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In 365 Days: A Reflection of Our World Sydney, Australia

Sydney, Australia

The question we always get asked is what has been our favourite country. That is not a question that can be answered so simply. We have been impacted by some more that others and that is probably what makes one country stick in our minds over the next. India for example is like no other place in the world like it. While we were there, we struggled but it's a place we'd like to return to, in a heart beat. It gave us our biggest cultural experience; witnessing the cremations on the River Ganges while watching children play in the water as remains float by. From an outsiders perspective it defies all logic but once you understand the culture and religion, it makes perfect sense. I reckon the more you see the more you understand. It is like that anywhere. The more time we spent understanding and experiencing countries the more memorable they were.

Many places we visited and the sad things we've seen were frustrating.We knew that there was nothing we could do about the effects of war, poverty, corruption and child labour. Not that that's ever acceptable but we had to accept things could be worse. For example, the Cambodian people are currently suffering greatly because of their corrupt government but they don't care because poverty is better than death. The government isn't killing its people anymore, therefore they are grateful.

When westerners visit the people in some countries, such as the San Bushman in Namibia, often they'll jump to the conclusion that they need more to make it better. The reality is a lot of bad stuff in the world wasn't bad until someone tried to change it. Are we happier just because we have the latest technology and flashiest houses. That is one of my biggest takeaways from this year.

Thankfully Dave didn't trust me to look after anything valuable this trip and when he did, I lost our phone, a brand new Lonely Planet Book, and the camera connection kit and camera case. Considering we had a different bedroom, every day for a year I think that is pretty good. It was Dave by the way, who left the passports in a plane in Kathmandu and he did lose and break about 10 pairs of $5 Ray Ban sunnies – who am I kidding, I broke the sunnies. By the end of the trip, I was only allowed to touch the drop-able camera…. not the good one, as I dropped that one a few too many times. Overall a rather successful trip.

Africa wasn't a continent we'd thought much about before we left, yet it uncovered a different type of travel and for that it is our favourite. It's a place everyone should experience, although you may never want to go to a zoo again. I could imagine spending a lot more time uncovering the smaller countries in this fascinating continent. Our next favourite was Asia as it has got so much variety and it's in the places you'd least expect, where no tourists are, that we enjoyed the most. South America followed. Towards the end, in Bolivia and Peru, we started falling in love with the place. It brought back the memories we had of Africa. The landscape's diversity is mind blowing. Initially we thought Europe was about history and churches but the more we squeezed into the day the more we got out of it. Often we were in a country for 12-24 hours so by golly we made the most of every second. For us though, the highlight was meeting Dave's family. Having those doors now open is one life's priceless moments. I think North America was our least favourite of the continents only because the culture is similar to ours – western. I was reluctant at first to understand the Americans but by the end we had all the time in the world for the American people, as they did for us.

If you take out the 3 months in North America, we spent on average 5 days per country. Culture comes in many forms but it's the people and the way they live that was of most interest to us. We are definitely not history nerds or church buffs. So saying, learning about Catholicism, Hindi, Judism, Muslim and Buddhism has been fascinating. Sometimes they can define a country or person but sometimes it'll only 'backpack' for them. Each religion has wonderful attributes and we have both learnt to form our own beliefs based on all of them.

Our round the world ticket did just that, took us around the world but thankfully we only went on planes for a total of 111 hours or 30 flights with 16 airlines. I'm thankful because you don't see much of the world from an aeroplane. We broke the trip up into different modes of transport to keep the variety. There is no doubt we saw more through group travel but I'm glad we had our independence too. We spent about 110 days in group travel in Asia, Africa and South America. Via three cruise ships, we saw very nearly all of the Caribbean islands. Europe we did on a rail pass travelling 10,942km and we drove 17,512 km around North America. Overall we travelled over 140,000 kilometres, to 51 countries and to 6 continents.

This is where we went:

**ASIA – 61 days, 8 countries**

1: The best day of our lives, our perfect wedding day in BALI

2: The cleanest place on earth, no rubbish bins yet no rubbish. JAPAN Our decision to eat everything that was put in front of us started at a Mount Fuji Ryoken.

3: Our least favourite or least understood country with pushy and rude locals who don't do tourism any favours in Beijing, CHINA

4: Most unbelievably careless and fun week of our lives: the week with Shaz, Damo and Stephen drinking our way through VIETNAM

5: A worldly eye opening experience at the Khmer Rouge killing fields in Phenom Penh, CAMBODIA

6: breathless views over Everest and the Himalayas. Kathmandu is one of the world's hidden gems. NEPAL

7: With 1.5b people, INDIA deserves four things a) Most people on a motorised tok tok: 21 people in Orchha. b) Biggest culture shock: locals ********, drinking and bathing in the Ganges, Varanasi. c) Best food in random place: camping trip on the Ganges! d) Worst toilets: this is a *******e as most of Asia could fit in here, but I'd have to say Varanasi train station, only because of the rats and cockroaches and the whole station is used as a ******** ground. However hard it was at the time, this country is something special – a place only travellers who have been will understand why you'd want to return. One of the world's most amazing countries.

8: Most unexpected feeling: feeling weird for the first few hours of being surrounded by white people after many months of being the only white person. A few days of Virtual Sundays in Koh Tao, THAILAND.

**AFRICA – 31 days, 6 countries**

9: The only time we will ever feel like billionaires, Victoria Falls with their former ZIMBABWEAN currency

10: The best country to go if you have a free few hours for lunch, ZAMBIA with the zebras.

11: First surreal moment of travelling abroad, surrounded by African elephants in their natural habitat, Chobe National Park, BOTSWANA

12: The most diverse country with dunes, game parks, deserts, mountains and oceans, NAMIBIA. Our favourite African country.

13: With the wealth so publicly viewable on the water's edge with the poor hidden in townships, Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA

22: Epiphany in Fez MOROCCO when travelling had made me more open minded and that traveling was more interesting than holidaying.

**EUROPE – 90 days, 19 countries**

14: The first time we learnt to navigate the European railways, navigate with 16kg backpacks and find accommodation bargains within a very expensive but beautiful part of the world, Oslo NORWAY

15: Felt like a tourist when drinking Ikea Beer and meatballs is in the worlds biggest Ikea, Stockholm SWEDEN

16: The jam sandwich budget begins in Copenhagen DENMARK

17: Astounded by how liberal and tolerant Amsterdam HOLLAND is which is why we loved the place, from the safe distance of the pavement

18: Stumbled across the world's best beer, Brussels BELGIUM. A place to be discovered.

19: A country full of patriotic people, passionate in their ways of 'being French

' in most of FRANCE, except for our wonderful home stay in Bordeaux

20: Discovering that we had done tapas all wrong, correcting it with red and white sangeria in San Sebastián SPAIN then being blown away in the unique Barcelona

21: Frustrated for the first time that our way of travel didn't allow for extending our stay. A 12 hour visit to Lisbon, PORTUGAL

23: Money like I've never seen money before, wealth oozes out of Monte Carlo, MONACO

24: Thankful to see the friendly, familiar faces of family, with Laurence and Francesca in the beautiful but overly expensive Zug, SWITZERLAND

25: The most amazing festival in the world, for those that drink beer and those that don't, Munich GERMANY is the place to be for Oktoberfest!

25: The enormity and effects of World War 2 were displayed and explained in Auschwitz, POLAND

26: Europe's hidden treasure Cesky Krumlov, CZECH REPUBLIC sits next to everyone's favourite Prague where cinnamon crepes are sold

27: The hills became alive in the snowy hills of Salzburg AUSTRIA

28: Fell in love with Italian food in Florence with a promise to return to Tuscany, ITALY but touristy Venice can be forgotten

30: A new record for us, 3 hours inside the world's smallest country, VATICAN CITY

31: relief to be with family in Tolo, GREECE. A long awaited small village feel after big city hopping across Europe. A perfect week with Jenny and Uwe

32: The Irish jig, countryside, people and music made IRELAND Europe's hidden treasure

33: It's all about family, understanding roots and filling in the missing pieces of the puzzle, England UNITED KINGDOM. The family reunion and spending time with Margaret, Mike ,Simon and Paul will never be forgotten. A promise to return.

**NORTH AMERICA inc. the CARIBBEAN – 108 days, 11 countries**

34: A driving holiday took us to 32 states of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Reluctant at first but by the end of it we fell in love with the American people. California and the Carolinas were the favourite. Visits from my parents and visiting friends and a stay with Nicko and Nick made the trip.

35: Only a short visit to Toronto and the Niagara Falls, but CANADA and the never ending snow was something quite amazing

36: First swim in the Caribbean waters, Baby Bay ARUBA

37: Little GRENADA, with a huge heart and a belief that after the rain will be sunshine. Our first experience of what a hurricane can do to a small nation and the determination to build back

38: A statement of change "What improvements have you made today, 100 good things in 100 days" BARBADOS' determination to improve itself.

39: Our first and last car ride in a stranger's car after being stranded at a beautiful but secluded Marigot Bay, ST LUCIA

40: Hummm what to write about ANTIGUA – they export black pineapples that aren't black…that's all I got 😦

41: Recognising that first impressions shouldn't be lasting impressions, at the 'lacking imagination' Private island of Grand Stirrup Cay, BAHAMAS

42: Climbing Dunns river falls with mum and dad then returning to tube down the river and drink rum with Allison and Adriaan at a JAMAICA beach party

43: One of the highlights, swimming with stingrays CAYMAN ISLANDS. The centrepiece or pinnacle of the Caribbean

44: MEXICO although we have been to four ports in Mexico I can't honestly say any of them are the real Mexico. We must return

Colonies of countries we've already visited:

– Experiencing a beach with artificial waves caused from the jet streams of landing aeroplanes. SINT MAARTEN (Dutch colony)/Saint Martin (French colony) the smallest land mass in the world to be shared by two nations

– a disappointing SAINT THOMAS (US Virgin Islands) with its lack of Caribbean feel replaced with a brash American influence shining through.

– colourful, brightly painted CURAÇAO (Dutch colony)

**SOUTH AMERICA, 6 countries, 75 days**

45: From Rio Carnival to the forever green forests to the toxic cachaca, swimming in the Bonito river, looking for jaguars in the Pantanal. BRAZIL a place of interest but not South America's jewel

46:Crossing into PARAGUAY for a few hours of shopping was like stepping out of South America and into Asia.

47: The world's tastiest steak and cheapest wine, horse riding in the Estancia and chillaxing in the Cafayete vineyards were the highlights remembered in a road trip across ARGENTINA

48: South America's undiscovered gem. For this reason BOLIVA gave us the cultural diversity we had been looking for. From the witches markets in La Paz to the beautiful Altiplano desert but not forgetting the perspective shots in the world's largest salt flat.

49: PERU: Enough history to last you a life time. From the Inca ruins, to the mammoth Inca Trek and waves of Waikiki, PERU'S landscape is breathtaking

50: An eye opening experience getting served a coffee in coffee shops from a waitress in a bikini, The famous Santiago Coffee Shops with Legs, CHILE

**OCEANIA**

51: AUSTRALIA: After visiting 51 of the world's 195 countries, there is no place like it. It's Home.

The world is a huge place. We have visited a speck in the ocean of what's out there. It's been a year of tasting if you will, to see the way that we like to travel, the things we like and don't like to see and places that we want to return to and uncover further. We now know where we want to go back and explore and that would be to the less western countries where there is an abundance of exploration to be done.

One thing that has dramatically changed for us is our love of travelling not holidaying. Words can't express how much travelling gives you the travel bug. The more you see the more you want to see. One thing I have learnt from this year is "travelling is the only thing that makes you richer" so saying, once we actually have money again, these are the next big adventures:

1- Africa, Nairobi Kenya to Victoria Falls Zimbabwe during the migration – and a loop to the gorillas in Uganda

2 – Central America inc, Mexico City, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Belize, Hodurous, Costa Rica, Ecuador

3 – Southern India, Northern Vietnam, North Thailand and Laos

4 – A sailing trip around Croatia and Greece followed by a few days in Turkey

5 – Jordan to Egypt with a visit to the Sahara

When I left home, there were a few tweaks I personally wanted to make in my personality. I didn't want to be narrow minded, ignorant or intolerant towards *********s when I returned. One thing sure has improved, my fussiness towards food. I feel we both embraced the cuisine, without denying trying 'anything'. We have proudly eaten: snake wine, tarantula, silk worm, cricket, horse, haggis, ostrich, warthog, giraffe, guinea pigs and… I've even had warm bananas!

This trip wouldn't have been the same without having the ability to share it with family, friends, strangers and travelling buddies. Writing a blog was one of the best decisions we made. Although at times I've unintentionally offended people with controversial opinions, I have had no regrets, with me what you see is what you get. Each blog, including photo uploading has taken an average of 20 hours. I have written 69 so thats a ridiculously long 1,380 hours spent but it has been worth worth every minute, plus it's been read nearly 4,000 times! We now have something to reflect back on, and share with our future kids and with any luck they'll get the travel bug too. I would like them to see it for themselves and not just read about it. Travelling opens your eyes, makes you less judgmental and more accepting and understanding. I would want them to know how fortunate they are to live in this era, in this society, in this world.

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