Reflecting on 7 Months of Travel

I’ve written a small novel this year; much more than our 2017 9-month trip. Maybe I’m wordier than before; maybe there was more I wanted to share. After this time and about a week at home, I feel the need to reflect on things and share some final thoughts about this big trip.

First of all, we did this extensive travel because in Australia, we get ‘long-service leave’ which is a paid vacation permanent employees in any industry get after 7 years of work. (Aussies: this is unheard of for everyone else, we think.) For teachers, we had to wait ten years. We get ten weeks paid holiday on top of our regular holiday time and we decided to take double the amount all at once, with our pay stretched over that time. We also started our trip while on our usual 6 weeks of summer vacation, so we were gone 29 weeks with about a week and half recovery time before heading back to teaching.

A common question we got asked all around the world was “why do Australians always seem to be on some epic travel trip?” So, there’s your answer. Long-service leave (LSL). My teaching career has been built by covering other people’s LSL or maternity leave, but this time I got to help Callum use his. The other reason is that Australia is far from everywhere else and so when we fly somewhere, we want to make it count.

In 2017 we did this for nine months as unpaid leave. We went to similar-ish places and stayed exclusively in hostels. At the end of the that trip I declared that I was done with hostels. This time I am declaring I am done with Airbnbs. The quality of them is just not up to my standards most of the time. Do I think we’ll stick to this declaration of mine? Probably not. There is just no other way to stay somewhere and be able to cook for ourselves, saving lots of money on eating out for every meal. It did get tiresome though. Trying to find a place, reading reviews, looking at the photos…and then being disappointed. The photos made the space look bigger and cleaner than reality, the reviews were overly generous and at times untruthful. Kitchens weren’t equipped in the way we like. It was hard to find or make coffee. I much prefer a hotel where reviews are a bit easier to trust.

All this to say, I think my required comfort levels have risen several points in the last decade, and my ability to adapt to discomfort has lowered. I am less interested in travelling for such a long time than I was before, as is Callum. We already knew within the first half of our trip that it was feeling long. We had a lot of interesting and fun things lined up for the time we were gone, and there was always something to look forward to, but some of our time was spent just getting through difficulties and looking forward to better situations, much like ‘real’ life, to be honest.

The first example was Egypt. What a place! So foreign, so dusty, so packed with people. We saw the major sights, but it is not a comfortable place to visit. It’s a place you’d want to go as part of a tour group where all decisions, meals, transport and tours are organised for you. You’d want to stay in a reputable hotel, do the things, then get the heck out of there. I wouldn’t call it a nice place, and though I loved sight-seeing there, the rest of the time felt like an endurance test.

Jordan, on the other hand, was a lot more ‘chill’. The people were friendlier, the food more palatable to me, and the places we stayed were more aligned with my expectations.

In Chile, we wasted ten days on a road trip that was too long, arduous, and uncomfortable because of the Airbnbs we stayed in. The roads were in terrible condition, and we wished we had used that money to fly to Easter Island for a few days instead. Peru was tough because of the weather, and a few bouts of food poisoning made it impossible to enjoy our time or feel thankful for the time away from work. That’s the thing…just because we took a vacation away from real life, didn’t mean real life took a vacation from us.

One takeaway we both have after this trip is just how lucky we are. We felt fortunate for a few reasons. The freshness and availability of fruits and vegetables, bread, cheese, milk, yogurt, eggs, coffee and other staples is something we definitely take for granted living in Australia (and coming from Canada, for me.) These things were not always easy to find from place to place, and for some reason hit me harder on this trip than on all the other trips we’ve taken. Food has always been a point of contention for me—Callum says I’m picky and maybe I am, but, my gut is used to what it’s used to, and when we drastically changed our diets, my tummy was not having it. The first month or so was hard for me because most of the time, my stomach hurt.

Secondly, and this may seem trivial for some, but most of the world does not flush toilet paper down the toilet. This is very eye-opening and foreign to North Americans, Australians, and other first-world countries. But truly, we are very lucky to not have this extra thing to think about multiple times a day. For those that are curious…there is a basket next to the toilet where you put your used paper in. The pipes are too narrow (or old) to be able to cope with anything other than organic material. This meant that for the first five months of our trip, we had to adapt to this lifestyle change. It’s not really a big deal, but, the sights and smells got to me. And some accommodations had very small garbage bins. And some did not have a plastic bag inside. So, then we’d have to find a way to deal with it. Enough said.

Thirdly, the availability of clean, drinkable water is something we take for granted. And hot water in the shower, all the time. These are things that most of the world just doesn’t have. We missed it while in South America and were so happy when we went to Canada and could flush our toilet paper and drink the tap water. Those felt like luxuries.

Fourthly, we felt fortunate for even being able to do a trip like the one we were on. It’s just not really feasible for many people to go on even one big overseas trip. We did feel grateful that we have jobs and a lifestyle that affords this type of luxury. I wonder what passions we would have instead if we couldn’t afford it. Travel is certainly our shared passion (and how we met) so we do make it a priority to save for something like this. We both drive older cars, we don’t really have any expensive vices, we cook 95% of our meals at home, and, we don’t have kids. Also, while on trips, we have a budget and don’t go overboard with unnecessary luxuries. Wages are decent in Australia for teachers, and we have always been able to save for our trips. Besides our mortgage, we don’t have any debt. I do feel thankful, because I have experienced financial hardship, and there is no guarantee that I won’t again.

Callum talks about how when we did this in 2017, we were budget travellers, and how this time we wanted to be mid-range: stay in a few hotels, do some activities that require a bit more money, eat nicer food. With the Australian dollar tanking right before we left home and being at an all-time low for several months of our trip, this resulted in a lot more money spent than would have been normal for 2025. It also meant that though we felt like our budget had risen, the quality of what we were getting did not match accordingly.

Another takeaway I have is that I at first tried to pursue too many creative endeavours and didn’t realise the amount of time I’d need to recover from a day’s activities vs all of the things I wanted to do. I am an artist so brought along a kit. This kit included not one, but two sketchbooks. One was going to be for audience consumption: beautiful watercolours that I could put on my art Instagram. The second was going to be like an illustrated journal where I recorded my thoughts and feelings about each place, not intended for any other eyes. Then, I also brought along a newly-acquired iPad, with which I was planning to learn Procreate and make some digital paintings. I quickly realised that doing several paintings, drawings, photography, editing, posting daily about our travels, and writing a blog was way, way more than I can even accomplish in real life, and that’s without seeing new things every day. I feel really guilty about the iPad and the art supplies that were largely ignored and carted around the world, reminding me heavily of their disuse. I had to make a choice and for this trip, I chose to focus on pictures and writing. I’ll make art now that we’re at home.

Together we have decided that next time we do a bigger trip, the longest we’ll go for is three months. This will allow us to spend more on accommodation and to include a holiday in the middle or end of our trip. Ironically, I do recall having this same conclusion after our 9-month trip but didn’t heed our own advice. I really could have used a beach or all-inclusive week somewhere along the way. The way we allocated time did not permit this add-on, though. Next time! For sure! Maybe a stand-alone holiday! What a concept.

Here are some fun facts about our time away.

Stats, Awards, Superlatives

We spent nearly 7 months of continuous travel, leaving home (Perth, WA) on December 18 2024 and arriving back July 9 2025. That is 203 days (6 months and 3 weeks).

We visited 69 different places, with repeated cities it was 67 different beds and 14 different campsites in 18 countries

	Country	# of Days	# of Locations	List of locations
1	Indonesia	5	1	Bali
2	Egypt	9	3	Cairo, Luxor, Aswan
3	Jordan	10	3	Amman, Wadi Rum, Petra
4	France	4	1	Paris
5	Spain	6	2	Barcelona, Madrid
6	Paraguay	7	2	Asuncion, Encarnacion
7	Argentina	15	4	Iguazu, Buenos Aires, El Chalten, El Calafate
8	Chile	18	12	Puerto Natales (2), Refugio Gray, Paine Grande, Los Cuernos, Chileno, Hornopiren, Chaiten (2), Puyuhuapi, Villa Cerro Castillo, Peurto Rio Tranquilo, Coyhaique, Puerto Montt
9	Peru	9	3	Cusco* (3), Aguas Calientes, Ollantaytambo
10	Ecuador	22	5	Quito (2), San Cristobal, Santa Cruz (2), Isabela, Mindo
11	Colombia	19	4	Cartagena, Medellin, Salento, Bogota
12	Canada	41	5	Chilliwack (3), 108 Mile House, Edmonton, Kitchener (2), Algonquin
13	Iceland	13	10	Thingvellir (2), Vik, Fjadrarglijufur, Hofn, Fossardalur, Studlagil Canyon, Akureyri, Gudrunarlaug, Olafsvik, Reykjavik
14	Slovenia	10	5	Ljubljana, Bled, Ciginj, Postojna, Piran
15	Croatia	11+3	5	Rovinj, Rabac, Plitvice, Dubrovnik, Zagreb*(2)
16	Montenegro	4	1	Kotor
17	Bosnia & Herzagovina	3	2	Mostar, Sarajevo
18	Hungary	3	1	Budapest

*Different accommodation the following time(s)

Travel Awards

Top 4 Favourite Countries: Jordan, Argentina, Ecuador, Iceland

Countries we’re unlikely to revisit: Egypt (very tough place), Paraguay (boring place), Jordan (seen it well enough)

Jaw-dropping nature: Los Glacieres National Park in Argentina; Iceland

Most expensive destination: Iceland, Galapagos, Argentina

Most affordable destination: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Paraguay, Colombia

Most Underrated Destination: Ecuador as a whole! Quito, Mindo in particular

Most Overrated Destination: Barcelona, Spain

Best Road trip: Iceland

Dumbest thing we packed: Ipad

Best thing we packed: Tevas sandals

Weirdest thing I had to buy: hair straightener

Most annoying thing I had to buy: contact lenses (Rachel), glasses and sunglasses (Callum)

Most upsetting thing lost: sunglasses, Nalgene water bottle (with travel stickers from 5 months on it)

Languages encountered: English, Bahasa Indonesia, Arabic, French, Spanish, Icelandic, Slovenian, Croatian, Montenegrin, Bosnian, Serbian, Hungarian and who knows what else!

Transportation Records

Longest Flights taken: Madrid to Asuncion (9,188 kms – 10.5 hours) & Doha to Perth (9,325 kms – 10.5 hours)

Shortest Flight taken: Cairo to Amman (472 kms – 1 hour)

Number of hours flying: 100 hours!

Longest Travel Day: Denpasar, Bali to Cairo, Egypt (9,900 kms 30 hours)

Most Flights in a Month: 7 (March)

Total number of flights: 32

Total number of buses: 9

Total number of trains: 2

Total number of ferries: 9

Longest time in between flights: 31 days (Reykjavik to Ljublana June 7 – July 8 Zagreb to Doha and Perth)

Shortest time in between flights: 3 days (Abbotsford to Edmonton and back)

Longest road-trip: 12 days, Iceland

Number of times we’ve lost our bags: 0

Number of times we’ve been charged for excess baggage: 0

Number of times we had a flight cancelled: 0

Number of times we’ve had to run through an airport to catch a flight as if we were on the Amazing Race: 1

Country Stats

Biggest Country Visited (by land area): Canada

Smallest Country Visited (by land area): Montenegro

Northernmost destination: Akureyri, Iceland (65.6826° N)

Southernmost destination: Puerto Natalas, Chile (51.7270° S)

Highest elevation reached: Cotopaxi, Ecuador (5100 meters)

Lowest elevation reached: Dead Sea, Jordan (422 meters below sea level)

Countries we’re disappointed we missed: Israel, Uruguay

Most disappointing day: all of the rain at Machu Picchu, Peru

Most epic fabulous amazing day: Swimming with hammerhead sharks, Galapagos, Ecuador (Rachel) hiking in Argentina (Callum)

Country with the most speed bumps: Jordan

Most days spent in one country: Canada (41 days); Ecuador (22 days)

Least days spent in one country: Montenegro, Bosnia, Hungary (3 days each)

Hottest place visited: Cartagena, Colombia (34° with 80% humidity)

Coldest place visited: Akureyri, Iceland (-7° June 3)

Least tourists: Asuncion, Paraguay

Most tourists: Dubrovnik, Croatia

Number of times we went snorkeling: 8

Countries we went snorkeling: 3

Photography Stats: How many pictures I took (kept, edited, stored)

Country	Days spent	Number of photos (camera)	Number of photos (phone)	Total	Photos to Days ratio	Most photos in one day:	What pictures were of
Indonesia	5	103	128	231	46	175	Day trip
Egypt	9	213	381	594	66	144	Valley of the Kings
Jordan	10	256	433	689	69	170	Petra
France	4	128	218	346	86	144	Museums
Spain	6	72	182	254	42	109	Park Guell & Sagrada Familia
Paraguay	7	224	157	381	54	73	Jesuit Ruins
Argentina	15	379	543	922	61	220	Mt Fitzroy
Chile	18	97	554	651	36	114	Day 5 W Trek (Towers)
Peru	9	103	246	349	38	170	Machu Picchu
Ecuador	22	697	395	1092	49	190	Mindo Butterflies & Chocolate
Colombia	19	456	433	889	46	238	Salento palms
Canada (mostly of people)	41	715	665	1380	33	147	Alberta views & Edmonton galleries
Iceland	13	763	579	1342	103	290	Vik (horses, church, beach)
Slovenia	10	173	314	487	48	93	Predjama Castle & Postojna Cave
Croatia	11+3	245	399	644	58	180	Tie: Plitvice; Dubrovnik
Montenegro	4	45	25	70	17	38	View from mountain
Bosnia & Herzagovina	3	56	123	179	59	78	Mostar
Hungary	3	51	57	108	36	60	Walking around; Aurora concert
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