One day, Moo and I decided to quit our jobs and travel for our year abroad!
It wasn’t the easiest decision, (I was begging him to move to New Zealand with me!), but this was our compromise. Tough. I get it.
So we started to save, and save and save everything we could to get as much money in the bank as possible.
The hardest part wasn’t quitting our jobs or leaving our beautiful apartment. It was deciding where we would go and what backpack to choose.
Greece
We started out on May 1st, flying from Sydney to Athens, Greece. The first island we reached was Sifnos, ahhh Sifnos, it’s still under my skin and I can’t let it go. The food was exceptional, that should be enough to make you want to go there. Then it was off to Milos! We enjoyed Milos, especially the thrills and spills of the place. On our way to Crete, we stopped off at the infamous Santorini, I have to admit, I didn’t LOVE it.
From Santorini, it was aboard the ferry again on the way to carefree Crete where we enjoyed the beautiful bays of turquoise waters, fresh seafood and even an epic day hike at Aradena Gorge. Before we knew it, the week was up and we were flying our separate ways, me to Budapest and Moo to go kitesurfing in Montenegro.
Eastern Europe
From Budapest, I went on to walk the European Peace Walk (a 330km journey from Hungary to Italy) arriving in Italy, (finally) in mid-June. From here the only thing on the agenda menu, was a relaxing two weeks in Umbria. Tough, I know.
Italy
After our two weeks in Umbria, we set off to Lucca, before meeting our friends in Pisa to travel ten days down to the Amalfi Coast. After all that excitement, we were ready for some chill time, so it was off to the tiny island off the coast of Naples, called Procida. A hop, skip and a jump over to the U.K for a wedding and before we knew it we were back in Italy – but this time we were exploring as much as we could in Sicily.
South Africa
From there, we made the huge decision to leave the northern hemisphere and fly south – straight down to chilly Cape Town. While we were here, we tried to explore as much as possible, including the peninsula and the many vineyards along the way, but we couldn’t come all this way and not see the Big Five.
During our time here, we decided to give pet sitting a try, it was absolutely wonderful!! We ended up spending two months along the Garden Route along the western cape too!
Brazil
After a rather embarrassing incident, involving us flying business class to São Paulo, we were thrilled to be in Latin America. We fled to the north coast for warmer waters. Moo and I split ways, he on a kite surfing safari and me on a two week surf retreat. Once reunited we continued north to Jericoacoara where we travelled as responsibly as possible for another week.
Seriously sun and surfed-out, we ventured down south, first heading to Rio de Janeiro, which at first didn’t impress, but after visiting the stunning Ilha Grande, then on to colonial Paraty and diplomatic Petropolis we gave Rio de Janeiro a second try, this time staying in a different part of town, we’d definitely warmed to the place by then.
Barbados
After Brazil, we flew north west, this time to tropical Barbados, where we would be living for a month, pet sitting again, this time, looking after two cats. Here, we tried hash for the first time and enjoyed plenty of the Caribbean beaches, but it wasn’t just beaches that kept us occupied during our stay.
Panama
From Barbados, we were off to Panama! Excited to explore a new country, we were joined by Moo’s mum, Soz, who came with us to El Valle de Anton and Taboga Island. From there Moo and I hopped on an overnight bus to explore Bocas del Toro and Boquete. The coffee in Boquete was UNREAL!! We slowly made our way back to Panama City once again before the short flight to Mexico City! Before that we announced our big plans to cycle across the United States of America, from west to east, it’s going to be one serious adventure!
Mexico
After a seriously indulgent (and exciting) week in Mexico City, which even induced Moo to write his first blog about the street tacos. We fled to the Baja California Sur peninsula for some sun, sea and whale sharks. Starting out in La Paz, before heading south for some snorkelling, we then headed west for our third house-sit in Todos Santos.
USA
After a short flight from Cabo San Lucas, we quickly arrived in San Francisco to spend a week with our friends. It was so much fun to spend time with them and live like a real Yankee! We then had four days on our arrival into San Diego to prepare for our cycle across the United States. We made it all the way to Phoenix, Arizona with this tiny packing list before the world went mad. This is where things came to an abrupt end. Due to COVID-19 we were required to fly back to Australia. Stay tuned for more updates on where and when we round up our year abroad.
One thing you should know – is that we’re travelling the year with carry-on luggage only (this is what’s in my bag!) and that we expect to travel as lightly on the earth as possible, in fact everything we have is as ethical (and Australian made) as we could find!
Follow the journey on Facebook and enjoy every minute, I know we are going to damn well try!