A few hours ago, the postman delivered an envelope containing my birth certificate & passport.  Wow, a US passport!  Now that, is something
to think about.  I mean, here I am, going on 5 years inside this hostel environment & I haven't even left the west coast of North America.  I spent most of that time
flirting & running a muck in Vegas.  You know the routine - partying 'til dawn, shooting photographs & building the web site you're looking at right now.
I was in room 311 at The LVBP with to cans of Red Bull & a pack of gummy worms, reading all your e-mails & letters.

"They really inspired me to publish these stories about photo- graphy, travelling & meeting the most interesting people from around the world!" Inspiration GEOhype

"The Mad Dash to Vegas"  |  4 Queens Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada

Throughout it all, I never had a passport.  No passport is probably what kept me in Vegas so long.  How else can you explain falling head over heals
for someone, yet not following her Swiss smile on some wild photographic adventure, somewhere far west of here.  So, after all this time.  After countless promises,
hand shakes, e-mails & kisses good-bye, I think I'm finally gonna do it.  I'm gonna spread my wings & fly.  Not to Vegas, because that just isn't good enough anymore.
The Grand Canyon will always be one of the greatest wonders of the world, however, it's just a hole in the ground.  My last road trip to Mexico was cancelled
& the dot-com boom in San Francisco turned out to be the biggest dot-bomb of them all.  My father once wrote: "When I was young, I wanted to go
to Europe & backpack across each country on a bicycle & the boxcar of a train...  A dream that never materialized."

I believe this dream is found in a lot of Americans, young & old.  It's a different way of life over here & without a GapYear.com web site to cheer us on, the good
old American lifestyle has us chained to the ground before our eyes are able to explore the world around us.Well, I think it's time to replace all of yesterday's mis-adventures
with visions of Scandinavia & driving to Germany with a few crazy Danes, just to purchase some Danish beer.  I think I wanna hang out with Roma in Barcelona, while Mike, Stu
& the whole Brighton crew gear up for my weekend retreat.  It looks as if I will fly into London in the middle of November, so I better keep those long sleeved shirts & close knit
sweaters packed tightly in my bag.  I'm definitely going to visit Vital in Maasmechelen & Kirsten in Zeewolde.  Maud/PHOTOgirl, I'll be knocking on your door, sometime
in the near future.  I hope you can find the time to spend a few weeks with me, because when I look down upon this cheesy looking American passport...

"All I can see are photographs of an unwritten future!"