There’s nothing as rewarding as a trip around the world. That’s my conclusion after a six month long trip back in 2017/2018 that took me to lots of unimaginable and wonderful places.
Though I was just 15 years old at the time, I had to attend distance school, but the experiences I’ve got from this trip, I could’nt have gotten elsewhere. You learn a lot about not only yourself but your surrounding.
My trip began in Johannesburg, South Africa. There I rented a jeep that I was going to drive and live in for a month. The planned route was from Johannesburg to Botswana, to Zimbabwe, to Botswana (again), to Namibia and then end in Cape Town.
While on a small hike in Botswana, I accidentaly ended up at a wedding. I took photos of the people there and they took photos with me. Why did they take photos of me you might ask. Well, let’s just say that it was a REALLY long time since they saw a tourist.
After spending just a short period of time in Botswana knowing that I would get back there in about a week, I visited Zimbabwe. My favorite experience from Zimbabwe was a rhino-tracking which is a safari by foot in order to get as close as possible to the animals. We got about five meters apart from a pack of nine rhinos.
After spending time in Zimbabwe I got back to Botswana which quickly became my favorite country in the world. The people were kind, the nature was amazing and the wildlife outstanding. The best place that I visited in Botswana was Chobe National Park. I visited it on Christmas and I saw so much wildlife that I almost got tierd of it which I thaught was impossible.
Next up was Namibia. Among all the places I visited in the country, two of them were really special. The Etosha National Park and Sossusvlei. Namibia is a very hot and vast place, it’s filled with deserts meeting the ocean and interesting wildlife.
Finally it was time to get back to South Africa and visit Cape Town. This safari that lasted for a month was the best part of this half-a-year trip. It was unlike every other experience and I really recommend doing something like this to everyone who has or gets the oppertunity.
Asia was a really different experience compared to Africa. Here it was hotels, streetfood, a different culture and huge compact cities. My first stop was Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was filled with mopeds and I ate streetfood every day there which was such a nice experience.
My next stop was Cambodia and the city of Siem Riep. There I visited the huge temples of Angkor. The temples were interesting and there were so many! It took two full days to see most of them.
From Siem Riep I also went on a small day-trip to another temple and a waterfall. There were lots of people praying at the temple and after visiting the temple I swam in the waterfall.
From Thailand I then flew to Australia where I rented a campervan to go on a roadtrip along the east coast. My first stop was Sydney and then the roadtrip began and lasted for two weeks until I ended up in the Gold Coast.
In Australia I also visited a kangaroo sancuary on top of a hill. There were lots of kangaroos and I got to feed them sweet potatoes which they apparently like a lot.
While in Australia, I took a small plane out to an island in the Great Barrier Reef to dive and experience the marine life. The island is called Lady Elliot Island and there you can see manta rays, sharks and turles among other marine life.
Next up was New Zealand, a country that I got to experience almost everything of. A month of roadtripping was perfect to experience everything New Zealand had to offer. From sheep, to movie sets, to whale watching, mountains and the darkest nightskies.
On the southern island I went on a whale watching tour where I saw not only whales but dolphins, orcas and seals. It was a really cool experience and something that I recommend doing while visiting New Zealand.
Lake Tekapo is home to a beautiful turquoise lake surrounded by snowy mountains. It’s also a dark sky reserve which means that at night, the sky is not exposed to any light pollution.
The last country that I visited on this trip was the United States. I went to several different states such as Hawaii, California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, New Jersey and New York. On the west coast I went on a roadtrip for about 10 days or so.
Grand Canyon was one of my favorite stops on the west american roadtrip. You can’t really describe how great the view is until you see it with your own eyes.
Another amazing place that I visited during the roadtrip was Antelope Canyon. The slot canyon shaped by erosion was a magical and surreal place to visit and I recommend it strongly, especially at sunset.
Yosemite National Park was the last stop on my roadtrip. It’s a great national park with outstanding nature. My next stop on this trip which also happend to be the last stop was New York/New Jersey.
The last city that I visited on my trip around the world was New York. During my stay I lived in New Jersey and traveled to New York during the day. I decided to take a helicopter tour with FlyNyon over New York and that was absolutly amazing.