Adventure Anniversary Number Three! A recap of an amazing year.

Greetings from Melbourne!

Who would have thought I’d be celebrating my third Adventure Anniversary in Australia? Certainly not me.

I’ve been back in Australia for about a month and I’ve got two and a half to go. Being home was hard at first (three years is a long time to be away), but I’m enjoying rediscovering this place and I’m super excited for my Far North Queensland adventure, which starts in two weeks.

I get very reflective when my Adventure Anniversary rolls around and even more so since I’m seeing people for the first time in ages and constantly being asked what I’ve been up to for the last three years. Recounting all of that made me realise just how much I’ve seen, done and achieved and also how lucky I am to have had the strength and drive to do this in the first place. I don’t believe living this kind of lifestyle has much to do with luck, but I understand not everyone has the confidence or is in the position to pack up and go and I’m grateful I’ve been able to do everything I have.

I spent my childhood on a dairy farm in rural North-West Tasmania and I drove through the district last week. It looks very different now, but it was nice to be reminded where I’ve come from. I grew up dreaming of travelling like some kids dream of being superheroes. It seemed so unachievable and it still blows my mind that since I last looked at those paddocks I’ve visited 25 countries. It felt really satisfying to know I’m doing exactly what I wanted to do.

Back to the last year. Wow. While writing this article I read over my Adventure Anniversary post from 2013, which went live while I was hiking through the rain to Black Sail Hostel in the Lake District. I had a bit of a “oh yeah, that’s right” moment. It sounds very boastful, but so much has happened in the last year that I have a hard time keeping track of it all.

In terms of travel it’s been a huge year. Seven months in the last 12, including my longest stretch of full-time travel – six months from the end of July last year. From a personal perspective it’s also been a big year. I’ve grown and changed in the last three years (as people do) and a lot of that has happened over the last year or so. A friend commented that I seem a lot more confident and that’s definitely true. It’s not that I’m necessarily more outgoing (I’m pretty introverted), but I’m more confident in myself, my personality and my decisions.

I’ve had countless  “am I doing the right thing” moments in the last few years, especially as I get older, but I’m becoming better at owning my choices and not being affected by the pressure to settle down or live a more conventional life. I put a lot of that down to surrounding myself with some wonderful, inspiring people. The power of positive influences shouldn’t be underestimated, likewise, the power of negative influences. Distance and time gave me a bit of clarity regarding some relationships. While it wasn’t easy, I accepted that some friendships had run their course, but on the bright side, so so many great people have come into my life. Meeting people and building friendships around the world is what I love most about my lifestyle.

Rather than blabber on anymore I thought I’d do a bit of a recap of my third year of travel.

Countries visited: England, Scotland, Ireland, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Turkey, France, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Estonia, Canada, Australia. (Plus flight stopovers in Sweden, Iceland, the United States and New Zealand.)

Destination I can’t stop thinking about: Serbia. I fell hard for this country and made some wonderful memories and friends.

Place I would go back to tomorrow: Turkey. I’m not sure it’s possible to spend too much time in this country. It’s amazing and I can’t wait to explore further east than what I had a chance to see this time.

Most surprising destination: Mitrovica, Kosovo. I hadn’t heard of the city before I arrived in the country. I couldn’t get over the difference between the city and the other places I visited in Kosovo.

Destination I would most recommend: Montenegro. This place is going to explode in the next few years. The coastal towns already are. I loved the mountains – Biogradska and Durmitor national parks are beautiful. Public transport was easy to navigate, the country is still very cheap (especially compared to the rest of Europe) and although it’s growing as a tourism destination, you still feel like you’ve discovered something special because there isn’t a huge amount of information out there about it.

Most overrated destination: Kotor, Montenegro. Wait? Didn’t I just recommend going to Montenegro? Yep. But I still didn’t like Kotor much. I found it crowded, overpriced and full of tourists. People gushed about this place before I arrived and I just couldn’t see its magic. Especially not compared to some of the mountain towns or the less-visited coastal towns such as Bar and Ulcinj.

Destinations that didn’t quite happen: Israel, Morocco, Lapland. A blogging conference was cancelled in Israel so I decided to save that country for another time. A friend and I had planned to visit Morocco, but ended up in Portugal as we decided it was probably more suited to the kind of trip we wanted. I spent Christmas in Finland and after reading so much about Lapland at Kristin Repsher’s blog I was desperate to see it for myself, but I just couldn’t afford to experience it in a way it deserves.

Biggest mistake: Not allowing myself enough time in Turkey. Three weeks. Three weeks!! What was I thinking? I didn’t scratch the surface. I will be back.

Biggest WTF moment: Hitching across the Albanian/Macedonian border. It was something I said I wouldn’t do, but I wasn’t left with many options. It worked out fine, but I don’t ever want to put myself in that position again.

Biggest wow moment: Uvac Canyon in Serbia. It took a lot of work to get there but it paid off. Beautiful.

Most unexpected destination: Finland. I was travelling in Montenegro when I got an email from a friend in Australia announcing she was moving to Finland and would I like to come visit for Christmas. Um, yes. I would. I hadn’t expected to get to that part of the world for a long time, so that was a treat!

Meal I can’t forget: There are two that come to mind. One was in Serbia, in the town of Knjaževac and was memorable for all the wrong reasons. The restaurant menu was in Cyrillic and the owner didn’t speak English. He held up ingredients from the kitchen and I nodded my approval. The result was chicken wrapped in bacon with fries and salad. Excellent. Except the chicken wasn’t cooked. After the trouble he’d gone to to make sure I had something to eat I was embarrassed to point it out and, of course, I couldn’t eat it. If I left it on the plate he wouldn’t have realised what was wrong and I didn’t want him to feel bad either. In the end I wrapped up the uncooked bits in a napkin and hid them in my bag, throwing them in a garbage can down the street. It was also the most expensive meal I had in the country.

Memorable for all the right reasons was Adana kebab in Turkey. It’s awesome. A huge slice of meat AND a table full of sides. It is amazing and absolutely worth visiting Adana just to experience.

Most memorable bus ride: Buses were my main mode of transport so there’s a few contenders here, but the winner (again for the wrong reasons) was the trip from Denizli (where Pamukkale is) to Göreme at Cappadocia. Although I was allocated a window seat, an old woman was sitting in it. I wasn’t going to be that person so I sat on the aisle and subsequently barely slept on the 10-hour overnight trip. I did appreciate the entertainment screen and snacks and drinks that were handed out during the ride, but I would have given anything to have been resting my head against the window instead of bobbing around on the aisle seat.

Best place I stayed: I used AirBnB for the first time in Paris and it was excellent. My friend and I had a small studio in the 10th arrondissement. It was a small place with a double bed that folded down from the wall, a kitchenette and bathroom. We were close to Gare du Nord, there was a boulangerie two doors down and a supermarket and laundromat around the corner. I’ve spent a bit of time in Paris – hostels, CouchSurfing and in apartments – and this was my favourite place. Having our own space to come back to made such a difference and our host even left us fresh croissants on our first morning.

Honorable mentions go to the Gallery Hostel in Porto, Portugal; Casa La Kola in Kruševo, Macedonia and the Loch Ness Shores Club Site camp ground.

Highlights

World Testicle Cooking Championships

The total randomness of this event makes it stand out in a pretty crazy year. It all sounded a bit dodgy when I read the email a Serbian CouchSurfer sent me, but on a whim I decided to check it out and it turned out to be a hilarious two days. Serbian hospitality really is outstanding.

Hot air ballooning in Cappadocia

I don’t really have a bucket list as such (it would be ridiculously long) but if I did, this would be on it. I didn’t have the greatest weather on the morning I went up, so no spectacular red sunrise, but it was still beautiful and I still can’t believe I got to do it!

Christmas in Finland

Christmas in Finland is great fun. They know how to do it right there. People actually take the time to relax, and oh my, the food! It wasn’t as snowy as I would have liked – I’m yet to have a White Christmas despite celebrating the occasion in Canada, Scotland and Finland. One day.

Sydney’s Northern Beaches

I wrote recently how I’d enjoyed exploring Sydney when I got back to Australia. I spent a week in the city and for most of that time was on the North Shore. It was great to catch up with some friends, meet a new addition and spend so much time at the beach.

Ed Fringe (again)

Despite visiting the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the last three years I’m still disappointed I’m not there again this year. Last August I actually had a decent amount of time and visited an average of five shows a day – including a midnight surprise performance by Dylan Moran. Ed Fringe is so much fun.

Rediscovering Tasmania

I had very mixed feelings about coming back to Tasmania, but one thing was for sure – I was excited to be a tourist in my home state. After waxing lyrical about the state to everyone I meet, it’s been great fun seeing it with fresh eyes. It’s beautiful!

Lowlights

A friend leaving our trip early

I haven’t written about this before, but the three-week trip I took with a friend in France, Spain and Portugal last year was actually supposed to be four weeks. But after a particularly tense day my friend decided to fly back to Australia early. Unfortunately, it was exactly what I’d been worried about. I’m not good at travelling with people and despite being very conscious and vocal about that long before our trip, it caused a lot of problems during our time together. It took months for me to stop holding myself completely responsible and accept we had both made mistakes and that some people just shouldn’t travel together. I realised during other parts of my trip that as an experienced and independent traveller, I travel best with similar people and it’s something I’ll keep in mind when planning future trips. It was a lesson learnt, but sadly, at a big cost.

Having my laptop stolen in Albania

Looking back, I feel like I overreacted, but at the time I was so upset. It really knocked me about for a few days, but I got a good dose of perspective shortly after. (It’s hard to be upset about material things when travelling in a country were the average monthly wage is about €200.) What really annoyed me was people assuming that it had happened because I was in Albania, which was ridiculous. It could have happened anywhere.

Not sticking to my budget

I had a pretty tight budget for my big trip last year, which worked well until I got to Paris. After months of watching every penny I relaxed a little too much once I began travelling with a friend who had a more generous budget. As the weeks went by things got very tight and by the time I was moving to Canada I was in desperate need of work. It was not a situation I am keen to repeat. Thankfully, I never put myself in debt, which is my golden rule when travelling. A credit card debt is the worst souvenir I can imagine after a great trip.

Geelong losing by 110 points

It was my first AFL game in three years. Geelong (my boys) were playing in Sydney and I planned the first part of my time back in Australia around it. Then they got smashed by 110 points. The team has done pretty well while I’ve been away so it sucked immensely to be welcomed home by such a performance. They can make it up to me tonight in Melbourne.

Favourite blog posts

The type of material I put on Pegs on the Line has changed a lot since I started writing here in 2011. My goal over the last 12 months has been to share stories, destinations and experiences that you might not otherwise get to read about and also pass on some of the things I’ve learnt while travelling. I’ve been very quiet on the blog this year, but there’s a few posts I was really thrilled to share with you and hope you enjoyed.

I don’t remember your name, Turkey

The unbelievable kindness of strangers is often something that needs to be experienced to be understood. I may not be able to remember his name, but I will never forget this day. I hope this post quelled some of the negativity surrounding solo female travel, especially in countries like Turkey.

The CouchSurfer who fooled the Taliban, Serbia

Ah Nenad. I read so many travel blogs, but never have I met anyone with more of a story to tell than Nenad. For anyone playing at home, he’s now living in Jakarta and judging from his Facebook updates, is having an amazing time.

The happiest dogs in Albania, Albania

Travelling gives me such an understanding of different countries and cultures, and sometimes it’s hard to come to terms with what I learn. For example, I was pretty upset by the treatment of some animals in Albania. Now, not everyone is guilty of the kind of things I saw and heard about, but generally speaking dogs are not regarded as they may be in Australia. I was really happy to see the work done at the shelter and I got to hold puppies.

Kosovo’s divided city, Kosovo

I’ve read quite a few articles about travel in Kosovo, but surprisingly Mitrovica came up in very few. I say surprisingly because to me, this city was a must-see while I was in the country. I wrote this post hoping to educate people that while some cities in Kosovo are great holiday destinations, the country is still dealing with some issues that many visitors will assume are long in the past.

When travelling sucks

After I wrote this post a lot of friends contacted me to make sure I was OK, which was something I dreaded when I hit “publish”. I didn’t write this for sympathy, I just wanted to share the not-so-fun side of travelling. I’m not the only one who goes through times like this and when inexperienced travellers hit a rough stage it can feel very unexpected. But it’s normal. Things aren’t always peachy at home, nor are they on the road. It’s life.

Travel: From resolution to reality

Sometimes I feel like I could write a post like this every week, because that’s how often someone talks to me about their desire to travel more. For every person out there fulfilling their dreams and exploring the world, there must be three people sitting at home wishing they were. As I said earlier, I understand that not everyone is in a position to travel as much as they would like. But usually it’s a lot more possible than you think.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who has made the last 12 months so amazing. As always, there are far too many of you to mention. Also, thank you for following along here. I love writing about my adventures and it’s nice to know someone is reading them. I hope I’ve inspired you to see more of this incredible world we live in.