About the Trip!

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain.

I’m generally not one for cheesy quotes, but I thought this summed up nicely why I have decided to spend all my money and explore for the next 9 months. Every traveller I have met, on the road or at home replies with the same sentiment to stories of travel and adventure–travel is the most addicting drug on the planet. We all travel for different reasons, but it always ends in the same discoveries of self, others, and the world. This time I am not travelling to escape everyday life (although, skipping out on the bank and the bar everyday does feel nice!), or to gain work experience, but to live, to see, and to experience.

As I write this I am sitting in a small Greek tavern, having just finished a cruise with my mom through Egypt, Turkey, and the Greek Islands. Once she leaves, I will be heading up to Croatia, Bulgaria, and Serbia by train. I then fly from Athens, Greece to Amman, Jordan; there I plan on taking a few days to go and see one of the most magnificent ruins in the world–Petra (seen in Indian Jones and the Holy Grail). After Jordan, I have a couple day layover in Dubai, UAE, then, I arrive in Mumbai, India. I will be in India for three months with my boyfriend, Sam. We are planning to travel everywhere by train and make the trek to the base camp of Everest in Nepal. After India, I am hoping to be accepted into a training program in Dhaka, Bangladesh with the Grameen Bank–the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 and developer of the most effective microfinance model which is now adapted and used world wide. (Microfinance being providing financial services such as credit, savings and insurance to people living in poverty that do not have the collateral to go through the formal banking system. I worked with a microfinance institution in Cameroon, and if you scroll to the bottom of my current blog, you will find a number of stories from that trip.) Following this, when my insurance runs out, I will return to Vancouver for a week before heading south to Santiago, Chile. The means of travel depend on my bank account balance, but I will find my way from Santiago to Lima, Peru. In Peru, my mom and Pieter will meet me to do the Inca trail and see Machu Pichu, then go to Ecuador to go to the Galapagos Islands. After they leave, I will spend some time in Bogota and Cartegena, Colombia before flying to Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Chile. I then fly to Sao Paulo, Brazil. After Brazil, I will spend just over a month exploring Morocco and parts of Spain before flying home from Madrid in June.

For those of you that are wondering, I booked my flights through OneWorld as a round the world flight, and I am flying home from Madrid because the cruise was booked with roundtrip airfare from Victoria. I am sure there will be plenty of photos and posts to keep most of you occupied at work! Just click on the tab at the top titled Round the World to read the blog, and on the side bar there is a widget called Platial Maps–if you click on the map there is a marker at every city I’ve been so far. I plan on updating this blog as frequently as possible, and adding photos to my Smug Mug .

Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to comment or send me emails!!! I would love to hear from you (well, most of you… ) jennifermcquhae@gmail.com.