This blog was born of an idea. To see the bigger world and chronicle the journey getting there.
Way back in 2009 I turned 30. Myself and Brodie had been working for almost ten years while many people we knew had been off travelling the world and seeing exotic places. Despite making the most of our annual holidays, we had yet to see many great destinations. With a mortgage to pay and property prices in decline, taking a year out was a risky prospect. Instead we decided to take a short break from our working lives to cram in an around the world adventure in approximately 3 months! It would be at an exhausting pace with tight deadlines and tough decisions to make about what would be crammed into our itinerary without losing the fun of the adventure. It would also give us some of the best days ever.
We started in Canada – first stop Montreal. From there we travelled to Toronto and Niagara Falls. Then it was on to Vancouver briefly before making a pit-stop in Hawaii. From there we continued to New Zealand where we spent a week on the North Island and another week on the South Island before crossing to Sydney and moving up the east coast of Australia until we got to Cairns. Our next location was Singapore followed by Malaysia. Then we visited a number of places in Thailand before returning back home on December 4th.
Here’s a quick roadmap if you want to belatedly follow our adventure.
May 2009: The countdown began to our first flight…
September 02 – 15th: Canada
Our first leg of the journey was in Canada. We arrived in Montreal which we loved, before catching a train to Toronto and Niagara Falls. Then another flight took us to Vancouver for a brief glimpse before we headed south and west.
September 16 – 21st – Hawaii
Our second leg of the around the world adventure brought us to Hawaii for a few days seeing the sights on the Big Island.
September 22nd – October 17th: New Zealand
Next up was New Zealand with a week on each island which just about gave us enough time to see the main attractions we were interested in .
October 18th – November 9th: Australia
We crossed the ocean to meet up with friends living in Sydney for a few days, then we took the train from Brisbane up the coast stopping off at any places of interest before finishing the visit to Australia in Cairns.
November 9th – 12th: Singapore
Singapore was our gateway on to the last continent of our travels.
November 13th – 17th: Malaysia
We stopped off in the bustling capital Kuala Lumpur and then ate some of the most delicious (and cheapest) food in Colonial Penang.
November 20th – December 3rd: Thailand
Our last visit was to Thailand. We explored the Golden Triangle in the North, then went in seek of relaxation on Koh Lanta which didn’t live up to expectations. So we took an extra hop to Phuket before returning once more to Bangkok airport. The last couple of days were spent in Bangkok before the long long flight back home to where we had started.
December 4th: Dublin
And just like that, our around the world adventure was over.
22 flights, 32 different accommodations, 12 boats and 7 countries later, we were finally home.