A Little About This Little Man That Could ;)

This being my first blog post, I should take this opportunity to tell you a little about myself.
In no order of importance, I am an avid traveller who continuously wants to add more destinations to the list, I love sports and music, I love to make people laugh and I was born missing both arms and legs. Combining all of these interest I hope to motivate and inspire others to live their lives to the fullest and always challenge themselves to do more and be more.
I recently returned from a European Vacation which in a small way may have been inspired by the National Lampoon's movie from back in the 80's. It was also inspired by Eurotrip, Just Married, Chasing Liberty (yes I have actually watched that movie) and any other movie, book, etc. that has any sort of reference to traveling through Europe. I digress...
My European Vacation was to start on November 16, 2011 in London, England and conclude back in London on April 26th, 2012. The trip was cut short but more about that later. I have done some travelling before both on my own and with friends. The one constant of all my previous vacations was I always wore my prosthetics (artificial legs). This most recent trip however, I decided to leave legs at home. That last statement should sound normal to me yet it still sounds off. I can only imagine how out-of-place it sounds to the random reader. I lieu of prosthetics I took my longboard to get around over the long distances and the short distances and steps I would just hop on my right leg. This trip was also a solo one. I always love to challenge myself and I was also at a point in my life where I really needed to go on a soul-search of sorts.
So off I went to Europe alone with my 16kg (35lb) backpack and a longboard to replace my legs. I have to tell you that when you have no legs your pants don't need to be as long which in turn allows you to pack a lot lighter. Turns out this whole, "no arms and no legs" gig is a real blessing in disguise. I wish there was a font to denote sarcasm.
My European Vacation was a adventure that I purposely avoided planning to much. I wanted to ensure spontaneity in my trip. I did know that I was to start in London, I would spend Christmas in Basel, Switzerland and New Years Eve in Grindelwald also in Switzerland. Outside of that places like Scotland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Romania, Croatia, etc were all on my list. If I got to all of them great and if I didn't I would just have to go back another time.
Four days after I arrived in London my ear drum ruptured. If you've ever had this happen before you'll know that it hurts like hell. After that my trip was altered quite a bit and was over-shadowed by pain, lack of hearing in the left ear and several visits to doctors and ear specialists. In addition to London I did manage to visit Paris, a great deal of Switzerland, Freiburg, Germany and Salzburg, Austria. The reason the bogus ear ended up sending me home early was the specialist in Basel, Switzerland informing me that surgery would be required to fix the problem. Although they could have fixed it there he recommended that coming back to Canada would be the best option since follow-ups would be required and that is all best done with the same doctor to ensure consistency. He also said that waiting until my original return date wasn't a smart idea because I would risk the ear getting worse and also risk permanent hearing loss. I booked my flight home a couple days after that.
It was definitely not Europe to the extent I had originally planned or in the same manner I had hoped but I did see some amazing place and met some amazing people. How could you not when you spend a little over two months in five different countries? Even if a lot of them were doctors and nurses. The trip was not a total loss in regards to the soul search. I have a lot of great stories to tell from the whole experience. When a guy without arms and legs rolls around Europe alone it's impossible not to have some unique things happen... I'm a magnet to that stuff. I went to Europe and I live life in general just for those memorable and unique moments.
I've spoke at schools, conventions and corporate functions and told a lot of these stories and people seem to enjoy them. I've been told I should be speaking more than I have which I can't disagree with. I just wanted to have one big epic type adventure under my belt that I could draw from... something that was a "wow factor" of sorts. I thought six months alone, getting around on a longboard would provide me with that exact thing. Although my trip is incomplete, I feel very satisfied with what I was able to do up to the point of when I had to come back to Calgary.
That being said... I WILL be going back.

Until next time please feel free to follow me on Twitter @IHopJRWalks and/or on YouTube at www.youtube.com/cannonballprod08

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