I´m just setting up a new travelblog, as I need some features i.ph just doesn´t has. It´s way from finished, but you´ll get the most recent updates there - gastonaroundtheworld.wordpress.com
Have a good time and greetings from Buenos Aires
After a long time caught in the misery of a white-bread existence I´m once again free, once again roaming and exploring the world. I´m writing this message sitting at different airports around the world, starting in Vienna, then Frankfurt and Washington D.C., where I´ll spend a few hours before heading south to Buenos Aires, my final destination. Airlines calculate their prices in a rather strange way. But as I´m not in a hurry… Although 5 months of vacation is a rather short time.
After a few days in Buenos Aires, enjoying the (night)life in a big city, I´ll go west to Mendoza, to start the mountaineering part of my trip. Acclimatisation and altitude training will take place in Cordon del Plata (as the last time, although this time I´ll skip the „Death-way of the gringos locos to the heights of Mordor“) where some nice summits are waiting for me.
Fully acclimatised, I´ll then head to Aconcagua Base camp and – In shah Allah – between 5 and 15 days later, I´ll stand on top of the Americas. After this epic battle between and the mountain I´ll spend some days of R&R in Mendoza, supporting needy winemakers, celebrating.
Next stop – Cordoba. Legendary city where the most important football match of all times took place in 1978. A holy place, a sacred stadium, an immortal legend. Beside its central role in modern austrian history it´s a nice place to visit, too. Having paid tribute to the heroes of 1978 ( Friedrich Koncilia, Robert Sara, Bruno Pezzey, Erich Obermayer, Heinrich Strasser, Josef Hickersberger, Eduard Krieger, Herbert Prohaska, Wilhelm Kreuz, Hans Krankl, Walter Schachner ) I´ll go back to Buenos Aires, leaving part of my equipment there and maybe drink one small glass of beer.
Then I´ll leave Argentina for some days, visiting Uruguay on my way to Iguazu. How I´ll proceed from there, I´ll see, nothing is fixed so far. The only thing which is sure is that I want to visit Salta in northern Argentina, Bolivia and Peru. The details will be decided on the spot.
You can follow the last 7 most recent days of my track on http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0TWTPGlDRsrFIGiPsH2qzhAFk0qhgX5uE – I know, an URL very easy to remember….
After two great days in Moscow it´s final now - I have to return home. I´m more or less on my way to the Domodedovo Airport to take my flight to Munich. After more than 5 months of travelling I´m a little bit exhausted, I had so many impressions during these months that I can do with a little rest now. Not that I wouldn´t like to travel for some more months. Two weeks in a quiet corner of the world would be enough for me to regain energy for some more months of exploring, roaming the world. Well, it´s not meant to be. Come monday….
But I´m looking forward to return home, to see friends and familiy again - although I´m a little bit frightened of all the social responsabilities I´ll have to face, the bottles of good wine I´ll be forced to drink, …
After 82h in the train I just arrived in Moscow, the last station of this trip. Lucky me, I can can stay right in the center with a friend - Sophie, who I met in Agra and Jaipur. And, even better, she´s working as Brand Ambassador for Blasons de Bourgogne - french wine….
But I only have two days in Moscow, because the 14th, I have a flight to Munich - if the vulcanoes in Iceland allow it. Sadly, this trip is now really coming to an end and much faster than initially planned, I´ll start working the 17th. But sometimes, you have no choice but to bite the bullet.
All men dream - but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds woke in the day to find that it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.
T.E. Lawrence - The Seven Pillars of Wisdom