Three months down. Five countries visited. One third of our budget spent (No, I'm not bad at math. South America was a LITTLE more expensive than we had planned!)
We can hardly believe that this much of the trip is already behind us. It feels like just yesterday we were packing, preparing, leaving. Yet the things we have seen and done already feel like enough to fill a year.
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean to the African continent really feels like we are wrapping up one trip, filing it away in the past, and embarking on a brand new adventure. It feels like starting from scratch. It's getting the hang of things all over again. It's learning a new place and a new way of life.
We have taken a few lessons from the first leg of this trip.
1) We want to slow things down. I feel like our South America experience was a fairly superficial one. Hopping from major destination to top tourist attraction, we breezed through the continent without really getting an in-depth look at anything. I absolutely love everything we did and would not change a thing about it. But, moving forward, we'd like to get to know places and people and things a bit more.
2) We (perhaps me more than Reece) are loving the apartments over the hostels. Eating meals out gets pretty old pretty fast, and having a private place to cook and enjoy dinner together feels like a little slice of home on the road. Not to mention it's friendly on the wallet. Apartments are often the same price as a hostel too, especially if you plan to stay put for a little while. I think the added comfort will contribute to my ability to continue this lifestyle for several more months.
3) We recognize that we might not make it to Australia / New Zealand. Slowing down of course means we either A) see less, or B) travel longer. Considering the budget reference above, 'A' is the more likely scenario. Yet after much discussion, we are totally fine with that. It would be much easier to visit Australia as a separate trip in the future, then to try to fill in all the gaps around the world of the places we didn't have time to see. So, we're gonna find a pace that feels right to us and not worry about where the trip will end.
And with that, we shall begin...
PART II: AFRICA!
We can hardly believe that this much of the trip is already behind us. It feels like just yesterday we were packing, preparing, leaving. Yet the things we have seen and done already feel like enough to fill a year.
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean to the African continent really feels like we are wrapping up one trip, filing it away in the past, and embarking on a brand new adventure. It feels like starting from scratch. It's getting the hang of things all over again. It's learning a new place and a new way of life.
We have taken a few lessons from the first leg of this trip.
1) We want to slow things down. I feel like our South America experience was a fairly superficial one. Hopping from major destination to top tourist attraction, we breezed through the continent without really getting an in-depth look at anything. I absolutely love everything we did and would not change a thing about it. But, moving forward, we'd like to get to know places and people and things a bit more.
2) We (perhaps me more than Reece) are loving the apartments over the hostels. Eating meals out gets pretty old pretty fast, and having a private place to cook and enjoy dinner together feels like a little slice of home on the road. Not to mention it's friendly on the wallet. Apartments are often the same price as a hostel too, especially if you plan to stay put for a little while. I think the added comfort will contribute to my ability to continue this lifestyle for several more months.
3) We recognize that we might not make it to Australia / New Zealand. Slowing down of course means we either A) see less, or B) travel longer. Considering the budget reference above, 'A' is the more likely scenario. Yet after much discussion, we are totally fine with that. It would be much easier to visit Australia as a separate trip in the future, then to try to fill in all the gaps around the world of the places we didn't have time to see. So, we're gonna find a pace that feels right to us and not worry about where the trip will end.
And with that, we shall begin...
PART II: AFRICA!
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