Oh, Canada!

Canada has long been on my list of countries to visit, mostly because it is so widely known for its beautiful yet accessible wild spaces. If you have read many of my blog posts you’ll have picked up on my love of the environment and outdoors. I adore getting out into the hills and seeing the glorious expanses this world has to offer us. Every time I step into the wilderness I am reminded of what I am defending when I try to minimise my negative impact on this incredible planet we call home. Canada drove that home yet again.

We landed in Edmonton at an ungodly hour of the night and were overwhelmed by the kindness of a new friend we had made in Iceland a few weeks before when she drove out to the airport from a party at her house just to fetch us. She then proceeded to offer us a bed for the night, followed by a guided tour of the river by canoe the next morning.

Of course we jumped at the chance to see the city from a different angle, and early the next morning we slathered on the sunscreen and headed to the river.

 

3 Months, 10 Countries, 1 Carry-on Bag

You may have heard (if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram) that I recently travelled around the world for 3 months on an amazing adventure. Before leaving I pondered ways of saving money, time, stress, and slightly reducing my carbon footprint.

One of the biggest decisions I made that helped on all four counts was setting myself the challenge of doing the whole trip with next to no gear – just a single carry on sized backpack.

That plan went out the window really fast when I realised I would be in climates between -5°C and +45°C, and had to fit a sleeping bag and sleeping mat in there as well, and one bag became one carry on sized backpack and one definitely-pushing-it personal item back pack, which basically every airline will allow. It was definitely overweight when fully packed, but when challenged at one airport I successfully got the big bag down to 8kg (maximum carry on for that airline) by putting on about 5 layers of clothing and shoving my book in my pocket. Success.

I swear Kathmandu did not sponsor this blog post…

Greece – Redefining ‘Old’

What really blew my mind about Athens was that there are things there made by people we consider to be part of ancient civilisations, which used pieces of rock they scavenged from Greek ruins. Even in those ancient times Athens had stuff old enough to be considered already ancient.

That’s ancient squared.

It’s incomprehensibly old.

It’s so old old stuff was being built from it because it was already old by then.

As you can tell – I’m still struggling to wrap my head around the sheer volume of time since the ruins here were occupied.

Another thing that impressed me was how many amazing things there were scattered about the place. You’ll be walking along through a park or down a road and then out of nowhere there is a casual patch of history just hanging out.

These baths are a great example, peeking out from under a road.

Azerbaijan, Politics and Copious Amounts of Sweat

I have been accused a few times recently of being a Scout Nerd and I quite happily confess it to be true.
Back in 2015 I was honoured to be chosen as a representative for Scouts New Zealand to the Asia Pacific Regional Scout Youth Forum and Conference, which opened up my eyes to the strategic elements of scouting at a global level.

Since then I’ve taken on a bunch more challenges in this space, including most recently the World Scout Youth Forum and Conference in Azerbaijan!

I left from Manchester airport, after visiting my grandfather and due to some fun scheduling I had to spend the night in the airport (budget travel is luxurious!) So we were off to an interesting start already!

The Kiwi is Back in the Nest

Hi all!

It’s been a while since I filled you in on what I’m doing with my life, so here’s a wee update.

I’m back in New Zealand!
NZ has a fun little clause in the student loan system that says you are only allowed to be outside of NZ for 6 months before you have to start paying back large chunks of your loan. My contract was an internship contract so money was not really a thing I had, and what I did have I didn’t want to part with. Luckily I managed to negotiate working from Wellington for my last 2 weeks so I made it back with a few days to spare.

Money, Money, Travel!

I’ve had so many people ask me how I fund my adventures, and whilst I wish there was some magical secret way to make money by simply being awesome the truth is that I work my bum off and forgo many things I’d like to have. It’s about priorities, and I am incredibly lucky to be able to prioritise things the way I do.

Before I get into my recommendations, I absolutely have to pause and address the privileges in the room – mine. I am in good health, so my medical bills are not an issue, I am university educated, so it’s a bit easier for me to find jobs, I have an approachable personality, no mental challenges, and I’m white, so people trust me (also helping me get jobs – biases are the worst) and I have a good relationship with my parents. All of these things help me save money, but even if you can only do one of the things below that is one step closer to your next adventure.

Moving swiftly along, here are my biggest money savers –