Tag: roadtrip

325 days, 13 countries, 65,000+ miles

On By amyirish1In africa, Australia, Botswana, Euro Travel, New Zealand, road trip, Southern Africa, US TravelLeave a comment

My first retirement is over.

325 days ago I left a great job to spend time exploring the world. What I thought would be between 3 and 6 months turned into almost a full year – and an experience of a lifetime. Now, I have found a new career with Energy Circle – creating digital marketing plans for companies & organizations that work to build and outfit efficient and healthy buildings. It’s a bittersweet ending to an incredible year – as I would love to keep traveling (and will continue to some extent), but like all things, traveling costs money so I need to pay the bills…until my next retirement 🙂

So now, a full wrap-up, reflections and thoughts about this past year:

  • 325 days (June 17, 2016 – May 7, 2017)
  • 4 continents (North America, Europe, Oceania (Australia), Africa)
  • 13 countries (US, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Italy, France, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, UK)
  • 28 states (Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland.)
  • 14,000+ miles of road trips (doesn’t include every day driving while home)
  • 65,000+ miles of total travel (estimate including air travel)
  • 9,500+ photos (some better than others)
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My Instagram feed of photos since I began traveling back in June 2016

Favorites:

  • Country: New Zealand. When someone asks what my favorite place has been there is no question, and no hesitation when I answer, New Zealand. From the people to the geological features, New Zealand was absolutely incredible. Africa would also go on my favorites list, but it still doesn’t come close to how much I loved New Zealand.
  • State: Utah – I would have loved to spend more time in Utah – specifically the Moab area!
  • Activity: Bungee Jumping. Such a rush (and surprise! I did it in New Zealand) as well as hiking all over!
  • Airport: Heathrow, London. This may be just because there were clean showers that were welcome between 10+ hour flights!
  • Border Crossing/Immigration: Dobe border crossing from Botswana into Namibia. We had to track down officials for both countries to get our passports stamped! The border was so remote that they only get one car every 2-3 days!

Least Favorites:

  • Country:  None. There was something amazing about every country I visited – and I would revisit every single one!
  • State: Again, I don’t know if I have a least favorite state!
  • Activity: Going to drug stores in Australia. Unfortunately I was sick through my entire travels in Australia so frequented the drug store to get medicine! They don’t sell over-the-counter cold medicine so I had to speak to a pharmacist every single time. Plus, they only provide around 4 days worth at a time, so I was going every 4 days!
  • Airport: LA. I didn’t have to go far within the airport, but it was crowded and my terminal didn’t have many options for grabbing a bite to eat!
  • Border Crossing/Immigration: Boston/Logan airport. I don’t think I spent less than an hour in this line in any of my travels this past year – and at one point the line was so long people couldn’t even get off the plane!

I learned so much during this time,  and if I were to share anything with you it would be that if you need a break, take it. Time away from the office, a desk, or your home can be extremely refreshing and give you greater perspective and a better idea of who you are. I hope that in another 5-6 years, I may be able to retire again for another year. My advice to everyone is to take risks, get outside your comfort zone and never stop traveling. Whether it’s across the globe or across your town – there is something new and exciting around every corner!

Luxury, lions and trouble with the Defender!

On By amyirish1In africa, Namibia, road trip4 Comments

Please note.. there is an image of a lion’s meal towards the end of the post, so don’t scroll past the first couple lion pictures unless you want to see it!

We didn’t have far to go for our next stay. We decided it was time to treat ourselves to a luxury African lodge, which happened to be fairly close to Sossusvlei. We drove about an hour to Hoodia Lodge, and to our luck, they were able to accommodate us in one of their bungalows!  It was stunning. We were able to clean up, enjoy the pool and catch up with a little wifi (albeit slow). Photos by Chris Bennett.

It was a typical African Lodge where they come out and meet you with a cold beverage and then treat you like royalty, constantly checking to see if anything is needed or if they could do anything. We had some laundry done, as our clothing was starting to get a little stinky, and simply relaxed. We had been driving significant distances for the past week, so it was nice to unwind and relax.

Our next stopping point was towards Mata Mata – a border crossing into the Kalahari in South Africa. We decided to check out the Kalahari Game Lodge just before the border to South Africa, which offered both lodge facilities and camping, as well as a large lion reserve.  I had emailed the day before to check availability, as we were unsure if we would make it the whole way or not.

Maybe I jinxed us, but as we were driving, we had to cross a couple very large puddles (there was no avoiding them). A few minutes after going through, the engine slumped and we lost most of the power to the engine. We got out the satellite phone and called the rental company. They said try to get to the nearest town and find a garage, then call back. We were about 15 km from the smallest town, and we found a couple garages in the GPS. Going about 35 mph the whole way, we made it around 10:30, and since it was Saturday, one garage was closed and the other had to call in the guy who worked on diesel engines. He came, took it for a drive and said it was the fuel filter. He said he couldn’t help and for us to drive to the next town, a small city where they would have more options. We started making our way there and called the rental company back. They told us to find the Toyota fuel/service station and to ask the attendant where Christie lived. Apparently he lived nearby and they would know.

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After going through the water

We get to the fuel station and ask, and they direct us around the corner to Christie’s. He came right out and started taking apart the engine. He pulled out the air filter. The engine had essentially started eating the filter after it got wet. He cleaned it up with the air compressor, flipped it around, took the defender for a spin and we were off! Even better, we weren’t charged a thing. We got that sense throughout our travels – people in Africa are inherently kind – and not looking to make money at every instance!  It may sound like it was a seamless day, but it’s a little stressful when your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and your satellite phone only works some of the time!

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The engine ate the air filter

We did eventually make it the Kalahari Game Lodge, and when we arrived we opted for camping – as the sites were set up with individual eco-friendly bathrooms and washing stations. It was an impressive set up!

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Our camping set-up. The stars were insane! Chris Bennett Photo.

We signed up for a ride through the Lion reserve the next morning. All the ‘dangerous’ animals were kept in a large (read thousands of acres) area that was blocked off from the camping/lodging area for safety.

The next morning, we woke up early, layered on clothes (it was probably around 50 degrees, but after 100 degrees it felt like 20!) and headed out in the truck to find some lions. The excursion didn’t disappoint – we saw 1 female and 4 male lions. 3 of them were relaxing after a nice meal of orix, which we saw nearby. Also nearby was an enormous giraffe – the photo doesn’t do the size justice. If you don’t want to see the orix leftovers, only scroll through the next 4 photos, the 5th is a little graphic!

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The photographer
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The photo doesn’t do the size of this guy justice
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We got pretty close!
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Watching the lioness.
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They had just feasted.

After the tour, we decided to head towards Johannesburg, where we were going to meet the rental guy for a new air filter. From there, and in my next (and I think final Africa post) – on to Kruger National Park!

Desert, dunes and finally some animals!

On By amyirish1In africa, Namibia, road trip, Southern AfricaLeave a comment

Up until this point, our wildlife encounters had been limited to cows, donkeys and goats crossing, standing or laying in the road. As we drove into Etosha, we knew our luck was turning as a huge giraffe crossed the road just inside the gate. We got our permit at the gate and made our way into the park. After reserving our campsite, we started taking our time driving. Like most wildlife parks in Africa, we had to stay in our car in most areas – you never know what may be lurking in the tall grass!

We weren’t very far in when we noticed we were surrounded by zebra! We joked throughout the remainder of the trip that we thought the parks baited the entrance/exit gates as we saw more animals near those than within the park! Etosha was a fairly flat park, but we drove through and down roads to the different view points and pans. We stayed the night in the park – right next to a water hole, so were treated to seeing a couple rhinos at sunset!

Ostriches!
Rhinos at Sunset
Ostriches on the Pan
Wildebeast
The pan
Zebras!

From Etosha, we headed to Swakopmund – a city on the coast of Namibia that seemingly arises out of nowhere from the desert!

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The second time we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn!

We had some fun stopping in the middle of the desert road to have some fun with the Defender and also stopped to check out the items the Herero tribe women made and sold along the way to the Skeleton Coast (which is known for its many shipwrecks). Photos below are by Chris Bennett.

Herero Tribewomen
Skeleton coast is filled with shipwrecks
Dead/burned cars litter the roads throughout Africa
Fun with the Defender!

Swakopmund is a very German city that reminded me a lot of Nice, France. There was a promenade and pier and it seemed almost tropical. We opted to stay in a hotel to freshen up, and treated ourselves to pizza and skewers at a restaurant for dinner. I was expecting kebab style skewers… This was my surprise!

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100 grams each of rump, venison, Orix, Ostrich and Eland!
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Hotel Balcony in Swakopmund! Chris Bennett Photo

From Swakopmund, we made our way to Sossusvlei, catching sunset at Dune 45 and spent the next day exploring the Deadvlei.

Sunset at Dune 45
Dune 45
Deadvlei
Big Daddy Dune

We left Sossusvlei sweaty and sandy. Next stop – a luxury African lodge!

4 Hikes and the Holidays

On By amyirish1In US TravelLeave a comment

I’ve been home for about 2 weeks now, and though I’ve been silent on the blog front, there has been a lot going on! Those who follow my Instagram account (amyirish1) may have seen some posts from recent hikes. In addition to those, I’ve been thinking about and trying to figure out my next steps.

I’m going to stay in the New England area through the holidays…and go to warmer climates and get my scuba certification in January. So until then… I need to find things to do! I’ve booked Airbnbs for a road trip the week starting the day after Thanksgiving. I’ll drive to New York to visit my old college roommates, and then head north for a couple days to do some hiking in the Catskills. I’ll spend a final day in the Burlington, VT area for another hike before heading home.

I’ve found myself easily bored since I’ve been home, so I’ve done some pretty awesome hikes more locally. More locally I mean within a two hour drive. I took Blythe’s dog Pua (Blythe is my brother’s girlfriend) up Pleasant Mountain in Bridgton last weekend. It was a nice short hike that Pua could handle. It took less than two hours and with the leaves covering rocks, it was a little tricky coming down with Pua pulling!

Summit of Pleasant Mountain with Pua
Selfie!

On Thursday I drove a couple hours to Mt. Major in New Hampshire. I’d say it was a comparable hike to Pleasant Mountain and had some great views of Lake Winnipesaukee.

Sun peaking through the trees on Mt. Major
Summit of Mt. Major – overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee
Summit!
Little waterfall on the brook

Friday I went to the border of Maine and New Hampshire to Blueberry Mountain. I think I was the only person on the mountain – I didn’t see anyone else. It was about 4 miles up and back with views of the surrounding mountains. The trails were not very well marked, so at times I had to stop and try to figure out which direction was which.

I downloaded the maps.me app on my iPhone before I started traveling and it has been a lifesaver (you can download maps of regions/states for offline directions). It has quite a few trail maps in addition to the standard road maps and I’ve found it has some additional trails/roads that Google Maps doesn’t have. This came in very handy when there was no visible path/markers indicating the trail!

Gorge at the end of the hike
Top of Blueberry Mountain
This is where Maps.me came in handy. There is a trail in this picture…

Saturday I woke up early and drove almost two hours to hike Tumbledown in western Maine. It was a gorgeous day (all these days have been mid-50 degree weather). I was the second car in the lot (and it turns out the other car were people camping up there the night before). I, once again, had the mountain to myself – at least on the way up! Tumbledown was incredible. I took the Brook trail up and did the connector to the saddle of the western peak. It was more challenging than the other hikes, which was what I was looking for with some rock scrambling. It was about 4.5 miles roundtrip with waterfall after waterfall up to Tumbledown Pond. I then kept going to the east peak for views down at the pond and of the surrounding mountains. Maine is truly breathtaking. This has been my favorite hike so far.

Summit of the east peak of Tumbledown
So many waterfalls
Selfie over Tumbledown Pond

I was expecting the hike to take about 4.5 hours (the sign said the 3 mile hike would take 4 hours), but I was back to my car in just 3 (I’ve been looking for some 4-4.5 hour hikes). I was so happy I got an early start too, because by the time I got to the top, a number of other people were at the pond and by the time I got back to my car the lot was full!

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Tumbledown Pond

After the dusting of snow last night (well maybe a couple inches) we’ll be prepping to host Thanksgiving at my brothers house this year. Enjoy the holiday!!