So we have had a fantastic trip, 25 countries, 28 flights and an unmentionable amount of boat, bus, taxi and train rides. It’s taken us 14 months to circumnavigate the globe visiting the most amazing places that have left us flabbergasted and full of magnificent memories. We have been back in NZ for 8 weeks, (landed in Nelson on 19^th January 2017) and we are writing this from Auckland. What we thought easy to “fit back into normality”, has actually been a struggle. We had a plan, get somewhere to live, buy a car and find a job – easy right………no not at all. On our return we lived with our friends who we had traveled Florida with, the same friends who had opened their home to us just before we left on our trip. However we hadn’t planned on being there for over 6 weeks!!!!.

On our trip we had got married on a deserted beach in the Maldives, but unfortunately it wasn’t legal as we chose not to take up Islam as a religion, nor were we citizens of the Maldives. So other than finding jobs, getting transport sorted and getting a place to live, we also had to organise legalizing our marriage.

The wedding took place on Sat 25^th February with all our friends and ex colleagues surrounding us. We were even joined by Tina’s family who came from Auckland, (all 11 of them). Our celebrant was an ex colleague of Roy’s and it was a marvelous bright and sunny day in Nelson. Wonderful day and so happy to have Christine, my god mum, give me away.

Tina and I realized that there was no possibility we could stay in Nelson and as the new job prospect was to be in Hamilton, (north island NZ), we decided to relocate to Auckland and if the job didn’t eventuate we would concentrate on looking for jobs in Auckland. Finally the call came through and I had been offered the job in Hamilton, however the start date was not for another 3 weeks. Thankfully Tina’s family from Auckland took us in.

We hired a car for 2 days as we went to explore Hamilton in search for somewhere to stay. Hamilton is a nice place, lovely, clean and tidy with several tree lined avenues in surrounding neighbourhood. Due to us not having any permanent transport we knew we had to locate a place to live in the city center, somewhere within walking distance from the office. We stayed in Hamilton for 3 months, both of us working on contracts then Roy got a permanent job in Auckland so on the move again.

We’ve been asked several questions by friends and family since our return and here’s a few:-

Any regrets ? – definitely not, we’ve had a brilliant time, seen some wonderful sights, shared many laughs and tears together but most of all we had each other.

Is there anything that you would change? – yep, I wish we had researched and got a credit card with either a points system or better still air miles. That would have saved us heaps.

How did you budget? – that’s a difficult one as you can’t really budget as each country is so very different to the next. Our plan was to travel until the money ran out. We found New Zealand and Australia the most expensive, (apart from the Maldives where we got married, as we pushed the boat out so to speak). We did however set $100 aside per night for our accommodation, however we were no way near this in NZ or OZ, but elsewhere we were staying in the lap of luxury for around $35 per night. Food was a big expenditure but again eating street food in Bali for around $5 per night for the both of us was great. Our trip was based on pushing ourselves, getting outside of our comfort zones, doing things we had never done before, and even facing our fears. We did all of this so I would say activities was where we spent the most money.

Where was the best place you visited? – I’m not sure we could single out one country/city/town/beach from another one as every place holds a special memory in our hearts. Although Vietnam and Cambodia, Mexico, Morocco, Italy and of course the Maldives are all up there.

Where would you not visit again? – this one is easy to answer, Albania. It wasn’t on our original list of countries to visit, it was put on the list by accident as it was a country dividing Macedonia and Montenegro.  No public transport out of the city, very few restaurants and no shops and no other tourists. Although looking back, even though it’s communistic background is still very real, and it’s people were very sad looking, I’m pleased we did venture into its capital, as it was a total contrast to anything else we experienced.

Did you make any changes to your plans? – yep a few. We had wanted to go to the Kimberley’s in Australia, but as stated earlier, it’s one of the most expensive countries to travel around. We had also planned a tour round Madagascar but we just couldn’t get there unless it took days or hundreds(!) of flights. We brought Vietnam and Cambodia forwards, as we were in the area and put in Kuala Lumpur in as a stop over at the last minute. Knowing we were spending 3 months in Europe, and as we have done a lot of Europe whilst living in the UK, we chose countries we had never been to before. We were hoping to get to Romania and Transylvania, but at the last minute chose to go through Southern Europe instead. We had planned to go to Sri Lanka but heavy storms flooded the island a week or so before we were supposed to get there and the news stated most roads had been “washed away”. So on the whole yep we had a plan, and yep we kept to it, but made changes here and there.

Did you spend the whole money? – nope that was never going to happen. We had sold up, put furniture into storage and given our jobs up. So before setting off we put a chunk of money away for our return. Towards the end of our travels we had broken into this but still had a few dollars left for our return to NZ.

Did you work whilst overseas? – we had hoped we would but we were having a ball exploring everywhere and quite honestly we didn’t stay still long enough. We averaged out at moving on every 3^rd day with a few exceptions.

Now being back for 7 months we are ready to do it all again – so come on Lotto – pick me a winner!!