"Sowadi! - Salut! - Hej! - Hola poh! - Howdy!" hrothgarorange's Profile

I'm a 23 year old American guy, a student of linguistics, currently living in Berlin.
As far as traveling goes, tourist hotspots and the "sights" are so passé. I'm into the following when I travel:

1. trying to find "off-the-beaten-track" sorts of places
2. ecotourism, hiking, biking, kayaking
3. meeting locals and having a good time without necessarily seeing the sights
4. photography
5. local food products (I'm a bit of a foodie..)
6. HITCH-HIKING ... simply the best way to go!!!
(That said, if this ain't your style, well, you probably won't find my travel pages very helpful/interesting/etc.)

clouds over Sandavagur, Faroe Islands

These are the places that have left a lasting impression on me (see travel-log for more info):
Paraguay - the people, the culture..
Faroe Islands - the nature
Lyon, France - the food
Seattle, USA - quality of life, the people
Berlin, DE - the diversity of people, time
Iceland - the emotional landscape and weather
Slovenia - the nature, the small idyllic towns, the friendly people

bird's eye view - Iceland

These places just plain blow. (Of course, these are just my opinions...) Never go here, unless my trash is your treasure..

Hanstholm, Denmark - I hope if you're here, it's just to take the ferry to the Faroes. The town is ugly and depressing, the locals give you weird looks (especially if you have a back-pack)...

Anywhere in the Midwest, USA - Spent a good many years of my life here. A nasty place full of passive-aggressive, closed-minded people sprinkled across the most dull stretch of landscape-nothingness in the US of A. Steer clear!

The department of Nord-pas-de-Calais, France - A depressing spread of beach and non-descript, rainy, charmless towns. Unless I missed something?

Santiago, Chile - I lived here for nearly 6 months. In winter, it's the most polluted city in South America. For a population of 5 million, there is a lack of activity... Get out and discover the real Chile, or at least haul ass over to Valparaiso on the coast =)

Buenos Aires, Argentina

In October, I'm traveling to Marseille, Avignon, and Corsica..

Dunno when, but I'm planning an epic back-packing + hitch-hiking trip from: New Zealand - Australia - Malaysia - Indonesia - SE Asia - Mongolia - Russia - Finland - wherever else I want to go in Europe... Anyone wanna come with for a leg? =)
Also, any hitch-hiking advice/couch-surfing offers/etc. are more than welcome for these places ;)

Punta Ballena, Uruguay

These are my dreams, with no plans behind them yet.
-Culinary tour of the Middle East
-The "-stans"
-Russia, esp. Kamchatka and then a long ride on the Trans-siberian railroad
-Cuba (although there's a ban if you come from a certain place with a moronic government...)
-Madagascar
-hitchhike or roadtrip across Canada
-Morocco
-Torres del Paine National Park