Nowhere in Particular

Each destination you visit has something wonderful and unique to offer. Although some places are more special than others, if you battle to find something memorable at each location you need to ask yourself why you are bothering to travel. If you wander off the traditional tourist paths, speak to the locals, or step back into a corner quietly observing all around you, you will easily find the treasures in this new terrain or culture. Having said that, there are always a few standout moments you often recall – especially when you are witnessing some corporate chaos in a difficult meeting during your nine to five job. Everyone else is arguing and pushing their agenda, and you can sit back and think about a different world, silently smiling about the experience – good, bad and just bizarre. Here is a list of five of our favourite things from our travels: 1. Sipping a pint in the local pub Regardless of your personal preference, from a Guinness to a cappuccino, slowly ...

The South African Rand is struggling. This month it reached an all-time high of 13.86 ZAR to $1. The weak currency is not good news for many South African individuals and businesses, but it is particularly bad news for someone saving for a round-the-world vacation. The strength of the currency is starting to be more of an influencing factor when planning our slow vacation. We are also starting to look at research on the cost of living in the different countries, as it is quite applicable for long-term stays. Colombia, India and Indonesia are now far more appealing as seen on this infographic  from on Matador Network. Cost of Living Infographic 2015 (Source: http://matadornetwork.com/life/the-cost-of-living-in-every-country-in-the-world-in-a-single-awesome-infographic/) A lot more investigation is required for us to see which locations are best for us to stretch our savings. These investigations will need to be intensified if the currency gets any weaker, and at thi...

A wedding can be stressful, but it normally allows you to plan a great holiday for a honeymoon. An even better approach, if travelling is your main priority, is to elope. In 2008, we eloped to Cancun, Mexico. Although this is probably a popular choice for Americans, it is a reasonably uncommon destination for South Africans. Mexico came up as an option when looking at websites for destination weddings, and we ended up selecting The Royal as our hotel (originally a Real Resort that is now a Hyatt ).   This hotel appealed to us as it was an all-inclusive resort and was for adults only — which is great for a honeymoon option when you don’t want screaming kids at the pool. The wedding package offered a free room upgrade, and a wedding co-ordinator to take care of all the arrangements. Our luxurious stay included a swim-up suite with an ocean view, a giant spa bath, Egyptian cotton linen, Bvlgari bath products and a Bose sound system. The resort also had five fine dining re...

When you are planning something as exciting as a round-the-world vacation time slows down to a debilitating grind. A ‘quit-your-job’ and ‘sell-up-everything’ plan aimed at freeing up time and funds for an extended vacation takes a while. We reckon six months. And now that we have made the decision to do this, six months seems like millenniums away. Once you have made the decision to go, life cannot possibly return to normal. You find yourself often day-dreaming of beaches, walking in the shadows of majestic mountains, and bargaining in markets. However, in some ways it can be freeing. We have found that we can get on with our work, achieving the desired results without worrying about the office politics and career ambitions. It is liberating to know that you are simply here to do a good job, making the most of your skill set. You don’t get stressed by a changing environment or challenging targets. We also look at goods in the shops in a very different way and think twice a...

We don’t always travel to countries where we speak the local language, but Ireland proved to be a real treat. Although the Irish accent is sometimes so strong it might as well be a foreign language, we thoroughly enjoyed listening to the locals on a trip to this magical country in April 2015. There is something to be said about sipping a whiskey in a little Irish pub in Killarney and hearing the banter between the natives. Granted the banter is not always ideal for those who are too sensitive and politically correct, but if you can sit back and relax it can be very entertaining. The one-man-band in the high street pub asked if we had a request, shouting loudly ‘because no one else is Fookin listening’. When the lass came back from her smoke outside she enquired from the musician ‘you still Fookin here?’. And although it might seem like insults were been thrown around, it was all said with much love and affection. Not all nations may be as humorous as others, but it does he...

One would think quitting your job and selling up to go travel the world is a pretty unique and special thing. Turns out, not so much! We don’t have any direct friends that have done this in the way we want to explore the world. We don’t know anyone else who has had a mid-career round-the-world crisis (or maybe you can see it as we do: mid-career clarity). However, as we started telling our friends about our travelling plans, they have been able to introduce us to someone who knows someone who has also been a nomad for an extended period. That was just the beginning, as we started-up online relationships with these friends of friends, and picked their brains about how they were able to take extended vacations. We started the blog to help document our preparations and our eventual travels. This action also led to the creation of a Facebook and twitter page/profile. Once we had an online presence, we started seeing how there is a massive community of long-term traveller...

On a previous blog post about all the countries we have visited , we mentioned that we had been to Argentina on a home exchange. This post gives the low down of how a home exchange works and why it is a great way to go on holiday. Please note that we have only done one exchange, but we would do it again in a snap. You may have seen the movie, The Holiday, with Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet, where they swap homes for a vacation. Well, the website they use in that movie actually exists ( www.homeexchange.com ). We registered our home in Johannesburg on the website (costing approximately $100 a year) a few months prior to South Africa hosting the football (soccer) world cup in July 2010. An Argentinian family wanting to exchange with us over this period quickly contacted us. Argentina sounded good to us, and not being soccer fanatics, the choice seemed easy. After initial contact through the website, you just start negotiating with each other directly to put a plan in pla...