I’ve now been on this new round the world trip with my wife for just over a month so thought I’d share the highlights , lowlights and what else I’ve been up to.
It’s strange to be travelling full time again and to be honest I thought it would mean I became much more productive on the blog but I have realised I rather live in the moment much more. I tend to not bother thinking ‘oh this would be great for a post I need to focus on this’ I rather just take each moment and enjoy it. I have however been enjoying taking lots of pictures and curating a few select ones for instagram. If you don’t follow me yet you can check my profile here 😉 www.instagram.com/journeytom
Destinations visited
It’s been a busy month after leaving the UK with 4 destinations visited
California
The first week of this round the world trip was spent in California. 4 nights in LA where we hoped to visit some of my wife’s family unfortunately it didn’t work out as they were out of town. We then headed to the Central Coast, San Luis Opisbo, for New Year to meet some friends and explore an area where we haven’t been before.
Hawaii
With just a week planned in Hawaii I stuck to Oahu so I could take time to enjoy the scenery and island life without rushing and hopping to each island. I stayed in Kailua over Waikiki and was very happy I made this choice. Hawaii was just as sweet as I imagined and I really want to return! I’ve even earmarked my accumulating air miles already.
Fiji
I first visited Fiji 15 years ago on my first round the world trip so had to return. It was very different this time around but I loved every minute of it. You can read more on my Fiji trip on my recent post here Fiji-15-years-on-same-smiles
New Zealand
To be honest I wasn’t planning on visiting New Zealand but thought I was over this side of the planet it would be ridiculous not to. So I randomly ended up in the North Island for a quick trip. I don’t regret visiting New Zealand but it did feel like a place I needed to be more prepared for visiting. I like to explore on a whim but not on such a tight timescale so felt I did miss out on some opportunities. That being said the scenery was awesome and I’m told I need to get back to the South Island.
Next……..?
As I write this I have now arrived in Australia and am currently basking on the beaches in Sydney.
Miles covered
A busy month so perhaps not as green as I like to be and lots of miles covered by air to get to the other side of the planet.
By air
– 12518 miles covered or 20029km
By car
– 2730 miles or 4395km (way more that I expected!)
By boat
– Approx 120 miles which mainly consisted of hopping in the Yasawas in Fiji and exploring the Bay of Islands in New Zealand
Highlights
Three things really stick out for me in the past month. I’ve just listed them below but watch out for blog posts coming soon on each one
- A special cave trip in the very north of the Yasawa Islands
- Exploring the Geothermal areas of New Zealand, they are like nothing I have seen before
- The incredible Hawaiian scenery viewed from a quad bike/atv tour
Lowlights
To be honest I haven’t had many low lights in January. Politically the world is going mad but I have deliberately ignored news for the past month so am so far behind on what is actually happening.
Fiji Airways did take my luggage of my flight from Hawaii to Fiji so I ended up with zero clothes for a few days. Luckily I didn’t need many clothes in a destination such as Fiji
What I read in January
Normally I power through quite a few books when I have time to relax and chill however randomly I read a lot of magazines in January. I picked up quite a few American magazines that varied from the Economist to GQ and Esquire. All of them had a fair few long read articles which I really enjoyed. I set myself the task to actually read every article in the magazines cover to cover when normally I just cherry pick a few. It was interesting to read American magazines and view their perspective but also read about subjects I wouldn’t normally such as American Football.
Music
At home I listen to Spotify on average 6 hours a day. My music listening has seriously declined during this trip however a few tracks have really stood out for me.
Quirks and craziness
Every thing was kind of super chilled and normal this month apart from me jumping down a steep hill side after a woman decided to drive her quad bike over the edge and into the abyss! Watch out for the post on this coming later this week.
That’s basically my first month of this round the world trip in review. Until next month……