Please enjoy Part 1 of the recap we put together for friends and family to try to summarize our 7-month trip abroad from September 11, 2023 – March 29, 2024. It’s hard to put it all into words, and this just scratches the surface, but if you have any questions at all about the trip or are looking for advice or recommendations based on where we went, please reach out to us!
Our General Route
We hatched our plan for this trip on the way home from our wedding in June ’23 after many years of dreaming and discussing an extended adventure abroad. We started by drafting a list of countries and places we wanted to visit and sketched a high-level itinerary with the goal to optimize weather (chase summer), minimize back-tracking, and avoid major crowds. Before leaving, we booked accommodations and transportation for the first four weeks to start. The rest we made up as we went along, booking anywhere from a few days to a few weeks in advance.
The animation below shows a simplified summary of our route and major destinations.
3
Continents: Europe, Oceania, Asia
16
Countries
36
Cities/Locations
200
Days: Sep 11, 2023 – Mar 28, 2024
Transportation
Planes were our main form of transportation between major locations. The stats below indicate we spent lots of time (and money) on air travel, but it was really the only efficient option. Two unplanned trips back to the US also significantly increased our flight stats.
37
Flights
82,903
Miles
7d 13h
Flight Time
While planes were our number one form of transport, we also used trains and buses heavily while traveling around Europe and Mainland Japan, and subways while traveling locally in Australia, Europe, Japan, and Singapore. Occasionally, public transportation was not available, or we wanted to get off the beaten path, so we opted for personal transportation. Cars (or campervans) took us through Madeira, Southern France, Albania, the Alps in Italy and Slovenia, Greece’s Peloponnese region, and New Zealand. In Southeast Asia, it wouldn’t have been a true backpacking trip without renting motorbikes (for <$5USD/day). We could count on Grab (SE Asia’s Uber), Tuk-Tuks (tricycles), or our own two feet when the driving was too hectic for us.
Accommodations
Accommodations were a major focus for us to try to keep costs down for the trip. We set an estimated budget by country upfront which resulted in us staying in a mix of hostels, homestays, and cheap hotels. Hostels were a staple in Europe and Australia, but after one too many nights of interrupted sleep, we decided the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze and pretty much stuck to private rooms in Southeast Asia. We tried to mix it up and find some unique stays throughout the trip including a liveaboard boat and Vietnamese cruise, and were even convinced to stay in a resort in Albania.
Top 5 Travel Destinations of the Trip
MADEIRA
SINGAPORE
PELOPONNESE
SLOVENIA
NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand
When asked to pick our favorite place from our trip, New Zealand is the answer. We spent three weeks (half of that in a camper van) road tripping to as many spots as we could cram in. The quantity, quality, and diversity of outdoor adventures was unmatched by any other country we visited. We hiked massive volcanoes and mountain ranges filled with glaciers and snowcapped peaks, we took an unsupervised overnight canoe trip and a guided white-water rafting trip over waterfalls, we strolled along white sand beaches, went sledding down huge sand dunes, and snorkeled among tropical fish. We were repeatedly awed by the scenery around us. For us, it just doesn’t get better than that.
Peloponnese, Greece
While the islands get most of the hype, we’re now partial to the Peloponnese. We spent a week road tripping this peninsula on the mainland and loved the wide range of awesome outdoor experiences. It has pristine beaches with crystal clear water, waterfalls with natural swimming pools and rope swings, quality hiking in the mountains, and of course is complemented by excellent food and wine and the spattering of ancient ruins you would expect from Greece.
Madeira, Portugal
Our first stop of the trip, Madeira, left us wishing we had more time here. This Portuguese Island off the coast of Africa was full of world class hiking with scenic mountain vistas overlooking the ocean around every corner. That was enough to make us fall in love, but it also offered high quality cuisine, and the charming city of Funchal.
Slovenia
We found this small country in Central Europe to be quite livable and like many other places on our trip, we wished we could have spent more time than the four days we allotted here. It offered top notch hiking in Triglav National Park and the Julian Alps, picturesque castles in Ljubljana and Bled, and the quintessential European riverside café experience. We also had a phenomenal tour through Ljubljana, where we learned about its unique history, and got to taste a wide range of local cuisine, much of it prepared by our guide.
Singapore
We may be biased in our judgement on the modern metropolis of Southeast Asia because of our time studying abroad here. However, we believe the harmonious blend of cultures, unmatched cuisine, and the stunning progressive urban environment would impress any traveler. It may be known for luxury, but trust us, with a little effort you can find cheap, delicious eats, free parks and nature trails, and high quality walkable or public transportation accessible sightseeing to balance out a few splurges on high-end experiences.
Part 2…
Head on over to Part 2 to see our Top 5 Favorite Experiences of the trip and a few mistakes we made and learned along the way!
