365

365 days, 16 countries and a full circumference of the globe. So how much would a trip like this cost? The tickets, 20 flights, cost almost exactly £2000. We bought a couple more, at about £120 each, along the way. A long van rental in Australia? Just over 50 days in the off season cost us about £1500 between us. Considering that was our accommodation as well it wasn't too bad. But if anyone if staying longer than a couple of months then buying a vehicle is the way to go.
Our American Subaru set us back a couple of thousand quid and we sold it in a rush for about £900 with it's nagging new fault!


So the real cost it just living. All in all I probably spent about £12,000 just on food, getting around and sightseeing. I bought only a couple of momentous from the trip as carrying the newly purchased items or sending them back expensively is a hassle I can live without. It was enough to carry a backpack and another bag in my hand on those long travelling days, not that they were packed with clothes. For the first 6 months I survived on one pair of boxer shorts!
Since I've been back in the world of odd new phrases like 'credit crunch' many people have asked me what my favourite country is. I've not even scratched the surface as far as world travel goes but I'd definitely like to see more of Japan and New Zealand. America's landscape is amazing and just everyday living in South America was for me the true spirit of what a trip like this is all about.

One person has asked me what my worst country is and to be honest that's an even harder question. I plumped for Bolivia because the people were miserable, there was a lot of civil unrest once we left, but there's some truly beautiful scenery there. The unwanted attention in China and the annoying con-men in Bangkok were only minor bugs in an otherwise exceptional trip. We spent a year almost constantly travelling and encountered only one dodgy situation and even that was not a full week into the trip.
Would I do it all again? Well, yes. I'm not sure if I'd stay away for as long as a year again but six months definitely. Although, for anyone who hasn't already done the year trip then I would recommend it unquestionably.


I've been set a back and left speechless soo many times along the way with soo many memories that keep coming back to me that will stay stored away in a dusty corner of my brain forever. I've come back a red wine and green tea drinker but other than that nothing has changed except for my massive appreciation for the great country of my birth. It's funny how much things about your own country you miss, good British ales for one, and how much the people who live here take everything for granted and really do a good job of putting it all down.
As I go about my daily business I often think that at this very moment there's guys in flip-flops and shades doing some welding in China. There's a bronzed, beer bellied 50 year old guy catching a few waves on his surf board. There's a tour guide explaining the Inca ruins in three different languages. There's a perfect Argentinian steak being served, a stunning American mountain range being snowboarded, a huge New Zealand glacier being explored inside and a funk band playing in the dark clubs of the white city of San Francisco. Whatever it is, wherever it is, when you're travelling there's always something going on and it's almost impossible not to love it.

Hasta luego Latin America

The third leg of this trip is over. Latin America. And what a place it is. Only one country didn't really impress, and that was only due to the people, Bolivia. But that's not saying I wouldn't go back there and give it another chance. Once the altitude has been overcome there's plenty of places to visit in Bolivia it's just my enthusiasm was taken away by the miserable Bolivians we meet. They can't all be like that, and besides they had a lot of civil unrest against the president after we left. I like to think my arrival there was the final straw.


The highlights include the immense Iguazu Falls and the mystical Macchu Picchu. These are both highlights of the whole trip so far. I loved most of Peru, crossing the Andes, seeing Mexico City and everything Argentinian. South America is a huge continent and as far as this trip goes it's similar to Asia. A different language, different culture and cheap. Thing is, as good as Asia is it can't compete with South America. Maybe it's not fair to compare continents really. It was a lot easier day to day in Latin America because I knew some of the language and learnt more as we went along.


Getting the language takes a bit of time but pays off all over the place, except Brazil damn it!

Rio was definitely the most dangerous feeling place on the continent, and the whole trip, but it did have it's extremely beautiful side that you just can't deny. There's poverty, there's money, there's everything. This is travelling, I'm not talking about deep Amazon vine hacking or mountain trekking in Peru but everyday life in Latin America in itself is enough to make me want to go back over and over. The whole place is enormous and massively diverse, it has nearly every climate on Earth. Everyday there's something going on and something to see. Amazing stuff and quality of living all within the reach of the backpacker. I'll come on holiday here as soon as I can afford the flight. No need to book ahead or plan as everything is possible once you're here and for a fraction of a package holiday price.
Argentina and Peru were my favourites. These are countries you could spend a lot of time in for very little money and have a very good time. I think next time I'll do some mountain bike wine tours, white water rafting, sandboarding, surfing, kayaking, visit a desert, a rainforest and a jungle. Easy.
Life is good, the people are good and the places are amazing. The whole continent is alive with life and colour. And to think I was apprehensive about coming here. Turns outs there was no need.
Only question left is, when can I go back?

Un poquito mas Chile

A little bit more on Chile. Firstly, I neglected to mention the huge amount of couples that are totally all over each other here. It's quite funny most of the time as couples lie on top of each other in parks, on benches, against trees, lamposts and so on. It's a national pastime to snog each others faces off at any given opportunity! When we were at one of the nice looking parks a girl returned from the toilet to be instantly jumped on by he boyfriend. I just kept thinking, 'get a room!'. But then I suppose that's just the Latin spirit so it's not something that bothers me, unless the couple in question are above a certain age!
Secondly, in Chile and most of South America I'm a gringo. That is, a person of fair complexion. A group of drunk Chileans shouted 'Hey Gringo!' at me and came over to us. They were alright as it happens and just wanted to welcome us to Chile and invited us to drink with them. I had read that this does happen with foreigners and can sometimes lead to a drunken mugging later in the day. I gave it a miss!
I like Chile though and would like to see more. It's a very narrow country and no part of it is further than 250 miles from the Ocean. The Andes border the back of the country onto Argentina, and what a mountain range the Andes is.
To the north there's desert(and I think it's the driest place on Earth) and surf, to the south there's the last point before reaching the south pole. The 'end of the Earth' as they like to call it. Freezing fiordlands and lakes and so forth. In winter there's snowboarding and skiing. Surfing in many places, cold water apparently year round, and further south lots of cowboy-esque plains for horse trekking if you like that kind of thing.
Brief as it was I liked the sound of Mendoza in Argentina and was keen to see the capital, Buenos Aires. Across the Andes it is then!

New City, new continent

After 3 months of pretty easy travelling it was time to venture to another world. I won´t deny that I was nervous about flying to South America, akin to the flight to Beijing as I just had no idea what to expect. After Oz we were looking for a totally different place and the challenge of South America but after New Zealand we kind of wanted to stay around for a bit. Tough. A 10 hour flight beckoned. We´d heard Santiago was like somewhere in Europe but I wasn´t for believing them.
This turned out to be the longest day on the trip. We awoke around 8am to return the van in Auckland. Our flight from Auckland was at 18:30 that evening. We landed in Chile 10 hours later at 13:30......the same day!! How tired!? Damn you time zones!
The flight itself was a bit odd. We were sat next to an insane Japanese/American/Russian guy who talked non stop for the first 3 hours. He filled us in on Russian history, his hatred for America and Australia(aswell as Qantas(?)) and continued to bang on about anything and everything. I could barely keep my eyes open! Eventually I gave in and listened to the pretty good music choice Lan Chile had on the plane. After an a couple of hours of Morrissey and a dire animated movie the crazed guy next to us gets his large laptop out, after much effort. He wacks on some Latin music at full belt, most people at this point where asleep. It didn´t take long for some random Chilean to put him in his place. The guy left the plane with us dressed in what looked like a hitman for the mafia outfit, it was soo embarrassing as all the Chileans were cracking their sides at him.
We arrived at our hostel eventually and quickly realised that English is not enough here. My Spanish needs a lot of work but we sorted it all out after a bit of confused broken spanish. Santiago looks a bit dirty and rough. A lot of great looking Spanish colonial buildings but they´ve let them get run down and gritty. However, where our hostel is, the Plaza de Armas(everywhere in South America has a Plaza de Armas for some reason), is pretty good looking. Palm trees and nicely looked after buildings. It´s a great view from the balcony over looking the square too. This is where most political protests take place and everyday someone different has a banner and a microphone protesting over some injustice. We´d read that Chile is close to becoming the first 1st-world country of South America. I think they´ve got a way to go.
Almost straight away we see a tourist get her bag snatched. She was chasing him shouting and some locals tripped the guy up. Quickly a crowd gathered and they dragged the offender to the floor and proceeded to rain down punches and began kicking the guy in the head. Any excuse for a punch up. It seemed the guy had handed off the bag as the tourist never seemed happy. The guy eventually legged it off with his shirt in tatters. Welcome to Santiago. We had no such problems though.
There´s no doubt I stand out here, not many blond guys walking about, so there´s the odd people staring at us but it´s not too bad. It´s not as bad as China for instance. First impressions are that it´ll be much easier than China too, at least I know some of the language!
There´s a great arty sort of area in Santiago that´s full of colourful streets and really good graffiti. Graffiti, when it´s good, really improves the look of the place here as most of the buildings are totally run down. It´s when graffiti is on decent buildings or just tags that I can´t stand it.
Every house seems to be in a different colour and with the sun shining and the huge sight of the massive Andes Mountains in the background it´s a pretty place to stroll.
We ended going up a really steep train ride to a point overlooking the city. It was unbelievable how large Santiago is. Surely there´s more than 6 million people here! And then the snow capped Andes are just right there looming massively over it all.
I´ll admit it´s cheap here too. I think we´ll be eating out every night for the duration of our stay in South America, can´t wait! Getting used to the language may take some time but it´s pretty good when people understand my spanish and we actually get somewhere.
Our hostel is in a really old building that looks like it could be in New York or Paris, there´s even a guy in the lift who solely opens the doors and presses the buttons for you. Odd but cool.
A beautiful park is also in the centre of town, once part of a hermits mansion, then a convent then a military bastian, and offers great views of the city and has cool waterfalls within. The money that must've been spent here is unreal yet there is also quite a lot of poverty. There´s a real unemployment problem.
It doesn't feel unsafe here but there's definitly an edge to the place. Like Europe it is not. The Chilean people have had some real hard times and cruel dictators, Pinochet being the most infamous. Many people under his reign 'disappeared' when in disagreement with him. Thousands of people we´re rounded up in the national stadium and neutralised at one point. No wonder the Chileans seem a bit happy. Things are on the up and their new-ish woman president is following most other South American nations in her anti-America stance. For a long time the countries of South America have been exploited by America for no real gain the people of the Continent and for massive American profits. But saying that there doesn't seem too much of an anti-US stance on the streets.
We decide try and work out the subway, which is brand new, and it turns out this is where all the cool kids and people with money are. It's a great and safe way to get around and each station has it's own art theme. One in particular had a huge painting of the Andes. Art is massive here and the whole place is pretty colourful. Music and art is everywhere which gives the place a good vibe. Whether it's somewhere I'd recommend as a visit I'm not sure. Saying that, I´d probably go back and head south and north also. We stay for 3 nights before taking an 8 hour bus across the Andes to Mendoza in Argentina. 8 hours on a bus is nothing here, as we soon find out.