?There is more than just New York and Philly... as great as they are!?

Bermudian LaMohn Smith can say that with some authority after an exciting three months backpacking across Europe and Northern Africa exposed him to experiences reserved only to those willing to be bold and adventurous.

That he was!

The 27-year-old quit his job as a money market dealer at the Bank of Butterfield and set off to discover Europe on a solo backpack tour.

In three months between January 13 and April 13, he visited 20 countries and although only in each country for a few days he learned plenty about the different cultures.

?I always wanted to tour Europe and see other parts of the world than just going to the west, so I got my new British passport and headed off,? explained Mr. Smith.

?I put it all together in a few days, really. I was working but losing interest in what I was doing. I was there for six years.?

He wouldn?t trade the last three months for anything, even though he is now job hunting.

?I wanted a challenge, adventure and a bit of change and said let me do it now while I?ve got the flexibility, the money and the time,? said Mr. Smith of his decision to heed the call for adventure.

Travelling on a three-month Eurorail pass took him from London to France, to Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Swede, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Wales, Republic and Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland in that order before returning to London.

His digital camera captured several hundred exciting pictures.

?There was a method to the madness, a plan,? said Mr. Smith as he retraced his path across European with the help of a map he was carrying.

?I had this map before I left for Europe and looked at all the countries I was interested in. I figured out how many days I had and if I wanted to go to all those countries, how many days I would have in each city.

?I did a bit of research figuring out which cities were the most popular and which I wanted to go to so that I didn?t run out of time and end up being disappointed.

?I did add and take away as I went along because Northern African - Morocco - wasn?t on my list but I ended up going there anyway.

?I wanted to go to Greece but didn?t feel like doing that long ferry ride of 14 to 16 hours. And I didn?t make it up to Finland because it was too long a ferry ride.?

Mr. Smith admitted the three month unlimited Eurorail pass ?cost an absolute fortune? but it provided the most flexible way to travel.

?With that pass I could pretty much get on any train I wanted to within the selected countries,? he explained.

?Sometimes I would have to pay a small booking or reservation fee, or if I was going on a night train I would have to pay a few more dollars because you get to sleep on a bed overnight.?

His life has been changed forever by the experience, and he doesn?t regret that it did bite into his funds.

?It did take a good chunk of my savings,? he admitted.

?It depends on what type of lifestyle you wanted to live, I could have made it cheaper or I could have made it more expensive. I tried to keep it within budget and I had plenty of money to do what I wanted to do.

?Really it was to be immersed in other cultures, to get a different outlook on life, a new perspective and to do a comparison between those countries and Bermuda. Probably the most outstanding was Morocco... Tangier and Marrakech.?

Expenses were also kept down by sleeping in youth hostels most of the time. He doesn?t regret not having someone else with him to share the experiences.

?I really wanted it to be a solo tour, to get away to meditate, reflect and think about what I wanted to do with my life when I got back,? said Mr. Smith.

?I?m looking for work, looking to do something different. I actually placed an ad in the paper, inspired by the other gentleman who did it. I?ll also be continuing with my MBA at Webster University, so I?m getting back into the swing of things.?

He added: ?I wasn?t sure if I wanted to be with another person for the whole three months, after awhile you might want to kill each other. Not only that but being solo has its benefits, you can do what you want when you want.

?If I wanted to change my itinerary I could or if I wanted to stay in a fancy hotel as opposed to a cheap hotel I could.

?Generally I was staying in youth hostels, around 20 Euros a night. The prices were cheaper in Africa and Eastern Europe, but the further north you got the more expensive it became. Scandinavia and Switzerland were very expensive.?

Fortunately, Mr. Smith had already passed through the train station in Madrid, Spain by the time the bombing devastated the country last month.

?One of the stations I had gone through was Atocha and I think a few weeks later the bombing happened. I was in Stockholm, Sweden when that happened,? Mr. Smith recalled.

?My whole travels was on train, going through the UK, France and after I passed through Madrid I had to come back through France and England and the word was that the next place to be bombed was France or England.?

The bombing, apart, Mr. Smith had little to be fearful of, though he took the usual precautions even before that incident in Madrid. He said he got encouragement and support from his family who told him ?if it?s what you want, go and do it?.

?I also got support from my church and friends,? he added.

?Some people were speechless... ?by yourself, do you know where you?re going??. It was just a fulfilment of a dream. Once you do a trip like that you would like to do more. Maybe I?ll take someone else next time, but I wouldn?t have a problem doing it alone.?

Mr. Smith met plenty of interesting people as many backpackers were also seeking the same adventure.

?Of course other backpackers were staying at the same places so you spend a lot of time talking,? he revealed.

?There were a lot of Australians, who were on their university break. There were also Canadians and Americans and some people from Peru. I met an American guy in Budapest, Hungary who must have been in his 50s or 60s who was touring as well.

?You?d be surprised at who you meet, the ages can vary. But generally they are in their 20s, university students on their break or people just like me who quit their job and wanted to clear their head and just tour Europe.

?I even ran into the Kato Kaelin guy (of OJ Simpson trial fame) in Prague filming some type of TV show. I knew he had to be an American and when I went back to my hostel my roommate told me it was Kato Kaelin and that he met him at a party at a hotel the night before.?

That was just one of many memorable experiences for the Bermudian.

?I was at the point in my life where nothing was going to stop me from doing this,? he said of the trip.

?Even though it was winter and cold and not the best time to tour, or that I knew it was going to cost thousands of dollars, I was determined to complete this mission. Nothing was going to stop me.

?Prague was by far the coldest, almost unbearable. At night time it was 33, 34 degrees. Probably the warmest was in Morocco where it was in the 60s or 70s.?

Up to new experiences, the Bermudian also took a camel back ride in the Sahara Desert during a two-day tour of Marrakech. ?We got a couple of land rovers and drove up into the Atlas Mountains and that was really scary because the roads going up into the mountains were so narrow and there weren?t any rails to keep your car on the road,? he explained.

?There was a big drop and the guy was speeding. It was crazy.

?Once we got into mountains we got out of the truck, hopped onto camels and rode onto the Sahara Desert. We camped out in the Sahara Desert in tents made out of blankets and the Morocco men cooked for us, with six people eating out of one plate.?

Mr. Smith visited 41 cities in those 20 countries, including four each in France, Spain and Italy.

?The longest was in Budapest, Hungary which was for six nights,? he recalled. ?I stayed there for six nights because I was on doctor?s orders and had to put my feet up. I had problems with my legs, my leg muscles got inflamed after walking all day with a backpack on my back.

?It is a whole another world over there, totally different from the States. There are different lifestyles, different food, different cultures, different languages.

People carry themselves differently, they think differently and act differently. It really does open your mind and challenge you to think bigger than what you?re thinking.?

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