Dear friends,

I have arrived at home, in Greece, after 2 years and 2.5 months on the road. I know, I left my family and my friends back to Greece for a trip of nine months only. Well, the plans changed many times and I turned out to visit fourteen countries instead of the four countries I was planning. After eight months in India, I traveled to Central Asia and to Caucasian countries. The countries I traveled during this trip are:
Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

I enjoyed this trip more than anything else in my life! Traveling in Central Asia and the Caucasian countries was difficult because of the extreme corruption of everyone who has any kind of power (e.g. policemen) and because of the extreme criminality in Kyrgyzstan. I had some difficult moments but I was never in danger. However, I was rewarded for my efforts to travel there. The landscape was gorgeous and I met very good people too. I stayed much longer than I was planning to stay in Armenia. I met Andrea in a village called Lejan, near the city of Stepanavan. She is an American volunteer there. I turned out to stay almost eight months with Andrea. I became a volunteer too. I was teaching computers to the children of the village and I was helping on whatever I could do.

After Armenia, I traveled for third time in Georgia and for second time in Turkey. Miraculously, the engine of my motorcycle broke down in Turkey, just 60 kms. before the border with Greece! I was traveling for more than 2 years and 2.5 months, 73.000 kms. It broke down just one step before my country! Can you realize what a good luck is this? It broke down just when I didn’t need it anymore! I was never so little sad about a serious mechanical problem on a vehicle of me. I just loaded it on a truck till the border, I was pushing the motorcycle for one or two kms. to cross the border and my father came on the other side of the border to load the motorcycle in his van and bring it here in Thessaloniki, the city were they live. I am using my big motorcycle now, which was waiting here for me. I don’t think it worths to repair the small one that traveled the half of Asia.

And now what? That’s one of the big difficulties, maybe the biggest I had on the last 2 years and 2.5 months. Today one week has passed since I entered in Greece. The life here is so different… I thought I was prepared psychologically to adapt to the new situation that was waiting for me here in Greece. I figured out that I was not prepared enough. At this point I know very well how to prepare a trip but I forgot how to prepare my-self for a settled life. After 2 years and 2.5 months on the road, traveling became my way of life and I know that it is what I want to do in this part of my life, if not in my whole life.

On the other hand, I met my beloved ones and we are all very happy about that. I missed them so much… That’s the most important reason I came back to Greece and I didn’t go to another country. The first thing on my future plans is the army service, unfortunately. It’s still compulsory for all male Greek citizens. I will serve for something like nine months and then I’ll work to save money as faster as possible. I hope to hit the road in about two or three years from now. Next destination will probable be Africa and Middle East.

This last post is dedicated to all of you, my friends, to all of you who I met during this trip in fourteen different countries (fifteen including Greece), to all of you who made my trip much more enjoyable. You showed me an amazing hospitality and friendship and you proved to me that there are plenty of wonderful people living in this world. Thank you from the depths of my heart.

The photo you see below is from the moment I met again my beloved ones in Greece. She is my mother and he is my young brother. We all send you greetings, thanks and the best wishes for you!

I hope to meet you again my friends,
Ilias Vrochidis

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 5th, 2009 at 17:44 and is filed under Τελευταία νέα. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.