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Reports

During my travels, I received free accommodation for a night in exchange for writing a daily travel diary. This diary documented how I reached my next destination, the hosts who welcomed me, the food I was offered, and other experiences along the way. Below, you will find the archives of these extensive reports. Please note that English is not my native language, and most entries were written quickly, often around midnight. Enjoy!
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Tuesday, 2 April 2002
Drewvale --> Brisbane City, Australia

I travelled from Kylie and Wayne’s place in Drewvale to Brisbane city (Wayne drove me there) where I met up with Renée Tentori. Renée has been working as a tour desk operator or various backpackers and offered me a place to stay in the Brisbane Palace Backpackers.

Renée is currently unemployed, but doesn’t worry about that at all. She has travelled herself quite a bit and knows how to keep the wallet closed when necessary. Like last year, when she spent one hole year in the United Kingdom and worked only three months. The rest of the year she visited a lot (a lot!) of friends that she had met on earlier travels or in Australia.

With a job in the travel industry she just met so many people and Renée just loves to meet people (“I love to meet people,” she kept telling me) and even keeps in contact with most of them. She showed me her address book and agenda: boy, they are full!

She toured me around the Brisbane City centre (I love the mall!) and shared me a wrapper for lunch and had closing-time-fare dinner (Chinese) at one of the million food courts that Brisbane seems to have.

I mean, almost every street here has a food court. Where in The Netherlands we would have one burger giant on a corner, here they just put eight of ten fast food restaurants in a circle and place the seats and tables in the middle. Voilá: food court.

We even got to see A Beautiful Mind in the cinema, as it was Tuesday and Tuesday in Brisbane means: discount-day! It was actually a very good movie, but the actress isn’t worth an Oscar Award as she recently got one – if you ask me.

The night ended with drinking a lot of various beers as Renée took me along into the Downunder Bar, the rowdy basement bar of the backpackers hostel. And that was quite enjoying!

I met up with the Canadian and English roommate of Renée (she also stayed in the hostel for a few days and gave her 1-bed-room to me and got a dorm bed for herself) and got nicely tipsy from all the beers that were offered me.

With or without alcohol, I’ll still be a bad pool player – I discovered.

Good night Brisbane!

Ramon.

PS: This report might be shorter than average, but as it is written and published a few days later, all kinds of things have come in between and the day of the writing itself might have been too hectic to sit down and start typing.

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