Traveler Profile: vapintar

(vapintar)Log-in

Screen name:

vapintar

Age:

Gender:

Female

If you must know:

It's none of your business ;-)

Travel status:

Traveling soon

Hometown:

I'm still trying to find one

Currently in:

LaLa Land

Traveling Next:

Back to Pom Land

Favorite places I've been:

My first love Australia, My second love (but I don't necessarily love it any less)England, France, Bosnia, Lake Ohrid in Macedonia, sLovenia and Lamai Beach on Koh Samui

Places I want to go to:

New York City, India, Angkor Wat, Guatemala, South America, Iceland, Japan, Uluru, Broome, Lebanon

About me:

That's an excellent question at this point. Well, over two years ago, which is hard for me to believe, I graduated from university in English. A little more than two and half years ago if you asked me what I'd be doing post uni, I would have said grad school, stable job, putting down roots, contemplating marriage,that sort of thing. Then I decided to spend a term studying abroad in Australia where for the first time I heard the terms "working holiday" and "round the world trip" and well that whole notion of putting down roots went out the window. Instead I went on my own round the world trip that took a little longer than expected, a year and a half and I'm just back from that adventure. The question on my mind most often is, "What next?"

Profile URL:

http://matadortravel.com/travel-community/vapintar

Read more about vapintar

I'm fired up on:

Books and bookstores! Every country, probably every city I have gone to in my last year and a half of traveling I have made it a point to go into a bookstore and peruse the books. It was kind of a way of feeling more at home wherever I was, seeing what the people liked to read. And of course all those long train journeys, flights, and whatever other interesting methods of transport one may find themselves utilizing offers a good opportunity to read that Steinbeck novel they've been meaning to get to. Taking photos has become a passion because of travel. I'd like to learn a lot of things. The more I travel the more I want to know about and how to do, like the guitar, other languages, cooking, religion etc.

Tunes I rock out to:

The Arcade Fire, Good Ol' Jack, Angus and Julia Stone, Bob Sinclair, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Euro Disco, The Shins, Cold Play, new found love of Salsa music

Travel style:

I'll get up early and try to make it out of my hostel before everyone else is awake. I've got a book and a journal in my bag and I'm in a new city. I will spend all day walking around taking pictures and stopping at the places that draw me in, maybe a cafe or just a park and sit and read and write. Maybe I'll get into a chat with some random along the way or maybe it will just be me all day.

Quote:

The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till the other is ready, and it may be a long time before they get off.
Henry David Thoreau "Walden"

Sports I do:

Running, Volleyball

Favorite books:

Breath, Brida, Waterland, The Awakening, Giants of the Earth, Blue Diary

Who I'd like to meet on my travels:

I've already met them

I want to make a difference by:

Going to the places that scare me both literally and figuratively, learning to embrace the uncertainty of life and to never stop questioning.

I felt the most immersed in a foreign culture when:

When I got off the plane in LA a month ago and was is in LAX baggage claim with hundreds of other people from all over the world trying to understand what the woman was saying in her thick accented English over the loud speaker. I definitely had been away from my "home" country for a while.

Why I travel:

For the people I meet and what I learn about myself and humanity along the way. Because there is nothing else I can imagine myself doing.

Ideal place to watch the sunrise:

I haven't done this yet, but a friend told me about how he came out of a club in Rio and went and watched the sunrise on the beach.

Ideal place to watch the sunset:

At a little piece of sand in Fremantle, Western Australia

Before I die I'd like to:

Go to Angkor Wat is at the top of the list, be in a play (any play, I don't want to be discovered), write a book, be a teacher, take singing lessons

Let's collaborate:

Like so many others out their I'm trying to find a way of making my love of travel into a way of putting food in my mouth and a roof over my head. But I mostly want to find a way to help others to travel, to take gap years, round the world trips, anything, to help people to know that traveling doesn't require all these impossible things like huge sums of money.

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by TravelJeff | 2008/07/28

Queenstown depressed me for many reasons. It was too much like the over-built, over-hyped mountain towns that you find littered throughout the world.

I was young and for whatever reason, expecting a different type of vibe than what I found. It was simply a matter of situation, as I would love to return to check it out today. Instead of meeting core groups of snow-riders, I was finding core groups of line hitters and pill poppers.

I still feel that towns like Whistler, Queenstown and Aspen are excellent examples that if you ever find a beautiful, under-developed spot that is ideal for various activities that you enjoy, you had better not tell anyone about it or it will soon be over-run with the very things that ruin the vibe.

Up next, Revolstoke's new multi billion dollar resort development!

by Melany | 2008/07/24

I studied in Birmingham, which was kind of a grundgy city, but I loved it anyway.

England is amazing. Pure and simple.

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Choices

By vapintar | Location: United States | 08/08/08 | Pics: 1

For several months here I have been so incredibly unsure of what it is I want. I mean in regards to pretty much everything. I spent my last few months in Australia constantly tossing around the idea of coming home early due to things really not going as planned. I'm glad I saw things out and think the...

2 comments | Send to Friend |

They say you have to start somewhere, but where?

By vapintar | Location: United States | 07/17/08 | Pics: 1

I've never really written a blog. I've been sort of an anti-blogger. I just get so fed up with seeing people's dramatic self-proclamations splattered all over the internet for so many to see. It appears attention crazed and self-absorbed and too often just way too emotional and personal for just anyone...

4 comments | Send to Friend |

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