Best 43 Images of Animals We Encountered Around the World

I thought it would be a fun idea to compile some of the best images of animals we encountered during our trip, so Anne and I came up with this list. Some of them are quite hilarious. I tried to position them in chronological order, except for the first one, which is just a teaser to give you an idea of how amazing some of these encounters were...

Image 1: Anne leaning against a tiger at Tiger Kingdom in Chiang Mai, Thailand. 

2012 in Review and 2013 Resolutions

The other night I watched a National Geographic documentary on the first full ascent of the Everest made by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. The most inspiring thing (which I didn’t know until now) was that after this moment, Hillary spent most of his life in Nepal, building schools and hospitals for the Sherpa people. As of now, he’s one of my new heroes in terms of making life choices and living a meaningful, fulfilled life. In this documentary, Hillary mentions a great quote that I’d like to share with you all: “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature. Avoiding danger is not safer than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” - Allan Keller.

2012 Overview

2012 was a good year... I would even go as far as to say that it’s been the best year of my life so far, at least in terms of adventure accomplishments. Considering I spent only 4 months out of 12 working, and the rest of the year traveling about and living frugally, I guess it was indeed the perfect recipe for a happy, fulfilled year. Long story short, here’s my 2012 in a nutshell: 

Lists

So I made it to New York City. In the past two months here, I've acquired a new skill that I might need to add to my resume sometime soon: cat sitter. I've had two house/cat sitting gigs so far and I have two more to go. They're all for friends of mine, or friends of friends. I'm beginning to wonder how long I could bounce around from house to house, living out of my suitcase (which has multiplied to three), before I just completely lose it. I started this blog post months ago, and just haven't had a chance to wrap it up because I've been trying to pull my life together. It's gonna be a long one, so brace yourselves ... this post is a retrospective of our trip around the world, in the form of lists.

While traveling, I always kept a little notebook on me. It came in handy for writing down addresses, drawing calendars and jotting down notes to myself. I kept a few on-going lists that I added to throughout the trip. This blog post combines all of my lists and expands on them. Here is a list of my lists. Click to jump to section.

Perspectives

Today's blog post is about the myriads of ways people see the world around them, and how one can relate to or understand others' points of view. We often assume that our own point of view is shared by others around us and we carry this thought fallacy from either personal or professional perspectives. We see friends unable to comprehend your dislike of PB&J sandwiches or donuts. (I mean, who doesn't like donuts? You must be a total weirdo!) We see marketers who assume that using the words "awesome" and "fabulous" repeatedly in their copy will make every potential new user get really excited with their product/website/whatever it is they're trying to sell.

Backpacking List

For a while now I've been really into backpack hiking. I could say it's my newly discovered love. There's something about being out there in the wilderness by yourself, away from civilization, cars, cell-phones, loud artificial sounds, hoards of people, that renews me and fills me up with happiness and energy. For those who like to run, they call it "the runner's high." I guess I have "the hiker's high," and you can probably speak about similar highs with any other outdoors activity. Whatever rocks your high boat!

I've long wanted to make an extensive list of all the items I need to bring with me when hiking, as there's always something I forget at home. The list below was borrowed from my friend David Pilz and slightly modified/expanded to suit my own packing needs. 

Some of the items on the list below are linking to my favorite camping items/brands, but that doesn't mean they are the best, or that I am endorsing a certain brand. They are just the items I've used and liked, and a good recommendation starting point for anyone building a "hiking kit" from scratch. 

The weight of your backpack with all the items inside it already should be less than 25% of your body weight, so, keep that in mind when purchasing new camping items, such as sleeping mat, tent or sleeping bag. Today, you can find extremely light and compact camping gear. Some of it can be expensive, but it's worth it, if you know you'll be hiking or camping a lot. I've had my ultralight sleeping bag, mat and tent for years now, have used them tons of times and never regret the investment.

The Beach

Here's another post where I will rant about how perfect my life is. Despite various life vicissitudes, such as seeing loved ones getting old or sick, facing impeding death of close relatives, confronting one's own health issues, struggling to find love, purpose and mindfulness, despite all that - I look at the life I've lived so far and think of it as pretty fucking amazing. Wow, what an eclectic collection of adventures and experiences it has been!

July 3rd 2011 - Travis's birthday camping trip, Groveland, California

The Double-Edged Sword of Tourism

The idea for this blog post came after a heated conversation my Romanian friends and I had over a beer (ahem, many beers, actually) in Bucharest last night. Romanians are always obsessed with their image abroad. "Obsessed" is probably not the most accurate choice of words - it should rather be interpreted as: "self-conscious about their already tarnished image in the eyes of Western Europe." Sometimes even to the point of over-compensating, sadly and unnecessarily.

Often, countries that feel self-conscious about their potential, try (too) hard to show off their goods, promote their great touristic and human assets, boast about their great history and achievements. Marketing programs for tourism often succeed to create that "desirable" image of a place you really want to go to. Whether it's in the great photography employed (often from a certain and only angle that shows the goods in the right light,) or in well-written copy, these ads succeed in luring the tourist into visiting the next hot destination. Once they get there, the situation may be completely different and off-putting. Here's why...

Vicky, a sweet young boy from Varanasi, India, who helped Anne buy, transport and ship a sitar.

We were in a hotel somewhere in India and met two Italian boys. They seemed nice, and we were craving for conversation with like-minded people, in a country where all men stare at you like you're some porn-star.We invited them into our room, where the 5 of us hung out and talked for a few hours over big bottles of water (alcohol is not quite legal in certain parts of India, so many hotels don't serve it.)

Weird Shit in Asia

Across our travels throughout Southeast Asia we encountered many quirky things, from products, signs, merchandise and food items that would be regarded as weird or funny in our western world. Anne did a great overview of Singaporean signage that had us crack up with silly western jokes, and here I am, trying to delight you, our dear readers, with some Asian oddities collected along the way. Disclaimer: some of the photos are somewhat NSFW, so please don't scroll down if you're at work, have a big monitor and your boss might be looking over your shoulder. 

The Philippines: in a mall in Manila we found disposable panties with a poetic tag line: "We're just a heart beat away. One touch could make it happen. We can reach the other side if we hold on to the passion."

Download This Mix

So I made a playlist that I've been adding songs to throughout this trip. I listen to this mix over and over on long boat, plane, train and bus rides. It has become the soundtrack to the scenery and life passing by the windows on these voyages.

I took most of these songs from a Dropbox folder that I share with some friends of mine. Most of them are from DJ Danny White. If you like my mix, you will like the mixes on his website.

I want to share these songs with other people because I think they're really good!

The mix is 25 songs total (234 MB), so I separated it into two downloads.

PART ONE
01 Too Insistent (Trentemoller Remix) // The Do
02 Noah's Ark // David Lynch
03 Hold My Breath // Holy Ghost!
04 Blitz // Digitalism
05 Close To Everything // Mickey Moonlight
06 Beat and the Pulse (Kool-Thing Remix) // Austra
07 Boy Trouble // Benoit & Sergio
08 Do You Remember // Ane Brun
09 Reckless (Psychemagik Remix) // Azari & III
10 Wine // Blondes
11 A Real Hero (feat. Electric Youth) // College
12 Under Your Spell // Desire
13 Nu Age // Dreams West
14 Week-end a Rome // Etienne daho

PART TWO
15 The Wilhelm Scream (Poindexter Remix) // James Blake
16 Nightcall // Kavinsky & Lovefoxxx
17 Untitled // POMPEYA
18 La Ritournelle // Sebastien Tellier
19 Could've It Been Me? (Demo) // Sugarglider
20 Swing Star pt1 // Todd Terje
21 Sunlight // Bag Raiders
22 Memorex // FM ATTACK
23 Imprint // Amtrac
24 Silver Boys // Grand Duchy
25 Destiny feat. Pional // John Talabot

Enjoy! And let me know if you have any trouble downloading it.

Halfway thru

Today is March 1st, 2012 and we've been on the road for a little over 3 months. This is the midpoint of our trip and so far it feels like it's been an eternity since we left home. It feels like we've done so much already. Over 15 flights, countless bus and train rides, and 10 countries later, we have indeed done a lot. Our memory works like a superfast computer, trying to cope and register all the new sensations, words, directions, addresses, sights and smells we're encountering every day.

Blogging on the sleeper train.

Some days feel like sensory overload: our first day in Lima and now our first day in Hanoi. Other days are blissful and full of nothing but relaxation, massages, chilling by a pool or on some pristine tropical beach. We got a fair share of everything across the board: from dirty cramped hostel dorms to swanky hotel rooms, from gross self-made pasta to amazing fruit juices, from comfy plane rides across continents to miserable overnight bus rides. And all that in only 3 months. Sometimes I feel like time is compressed, and I get to live a lifetime of experiences in fast-forward motion. I often wish I was able to press a pause button and linger in one place for a while longer. But for now it's not possible. We have to keep going. We have a set schedule and we must stick to it. We are often telling ourselves that "this" and "that" place require more in-depth exploration and are promising to return some day.

Read "The Collector" by John Fowles

Books are a luxury these days. I think Monica had the right idea purchasing her Kindle. It's easy for her to buy books on the Internet--she can pretty much find any book she wants to read, purchase it and download it wirelessly to her Kindle in a matter of minutes. I, on the other hand, struggle to find a bookstore with books in English. Even if they have books in English, I'm limited to whatever small assortment of books they have. Something about me just wants the hard copy. I want to feel the pages and smell the ink. Did you see "Midnight in Paris"? Maybe this is a case of nostalgia. I should probably get over it.

Anyway, while in Buenos Aires I bought three books, which didn't last me too long with our never-ending bus rides and layovers. The first two books didn't do it for me, but as they say, the third time's the charm.

Some of Our Most Loved Gear

We had to be extremely selective with the items we brought on our trip, and two weeks into it, I can say we did a great job choosing. We have very few items that we haven't used yet, mainly rain pants and a poncho, because it never rained (when we weren't in our tents) on the Inca Trail.

Probably our favorite and most useful items are our backpacks. I love mine. It is made by Arcteryx, and it has the perfect amount of pockets, that are extremely well-placed. It is also incredibly comfortable to carry, even when loaded with almost 40 pounds of gear. The hip belt swivels as you walk, reducing strain on your back. Also of note is the simple color and design, which is what attracted me to the backpack in the first place. It's really tough to find women's gear that's not lime green, beige or magenta. Just because I'm female doesn't mean I want to look like a flower or a leprechaun. Monica likes her backpack because it has a mesh back that creates an extra space between her back and the backpack for airflow, so her back never gets sweaty or uncomfortable. Hers is made by Osprey.

Anne at the beginning of the Inca Trail hike with her cute Arcteryx backpack.

 The waterproof jackets have been a savior. I'd say they are the ultimate must-have items on a backpacker's list. Light and compact, they are great to carry along on daily explorations. In the Andes, you never know when it's going to start raining. Often, while hiking in Peru, we'd start the day with sun and oppressive heat, only to see the sky cover with dark clouds a few hours later. Waterproof jackets also saved us in La Paz, where we ran errands all day long covered in our rain gear, rain pants and boots--looking like astronauts. It was our ultimate "function over fashion" moment.

Rain jacket FTW!

We also love our travel towels, made by MSR. We both happened to buy the same brand of towel independently. They're great because they're light, absorbent and they dry fast. Unfortunately, I got the medium size, which is too small to wrap around myself, so I always have to get changed in the shower room. Monica, on the other hand, bought the extra large size, which comfortably covers her entire body so she can walk around in her towel, without drawing too much attention from all the boys in the hostel. If I can find en extra large travel towel somewhere on our trip, I'd gladly buy it to replace mine.

Our hiking boots have been great as well. Mine are made by Frye, and are light, comfortable and classic-looking. I haven't had any pain in my feet yet. And we've done a lot of walking and hiking. I did have to spend some time waterproofing them with some waxy substance I bought from Sports Basement. So far, I haven't worn them in the rain yet, so I can't really say if that stuff works or not. Monica bought Lowa boots, which came pre- waterproofed, and they've worked out great for her. She found them serendipitously through watching a video of a girl who hiked through Iceland alone. At the end of the video, there was a shot of her shoes. Monica paused the video, noted the brand and model, and purchased through Zappos. And since the video is really worth seeing, you guys should check it out.



Having the laptops has been handy as well (when they function properly). We both have Eee PCs, made by Asus. Unfortunately, Monica has had a lot of trouble with hers; I think it's because she bought it used. I would recommend buying a new computer if you can, the difference in price was less than $100.

Pre-Departure Thoughts

"The best journeys answer questions that in the beginning you never even thought to ask." - Yvon Chouinard in 180 South, one of my favorite documentaries.

It has begun and I still cannot believe it. Sitting on our first flight from SF to Miami with Anne taking a nap next to me, I realize this is the first moment of calm and relaxation I’ve had in weeks. I am starting to relax and see the first glimpses of excitement on the horizon.  During the last few weeks, the dominating state of mind was one filled with anxiety, sadness, worry – and not excitement. Everyone I’ve been talking to has annoyingly asked the same question over and over again: “Are you excited?” And my answer was always an evasive and polite “Yes.” Catching up with Anne just now on the plane, she confessed a similar experience, which made me feel more at ease with my bizarre state of mind. 

Taken over Lima right before landing. November 22, 2011.

You see, when you are rooted in a life somewhere, and you have bills to pay, a job and tons of ties to the many things that make your life what it is, putting that life on a shelf while preparing for a new nomad life takes a lot of research and planning. And for that to work out properly, you need your head on your shoulders. And for your head to be on your shoulders, you hardly have energy left for euphoria and excitement. But now that all the stressful planning is behind, let the excitement begin!

This plane is now taking me from my current established life to the new nomadic life.  On a symbolic level, I see this flight as the borderline or transporter between the two. It’s also the first moment of “nothing to do” – what a bliss and strange concept. I am looking forward to moments like this, of “nothing to do”, and the thrill of dedicating them to myself, to introspection, reading, writing, taking notes on the things I did, saw, smelled, tasted, loved, hated and adored during the day. I believe that introspection, time-to-self, time for reflection and meditation is what my old life lacked the most. I was too busy with my day-to-day responsibilities and too tired at night to do anything for myself, to nourish my soul spiritually. 

I am excited to not have a smart phone, to not obsessively check email and Facebook on it every 30 minutes, to not text like a maniac instead of talking on the phone or in real life, to not chat with people who live a few blocks away or in the same house. I am excited to leave technology behind, to not hear people talk about “checking in on Foursquare,” or about some new iPhone app. That may seem ironic coming from someone who has worked for a tech company until a few days ago, but yeah, I think we’re doing the tech thing way too much in San Francisco. We’re too connected, our lives are too much on display online, we’re too compelled to post updates about every single mundane detail. 

Posted from the Miami International airport at 12:54am local time.

Itinerary

"One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore." - Andre Gide 

Many of our friends and acquaintances have asked where we're going on this 6-month trip, so here's a more detailed itinerary. Since we're traveling on a small budget, any help with accommodation, transportation or tips on where to stay or what to do for cheap are greatly appreciated. So, if you know anyone living in any of these places who would be willing to show us around or let us sleep on their couch/floor for a night or two, or if you've been to any of these places yourself and have some great tips to share with us, please leave a comment below or send us an email on Facebook. 

We also appreciate meeting locals and being exposed to their real life and that is often hard to do as a tourist. We want to stray off the tourist path and the fake experiences often fabricated just for tourists. If you know anyone who would like to show us around, we'd be very excited to meet them.   

For the next 6 months, here's where we're planning to be:

• South America: Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile (Patagonia), Brazil (from November until mid January 2012)  
• South-East Asia: Bali, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, Hong Kong (from mid January to mid April 2012) 
• India, Nepal, London, Romania (from mid April to end of May 2012)   

 

Packing For A Six Month Trip

"We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls." - Anais Nin

My second blog post finds us at exactly 1 month before trip start. Minus a few technicalities, we've got almost everything ready. Living out of a backpack for 6 months is not easy, especially when you travel on a budget, and a lot of compromises in terms of comfort and style have to be made. We'll bring a minimum of worldly possessions with us and we have to make sure the items we pick are essential, functional, and not too heavy.

I've put together a "packing" list of all the things I'm bringing with me. Anne has the same stuff, more or less. I hope anyone planning similar trips will find this helpful. 

Electronic Gear

10-inch netbook - bought second hand on E-bay for ~$180. I don't care what brand it is, how it looks, if it gets stolen, as long as I have something on the road to check my email, write blog posts, upload photos, watch movies and call my family.

1 Terra-bite external hard-drive that will be filled with movies, music and will act as storage for all the photos I'll be taking during the trip. Anne also has a Dropbox account, but I'm a bit skeptical about the upload speeds we'll encounter in Internet cafes, so I figured better have some storage device on us. 

Canon S95 digital camera - a wonderful small camera with full manual controls. I am still torn about not bringing my DSLR, but it would be attracting unnecessary attention from thieves, plus it would be too heavy to carry and require too much care. Will also bring an extra battery and extra SD card. These are essential on longer trips (e.g. the 4 day Inca Trail hike, for example.)

Shitty old unlocked phone - I've had this Nokia phone for over 5 years, it's unlocked and good to go in any country in the world. Nobody would want to steal this piece of shit. It might come handy to get a pre-paid sim card in some of the places where we plan on staying for longer.


I've also just got a Kindle, the cheapest one for $79. I was not sure whether I should get one or not, but realized it's so worth it in terms of the amount of space and weight in my luggage that it saves. Perks of having a Kindle: you ca buy some Lonely Planet guides for only $5 each versus almost $25 for the real book version. The Kindle store also has some good novels available for free. Most of them are classic fiction, but I've found a few good ones I've been meaning to read for a long time. I've also downloaded some travel guides in PDF format that I can load up and read on the Kindle. I still love paper books more than anything and don't want to sound like a techie snob, but this is ultimately about the weight I am willing and capable to haul on my back for six months.

Essential Gear and Clothing

 

Travel backpack - After some research and in-store trials at REI, I went with the Atmos 65 from Osprey. A friend of mine already had the same pack but in smaller capacity, and what I really liked about it is the ventilated mesh back panel. Basically, this mesh panel creates an inch of space between your back and the backpack, so your back doesn't sweat like crazy touching the backpack. I've always hated how much my back would sweat and how when I took the backpack off, I would suddenly get cold once the sweat started to dry off. Not with this one. I've already used it during my trip to Romania over the summer and it's pretty amazing. My new philosophy when shopping for gear is to buy from REI, take it for a spin, and return it if it doesn't do what I want. REI has such a great return policy.

Day backpack - Upon returning an old camping backpack to REI, I was able to get a Pacsafe Venturesafe 25L in exchange. It's just a regular plain black backpack, but it has a few security "perks" such as lockable zippers, a metal wire mesh sewn through the fabric (so that a thief doesn't cut your bag while you've fallen asleep on a bus or train somewhere) and really nice comfortable fit. This will be my bag for the many long plane, bus, train rides, as well as for daily hikes and activities.

Money hiding belt - This one's a really important accessory. I went with a soft silk one, which feels very comfortable around my belly. Last time I went backpacking through Peru I had a harder version, made of a harsh knotty fabric and it was itchy and extremely uncomfortable. If you're gonna travel for a long time and need to wear this thing on you for extended periods of time, I recommend getting a comfy one, like the one I got. Totally worth it. Not as much for hiding money, but for storing your passport and other important documents.  

Other essentials
I'm not going to go into details about what clothes to bring, it's really up to you and the itinerary you have, but I'll mention a few essential items you must bring.

• hiking boots - make sure they're broken in, not bought 2 days before your trip starts.
• comfy walking shoes - your gentle 9to5er yuppie feet are not accustomed to walking for hours, so make sure to bring super comfy shoes. I'm bringing a 2 year old pair of mega-broken-in Onitsuka Tigers; they're the best shoes ever. 
• rain gear - ou'll definitely need it, so bring it. I have a set of jacket and pants and I recommend that over the stupid yellow poncho that all tourists wear. Proper rain gear covers you head to toe and you won't even feel any discomfort. Good rain gear is underrated.
• a hoodie - this is my ultimate wear all-day every-day item on a trip. It's awesome because: a) you can layer it: zip up when it's cold, zip down when it gets warmer, hood on when you wanna take a nap on the plane or bus. Inconspicuous, gender-neutral and cool. 
• plastic flip-flops - must haves for those times when you want to take showers in nasty hostel bathrooms and don't want to touch all those germs and fungi with your bare feet. Seriously, if you forget them, buy them as soon as you get there. Toe fungi are nasty and hard to get rid of. 
• travel towel and pure castile soap - a fluffy real towel will probably occupy 1/3 of your backpack. Big no, no. Get a travel towel, like the one I got (see in this photo). Travel towels are made of microfiber or other similar materials and take up very little room in your backpack. They tend to stink up faster, but if you're in a really hot climate, might even wash it every few days and let it dry out. I also got a big bottle of pure castile soap, which can be used to wash clothes, your body, face, hair and everything else you want to wash. 
• a pillow case to use in hostels - that's just my own personal oddity, so feel free to ignore it, laugh at it or follow it. I can't sleep well if I put my face on an "unknown" pillow case. Especially some $4/night hostels in South America where you don't know if the bedsheets have been washed before given to you. So what I usually do is sleep inside my own sleeping bag and slip my own pillow case on top of the pillow the hostel is providing. Then I can bury my face in it and sleep like a baby. Speaking of, don't forget to bring some ear plugs. This hostel in Lima I once stayed at had insane street traffic noise. Another hostel I stayed at had loud people coming into the room late at night. if you're a light sleeper, you need ear plugs. If you have one of those modern down/feather sleeping bags, best place to keep your ear plugs is inside the zipper pocket on your bag.
• neck pillow for airplanes - I used to think these were "gay" but man, they are such a life (and neck) saver! If you've ever been on a 12-hour flight, you know what I'm talking about. Anne and I will be on two 17-hour flights back to back and we really need these babies for our own sanity.

Utilities

• pocket knife
• can opener - a Swiss army knife would have both a knife and a can opener, but I'm not a big fan of those. They're nice, but the knife is always too small to be useful.
• alarm clock (that runs on AA batteries)- for those times when you have to wake up at 4am to catch an early flight.
• a roll of duct tape - laugh, but when your backpack strap breaks, when a thief cuts your luggage, when your bag gets caught on the airplane carousel and rips, that roll of duct tape will come in very handy. Generally speaking, it's the only tool you need to fix anything that breaks.
• power adapters for different countries - I have this nice Tektonic kit I got in France a few years ago and it's got adapters for all different plugs around the world.
• headlamp
• sound splitter - for when you want to watch a movie on your laptop with a buddy and you can both plug in your own headphones. A sound splitter is super small, cheap (about $12 at Radio Shack) and totally awesome. 

Medicine

• for traveler diarrhea
• for malaria
• for altitude sickness
• birth control
• pain killers
• insect repellent
• sunscreen
• band-aids
• antibiotic cream
• water purification tablets (Micropur)
• prescription drugs if you have any (e.g. birth control)
• contact lens liquid if you wear contacts
• certificate of all vaccinations (staple it inside passport)
  

Paperwork

• printouts of plane tickets and itinerary
  
• extra passport photographs for visas
• 2 color photocopies of everything important (also have digital copy in email account)
• written down important phone numbers and insurance numbers (easy to access when there’s no Internet available)

Fortune Cookie

I got an interesting fortune from a fortune cookie the other day:

It made me start thinking about how I can potentially give back on the trip and not just take ... I really like this idea.

I only have a couple more weeks until I leave for France with my parents. There's still a lot to do. I'm not looking forward to packing all my stuff up and moving it into a storage space. Having stuff stresses me out, but I know I can always toss it when I get back from the trip if I want. For now, I'll just box it up and try not to think about it.

Lots of life changes going on right now and it's kind of scary, but I know it's all for the best and I'll just take it one day at a time.

Explore. Dream. Discover.

Earlier this year, a few (8 to be more exact) good friends booked a very spontaneous trip to the big island of Hawaii. Travis found a great deal on Southwest Airlines (about $290 roundtrip) and sent an email to all of us at around 6pm on a Tuesday. By 10am the next day all of us had already got our time off requests approved, and our tickets purchased. We were bound for an adventure together!

While in Hawaii, we had “breakfast” one morning at Basik Acai in Kona, which is a “health bar” that makes these delicious fruit bowls made of pureed fruit mixed with granola, nuts, flax seeds and other crazy healthy ingredients. They are amazing and I highly recommend them if you ever end up in Kona. This health bar also had a big sign on top of it that says: ‘Wake up and live.” On one of the tables there was a book and as I started flipping through its pages while waiting for my acai bowl, I came across a page with a quote. It resonated with me so much that I took a photo of it:



That was my first encounter with this famous quote. It was March 4, 2011 and ironically, since then, I’ve come across this quote many times while perusing various articles online. 

Fast forward about a month to a lovely San Francisco morning, when my friend Anne and I went for brunch together. She told me how she always wanted to go travel around the world. I said I’d go with her if she was serious about it. And so, that morning, we decided we’d go on a trip together. We met a few more times, brainstormed locations, length of trip, budget, a start date and so on. Here we are now, six weeks to go until our departure date: November 21, 2011. 

I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am. There are moments when I just want to jump up and down with joy or pinch myself to make sure it’s not just a dream. There are also days when I get overwhelmed with anxiety at all the things I have to take care of before our departure and at the uncertainty of the coming months. We won’t know where we’ll sleep and if the money will suffice. I won’t know how I will earn my living and afford my rent when I come back. I try not to think about it too much and tell myself that I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. 

Anne and I are leaving San Francisco on November 21st. We will be travelling to Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Bali, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, Hong Kong, India, Nepal, Tibet (hopefully), London and from there back to good ol’ USA. 

I know there are millions of other travel blogs out there, and millions of other people who’ve backpacked, at younger ages and for longer periods of time. So this blog will be more for myself, my close friends, parents, and anyone else who might be interested to read about our adventures. We hope to bring a smile on your faces and help you discover something new. 

Stay tuned for our next blog post, where I will be talking about how to pack for a trip like this, including a list of must-have items and recommended electronics.