We spent around ten days in Perth. We didn’t do a whole lot and used our time to rest and relax. After ten days though, Andrew started to worry that we hadn’t moved on. We had not found a car we wanted to buy (which was our original plan). We decided to try a car transfer. You can use the following sites to find a really cheap, and sometimes free car to rent. The catch is that it is one way, and usually on the dates they want you to move the car. We found and were approved for an SUV with a rooftop tent!

Per Maddison’s suggestion we decided to take a day and enjoy an island off the west coast of Perth called Rottnest Island aka Rotto. Rottnest gets its name from the Dutch explorers who believed the quokkas, who still inhabit the island today, were giant rats, they named the island “Rats’ Nest Island.” The quokkas are the most unique aspect of this island, and one of the only places in the world you can find these marsupials. Nowadays, people head to the island for relaxation, beach activities, and you can’t leave without taking a quokka selfie.

Because our time in Perth was mostly spent indoors, planning, and being lazy travelers my posts on Perth will not follow a linear path. This post I will focus on a few things we did with a few people we met and re-connected with! As depicted in my first post on Australia, Maddison is an awesome person. We didn’t do a great deal with Maddison since she works a full-time job, but we did share a few meals, most of our evenings, and she gave us excellent information on Australia. Sort of an introductory crash course.

Sitting on an airport floor is probably as low as one can get and feel, but we’ve all been there right? I’ve missed one flight before because the ticket agent wouldn’t let me check my bag and it was too big to carryon, until now. We missed our flight to Perth because I forgot to buy our visas online. When we arrived at the airport check-in they would not let us on the flight.

Our stay in Bukit Lawang came to an end and the hotel arranged transportation to the airport. Until this point in our trip I had planned everything. I would have planned a bit more if I could have but our days and nights were so busy. We also found out while we were in England that Andrew would have a friend in Bali the same time as us, so I didn’t want our travel plans to be so rigid we would not get to meet up.

We woke up early in the morning to take a long and bumpy car ride to a village where you can wash elephants. I was worried it would be like our ride from Medan, but our driver was excellent. We were jostled around a bit, but it was due to the road.

We were given the option by our guide to hike back in to the jungle for a few hours in the morning, or we could sleep a bit longer, have breakfast, and then we would all meet again to walk to a waterfall nearby. Guess which one we chose?

We were so happy to leave Medan and head to the jungle! I found a very reputable company called Sumatra Eco-Travel Bukit Lawang to take us on our jungle trek. A driver picked us up from our mediocre hotel in the morning. We picked up a few other people from town as well. The drive from Medan to Bukit Lawang is around three hours. I’m pretty sure our driver was related to our driver in Egypt who drove us to the pyramids. Even though our driver was terrible, I was able to sleep most of the way.

From South Africa we got to Medan, Sumatra (an island in Indonesia) by way of Bali for one night. I will include our night in Bali when in the Bali section of our trip. Since Medan is one of the largest cities in Indonesia I expected it to be built up slightly at least with easy access to locations, minimal to some public transportation, and you know, side walks.

We spent the day enjoying tables and wine. Meaning Table Mountain and wine tastings.
Finally, we made it to Table Mountain the day before we were set to leave South Africa. I was worried it would rain, or something would keep us from being able to visit. After our hike up to Lion’s Head, I basically strong armed Andrew in to buying tickets for the cable car. There was no way I was going to hike up a mountain 1/3 larger than Lion’s Head, and then try and enjoy myself. Also, who wouldn’t want to ride on a rotating cable car?

Let me continue our adventure with our day in Table Mountain National Park and our afternoon spent seeing the penguins! The drive from Cape Town to the National Park takes just over an hour. You drive through stunning scenery and a few coastal towns. It was bright and sunny and a gorgeous day to spend at the seaside.

We spent the next few days exploring Cape Town on our own with no set agenda. We relaxed a bit, had a few pints at a local bar in Hout Bay and watched some rugby. One of our days we drove around the city to see all the buildings and try and find places off the beaten path. I had heard about an area called Bo Kaap. Most noteworthy, It is the oldest residential area in Cape Town. Bo Kaap used to be known as the Malay Quarter. It was a former township, and an where many Muslims were forced to live during Apartheid. Now, tourists visit for a bit of history and for bright, colorful pictures of the picturesque houses and cobblestone streets.

I thought we’d take our next full day in Cape Town easy, so I planned for us to spend the day at Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. Little did I realize (again) that our pleasant outing walking through beautiful gardens would actually be all uphill and a mental battle!

Our first outing in Cape Town was a hike, and was my choice. I can’t say I regret it, but it was a rather physically demanding day that we were completely unprepared for. I heard Lion’s Head was a great hike and a wonderful way to see the city. Not being much of a hiker, I was drastically unprepared for what was to come. We used Google maps and like it happens sometimes, we passed the actual entrance to Lion’s Head. We parked at Signal Hill instead.

Our arrival in to Cape Town was dramatic due to the wind and rain, but we made it there late in the evening. Our gracious host welcomed us in to his home and showed us to our room upstairs. Maarten’s home was spacious and handsomely decorated with items he’s collected around South Africa. We were all tired, so we headed to bed after spending a few minutes chatting and getting to know one another.

We are going to see all the elephants we can today! We woke up fairly early in order to make the 45 minute drive to Addo Elephant Park. Not having the money or the time to do a big game park like Kruger didn’t let us down too much. I had seen a few posts from other travelers about Addo and it was along our route so we decided to make a day of it. I am so glad we did! We had only planned to spend the morning to mid afternoon driving around the park, but once we arrived we realized just how large the park to not give it more time.

Hitting the road again, we left Johannesburg early on Saturday morning, September 30th. We said so long and thank you to our hosts for their most gracious entertainment. Today was a big travel day. Having read many posts about Johannesburg, everyone’s suggestions were to basically leave and get to Cape Town as soon as possible. Our host’s recommendations made our time in Jo’burg awesome, so we decided to spend a little more time there.

Our couchsurfing hosts suggested that we head to the Lion and Safari Park about an hour away. After visiting the Lion Park we went to Sterkfontein Caves. This may be one of the best days I have ever had in my life!

Today we planned on visiting the Apartheid Museum. Johan woke us up for breakfast at 6:30 am. Neither of us wanted to get out of bed after being awake for so long the day before. During dinner, the night before, we decided we would visit the Apartheid Museum, and see what else we had time to do in the afternoon.

Our road trip in South Africa began in Johannesburg. We secured a place to stay through Couchsurfing with some absolutely amazing hosts! Unfortunately, our flight(s) to get to Johannesburg were absolute torture. I have since learned my lesson and have been booking our preferred seat assignments so that I am not sandwiched between two large men!

This is the post I’ve been waiting to write about my visit to the Pyramids! If you read my previous post about Egypt then you will know that we left Luxor early in the morning. We landed in Cairo at 6:30 am and got back to Yousef’s an hour later. I’m exhausted at this point, and so is Andrew. We decided we would sleep for a few hours and then venture out to the Egyptian Museum since we never made it there earlier in the week.

We boarded the train quickly in Aswan headed for Luxor. Our tickets were for second class seats in an air-conditioned cart. We had a three-hour journey ahead of us. We found our seats; the first two on the car, so we had a lot of leg room. Also, we did not have to worry about people leaning their seats back in to us. Unfortunately, we were right next to the toilets and the door. The door which was never shut for more than three minutes without someone walking through it. Every time it was opened it swung in to me. After we go going I moved to an empty seat on the other side of the aisle.

We arrived three hours late in Aswan much to our dismay. Yousef put us in touch with someone in Awan who said he could show us around, David. He was a fellow Couchsurfing Host who was already showing another surfer around for the day. He said he would pick us up at the train station and we’d spend the day touring Aswan. Aswan is most known for Philae Temple. It is also home of High Dam on the Nile River which I gather the people of Aswan are very proud of.

If you read my first post on Egypt here then you will know our first day in Cairo was sort of a bust. We made it on the metro to Tahrir Square and back. It’s good in a way because we were still so tired from our overnight travels. We were determined to get us after a full night of restful sleep and make it to the museum in to find a guide for the museum and the pyramids.

I cannot believe I’m in Egypt!
Our day started out with us waking up at 6:15 am to join the rat race of traffic headed to Manchester. We made it to the airport 2 hours later after a lot of traffic and some amazing scenery. I will definitely miss England, but I am excited to tell you about Egypt!

Our nights in England have been spent visiting with friends old and new. All of our friends with babies, now have small children! Where does time go? I finally met a few of Andrew’s pals from when he was very young and a couple of their partners. Everyone seems to be doing so well. At times I wish I had moved to England a few years ago instead of Andrew moving to the US, but we can’t change the past. Who knows if we’d be taking this adventure now if I had moved instead.

Can you get more English..
than going to a sheep fair on a Saturday afternoon? Today our southern cultures collided! Our friend Laura LOVES American southern biscuits and gravy. Since she cooked an amazing roast for dinner when we arrived, I returned the favor and cooked sausage gravy and biscuits. Laura helped! But you don’t want to hear about biscuits and gravy. Though they did turn out really great. I usually use Bisquick for biscuits, but since they don’t have that in England, I made them from scratch!

I’ve been visiting England since 2004. I sometimes regret not moving there when I met Andrew. I pretty much forced him to move to the US since I had already moved across the country earlier in my life and I wasn’t prepared for another long distance move or upheaval. I have spent most of my visits in Northern England. Way back in the summer of 2003 I worked for an amazing summer camp called Hidden Valley Camp. I met a few cheeky Englishmen who I stayed friends with (and luckily still am!) Well, long story short, I met my husband at one of their weddings…in Mexico of all places! I am looking forward to heading back to my husband’s home country and seeing friends.

Our first travel day is happening now (Sept 4)! Also, Happy Labor Day! Today was the cheapest day for us to fly; it usually is on a holiday. We both slept pretty poorly, and were up very late. Last night I finished watching a movie I’ve been watching for a few days. By the time I finished it, my restless leg syndrome started bothering me which made it hard for me to get comfortable and fall asleep. Thank goodness our nice friends let us sleep in, and allow us to lie around their house and be lazy. We have had such a nice time with them. I still have some organizing to do in my suitcases. (I’ll do a post about all that I’ve packed another time.) I already think I’ve over packed.

I quit my job. I’m unemployed!
Today is my first official day of unemployment, and not just the kind of unemployment where I wait for my next job to start. Unemployed for a year…or more! I don’t know what to think about that, except, I think a lot of things about it. For instance, I feel anxious, excited, scared, nervous, lazy, relaxed, etc.

The first thing you have to do when planning your around the world trip, is check your bank accounts, save, and then pick out where you want to go.

Getting a Brazilian Visa is harder than getting my English husband a K-1 Visa to move to America. I am not kidding. Well, maybe not that hard, but not quite as straight forward due to the language barrier, in my personal opinion.

So there’s this awesome app/website called Couchsurfing. Andrew told me about it years ago; I just never gave it much thought. Until now.
Couchsurfing is unique in that you can sign up and be a host or a surfer and it’s free to do both! Hosts welcome people in to their homes for free and surfers enjoy a free place to stay and hopefully nice company.

I got my vaccine for Hepatitis A & B from Walgreens. After researching the vaccines I would need for each country we visit I made some calls to places that offer travel vaccinations. That took quite some time.

This is my first post! Welcome friends.
I guess we’re doing this thing! We are just 5 weeks away from leaving the US and travelling the world. Our trip should last about a year. We may run out of money though! Budgeting for a year of unknowns is difficult. We have a rough estimate for most of our travel dates, but we are keeping it loose.