The highs and lows of the Inca Trail...

Day 30
The long-awaited day had arrived - I was starting the Inca Trail today! Linh and I had booked through Loki Travel at a base cost of $400USD each plus a porter to carry our belongings for an extra $110USD for the four days. There are many tour operators offering packages for the Inca Trail but this one seemed to be the cheapest plus it had great reviews. I guess a downside though was that it was a pretty big group (22 people) so it wasn't as intimate and personalised as some of the other groups I saw on the trail. Nevertheless, it was a good group of people to spend four days trekking with!

Surviving Death Road to ring in Cusco 2016...

Day 24
My overnight bus from Uyuni got into La Paz around 6am where I then made my way uphill to my charming little hostel Residencial Latino. After the past week of very restless and sleepless nights it was great to have a private room to recuperate in. A much-needed nap later, we were off to do the walking tour at 1:30pm. La Paz is such an interesting city, blending the modern with the traditional. We'd walk through an urbanised part of the city, turn the corner and be in a market where the cholitas would be selling their fresh produce, another corner and we'd be in the Witches' Market where there were all sorts of trinkets and potions for sale (including llama foetuses). Anyways not much to this day besides the tour, eating and resting.

Desert fun: Salta to Uyuni salt flats...

Day 18
When bus plans fall through, you take an impromptu road trip! Ended up with a group of four (Linh, Davi, Niklas and myself) hiring a car and driving up north to Purmamarca and Tilcara to see the amazing desert and mountain landscapes. The highlight of this north route from Salta is Cerro de los Siete Colores, a mountain range famous for its many different coloured mountains (different elements in the rocks).

Flying through Argentina: Patagonia, Buenos Aires and Salta...

Day 10
Pretty much a travel day. I was on the 8am bus from Puerto Natales to El Calafate, very much regretting the early morning bus after my four day hike. After about an hour, we approached the border between Chile and Argentina. The process was pretty straight forward. On the Chilean side, they stamped the exit stamp and collected the immigration card. We then drove through no man's land for five minutes before reaching the Argentinean checkpoint and getting the entrance stamp. And contrary to my fears, the bus driver made sure everyone was back on board before driving off.

Hiking Torres del Paine's W-trek...

So last I left off, I was getting ready for my four day hike through Torres del Paine National Park. Right now, I'm back from the wilderness and scrolling through all my photos from the 75km W-trek. I'm still just gobsmacked at how beautiful it was, and just how blue the water was! This is somewhere I'd definitely recommend going. Even if you're not a hiker, you can marvel from a distance. It has to be seen to be believed!

My South American travels begin...

A year in the making (albeit most of the planning occurred in the last month), my South American trip begins!! I had actually booked my flights to South America way back in January when there was a 10% sale on points redeemed for flights. As such, on a whim, I traded in 90,000 of my hard earned Qantas frequent flyer points (plus $750 in taxes) and got myself return flights to Santiago, Chile. Now that the 10 month wait is over, let the South American adventure begin!!

You're OK Boracay...

After the amazing experience of swimming with whale sharks, it was now time to head to the tropical island of Boracay, famous for its pure white sandy beaches and crystal clear blue waters. As with most places in the Philippines, it takes quite a bit of time to get anywhere but after after a taxi, a flight, a van ride, a boat and another van ride, we were finally at our beachfront hotel La Carmela in the heart of the island's busy strip. Boracay Island is split into Stations 1, 2 and 3, with Station 2 being the main hub for all the restaurants, bars, shops and clubs, and conveniently where our hotel was located!

Having a whale (shark) of a time...

Last I left off, I was in Boljoon in preparation for my early morning trip to Oslob which is famous for its whale shark tourism. After an early morning swim, I checked out and waited by the side of the road for a bus to come barrelling towards me. For those wanting to go to Oslob from Cebu, you can catch a Ceres Liner bus (bright yellow) from the South Bus Terminal every half an hour. However if you're trying to get there from anywhere else, you'll just have to flag down a moving one from the road. As such, we were on the side of the road for about an hour waiting since the bus had been delayed by traffic (how typical). Eventually the bus arrived and we were soon barrelling down the narrow coastal roads at speeds which made me scared we would tip over on the bends.

My Filipino adventure begins...

Another post means another overseas trip - this time to the Philippines! After over a year of bussing it back and forth between Canberra and Sydney and being subjected to the billboard at Sydney Airport telling me to go to Philippines, I finally succumbed. And what a great time too with the sales on, I managed to score return tickets to Philippines for $320 return from Sydney including checked baggage on Cebu Pacific Airlines. Throw in three domestic flights (Manila, Cebu, Boracay) and I had a solid ten days of travel around the country for $550 total. I went on this trip with friend from work, but given how busy we were in the lead up, we didn't manage to plan much. As such, this was a very last-minute spontaneous trip.

Kakadu and Darwin round out the NT trip...

Day 7

After what was probably the best night's sleep on the trip so far, we reluctantly got out of bed, packed up and began the 250km trip to the town of Jabiru located within Kakadu National Park. The road leading there (Arnhem Highway) was pretty good despite being single-laned, albeit there were stretches of roadwork which forced us to stop for a while. At the 150km mark, we entered the park and the scenery alongside the road changed dramatically. We were now driving alongside bright green forests, but just as quickly as the scenery had changed, it was now blackened burnt forests. As we continued to drive, the road up ahead was getting hazier and hazier, with thick plumes of smoke above the trees. Clearly there was a fire ahead. What was I to do? Keep driving? Turn back? There were no warnings or evacuations occurring so I just assumed it was all ok and drove on.

From Alice to Darwin, and every disco I get in...

Ok so there was no disco, but I'm hoping that some of you out there get the reference I'm making in the title. If not, moooooving on then...


Day 4

We were picked up from our apartment at 6:30am ready for our tour up to Darwin. The company we were with was called WayOutback, and they do all kinds of outback tours. The original plan was to actually hire a car and drive ourselves up to Darwin, but after extensive research, it seemed like too much hassle to have to make that drive up. Besides, on a tour, I could sleep between attractions and have everything organised for me! On the tour bus besides us were mainly Europeans. Out of the 15 of us, there were eight Aussies, two Germans, one French, one Dutch, one Italian, one Belgian and one Canadian.

The Australian outback adventure begins...

Since my last post, I've started a new job and have moved to Canberra. And in the midst of working hard for the money, I began planning my next trip as usual. Obviously nothing quite as long as my usual trips given my job, so it would have to be a domestic trip. The catalyst was Jetstar announcing sale fares to Uluru. Done. Decision made. I planned it so I could fly into Uluru, make my way up through the Northern Territory, and fly home from Darwin, all in eight days (18 to 26 October 2014). In the end I managed to get a few of my colleagues to come along as well.

Europe and Middle East done (but cost me what?!)...

Now that I'm back home, so begins the inevitable tallying up of my expenses of my 80 day trip. I might just say that I'm really pedantic when it comes to this kind of stuff, and I actually recorded my expenses daily in my notebook while travelling, both what it was that I paid for and how much it cost. As such, I was able to transpose that all into an excel spreadsheet, before I could play around with the numbers. Gotta admit, I actually quite enjoyed playing around with my excel spreadsheet. It's just so satisfying when the formulas work and you find out interesting things in your data. Haha I sound like such a nerd. Anyways, because of my pedantic record keeping while on the road, I was able to break down and analyse my expenses according to city, as well as expense type, which was broken down into food, transport, accommodation, sightseeing, entertainment, souvenir, gift, miscellaneous and leftover. Like I said, "pedantic".

Dubai, the final leg...

Day 76

Said my goodbyes to Fetty and Fadzli as I checked in for my flight (within a minute - the airport was just empty), and headed through to wait for my flight back to Dubai. Slight delay but not like I had anything urgent to attend to in Dubai. An hour flight later and I was back in Dubai. Clearing immigration was simple once again, although the guy was pretty interested in my ethnic background. He seemed genuinely confused that I called myself an Australian when I was clearly Asian. Landing back in Terminal 2, I was told there would be shuttle buses to the larger terminals where I could get the metro. They never came. Ended up taking a taxi to the metro instead.

9 years too early for the World Cup...

Day 70

Given the extravagance of Dubai Airport's Terminal 1 and 3 (their "international" terminals), you would expect that Terminal 2 (for budget and "domestic" flights to Abu Dhabi and the surrounding Gulf nations) would be similarly fashioned. Not so. Pretty small and drab. But I guess I wasn't really there to check out the airport or duty-free. I was only an hour flight from Doha, Qatar, and seeing my sister (Fetty) and brother-in-law (Fadzli), along with my nephews (Adam and Aqil) and niece (Iris), and that was all I cared about. They had relocated there Fadzli's work, and had been there for about a year.

Goodbye Europe, hello Middle East...

Day 66

Said my goodbyes to Elina and bid farewell to London. My flight was to fly out of Luton Airport (quite a way out from the city) but I had booked a shuttle bus so no issues. No dramas with check in and security, although I was able to get a bottle of water through the scanner. Guess they don't check the bags that carefully. Boarded my Easyjet flight and in no time, I was back in Emmenbrucke and doing an afternoon cycle through the Swiss forests, before settling down in my relatives' restaurant and enjoying a delicious dinner and a night of recounting my many adventures. That's pretty much it for Day 66, you don't do much when it's a travel day. Although as I unpacked my backpack and did laundry, it hit me that my trip was coming to an end (well, the Europe component at least). Scary. I don't think I'll ever be ready to leave. There's always more to see.

Musical binge in London's West End...

Given that I did most of the London attractions last time (not that I didn't do them again this time), I will refrain from elaborating too much about them. However, what was different about this trip was that I splurged on musicals and shows, and took advantage of what London's West End had to offer. I feel like this blog post will be more about the different shows that I saw, so apologies in advance if that doesn't interest you. I did see some new sights, so I will also speak about Hyde Park, Science Museum, Greenwich and the Harry Potter Studios.

Viva la France...

Day 56

Slept through my alarm so didn't leave the apartment until a bit after midday. Given that my Musuem Pass expired today, I dedicated today to mainly museums, as well as a few attractions which were covered. Climbed up the towers of Notre Dame to check out the view as well as the stone chimeras. Apparently gargoyles are used for water drainage and since these beasts were purely for decoration, they were chimeras. I was also up there when Quasimodo rang the bells which was quite an experience.

Paree 'olds ze key to your 'eart...

 Day 51

Another travel day. Honestly it is so draining after a while. At least today was only a 90 minute flight (as opposed to train or bus), but throw in all the airport procedures and the time drags out. But hey, I should just be thankful that I even get to travel. And my destination was Paris, one of my favourite cities, and be surrounded by so many people speaking French!! Sexy. And I would get to see Tash and Aniqa again which was even more exciting!!

The old capitals of Czechoslovakia...

Day 47

Off to Bratislava, Slovakia today!! I have no idea what's there. I'm stopping there more to tick off another country and plus it's on the way to Prague. Noticed that there was an inconsistency between the Eurail app and the book regarding the need for reservation, so decided to check that out in case I had to stand for hours again like my Stockholm to Copenhagen trip. Turns out you could just jump on. Done. No dramas on the train trip. Almost had a heart attack when the guard said I hadn't filled out the travel date on my pass (you get fined if you haven't). Turns out she was just blind and couldn't see the black pen. Afterwards she complemented me on just how perfectly filled out my pass was. Guess that was a plus.