Round About the Earth: My 10 Favourite Moments

I’ve been looking forward to writing this post. In fact, I purposefully delayed putting pen to paper until the final leg of our journey - our return flight to Canada - knowing I might need a little pick-me-up. It's a bit of a bittersweet moment. As much as I’ve anticipated taking time to reflect on our experiences over the past months, it's an inescapable indicator that our trip has come to an end. Sigh.

Our trip around the world has been a time full of wondrous, jaw-dropping, can't-believe-this-is-happening moments. Here’s a rundown of my 10 favourites:

1. Seeing you again
Hands down the best part of the journey was the time we spent with friends and family around the globe. From catching up over delicious eats and aperitifs with friends in the Loire Valley, to celebrating Thanksgiving with family in Hong Kong, to hitting the markets with cousins in London, UK, we’ve been repeatedly awed by the warm hospitality of the people we’ve visited - far-flung loved ones we don't get to see often enough.

2. Riding into the Sahara, Erg Chebbi, Morocco
Just a small band of 6 travelers, and our friendly guide, Said, heading out into the Sahara on camel by the light of the rising moon. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect to have an experience like this.

3. Arriving in León, Camino de Santiago, Spain
There are 7 countries represented in the picture above: Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, The Unites States and Canada - a group of people from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures who came together by chance on the Camino. Over the weeks we walked together, we developed the kind of  close friendships made when sharing an extraordinary life experience, but our time together was short. We knew this might be our last opportunity to celebrate together and we went for it! Throw in some fabulous inexpensive wine and delicious tapas and you’ve got a formula for an extraordinary evening.

4. Summiting Conical Hill, Routeburn Track, Mount Aspiring National Park, New Zealand

Of all the summit views we enjoyed, the vista from the top of Conical Hill on New Zealand's Routeburn Track is, in my books, the most beautiful. As an added bonus, we found a very fine swimming spot in a stream approaching the summit where we took a dip after the climb. Cool, refreshing water that was clean enough to drink unfiltered and untreated. Where else in the world can you do that?

5. Kayaking at sunset in Halong Bay, Vietnam

Our 3-day trip in Halong Bay was full of magical experiences like our sunset kayak amoungst some of the bay's thousands of limestone pillar islands. Breathtaking! 

6. Recharging at the Blue Lagoon, Iceland

I've never felt so good in my life as when we left the Blue Lagoon, a natural geothermal pool rich in silica mud and minerals. The next time you head across the Atlantic, do yourself a huge favour and stop in Reykjavik, if only to spend the afternoon at the Blue Lagoon. Did I mention that if you fly Iceland Air you can stopover in Reykjavik for up to 7 days without paying any additional airfare? Oh, yes!

7. Morning in Bangkok, Thailand

There's no where else like Bangkok. It's a chaotic, wonderful, heady mix of people, animals, automobiles, buildings, shops, street stalls and restaurants selling spicy and delicious - if unidentifiable - snacks and meals. To me, it was at its most charming in the morning when friendly, smiling food vendors would line the streets selling their delicious wares as the rest of the city slowly came to life.

8. The Medina at night, Marrakech, Morocco

For as long as I can remember, I've looked forward to one day traveling to Morocco. Exotic sounding cities, medinas filled with strange treasures, perfumed breezes and starry night skies. Marrakech and it's main square, Jamaa el-Fna, with it's eclectic collection of street performers from all over Africa, met all my expectations and then some.

9. My new favourite Canadian hike, Sentinel Pass, Banff, Canada

Like many other Canadians, I love the outdoors. We've visited many of Canada's national parks and hiked a fair number of it's trails. I erroneously assumed that I had already picked my favourite Canadian hiking trail out of the bunch. Silly me! Somehow I had managed to overlook this gem of a hike near Moraine Lake in Banff National Park. I stand corrected!

10. Climbing Mount Ngauruhoe, Tongariro National Park, New Zealand

I cheered when I reached the top of Mount Ngauruhoe in Tongariro National Park. Numerous times during the ascent I'd considered turning back, so making it to the top felt like quite a victory. During our journey around the world, we climbed higher peaks on longer trails, but this was the most technically difficult summit we tackled. By the time we reached the rim of the active volcano, after almost four hours of climbing in high winds, I was spent! My legs were shaking with muscle fatigue, my hands and arms were scraped and bleeding (of course I'd left my gloves in my pack at the base of the volcano), and vertigo had left me feeling dizzy and light-headed. Woot! What a rush!

From time to time during our trip we would cross paths with others who, like us, were on an extended journey. One of the questions I'd always ask was, "of all the places you've visited, which are your favourites?" I learned there are plenty of extraordinary sites around the world we have yet to visit and an infinite number of ways to circumnavigate the globe. Lots of ideas to consider for upcoming adventures. If you have any suggestions to add, I'd love to hear them.

Things I’m Looking Forward to at the End of Our Around The World Journey

Considering my lack of enthusiasm for the conclusion of our 9-month trip around the world, this post was surprisingly easy to write. After all, traveling isn’t exactly a bed of roses - on the contrary, it’s often a lumpy mattress in a 60-person dorm. Yes, as wonderful as it’s been to travel for an extended period of time, there were a number of creature comforts that we left behind when we hit the road. I thought this might be a good moment to reflect on all the things we have to look forward to now that we’re homeward bound.

Unpacking

I love my trusty backpack and the feeling of having everything I need on my back. I don’t love that the thing I most need is always located in the very bottom of my bag. Every morning, my clothes and my toothbrush are at the bottom of my backpack. Every evening, my sleeping bag and my toothbrush are at the bottom of my backpack. If it starts to rain, my jacket will be at the bottom of my backpack, though my swimsuit will be nice and handy at the top. Good one, universe.

Having more than 3 shirts to chose from

I pride myself on being somewhat of a minimalist and I was quite chuffed to realize I can easily get by with having very few items of clothing - 1 jacket, 1 sweater, 3 shirts, 1 skirt and 2 pairs of pants. Do I want to continue wearing my hiking clothes when I’m out for a night on the town? Not really.

Cleaning up

My apologies in advance to the heroic hair stylist that next cuts my hair, but since we left Canada I’ve been cutting my own hair with a pair of children’s craft scissors. I’m in dire need of a haircut…a real one, that is.

A door to close at the end of the day

From shower stalls without doors to making phone calls in the company of 60 fellow travellers, budget travel usually makes for very little privacy. Having an apartment or even a room with a door to close at the end of the day sounds heavenly! On a related note, no more earplugs. Yay!

Cooking in a real kitchen

Home, sweet home for the past eight months has been two backpacks. Keeping to scale, our ‘kitchen’ fits into a small bag. It includes, 1 backpacking stove, 1 pot, 1 bowl, 1 plate, 2 mugs and cutlery. For spices we've had salt and pepper. I’m very excited at the idea of being able to cook in a kitchen that isn’t balanced on a log at the edge of our campsite.

Decisions, decisions

Where are we going? How do we get there - by bus, train, plane, on foot…or camel? Where will we stay once we get there? Every day on the road seems chock-a-block with questions. Of course once we get off the road there will still be plenty of decisions to make but, if all goes well, these will be more routine decisions with familiar outcomes and less opportunity for unexpected surprises. Decisions like, which of the 200 emails in my inbox should I open first. On second thought, scratch this one from the list…

Admittedly, as much as I am looking forward to settling down for a while, I’d gladly lump any and all of these challenges for another 9 months of travel. I also know that, though I’m calling them challenges today, tomorrow they’ll feel more like benefits. All the things I’ll miss so much about about these vagabond days.

Around the World at Last, Part 2

I’ve been hiding from my blog lately. The time has come in our journey to write a wrap-up post about our trip around the world and I’m finding all kinds of ways to procrastinate. We’ve even managed to drag out what was supposed to be an 8-month journey around the world into a 9-month journey by hunkering down with my cousin Rex in Texas for 3 weeks - kinda like Bonnie and Clyde. Well, not really.

We left Australia’s sun-drenched beaches almost a full month ago on a flight to Los Angeles. Our original plan, made way back when we left home in June of last year, was to end our journey with a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway. It sounded like a fitting way to finish the trip. We’d bookend our journey with two quintessential North American road trips - our drive across Canada from west to east at the start, and the drive from south to north along the PCH to wrap things up.

That was then. Now that the end of our journey is at hand, we’re realizing there’s more to focus on then ensuring our unforgettable trip reaches a romantic denouement. Lots more. Namely, finding an apartment, taking stock of our belongings, starting a job search, addressing all the details that need to be attended to when one moves to a new city, et cetera, et cetera. At the beginning of our trip, I wrote a short post about the seemingly countless items we needed to take care of in preparation for the start of our journey and I’m finding that the list of things to do at the end of our trip is equally as long. We've also decided it'll be easier to get down to business if we fly to central Canada - we'll have to wait to visit Big Sur and Napa Valley another time.

So what's next? Similar to how things went at the start of our journey, I’m finding we’re looking at a future that is pretty much a blank slate. Other than a few scarce details concerning the immediate future, I’m not sure how things are about to play out - a dubious circumstance that certainly has not escaped the attention of our parents. I can only make a few open-ended assumptions: that we’re about to encounter a high-level of uncertainty, that there will be a lot we’ll have to learn, that we’ll likely make mistakes, and that the possibilities are endless.

Come to think of it, it sounds like our journey isn’t ending at all! I think that sounds like a very promising beginning.

Anyhow, I’ve resolved to be more consistent with posting in the blog now that this next stage of our trip is about to begin. I think I’ll start with all the things I am looking forward to when we get off the road and unpack our bags. You’ll have to give me a moment to think about that one.* Stay tuned!

*Of course this could be construed as an excuse to procrastinate. Meh. Onward!

“Walker, there is no path, the path is made by walking.” - Antonio Machado