Happy new years!
What a whirlwind the last 8 months have been. It’s crazy to think that we left little old NZ in May this year.
As this year draws to a close we look back on our adventure…
We’ve been to 19 countries with 13 international flights.
We have met some awesome people along the way which has made travelling all the more interesting.
Favourite country –
It’s really hard to pick one because they have all been so different. If you phrase the question differently and ask yourselves where you’d go back to again there are only a few among the many.
- SEA was amazing in terms of the culture and how much we fitted in to a month.
- We’d have to say travelling through Cali in our campervan for 5 weeks was a highlight just with the ease of travel and the variety in landscape with the national parks. North California, Oregon, Washington and visiting Yellow Stone National Park is definitely on our list of things to do.
- Morocco was also a lovely surprise and somewhere else we’d go back to.
Highlights –
- Well how can we beat winning the Rugby World Cup… Winning it twice in a row! Cardiff and Millennium Stadium was right up there!
- Watching an active volcano spew lava
- The humpback whales breaching in San Francisco was truly special
- The pink paint job on our rental van
- Camel riding in the Sahara desert and visiting the Atlas Mountains
- Africa, swimming in the Atlantic, Grand Canyon and Death Valley were some big geographically features we ticked off too.
- Witnessing turtles lay eggs and releasing baby turtles
- The amazing markets
- And how could we forget the motorbike tour in Vietnam
Animals spotted –
- Whale shark
- Flamingos
- Stingrays
- Moray eels
- Pika
- Butterflies
- Mountain goats
- Black bears
- Elephants
- Ants, ants and more ants
- Sloth… unfortunately only a stuffed one.
- Bobcat
- Iguanas
- Humpback whales
- Dolphins
- Elephant seals
- Condor
- Monkeys
- Turtles
- Camels and a few more…
Lessons learned –
- Travel with a beard – no one approaches you!
- Don’t dress up, look like you have no money. We never got robbed as we looked like the poor backpackers we were!
- Daily budget for each country has kept us on the straight and narrow (as well as Nick’s natural stingyness)
- Lock your door properly at night. Luckily Wazza learnt this lesson on our behalf but Nick still ended up at the Police station filing a report after robbers came through in the night.
- Eat the street food, tastes better and makes the money last longer!
- Local transport is so much more fun!
Things we wouldn’t do again…
- Spend $200NZD on a boat ride around Bangkok … at least that was the only time we got ripped off
- Dive in Hondourus, the diving was more set up for people who wanted to get their Paddy licence rather than for fun dives… The party scene more than made up for the lack of exciting diving though
- Go to Chichiniza in Mexico… was an over rated historic site. Tikal in Guatemala was way better
- Leave your Kindle on your lap on an overnight bus
- Catch the bus from Cambodia to Vietnam… 14 hours on a shitty road was just not worth it in the end
Dislikes –
- The dogs and cats which roam the streets
- Bed bugs
- The wafting City sewage smell
- Arrogant, drunk, adolescent upperclass backpackers
- Currency converters, boarder security and exchange rates
- Coco cola, their rubbish is everywhere
- French dogs which bite and shit everywhere
What are we up to now?
After all that time travelling we have finally settled down in a quaint little French town, Les Gets (pronounced Le J) in the Alps. We are chalet hosting which means we look after up to 20 guests who are over from the UK on a snow holiday. We cook them breakfast and dinner and make their overall stay as enjoyable as possible. The guests normally stay for one week, arriving and leaving on a Sunday which is our busiest day with changing over all the beds and preparing the chalet for the next guests.
So far so good! You can check out our chalet below (and read one comment we’ve received all ready!).
The snow is on it’s way (it’s been a late start to the season) and once it gets going properly we are only a 5 minute walk from the closest ski lift! The Port de Soliel ski area has over 600 KMs of groomed trail so the skiing is pretty awesome.
What’s the plan for 2016?
Well, you’re asking us… We’re not sure yet. Travelling around Europe in the off seasons. We’ll make sure to keep you all posted!
Here is a selection of our favourite photos from 2015 and we endeavour to emulate the adventures again next year. Keep in touch and come visit us...failing this get amongst your own adventure and see the world we live in!
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