Why do we have to listen to our hearts?" the boy asked.
"Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you will find your treasure.” 
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

♥ my cozy home ♥ ... before i was homeless.

    I have now been on the road backpacking, hitch hiking and couch crashing for just short of three months.

    I knew when I left it was something I had to do. Some times we don't know why we have to leave.  We just do.

    In the past week I have been having dreams almost nightly. Being away from home has helped me to realize quite a few things. Things, maybe, I was in denial about. Things I need to emotionally toss out the window. Things about my personal life that I probably would have not realized.

    How is it possible to be in such a great place as Germany and be slightly sad almost everyday when I wake up?  Maybe the treasure I now dream of was bluntly in front of me back home?

   I wonder if the treasure I dream of will be mine when I get there. Maybe some one else will have discovered my treasure and I will have been to late? I guess if the treasure was truly meant to be mine it will be.

    I will do my best to follow my heart where it guides me.  Whether it's back home to get my treasure or to the next foreign land so I may prepare for my treasure.

Another 2,174 km! - PART TWO

It's shaped like something.... A tennis racket? Eh? That's boring. 

From Førde we were now on our own to hitchhike.  We were a bit hungry and needed to get internet to see where we were headed next and if we had a place there.  We ended up walking around the mall, buying some more yarn for my newest skill, knitting.  The plan was to teach my new buddy how to knit but there was never time.  You'd think there would be, right?

Forde was quite a tough little spot.  Everyone that was driving there lived there, it was raining, cold and we were both feeling a bit off that day. We finally landed a ride out of Forde to a gas station in the right direction.  We spent the rest of the night there and still didn't find a ride.  So, we went inside and enjoyed their heat and internet for a few hours.  It was then that we realized there was a campground right behind where we were.  Otherwise, we were to camp in the tall wet, cold grass in a small tent. After talking to the owner guy on the phone a couple times we found a small cabin with a small discount.  Check it out:

Aint she cute? 

Tra-la! 

 What the clouds kind of looked like. 

Yum "Cowboy Soup" for breakfast! Have it for dinner if you want to heat your sleeping bag! 

From here we hitch hiked:

Through Volda to Ålesund:

Crappy view!

See?

So I just rode the canon instead. 

I think she was looking for me. 

But I had moved... 

We had actually ended up grabbing a quick bus from Volda to Ålesund. We didn't have a place to stay or any real plan.  We just walked a few blocks to find a comfortable place to adjust our packs so we could walk some more blocks and come up with a plan.  It was then that a stranger asked if we had a place to sleep.  It was around 11 pm and there was no chance of leaving Ålesund.  So my travel buddy, Wally and I all looked at each other in disbelief... then we said, "sure".. or something.  It turned out to be a wicked awesome Czech guy who had traveled so much he seemed a tad bored with life.  We crashed there two nights then had to come up with another plan. (See part 3)

It's 5:38 am now and they're starting to put out breakfast where I am... but I'm kind of in the way and I haven't slept yet.  Time to find a sweet park bench or something!  Tootle-loo!  :)

Stay tuned again....  More to come soon!

Another 2,174 km! - PART ONE

This is a replica of a real viking ship.  They used authentic viking tools and hand carved it for many years.  :)  It lives in Tønsberg. Totally tubular, right?!

It's been quite a while since I caught up on everything going on.  I've managed to stay quite busy!

I'm not even sure where to start.  My spirits were kind of down for almost a week but  I'm feeling good about things right now.  It's 2 am and I'm at another random hostel I'm not paying for.  They are a wonderful resource for internet, warmth and strange people to look at.

So... Last time I wrote I was in Tønsberg, Norway hanging out, right?  Yes. That's what was going on. I was off to the marina because my friend/host in Tønsberg was about to buy a sweet wooden sail boat so we went to check it out and make sure it was still there.... or something.

You can kind of see the boat ... and the ocean. :)

It was a week or so after that I saw a random post on CouchSurfing for someone headed up the coast of  Norway just like I was hoping to do.  So I wrote the person and off I went with my host from Tonsberg.  We ended up hitchhiking from Tonsberg to Kongsberg and met up with the cool driver dude and off to Haukeli we went! Awesome!  Here's a bit of photos:

This does NOT do the water intensity justice!

Pretty cool! This style of painting is specifically from the Telemark County where we were.

I loved their decor! So charming... I mean, I'd be happy to be Santa's helper! ;) 

These are the beautiful people we stayed with, my Tønsberg host and our awesome ride! 

 After Haukeli we headed for Bergen.  Lucky us!

the boring ride there... 

Real life Tonka trucks!  Sa-weeeet!! :D

Gothenburg's umbrella didn't stand a chance against Bergen's wind and rain... haha!!

Bergen is basically like Disneyland.  It has phenomenal fountains and parks and, and, and....  I enjoyed it a lot.  

Old school Bergen!

From Bergen we headed to Førde: 

...another boring one.....

Blah blah...  I don't know what to write.  Its beauty was every where!

We had to stop for road construction. I could think of a worse place to stop. You? 

We made it to freezing Førde! The shoes were only a couple sizes to big. 

So, I've decided to break this post up because there is SO much to cover.   Stay tuned to see what happens after this commercial break!