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G’day everyone and welcome to the my travel blog “Nerd Travels”. This blog will follow my story, on how a shy video game nerd who never steps out of his comfort zone went from hitting rock bottom to backpacking solo accross Latin America on a quest to find himself and level up.

But who are you?
My name is Brendon and I’m a 26 year old Aussie nerd. I like Photography,Video games and Travel (even though I havent done alot).  I currently live and work in Montreal in the Video games industry which I have worked in for over 6 years. Over that time I have had a lot of fun worked on many great titles and made a lot of great friends. But I also have worked a lot of crazy hours (Most recently doing over 500 hours overtime in the last year) can you say OUCH!!

I have always thought there has to be something more than the drudgery of 9-5, but being a shy guy who didn’t really step out of his comfort zone much I was just going along for the ride. but then it all changed.

Hitting rock bottom

Lets just say the last two months have been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster.  (Why is it all I can think of is that scene from Anchorman when I say this).

They say bad things always happen in 3’s right?
In the last two months the following things occurred

  1.  Separated from my wife after an 8 year relationship.
  2. Got made redundant and laid off at work.
  3. Came to the realization that after 6 year career in video games industry plus 2 years of study that I was burnt out and wanted something more.

Turning something negative into something positive

I’m a strong believer that life is what you make of it and although it felt like my entire life had been torn down I wasn’t about to give up just yet. Although this series of events did look bad but if you view it from the other side these 3 events have allowed me to be free

  • Free  to go and do whatever I pleased, now that I was single, which in my case is backpack.
  • Free from a 9-5 job, I didnt have to immediately find another job (I got a pretty decent payout from all those overtime hours I accumulated, WIN!)
  • Free from the stresses of of worrying about my career and what came next.

That was when it hit me

I’d always wanted to travel more, to experience the world more, step out of my comfort zone. A chance to make a new start to build myself back up, to do and see the things I always wanted and find myself.
That was when I decided that I wasnt going to get another job, I was going to sell all of my belongings and leave Montreal on a solo backpacking quest through Latin America for 6+ months (Until i’m out of money :P).
Also because I’m a giant nerd i’m going to be list all the things I want to do in my quest log and award myself XP as I complete them and anyother things that help me grow as a person to slowly gain levels.

So what now?

My last official day of work is 14th September 2012 after that I have a mini adventure planned where I am returning to Australia for a week for my brothers wedding then getting my first taste of backpacking when I backpack through Los Angeles and San Francisco  for a week. In MMORPG nerd terms this will be considered my starter zone. :D.
After that I return to Montreal for one last month where I will be selling all of my personal belongings and plan to leave with just a backpack with a one way ticket to somewhere in Central or South America.

So strap yourself in and grab your D20’s because its going to be an adventure, I don’t profess to be a great writer but hopefully this blog will be able to let my family and friends know what i’m up and inspires anyone else who is thinking about taking a leap of faith or interested in following along.

2017-08-29T01:43:42+00:00 17 Comments

17 Comments

  1. Cassie September 6, 2012 at 2:19 am

    Awesome first post! Love it 🙂

  2. Jonathan September 6, 2012 at 3:26 am

    Amazing first post, I really can’t believe you did over 500 hours of OT! Holllyyy! So nice to see that you’re going through this great adventure and turning your negatives into really positive things.
    Keep it up buddy!

  3. Brendon September 6, 2012 at 3:33 am

    Thanks Cassie and Jonathan, Ya 500 hrs is pretty insane 😛 but at least it worked out for the best in the end, Seeing if I didn’t do that overtime I wouldn’t have the money to do the trip im planning. So everything works out 😀

  4. Leona September 6, 2012 at 4:01 am

    Such a great outlook!! Hope to hear many crazy stories to come.

  5. Vali! September 6, 2012 at 2:13 pm

    Awesome Brendon! SOOOOOOOO excited for you! You are so brave and I really applaud your strengths, can’t wait to read all about your adventures!

  6. Josh September 6, 2012 at 3:23 pm

    All I can say is wow…and I definitly agree with you. Life is what you make of it! On the travel side o things, you’re a smart dude and by now I’m sure you’ve done a heap of research on what to take with you and what to prepare for when travelling into crazy (but heaps exciting) places like south America. But as a friend I wanna say PREPARE! Haha, I remember when I stepped out of Australia for the first time and into a 3rd world country. Within the first week I had contracted some crazy form of dissentry (not fun, you cant tell the difference between farting and pooping!) and I had been boling my water and eating from restaraunts! And I got malaria after the first month! All I’m saying is take care of yourself, research deseases to protect yourself against, local customs to be aware of etc, dont go eating some wild berry and dieing in an abandond bus from food poisoning (into the wild) and be prepared for the most intense ride of your life!

    • Brendon September 7, 2012 at 4:07 am

      Haha Josh sounds like I have a lot of fun things to look forward to. :P. Ya I’ve been doing lots and lots of research if there is one thing I’m really good at its choosing a subject and researching the hell out of it and absorbing all its information. people keep saying im some kind of sponge :P. Would be awesome to catch up with you when I’m back in Aus to get some more advice 🙂 You coming to my dinner meetup thing I sent you an invite on facebook

  7. Heather Vince September 6, 2012 at 10:29 pm

    The choices you make dictate the live you lead…good on you Brendon. We are all looking forward to hearing of your travels. Can’t wait for you to come home to Qld for Martin’s wedding. xxx

    • Meaghan Wheatley September 7, 2012 at 12:14 am

      Can’t believe I finally get to meet you when you comes home for the wedding.. Mum & Dad never stop talking about you :). Can’t wait to read all about your adventures and the start of your new life. Your going to make us all very jealous lol

      • Brendon September 7, 2012 at 4:09 am

        I’m sure when you meet me you will realize i’m not as exciting as they have talked me up to be haha. Will be nice being back in Aus for a bit and meeting you 😀

  8. Claire September 9, 2012 at 10:30 am

    Great first post Brendan. Really struck a chord with me as very similar to my own situation. My own 7 year relationship just ended at the start of the year so I decided to get out and see the world. I’m off to Australia in about 3 weeks for an undefined amount of time! I’m sure you’re trip will be eye opening, inspiring and rewarding! I look forward to following the blog. Happy travels!
    Claire recently posted..Let the world go fort….My Profile

    • Brendon September 9, 2012 at 2:49 pm

      Thanks Claire, Glad to hear your also putting a positive spin on it as well. Nothing to do now but move forward :D. Your going to love Australia it’s such a beautiful place. I will be following your blog and can’t wait to see updates. 🙂 Thats providing all the poisonous animals and killer Koala’s don’t get you as soon as you land haha just kidding.

  9. Tom @ Waegook Tom September 10, 2012 at 3:54 pm

    Dayummm and here I am moaning about what will be about 20 hours of OT over the next couple of weeks…eep.

    Great first post, and looking forward to reading what’s coming up! There’s a whole travel blogger community out there too, so if you need any help or tips (I doubt it’ll be on the tecchie stuff though, Mr Video Gamer) then shout out. The community is a pretty friendly bunch 🙂
    Tom @ Waegook Tom recently posted..Believe It Or Not, I’m CheesyMy Profile

    • Brendon September 10, 2012 at 10:03 pm

      Haha tom ya it was quite a lot. but it all worked out for the best.

      Ya Its amazing Tom I have been slowly uncovering a whole community of travel bloggers I never knew existed. With lots of similar stories to mine and stories of people giving up everything to go travel the world. Really inspiring stuff. Your right everyone has been so nice and supportive I’ve talked to so far. I think I’m looking forward to exploring and being part of this travel blog community just as much as my trip it self 🙂

  10. Edna N Ramirez September 15, 2012 at 5:31 pm

    I am really enjoying the theme/design of your weblog. Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility problems? A few of my blog readers have complained about my blog not operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Chrome. Do you have any ideas to help fix this issue?

    • Brendon September 26, 2012 at 11:37 pm

      I havent had anyone complaining about my blog in internet explorer and honestly I have never looked at my blog in internet explorer sorry

  11. Priyanka December 26, 2012 at 11:08 am

    Great post..You must be enjoying your backpacking now. 🙂 …Happy Backpacking !!!
    Priyanka recently posted..Lepcha house in the beautiful mountains of DzonguMy Profile

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