Hello World... Welcome to the first of my historical travel journals, and greetings from my home town Sydney. The date of this journal is the very day I boarded a flight to San Francisco for my first overseas trip, following an emotional farewell with family and friends. I had recently graduated from university, and was working two jobs while squirrelling money away in the bank to prepare for an extended trip overseas. Finally the big day arrived and it was time to pack up my troubles in the old kit bag, in preparation for a first ever overseas flight to discover the joys of world travel! A dear reader sent a kind message asking if there was a journal he…

There's no feeling in the world, the lovely reader, to compare with heading overseas for the first time, away from family and friends with no real time frame in mind for returning home. It can feel a bit terrifying but is also an exhilarating experience, full of anticipation for what lies ahead laced with a degree of apprehension due to fear of the unknown. The period of preparation leading to a long trip overseas galvanizes a prospective traveller like little else can, and it was with all these conflicting emotions swirling around in my head that I boarded a flight over the Pacific ocean destined for the land of opportunity, the United States of America. To paraphrase the famous song…

The history of California makes for a fascinating story. Who would have thought the world's eighth largest economy was formerly part of Mexico? The US took control of several border states formerly in Mexico at the conclusion of a triumphant war, yet the enormous influence of their Latino neighbours to the south is still prevalent in California today. Continuing from the previous journal my American friend and his buddy offered to drive me down to Baja California for a weekend away from San Diego. Mate, the furthest I'd travelled before going overseas was the to the border with Queensland, and here I was preparing to visit Mexico as my second overseas country. How exciting is that?! We piled into the…

Shinjuku station is in the heart of downtown Tokyo, and the busiest train station in the world. Up until my arrival there I thought I was doing OK, having farewelled my friends in San Francisco and boarded a flight to Japan before arriving at Tokyo's Narita airport. From there I caught the airport train to Shinjuku and was nervous alright, but arriving at the station really freaked me out. There are several floors, train lines in every direction and more people rushing around than I'd ever seen in my life. For a time I just stood at the station paralysed with inaction and feeling completely overwhelmed. But things tend to work out and with some assistance I eventually found the…