I've got a fantastic website to share with you today! The Longest Way Home - a guy traveling the world in search of home - is a gem. Dave, the creator and author of The Longest Way Home, has traveled the world for more than five years, in search of home. What's he found, you may ask? I would direct you to delve into his site, for his travel observations are astute and also funny. He's an incredible photographer. And, he shares a sense of humanity, wherever he goes. I am always so impressed with his blog - recently, spanning unique canned food to the disappointment of the Chocolate Hills in the Philippines. Dave writes compellingly of a search for home, of the troubles of travels, but also the joys. I love it! Dave also has a great Travel Blog Directory (for more inspiration!)

Singing Bowls, Kathmandu

We were lucky enough to sit down and chat with Dave about his site, a search for home, linguistic and cultural knowledge, and more. Here's what he had to say...

WE: Please tell us more about your site, The Longest Way Home...

Dave: When I started out on this journey I had a paper journal. I had the notion that such a venture might make a good book one day. I tried emailing myself updates, but it never really worked out. I then began writing on a blog hosted by travellerspoint.com which worked out pretty well. However after being on the road for sometime I was also missing things like seeing my photographs and going over the more technical aspects of the journey. I needed a place I could put everything together in one easy place. And so The Longest Way Home was born. A writing desk for my journals, a place to hang my photographs, and a resource center for keeping track of things that help me when I travel. Since then it's taken off a bit as others have found both my travel resources/help sections, travel photography and my journey itself to find home interesting and helpful in their own travels!

River Sai, Pokhara

Kagbeni, Nepal

WE: What was the genesis of your search for home?

Dave: A bad upbringing. Simple as that. I always wanted to escape that life as a child. It stuck with me as a guiding light as I grew up. It became apart of me, the hope of knowing, and desire for something better. I knew it had to be out there, so I spent most of my life aiming to go out there and find it. And that's just what I am doing now!

Tadopani, Nepal

Downtown Jeepney, Philippines

WE: What have you found, in your 5 years of traveling?

Dave: That's a great question that would really take a book of words to fully answer. Firstly, I found myself before traveling, which is something a lot of people go traveling for. I am at peace with who I am, it's why I know I am doing the right thing here. The journey would not have been the same otherwise.

That said, it doesn't mean I had the answer to finding home from the start. Over my 5 years of travel I've gone through different stages of learning about what I think is right, what I thought was right and what is right for me to call home. Not only from the heart, but also from the practical side.It's very easy to get up and say I'm going to live in India. But the reality is something else. Dealing with foreign bureaucracy, climate differences, cultural integration, linguistic knowledge coupled with financial planning and not forgetting one's own desires makes for a lot of change in one's life. A dream is a great thing, but being on the road and experiencing all this over 5 years of not only searching, but also trying, has taught me a lot in the practical and personal side combined.  I know what to expect from the bureaucrats now, I am prepared and can deal with different climates, I can reason with the complexities of social integration, I manage my finances and I can clearly hear my heart and soul when they tell me I am close to a place called home. This is when everything must come together and decisions made. 5 years ago this wasn't possible, but I am a learner of both mistakes and correct decisions. I have the knowledge to do this now.

Rice Terraces in Banaue, Philippines

Fish Market in Mindanao, Philippines

WE: How can readers best prepare for a trip abroad?

Dave: It depends on their purpose of travel. If it's a two week vacation, one year round the world trip, or a permanent move to another country? However if I was to say one thing to prepare - it would be to travel slow. There's so much people miss, by whizzing through a place. I would prefer to spend two weeks in Kathmandu, than two weeks in all Nepal. You will see, hear, taste, and learn more by spending more time going slowly than by trying to see everywhere and do everything in one go. Go slow, talk to people, go back to the same place to eat if it's good. Make friends with locals you walk by everyday, the rewards and stories far out weigh the rush through trip so many people do.

 
video: Losar, Tibetan New Year

WE: What are the longest and shortest times you've spent in one place, on
your long journey?

Dave: The longest time I spent was just over two years in West Africa. The shortest probably never happened, I was meant to go to the Ukraine but the bus never showed. After that I think Slovakia is the shortest place as I was on an over night train from Poland to Hungary. My apologies to Slovakia for not staying there, but the blame was on the bus that never showed up, the train was a last minute thing! It's also more of a transit place, so perhaps it does not count. France I did travel through, but we did not click. So I moved on quite quickly. That said, since then, I've met some incredibly great French people. Perhaps all the good ones live outside of France?! (joke)

Sea Salt Maker in Mindanao

Kaamulan Festival, Philippines

WE: What have been the constants you've found, in all of your wanderings?

Dave:  97% of all people are good. They will help you if you ask. Though in the big cities, not just in the developed countries, it's less than this. Large tour groups are painful. There are some very, very rich people out there short term traveling with little regard for anything. And, that the poorest of the poor are for sure the nicest most friendly people I've ever met. I am thinking of Afghan refugees in Pakistan here as an example. They had nothing, yet welcomed me in with open arms. Likewise with squatters in the Philippines. They don't even have clean water to bathe, yet will go without food to give me a new bottle of water to drink as a guest. So the one constant is the socio-economic divide is incredibly evident all over the world.

nightly celebrations on the Ganges

Morning activities on the Ganges

WE: Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

Dave: I was a daydreamer as a child. I dreamed of new countries, new people, new food, new everything. Teachers always gave out to me for saying this instead of reciting math or saying I wanted to be a Doctor or so on. Since traveling I've met the most fantastic of people with the most inspirational stories of survival and life. People who had nothing, but made something of themselves from this. War torn people who've clawed their way out of violence to become leaders in their chosen fields. People who've had their homes taken from them by corrupt governments and moved to new places to begin all over again and succeed. I've met people who no one had hope for succeed in ways no one thought possible. All these people have one thing in common - dreams that they never gave up on.

It doesn't matter what life throws at you, if you have a dream, go for it! The reward will be richest prize of your life. Feeling life itself, burn deep within you. There simply is no greater feeling than fighting for your dreams to come true.

Peanut seller, India

Trekking in Nepal

WE: Thanks so very much, Dave. I love your site and am so very happy to share it with our readers!

For more information, please see:

www.thelongestwayhome.com

All photos and video courtesy and copyright The Longest Way Home.