Kaili's solo footsteps around the world in over 100 countries..
I had always said I wanted to be in New Zealand for my 24th birthday, so that’s just what I did. I had spent my 22nd birthday with the same kiwi girls in the middle of the Wadi Rum desert in Jordan so only suiting that I was with them for my birthday. I found some cheap flights and was off, first stop Auckland.
As I flew in late at night, my friend’s boyfriend pick me up and took me back to their place. Once there I jumped on my friend, Terese, who was in bed (school teacher!).
I surprised my immediate family just before Christmas in 2013. It was just Mum who was aware of my arrival home. Even more surprises followed when I showed up at my friend’s birthday party the same day. I then kept a low profile to surprise the rest of my family on Christmas Day. Now that was a big reaction!!
Continue reading “My first few months back home in Australia..!”
My flight to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia was via Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. I had a seven-hour stop over but had plenty of movies to watch and they even supplied dinner for free!! Easy as (and for the price I got the flight for, I could not complain at all).
My first impressions of going out for a walk around KL – wow, I was definitely not in Africa anymore. I could not believe the amount of white people and in particular, how much skin they were showing!! There were people everywhere and a whole lot of touristy souvenirs. This was such a different atmosphere than what I had been used to for the past five months and I was not at ease with it. People were just waving money around like it was nothing. The flashy malls and department stores overwhelmed me and the fact that it was Christmas-time meant the jingles and decorations were everywhere. It was all a bit too much for me.
I am happy that my 50th country is one of the only nations in Africa never to be colonized. It makes it just that little bit more ‘special’ and ‘unique’.
Ethiopia is also the spiritual homeland of the Rastafari movement, which globalized its flag colours worldwide via pop culture and Reggae music. They even have their own religion (Ethiopian Orthodox) which believe in Saint Mary more rather than focusing on Jesus.
Continue reading “Traveling solo to my 50th country – Ethiopia..!”
I went to Uganda by myself by overnight bus to Kampala. I had a rough border crossing with my visa but eventually got there.
That first day in Kampala I found it strange not to hear the East African language of Kiswahili anymore. It was odd to be a tourist in a foreign country again but now I was much more experienced in how things worked. I knew how to haggle down and felt completely comfortable jumping on the back of a boda (motorbike) to get where I needed to go. It’s all about confidence.
Continue reading “Exploring Uganda and back to my Masai family in Kenya..”
One of my Kenyan friends who I met in Mombasa, Ivan, is a freelance photojournalist, Ivan Lieman Photography. Ivan was going on a road trip from Mombasa to the Turkana Region in North Kenya to take photos of the ‘rare solar hybrid eclipse’ and invited me to join him.
I was lucky enough to have some friends living in Nairobi so I stayed at their apartment before Ivan picked me up on for what ended up being my favourite road trip ever.
Little did I know how long the coastal town of Mombasa, would become my home..
I was at Mombasa Backpackers for a few days exploring the city and figuring out what I was going to do on my travels next. I arranged to go live with a Masai tribe through a volunteer company but as things happen, I met some great people including Linnea (American) and Hannah (Aussie). Linnea had recently started up her own NGO, Local Push Global, in Mombasa and Hannah had just moved in with her to help out.
We were finally in Africa!! We arrived in Cape Town where we had a few days to chill out and catch up on life before our 35-day overland tour, with Acacia Africa, to Zanzibar.
We spent the first few days checking out the magical city of Cape Town and walked to the top of Table Mount, which was stunning. We also did a day trip to Cape of Good Hope (the most south-western point of Africa) and surrounding areas (Haute Bay, Chapman’s Peak etc).
While it was sad leaving London, my first stop was Italy for my mates (from Adelaide) wedding!!! It was held in Venice and I had a week to explore beforehand. I went to Naples first and did some pretty amazing things such as a day trip around the island of Capri, cruised along the Amalfi Coast and ate some delicious food!!
Once back from Russia I had two of my Aunties come over to stay with me. It was great having family over and I showed them around London as much as I could after work hours and took them to Paris for a weekend. This was great fun as the sun was out to play while we wandered around the streets, going up the Eiffel Tower and we got to enjoy a beer at the Sacre Coeur overlooking the beautiful city of Paris.
Continue reading “Exploring England on my final days living in Europe..”
Riga was the city I flew into to start the Baltic leg of my trip. First thing I did was climb the tower of St Peter’s Church for a great view of the city. Of course, I did the free walking tour with Yellow Free tours where I met a couple of awesome girls. We checked out things such as ‘Stalin’s Cake’ , the food markets in the old airplane hangers (one of my favourite markets in the world!) and the oldest wooden church in the Baltics before a few of us branched off and went to an amazing teahouse in the middle of a snow-covered park.
Continue reading “Baltics, Scandinavia and Russia in three weeks..”
The start of 2013 had started in fine form and the next few months followed in suit.
We had a fair bit of snow in London which made for some more snowman making at our friend’s pub, the Trafalgar Arms, which was the in the middle of our houses. This pub became our home for the next couple of months over winter for a solid ‘Sunday Sesh’, we even had a couch that was the specifically saved for us.
Continue reading “Snow filled London, Romania and the Alps..”
I was lucky enough to once again stay with some family in Copenhagen and to spend Christmas with them as well.
We were off to the West Coast of Denmark to spend it at my cousin’s family home in Värde.
The day we were due to leave there was a snow storm which caused a little delay but made everything look beautiful. It was a nice drive and once we got there you could smell the amazing aromas saved for Christmas time.
Shortly after arriving back in London, my Dad arrived for a visit..
We spent the first weekend exploring London and I took him for a typical English pub meal. We also went to a soccer game which is pretty foreign to the both of us. It was Fulham v Aston Villa and ended up as a draw.
During the week my Dad caught the Eurostar to Lille where he hired a car and took himself around France and Belgium for a week by himself to explore the WW1 Australian battlefields on the WesternFront..
Continue reading “The last part of an extremely eventful 2012…”
I was off to Africa to volunteer for my first time, and I chose Zanzibar (an island of the coast of Tanzania) to offer my services (although it does cost to do this!). What an island paradise!
I arrived a few days before I was scheduled to help and went to the Northern tip of the island to Kendwa. This place was incredible. I have never seen such white sand with pristine waters – it was like a dream.
Continue reading “My volunteer experience on the island paradise of Zanzibar..”
As it was the year of the Olympics in London, it was manic with crowds of people from all over the world – more than normal! Such a great time to be in the city though and there was even more on than usual!
A group of us watched the Opening Ceremony at a mate’s pub before I caught the train to Manchester the next day read to go to my first Olympic event – New Zealand v Egypt soccer (also Brazil v Belarus). As the people I went with were mainly Kiwis I thought it was best to support the cousins from across the sea and join in donning the black and white. It was good fun watching the game at Old Trafford stadium and a great atmosphere. I spent the night and did some exploring of Manchester with some mates making the most of our time there.
Continue reading “The European weekends for 2012 continue..”
After returning from my latest trip I managed to pick up a couple of different temp assignments for a week or two before Richemont called me to say they wanted me back!! This was great news as I enjoyed working for Richemont, they were a great company and I learnt a lot working there. I ended up working there until my time was up in London.
The start of my weekend trips away was local, in Birmingham, to stay a night with my friend who was studying there. Charlotte showed me around and we hung out in the small city where the sun was shining for us. We did visit the Cadbury Chocolate factory which of course we felt ill from so much chocolate afterwards but well worth it.
The following weekend was the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee which meant an extra-long weekend, perfect to book a European trip away, Prague in the Czech Republic it was. I went solo and managed to meet some great people on the walking tour and at the hostel where I stayed.
My first stop was Amman in Jordan my original tour was meant to head straight to Syria followed by Jordan and Egypt but with all the conflict happening at that time, the Syria leg of the trip was cancelled. Therefore, I had quite a number of extra days in Amman so I did some research about heading to Jerusalem in Israel for a few days (this is not as easy as it sounds because of the border crossing).
I arrived at the hostel in Amman (Jordan) where I met one of my roommates who told me that a few of them heading to Jerusalem the next day and asked if I wanted to join – perfect! There were four of us in total which helped a lot with the cost of the taxis to and from everywhere.
I returned to London just before New Year’s 2011 and headed straight up to Edinburgh to bring in the New Year with the Hogmanay Festival.
I was with a group of friends and we hired an apartment in Grassmarket Square which is pretty central and not far from Princes Street Gardens. We had a few cook ups and roasts and joined in the festivities of the Hogmanay Festival which included artists such as Mark Ronson, The Vaccines and Bombay Bicycle Club etc.
Continue reading “Hogmanay and back to London with a weekend trip to Europe in the mix..”
It was December and so I boarded the Eurostar from St Pancras bound for Paris . It was so simple, a simple show of the passport, sit down in your seat and you were off to another country, via train, underwater.
As my mate had been to Paris before, I went off and did the free-walking tour while I waited for her to arrive (she was coming by plane from Edinburgh). The Sandeman’s free walking tour was great and went past a few of the major sites, Notre Dame, down Champs-Elysees with the Arc De Triomphe in the distance, past the various museums and through the arch at the Louvre. This was a perfect way to get my bearings around the city and learn some history all for free (funding based on tip at the end).
