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The Traveller World Guide | Best Travel Tips and Vacation.

I’M COMING HOME! Recap of a Year Around the World

Travel Blog - Ross French - December 12, 2010

partying_lima_peru

partying_lima_peruBy: Lindsay Hogg

How Do You Put a Year Around the World Into Words?

I’m currently 6 hours away from my 22 hour flight home from Auckland to Tahiti to California to finally, Toronto. It’s another hazy day which will unfortunately fade the sweet ass tan I’ve obtained in the past few weeks. Balls.
Although I’m nervous about coming home to an extremely different world than I’ve been living in for the past year, the comforts of my own room and conversations that don’t start with ‘where are you from’ thrills me. As I scramble to finish writing the pending posts from rest of my trip, I’m faced with the dreaded and daunting task of REFLECTION – all those typical questions you should ask yourself after a life changing experience.
“What have I learned” “Have I grown” “Am I more knowledgeable” and so on…
But for now I will keep these answers to myself and simply share the experiences that stand out in my mind.
In the next week I will go into more detail about the ‘life changing moments’ (yay! – insert sarcasm) and the people I have met along the road who have effected my life for the better or worse.

How do you sum up a year of your life in one article? I quit my great job, sold everything in my apartment and left all my friends & family to backpack around the world solo.

South America: Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina (and Mexico since I missed my flight oops!)
Asia: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, China
New Zealand

kitty_hogga_waterfall

Kitty and I swimming in Laos

  • Swimming in waterfalls – hot springs and lagoons, hiking through ancient ruins, riding bicycles -quads – horses through the mountains, kayaking through crystal clear – aqua waters
  • Jumping off boats, tubing down rivers, floating markets and fishing villages, touring wine vineyards to taste and learn
  • Driving on the left hand side of the road and roadtrips through scary, windy, mountain roads
  • Motor bike roadtrips, tuk tuks and long boats, sun burns and food poisoning
  • Learning Spanish and Mandarin

    riding_horses_bolivia

    Els and I riding horses in Bolivia

  • Travelling with amazing new friends and awesome old friends, meeting the same people on 3different continents
  • Missing flights (yes, plural… flights) and purposely missing buses
  • Meeting friendly locals and not so friendly locals
  • Empanadas and lomo saltado, fried noodles and dumplings, kiwi venison and BBQ sauce
  • The boys, the bugs, the animals
  • Eating snake – rat – guinea pig and frog, lao buckets, all you can drink tequila, pisco, rice wine, lao lao, 3 day long parties, dancing till 8am
  • Crossing international borders by foot and by boat
  • Barely avoiding 2 major earthquakes
  • Bartending and sharing a room with 8 other people, sleeping in hammocks

    lima_peru

    The Point Hostel crew, Lima – Peru

  • Bargaining for everything, buying more than fits in my backpack
  • Toilet paper goes in the bin – bring your OWN toilet paper
  • Good decisions, bad decisions
  • Pink eye and bronchitis
  • Getting arrested, getting ripped off
  • Coming home one ipod – A LOT of cloths and one bankcard short
  • 30 new beers tried, 10 countries conquered, stories that will never be forgotten, stories that may never get told
Tags | Argentina, Bolivia, Cambodia, China, Laos, new zealand, Peru, Round the World, RTW, Venezuela, Vietnam, Year Round the World
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Ross French

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8 Comments

  • Avatar
    Els December 13, 2010 at 7:02 AM

    Aaahhwww you muffin! You’re back home now! That must be the weirdest thing you experienced in months!

    I got homesick while reading your blog…

    Thanks for the great memories Hogga!!

    WE made stories that will never be forgotten and stories that may never get told (love that phrase!).

    Let’s keep up this slogan:

    I MISS SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

    Believe it’s gonna be hard times being back home..

    Love you muchoooo!!

    And remember: once there will be a time that we’ll conquer the rest of the world together!

    Reply
    • Hogga
      Hogga December 15, 2010 at 2:31 PM

      Awww muffin! I miss your face! Let’s run away to Lima together!

      xooxx

      Reply
  • Avatar
    Michael Hodson December 18, 2010 at 2:19 PM

    Ahhhhhh, love all the thoughts and memories of long term travel

    Reply
    • Hogga
      Hogga December 18, 2010 at 3:38 PM

      Yes that’s the first of a few memorable posts. I had to write things down for this one along the way, I knew I would forget if I didn’t

      Reply
      • Avatar
        Nita May 26, 2012 at 8:36 PM

        Sandra, Nam Khao is a Lao dish that was popularize in the Tha Duen area (close to Vientiane). Some ppoele call this dish Nam Tha Duen because they make the best there! Eat a lot for me too Ok?

        Reply
  • Avatar
    Abby December 29, 2010 at 1:36 PM

    Awwww!! i came home in August. It’s been strange. I can’t wait to see what you do next! I got a kick out of your list. We can all relate. It totally made me reminisce!

    Reply
  • Avatar
    Ian [EagerExistence] March 19, 2012 at 10:16 AM

    Tell me the stories that never got told! I have some too 🙂

    Reply
    • Hogga
      Hogga March 19, 2012 at 11:57 AM

      We can swap them, one for one. Or 100 for 100 haha.

      Reply

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    Ross French grew up outside Toronto, blah blah… he went to the University of Western Ontario for fine arts and like any degree, has since done nothing in that field. More seriously, Ross French is a travel junkie & a tech nerd with a slightly concerning love for beer & wine. he a has a great awareness of life outside the 9-5 and hopes to aspire to be a hammock bum one day.

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