Warming motors, ready for takeoff, but first FAQ

Once again, stuff is almost packed and adventure knocks impatiently on the hard wooded comfort door. She’s the mistress of my own unconscious and fuel for scary new possibilities. Adventure and thirst for the unknown are tattooed deep at the core of my soul.

To some, this lifestyle is playing Russian Roulette, to other it feels like Sindbad’s but most of us are struggling with current worries, fighting for a breath of authenticity while numbing the senses with new unknown marketed needs. This is my way of resurfacing reality and getting in touch with our mother earth, spirits, angels, gods, aliens or whatever name it feels comfortable within your view of reality.

1.     Since, some of you have asked, the authentic reason for all these exploring takeoffs is simply … that I’m bored out of my mind with my becoming self. I want to live, feel and live the life that I dared to imagine as a kid.

2.     Since, others have asked, here’s the main map for the next months:

Leaving for Trinidad and Tobago on the 2nd of February where I’ll surf a couch. Taking a ferry 2 days later to Guiria (Venezuela) and a bus to Carupano.

That’s where fog sets in and through the clouds I can see the tallest falls of the world where Angels fall 1km into the wild Venezuelan jungle. 

There might be enough temptation to grow my own wings and bungee into the wildness. Next stop should be Boa Vista, followed by Guyana, Suriname (if the paperwork allows it), French Guyana, Paraguay, Joaricoacoara, Recife and maybe crossing the Amazon on boats all the way to Iquitos (Peru) for another session of Ayahuaska soul gazing.

3.     Another previous asked question concerns more realistic goals and since speaking more languages seems to be a "owned at birth" gift, here's the answer in "civilized" wording:

The main goals of this trip are to shred the numbing comfort zone, change, grow and explore this life. Planning on learning a new language (Portuguese), finding new ways, possibly developing a business, integrate a community (and giving back by teaching, helping around).

Everything else is about partying, surfing and chilling in cool spots.

4.     One last recurrent question concerns fear of abandoning the "tribe" or safety of the known. How do you finance your travels?

To which, there's no answer that will put enough weight in the balance to take action now. As most life coaches and other life philosophers might repeat, "if you're trying something, you're not doing it" because "show me someone who tries X and I'll show you someone who doesn't X"

I’ve seen people travelling for over 40 years. I’ve seen underage students travel for months. I’ve seen older men, older women and couples enjoying the joys of the unknown, building new possibilities together. I’ve seen crippled, mentally challenged and even one blind man exploring the world. There are full communities of people doing seasonal work, building bonds and living. Everything is possible, but there will always be good blocking reasons and in the end it doesn’t really matter (does it?). We will justify our choices until we die and thank you for giving me the opportunity to do the same here.

Just to satisfy curiosities, the answer to the question is that I try to keep my budget under 2000CAD per month, including planes, boats, rent, food and of course parties.

The greatest part of these trips is that I can actually discover things that I haven’t even imagined possible. You’re welcome to join me and I’m always looking for constructive (when possible) feedback and help in any ways.

Wish me luck and in exchange I wish you happiness and fulfilment with your own life

Freedom boundaries...GET OUT OF THE BOX

The New Year is still fresh in the present's basket of goodies.

Seven months have passed since the last crazy takeoff around my roots(Europe) and the smell of adventure is slowly making its way in the present again. The glassy frozen outdoors hide an inner beauty that will be flourishing when I get back. This month will race, where the consciousness of now will be bullied by all the imagined future possibilities. I'll try to keep words flowing on this blog as long as it doesn't restrain my hippie-surfer-adventurer life.

What I absolutely love about these travels is that every time I leave, it's a brand new beginning with brand new possibilities and new cool present fun people, because most of us(or at least me) are trapped in a hurricane of worries and "must do" that don't necessary take us in the direction we've dreamed of. It's refreshing to leave with a blank slate.

The subject of today is about reality and freedom.

Imagine how restrained your view would be if you'd sit in a closed box with only 2 tiny holes to explore the world around you. It's what really happens; our whole conception of the world is what we have through our 5 senses and our brain is a perfect "filling in" machine that justifies our choices.

One of the main problems with connecting boxes is that we use a limited language to explain the mental image we have in our virtual world. That virtual image will get distorted twice in the process of communication. Think of this phenomenon next time you're listening to a profound speech or reading a great book, because the image forming inside the walls of your box is probably not be the same as the one the author had in his box.

To recap, we exist in a box. We interact with the outside through our 5 senses and like a camera, we form our own internal virtual world based on our perception of reality. We communicate those inner images through a finite language leaving empty parts that are filled in by the brain.

It's also important to be aware that there are things we know, things we know we don't know, but most important of all that there's a full spectrum of things we don't know that we don't know. Let's get back to the second type: you know that you don't know yet, so it's plausible to learn it, but the third type concerns stuff that is in your blind spot. The cool thing is realizing that outside that box, there's an infinite world of possibilities that we haven't even considered since it's outside the box.

Personally, but I tend to run away from being alone, it's as if I'm in contact with an inner void when I'm alone without anything to do. I can clearly feel anxiety bubbling up to the surface and I try to distract myself from it at all costs. Facing myself has been a postponed activity for the longest time and my next step is to meet this void face to face…maybe even have a chat to see how we can take advantage of each other…of myself.

How do you relate to this? Do you also spend huge amounts of time discussing principles, opinions and values that we'd like to respect? Have you ever had a disagreement with someone just because you felt the other person's tone of voice was challenging?

Isn't it possible to find pros and against arguments for anything in life, enough to write books about and have scientific thesis support our version of the truth? Our world was scientifically square at some point in history. We're in a box and we tend to distort everything we perceive through our 5 senses in order to fit our inner reality. On top, we fill the blanks and once the inner decision is made, we stick to it: religion, politics, etc…

If you stop and think, you're in a matrix that will keep rolling with or without your implication and agreement. Freedom is to understand where the holes in your box are and what comes in. There's no wrong way to live, inside or outside the box. There's no problem with arguing, worrying or justifying as long as you do it conscious of the implications.

Realizing that we hold on to the past, because it's comforting. Understanding that we keep unfulfilling jobs just because we're afraid to take risks and go after what we want, mostly because we're afraid of what's outside the box. Opening our eyes to repeating patterns of evading the current moment through unjustified feelings (worry, sadness, angry, pity) or self-numbing (drugs, parties, workaholic, videogames, etc.).

In the end, there's only the now and the ACTIONS, YOU take now. Everything is else is fears and justifications that we make up to cloud the holes in our box.

Have you ever tried to do something? Did you succeed? Show me someone who's trying something and I'll show you someone who's not doing that something. Take action, stop having recurring conversations about how to do it and just do it, NOW.

In the end, life goes on, with or without you, so find yourself, find your wants, assume it and take the necessary steps towards your goals. If it fails, nobody will stand for you, because it's your own responsibility to direct YOUR box.

Set you free: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bek1y2uiQGA

All comments are welcome of course,

Alex, Life Explorer

Value and trading choices

Just finished yet another crazy life adventure exploring and discovering the roots of my gene pool (missing Mongolia). I can't stop but wonder how I got here, especially with all the people asking the same recurring question… How are you able to achieve it?

To be honest, luck came in handy, but it was mostly giving this dream value in my head over other dreams (house, family, new car, furniture, expensive clothing, and fancy restaurants). On top of that, I really have to thank all those past travel buddies that made this trip fabulous and with whom I reunited for modest period of times.

Why do I travel, is it to run away from something or just to spice up things? Maybe I’m running away from relations and stability, because what I see doesn’t satisfy me. Maybe stability doesn’t have enough value in my definition of the world or simply put, the value of exploring the world is bigger than the one of stability. 
About relations, I’ve always had my share of supportive ladies to enlighten my life and unfortunately the ones I cared for the most had the unpleasant tendency of hurting my feelings. This happened regularly and eventually I started shielding myself from the hurtful love, enjoying the passion and lust found at the start of the rainbow. My 2-3 first real loves have cheated on me at some point, so maybe it’s also a way to get back at a gender, but I don’t think, since I really care about the women I’m with at the respective moment. There’s also … everything in its own time…

Now I’m back and had 2 main problems that had to be taken care quickly. 
First, I came back to find my place trashed by the young French couple that rented it for the duration of my travels. This French hurricane left weird stains in strange places, damaged my things, stole some of my personal belongings and left in a hurry. Feels like gypsies have been living there, which is an ironic coincidence since I’m Romanian and they’re French.

The second problem is personal and just got solved, leaving me free as a bird with infinite beautiful possibilities. Just to raise the intrigue level, it’s about old habits being replaced by even older and uglier ones, which is exactly why I had to get rid of them.

Now, I feel refreshed with crazy wild memories from wonderful places and people, free, energized and ready for new challenges at the work place and on a personal level. Everything is possible with hard work and dedication, starting with my melting belly.

Once again, thank the great souls crossing my path and that I thank for giving a helping hand, you know who you are. Even bigger thanks to my cousins and their lovely families that have decorated a special place in my heart. 

If you allow me this small advice, whatever your goal is, take small steps towards it and give it value over the other stuff draining your energy. 

Free love,
Alex

May the gods light the path

Is there anybody who doesn't like to dream and feel like a kid? Anyone doesn't like freedom, the one that allows you to say and do what you want without social constraints, without guilt, without physical limits? Who never dreamed to a feather's playful freedom in a light summer wind?
But...what about the consequences, what about others, what about values, what about our loved ones, what about the gravity breaking the smooth flight???
In a Ying-Yang world, we try to evaluate the best cost-benefit about freedom/happiness and safety/work/responsibility...

I absolutely love to travel, not because I love to see man organized museums and tourist crowded places, but because I love connecting to new souls, experience love in all its forms and kicking the stagnating comfort zone away.

I can already hear some of you opinionating on my ways...whatever tickles your pickle...your opinion of me is irrelevant and if I'd have to live according to other's principles I would be  living in your own miseries, not because, all you have is misery, but because there's always someone to find that my idea is miserable(unfit for their standards). 

I love experiencing new things through the 5 senses and because routine keeps showing its attractive face at my doorsteps. I could hear her sweet melody and her smooth honey words telling me to come and be happy together forever. Fuck it, maybe I love to be miserable in order to feel, maybe its like spicing up the meals to have a more intense tasting experience. Maybe I just love to ... celebrate life ... Do you remember how much you wanted to grow up when you were young? Does today's result is anywhere close to what you have imagined? If you say yes, it will be my pleasure to meet you.

I love watching the horizont from different viewpoints under the same sun in different company. I can never have enough of others sunshine, while staying away from cloudy people.  The only reason is because our clouds are on the inside and in order to light our days, WE have to dissipate them. I can move your clouds from the outside, but in the long run they'll stay until YOU get rid of them.

If I can take a wise man words, there's enough goods for a while, there aren't any binding obligation and the elements are one my side, so there are worst situations in life...

Watch this "http://youtube.com/watch?v=H8s97NiC2Ys" , this corner of the world is just AMAZING.

Sofia was cold and lonely except for the market everything seemed abandoned and empty. On the other side, Istanbul is out of this world and should be seen. WOW is just not enough to describe it, yo should go at least once in a lifetime to visit this all time commerce center. Only little down side is that not that many people speak English especially in Istanbul which is strange for the size and all the mix cohexisting there.

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WATCH OUT when you take the bus from Istanbul to Thessaloniki, because the Metro bus company takes your passport when you get in and scans them probably to make counterfeits and I have the proof of this, since I found a SIM card in their headTV on the seat 17(my seat) with hundreds of passports and visas scans. If anybody has any suggestion as to where to report that, send me an email.
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I haven't seen much of Kosovo, but it seems like a great place to start something and it should develop more in the near future. After Kosovo, there's Montenegro with its extremely attractive prices and beautiful scenery near the Adriatic. It starting to develop but in a more subtle way. The best touristy and more costy place is Croatia, which is very modern with an antique touch in Dubrovnik and Split. Whatever you do, don't go there in the high season, unless you love crowds and huge prices, otherwise the two cities are breathtaking as you can see in the pictures below. Next to Croatia, there's Bosnia with the only city visited Mostar. Its a relic of war, bullet holes ornate ALL walls as it was yesterday. The main attraction is an old bridge where you could eat like a king for 10 euros. Probably that Bosnia doesn't have any kind of taxes on merchandise or it has fallen from a container, but new cellphones are extremely cheap and all kind of tourist merchandise also, which makes it the perfect place to get souvenirs. If you go there, DO NOT stay at Elite Guest House, because they let us down and never answered the door when we had a reservation.

By the way Dubrovnik was magical and I felt like the hero in a legend. I had some time to kill like we all do when travelling and suddenly an old man got my attention. He was carrying a big luggage on a small stone street and something inside me was intrigued. He entered a house surrounded by magic carpets(like in Aladin) and two beautiful birds came flying towards me as to say "Follow us", which I did and the turned continuing in the alley. They stop to wait for me about 3 times and eventually vanished in front of a stone doorway. To my surprise it lead to some rocks outside the castle surrounded by crystal clear waters filled with stars. There was a fisherman taking concentrating on his peaceful meditation, so I just continued on some hidden stairs. It was so quiet that I just sat down and almost slept in a small shade in front of a rock cliff. My eyes focused on the wall when something moved. it was looking at me and it had backup. There were about 20 or 30 of them on the wall. I was surrounded. Eventually a fly lifted from my t-shirt and the eyes followed frenetically. It was their possible breakfast and I was sitting in their restaurant...the Lizzard buffet. It felt like Gulliver and went to sleep quietly letting nature be. 10-15 minutes later I was woken by somebody screaming from the top of the castle "How did you get there?" to which I instinctively replied "Follow the old man!"

I feel grateful because I got to see both sides of Belgrade since first night it was rainy and grey followed by a very sunny and beautiful day in cool company(a Turkish pilot with a lot in common). Belgrade is great and filled with beauties and not the most pleasant waiters.

Visiting a friend in Budapest and warmly recommending one of the coolest hostels there "Hi5" where the magic comes from the caring staff and their fun activities. You'll really feel like in a family, it's close to everything
and the prices are amazing. 

Skipping Ukraine for now and then Krakow for a weekend break. I can smell the rubber burning behind me...can you?

Istanbul: http://picasaweb.google.com/braikoff/20130409_20130412_Istambul_Turkey
Thessaloniki: http://picasaweb.google.com/braikoff/20130413_Thessaloniki_Greece
Macedonia: http://picasaweb.google.com/braikoff/20130413_Skopje_Macedonia
Kosovo: http://picasaweb.google.com/braikoff/20130414_Prishtine_Kosovo
Montenegro: http://picasaweb.google.com/braikoff/20130415_HercegNovi_Montenegro
Croatia Dubrovnik: http://picasaweb.google.com/braikoff/20130415_20130417_Dubrovnik_Croatia
Bosnia: http://picasaweb.google.com/braikoff/20130417_20130418_Mostar_BosniaHerzegovina
Croatia Split: http://picasaweb.google.com/braikoff/20130418_20130421_Split_Croatia
Belgrade: http://picasaweb.google.com/braikoff/20130422_20130423_Belgrade_Serbia

P.S. Now, to finish my idea with the inner clouds and sunshine. Maybe I haven't grow enough spiritually to accept your clouds...or maybe its not my job to accept them. Either way, I mean no one any harm and my castle's doors are open to anybody as long as they come with good intentions.

Dear relatives

I'll start this post by taking the time to thank our brave and smart ancestors. I relived so much history in the last couple of days and mostly thanks to my very caring cousins that I love very much with their respective new loved ones. We all had bumpy roads and we're all intelligent achievers in such great ways. I feel blessed to have common blood.
My blood is a cocktail of strong, smart and nomad genes: Romania, Germany, Greece, Mongolia, Hungary. The lesson that I've learned the most is that we're all family(yes, you and me). There's always a stupid relative in the family, so don't let it be you. I also learned that some(or most) of our past history has been re-written to fit some purpose from that time. Like any book, it's the one that has the best story and not the faithful that remains. In a vote it doesn't really matters who votes, its mostly about who counts them.

...Before
I'm about to go drink expensive Moldavian wine in my grandfather's company on his tomb. I like to think that he's my angel, since I always loved his "earth worker" ways. I'll light a candle and pour him some wine so we can have a deep(imaginary) talk about things.
...Now
It was a great talk...with myself and it was great to put things into perspective...I refreshed the concept of giving as much love as you can when you can...NOW... Here's a cute love story: Through friends, I've met a boy and a girl and the first thing I noticed is how much they desired each other. Unfortunately they both hold back being unsure of the other's reaction. Its definitely hard to put the ego on line of fire. What I did find funny its how each one made an excuse of not going forward and its cool to see the tension escalate. Eventually the inevitable happened and ...
My point is to take action towards what you really want in life...when you can...NOW...

I'm not proud to say that the Romanian family I see is filled with "stupid relatives". Everybody tries to get the most today ignoring the effect on the rest of the family. The Euroship is sinking. Its also very visible in queues, when everybody tries to stupidly cut in front or unhappy workers doing a poor job sharing their negativity especially in the customer service department. It took me 15 min to get a train ticket instead of 1 minutes because I went out of my way to help some American teenagers get a ticket to Belgrade with a angry lady behind the counter. Then some local got in front of me taking 15 minutes without even an excuse me and when confronted he just replied: well, it's in the process already(perfect example of stupid relative).
Back to positive, I ate delicious traditional Romanian food in amazing company for great prices. I've partied in really cool places. I've tried some really cool experiments that I was looking forward to. I've met new friends, old memories and new family members.
Thanks to my cousin, I even went to Chisinau, on which I've gave up before and it was beautiful. Renovated city, at least downtown, with even better prices than Romania and beautiful women, like Romania that dress very sexy for every occasion(even sitting on a bench in a park). I know why some of the seduction community choose Romania to come and have a good time. Also girls seem to be more open and insistent with their gaze here.
I really loved hanging out with my sweet nieces, all three of them.

There's 2 things that I will keep from this Eurotrip:
Family(loved ones)
Giving love now

Here's some pictures

• http://picasaweb.google.com/braikoff/20130325_20130329_Budapest_Hungary
• http://picasaweb.google.com/braikoff/20130329_20130402_Bucharest_Romania
• http://picasaweb.google.com/braikoff/20130402_20130404_Chisinau_Moldova
• http://picasaweb.google.com/braikoff/20130404_Botosani_Iasi_Romania

Lost oceans, Priceless advice, Driver seats and Real desires

Leaving Munich with river surfing in my eyes and green beer still in my blood. Prague was just beautiful with renovated architecture surpasses only by the grandeur of Vienna. These cities feel like the past has lost itself in the present. I sat down next to a river in Vienna and unleashed my mind free to wonder around in the flavours of time. Local dishes and hot wine made their way to my taste captors which completed the fulfilment of the senses. It was beautiful and if you know anything about architecture or history, I strongly suggest you make your way in these amazing places. But, for a sensible soul like me, the human contact is really what I look for and touring alone is not the best way to achieve it. I decided to stay 2 days in modest Bratislava in order to do laundry and connect with people. In that moment, I would have never guesses that I was going to lose myself at sea (twice) and come back filled with a new energy and vision. It does have tasty food and good prices but in my case destiny answered my calls and brought me my element in a new form.
I love to discuss about life and every time I just realize that my version of things is perfect and my close mind persists in being right. I do understand why I love being close-minded, its because anybody can give advice but if I find that their life is shitty on my standards, then their advice becomes rotten and looses its purpose. When somebody's on a pedestal, his words are filled with wise double meanings that make sense in your world. So my advice to you is to ignore any advice from me.
Talking about influences, I'm seriously considering retiring from the "real" world. No more FB, no more G+, no more Twits, no more funny-stupid videos, no more time-wasting, energy-consuming, brain-washing, creation-killer....but not quite yet....it feels reassuring to look at your FB page and see that I'm not alone....just adding this task on my life's to do list.
In life there's a balance between the stress from being in the driver seat and the chilling from holding a trust hand. For example every time I arrive in a new city, I'm driving, stressed by the unknown and my precious cargo that I have to deposit into the secure Hostel. I drive to find street names in foreign languages and drive to avoid getting robbed in a world filled with horrible outcomes. Eventually the trusty hostel hand comes in, gives me a map, explains the customs and takes care of my valuables so I can chill and enjoy the tourist tips and find new chilling partners. I absolutely love both sides.

I've been suggested that I should write what I want from life. What a great question, so lets see how deep the rabbit hole goes...
First thing that comes in mind is money, it represents open doors with exciting possibilities.
Second thing comes power, over who, to do what? Then there's freedom. From what, what can I do with it more than I do now?
All this assuming that health is already in place because its the most important thing, especially when its missing. Now, if I really think about my first two choices, its just stuff that will guarantee the positive results of any decision that I make, so what is it really what I want from life?
I love to care and love. I love to feel cared for and being loved. I love pleasure and affection. It doesn't really matter the road that I take, but it does matter the company in which I am. Its not even important what discussions we have, but it is extremely important what is communicated. All I need in this life is a modest comfy place in a hot weather country, cool friends with whom I connect and a couple of cool girlfriends.

It feels great to have a clean windshield on a car.

Love from Budapest,
Alex

The forth dimension

On a train to a strange destination. It feels like reading 5 books at once and experiencing deeply each one of them. Unattached strings of deep connection, followed by beautiful places and topped with amazing memories lived in the current moment.
A week ago, I erased myself mysteriously in order to take 3 days and create according to a future objective and I loved the experience. Maybe that was the seed of a short book.
There was those 2 brilliant days working metal with bare hands at Xavier's dad shop. I've realized that we're already lucky anywhere we are, but same as love its only delimited in time and it gets filtered with time. I don't know about others, but I need NEW experiences in order to "FEEL" them.
South of France has amazing weather, its close to the water, the metal artistry shop is great to stay in shape and feel creative, but eventually worries and boredom sneak in and ...
I've accepted the idea of never being happy doing one thing, so as long as I caress another life's side, I'll feel like I'm using my perfect machine for a good purpose.
A great person gave me a definition of love after seeing me trying to struggle with the concept. Here's how it goes:
Two bodies that fit together, in pleasure or affection while their souls vibrate on the same frequency.
This person also said that love isn't something you trap, its simply something you experience when it makes itself present.
I realised that I didn't write since Barcelona and many things happened since. There is Wapa and her very warm family that were angels placed on my path. There was young student Glasgow and old dynamic Edinburgh where I got to hear some really spooky old stories about the sad past of very warm and smily Scottish people. Their wisky is just fantastic and different.
There was small Dublin with its warm SkyBackpackers hostel where you feel like in a family except for a crazy American that almost took my head off for ...no good reason, which goes to prove that I can't make all the ladies happy (drugs users and daddy issues stay away).
There was Galway where I spent the smoothest birthday eating a kinder surprise and enjoying the memories from my first one in Spain. There were tall cliffs, ruined castles, a young Julia Roberts, an Irish princess and a video made of me giving an interview about a hostal on the web. There was Temple bar, filled with drunk skirts, there was a salsa night where a 60 years old lady with red hair stole the show(same like Curuxina). This trip is filled with surreal memories.
There was the ferry romance, followed by "scared" sheep and a huge London waiting to swallow and bury dreams. Met two VERY cool travel friends that made me laugh in 2 days more than I laughed in 4 years(since I last saw them). I already miss you guys. Had the chance to see a coworker that moved in rainy London and shared great vibes over babyfoot(fooseball).
If feels great to play with 4th dimension and years replace seconds. Geneva and Munich are great clean high standard cities with high prices. For St-Patrick's I've seen a cool friend from paradise and he showed me around. Eventually St-Patrick showed me the way home when my body and mind almost failed me. No more excess for a while.

Back to time traveling(fourth dimension) after a day of break.