I've been on five different forms of transport in the last 17 hours, my bum is numb, and the snickers i bought myself as a treat has melted all over my backpack and there is a drunk guy next to me who keeps poking me while i'm trying to get some sleep on this rickety old train.

Despite the situation, everything is alright. At the moment, i'm lucky enough to be travelling with some great people I met along the way and whatever unfortunate event occurs, guaranteed we'll find humour in the situation and all of a sudden our harships don't seem half as bad. Who knew that having a traveller's diarreoh or falling of a motorbike could be some damn funny!

I ended up on my journey as a solo traveller, arriving in my first destination Sapa North Vietnam. I stepped out of the train naive and nervous about the prospect of travelling alone. I'd wanted to travel for a while. Shunning family fears of a 23 year old boy on the road alone. It was something I just knew I had to do, and for so far i'm addicted.

Half in an attempt to prove that I was grown up enough not to lose my own passport, get trown in a foreign prison or become a hippie and set up my home with the hill tribes somewhere in the North. (Although I came close to one of two of these!) This was MY adventure, MY journey. Personal development, finding myself or whatever you want to call it, that's how it began. Me, myself and I. And although a little lonely at times, that was just fine.

However, as most of you know, it's impossible to stay alone in Asia for very long - even if you wanted to. People are so friendly that you make travel companies instantly. I always found it amazing how you would meet someone in a bus that day and end up sharing a room together that night. In a short space of time you get to know people so well you feel like you've know them forever. It was a huge difference for me coming from the 'great' Holland where if you started a friendly chat with a random person on the train you'd be regarded as a big weirdo.

Amsterdam - Bangkok (10.000 km)

Vietnam (2.675 km) Hanoi - Sapa - Halong Bay - Hue - Hoi An - Nha Trang - Dalat - Mui Ne - Ho Chi Minh - Mekong Delta.

Cambodja (3.215 km) Phnom Penh - Sihanoukville - Kampot - Kep - Siem Reap - Poipet - Battambang - Kratie.

Laos (1.450 km) 4000 Islands - Pakse - Bolaven Plateau - Vientienne - Vang Vieng - Luang Prabang.

Thailand (4.225 km) Chang Mai - Pai - Phuket - Koh Phi Phi - Krabi - Railey - Ao Nang - Koh Tao - Koh Pangan - Surritani - Bangkok

Bangkok - Dusseldorf (12.000 km)

Total Distance 33.565 km

Looking back on my time backpacking I feel that each step along the way I met people that taught me something new. Learning about the different upbringings of friends I met travelling meant that I wasn't just learning about the country I was backpacking in, but many different cultures across the world. Fran, the 32 year old argetinian shopaholic businessman, Lahm and Lea my orphan roomkids in Cambodia or Bex and Kate the cool English girls.

Meeting people brought me new ideas, new ways of looking at the world and new inspiration about the thousand different ways there are to live your life on this planet. I met people that I could never meet in the local pub back home and learnt things I never learned sitting behind a desk.

Many people leave home for a reason and although ' finding yourself' may be a bit cliche, we all travel to learn more about ourselves. While travelling alone can be interesting in terms of becoming more independent and getting to know yourself. I have since discovered that meeting people plays a huge part in this development. I think that the most profound moments of travelling were moments that I shared with others.

When I ask backpackers about their favourite places and moments form their travels they rarely speak of landscapes and sights. More often they talk interesting characters and great friends that they met that made a certain place wonderful for them. ' A great crowd of people.' ' A fantastic group of friends.' You'll remember the people you met in a place long after the memories of the views have faded.

And maybe i'm getting soppy in my old age (becoming 25) but through all my time travelling it was the moments shared that have become etched in my memory and have become real special. Even if you can't speak the same language as another people (Although i'm thinking and dreaming in English) it may be just glance with a child as you both watch a latern fly into the sky. It's the human connection and shared appreciation of this diverse interesting world that is what it is all about for me.

Thanks for flying with Vogel/Dutchie/Micheal/Mikey Airlines!

Time to go home...