Rule of Three Many
Highlights (Alex): Really making the most out of this opportunity by cramming in as much as we could every day, the whole thing has been incredible in itself and I’m proud of what we accomplished. Getting engaged and being the happiest I felt for the whole trip. Discovering a whole, gorgeous underwater world. Walking on Perito Moreno glacier. The Inca Trail, a calming of my mind and soul, being immersed in nature and the beginning of an awakening (thanks in large part to Odi) that continued throughout our trip.
Highlights (James): Being able to visit so many places, 17 countries in all, most of which I had never been to before and some had been on the bucket-list for a long time! Witnessing some incredible nature, from frozen glaciers to erupting volcanoes and pretty much everything in-between. Being able to do this with Alex, we have not been together that long in the grand scheme of things, so being able to do a whole year together through various bumps and obstacles was definitely a challenge for both of us at times, but I would not have been able to do this without her and that’s why I am marrying her 😀
Lowlights (Alex): making the most out of everything is truly exhausting and required so much time on our phones. The multiple ailments and heat in Vietnam, but really, we lucked out with no major incidents. Keeping up with this blog 😄 hopefully it’s been worth it!
Lowlights (James): I’ll prefix this by saying that considering we travelled for a whole year and through some pretty poor countries, we got off pretty lightly compared to others. For me, moving every few days (2.5 on average!) was hard-work, needing to plan transport, food and accommodation for each location took its toll. Seeing quite a lot of pollution, especially copious amounts of litter, in some beautiful countries was quite sad to see. Not being able to get out for a run, whether because of angry dogs snapping at your ankles in Mexico or the thermometer never dropping below 35 degrees in SE Asia made it difficult to find a way to “reset” from the stress of travel.
Takeaways (Alex): Us humans, these borders, our physical differences… we aren’t as unique as some like us to think, the troubles of the UK are the troubles of everywhere we went, just on different scales. Science has done amazing things, but I wish the lessons and wisdom of indigenous cultures and communities were still just as strong, because there’s a lot we could have learnt from them, and we can benefit a lot by rolling back to appreciating, nurturing, prioritising and protecting pachamama. We’ve been so fortunate to have this experience, in so many, many ways, there were many times before that I thought it wasn’t a good idea, that life was good so why test it, there were many days during that I thought it was too much, but each new day has the opportunity to bring something amazing… With discomfort comes growth (as I’ve been told on many a Diversity training!), and this is true of all things, so don’t wait, go and be uncomfortable, shake things up, try something new, experience something new, and keep an open mind, it’ll be worth it (or it won’t and you’ll know never to do it again! 😊)
Takeaways (James): Seeing the good in the world, there is too much negativity spread throughout the news and social media, sure there are a few bad actors out there and we certainly met a handful of “odd” characters, but for the most part, local people/ immigrants/fellow travels alike were friendly, kind and good-natured. – Travelling really adds some extra layers to what you think you know about history, whether you are stood in Cusco thinking about what it would have looked like had the Spanish not wiped out the Inca Empire or if the khmer rouge would have ever risen to power if America had not dropped thousands of bombs on Cambodia during their war with Vietnam. From a white European’s perspective it isn’t easy to face that colonisation followed by American foreign policy has had a drastic effect on the world and the lives of millions of people. – If you or anyone you know is thinking of doing a similar trip, GO FOR IT, scratch that itch.
Description (Alex): Amazing, no regrets, worth it!
Description (James): BEST. TRIP. EVER.
Our Travel by Numbers
Canada and USA, the most expensive countries for average daily spends (food & accommodation)
USA, the most expensive country for average daily spend plus excursions
Thailand, the cheapest country for average daily spend
Bolivia, the cheapest country for average daily spend plus excursions
Japan, the most nights in one country
Peru, the most spent on excursions overall
Chile, the most spent on excursions on daily average
Japan, the country we budgeted to be more expensive than it was, by a lot! Go to Japan, now!
Chile, the country we hadn’t expected to spend so much money when including excursions
Central America, the countries we had to increase the budget because everything was significantly more expensive than predicted pre excursions
347 days on the road
17 countries (plus Hawaii and Alaska)
10 languages we were exposed to, with varying levels of learning “thank you”
133 different night’s accommodation
15, the rough guess at the number of accommodations we looked at for each of those 133 before deciding which to book
2.6 nights (on average) in each accommodation before moving to the next
2 weeks, the longest we stayed anywhere (WWOOFing in Biei)
19 nights on buses, trains or airport floors. Felt like more!
11 groups of friends and family seen on the way (Cooper clan, Daniel, Gustavo, Carol & Seba, Lottie, Hector & Soph, Collins clan & mum, Katie & Pete, Clive & Alex, White family & Gordon, Jen & Ben), many who were incredibly generous and we can’t thank enough
6 family and friends imposed on, who generously put us up (Romi & Mario, Acari crew, Carol & Seba, Katie & Pete, Andrew & Jac, Jen & Ben), thank you to you all, it meant the world and gave us breathing space in more ways than one ❤️
3.7, the average rating of all the places we’ve stayed
~26 planes caught
~58 bus and shuttle journeys (many including multiple for each stint)
1 sleeper train
26 hours, our longest single vehicle journey (Chalten to Bariloche)
18 scuba dives
753m clocked under water
1 bomb scare (bariloche airport)
432 mosquito bites
1 missed destination (Mendoza we’re coming for you)
1 bus break-downs
0 hospital trips
0 items stolen
Many an item lost
1 engagement
112 blog posts
248 blog comments (they made our day ❤️)
And that’s all folks. Thanks for joining us along the ride, digitally, physically, emotionally and mentally.
Gracias, thank you, salamat po, kapcun, saum ocun, cam on, arigato gozaimaaaaaaaas
1 Comment
Thank you both for allowing us to share in your extraordinary travel experience over the past year – not only the physical challenges but also the emotional ups and downs. I shall miss reading them and travelling vicariously through your amazing blogs! You should be very, very proud of what you have achieved: this experience will mark your lives forever for the better. I do hope you manage to print your blog so that it remains as a memento of a truly extraordinary year in your lives and perhaps may help others who are considering doing something similar.
…and now for another exciting start: building the basis of the rest of your lives together !
Hold on tight and enjoy that ride too! 🥰