WELCOME TO THE BIG CITY: GUADALAJARA Arriving at the new bus station in Guadalajara after the laundry fiasco in Barra de Navidad, we jumped in a cab and headed to the fancy hostel I had stayed in when I spent…
Mexican Memories Part I – Sayulita to Barra De Navidad
Guest post by Jonathan BaggsMemories from our 2018 trip through Mexico Bus Adventures After a fun first stop in Sayulita, Marieke, Steph and I got on a morning bus to the Puerto Vallarta bus station, where we’d catch another bus…
Steph’s 2019/2020 Trip Recap: Pre Covid-19 Backpacking
Like everything else in the world, my trip was disrupted by COVID-19. On the grand scale of things, of course, it does not matter. I was lucky to make it home safe, before air travel and borders shut down. People…
Getting Home Amidst a Pandemic
When you don’t have a lot of need for communication, being in a remote place can be great. You can unwind, disconnect, relax. But when a pandemic is occurring, information is changing by the hour, and you’re trying to look…
Back to South Africa: Johannesburg and Durban
After months of wearing the same three shirts and one pair of jeans, most of my clothes had either disintegrated (my hiking pants), gotten stitched up so many times they literally disappeared from the bus (my hiking boots) or were…
Mountains of Lushoto and an Epic Journey to Mafia Island
As we had booked a big bus taking us all the way to Tanga, Tanzania, from Diani beach, the border crossing from Kenya into Tanzania was pretty easy, with the bus staff helping us get in the right queues for…
Hiking Mt. Kenya
After another night in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, and walking to the airport from the hostel, I arrived in Nairobi at night and grabbed a taxi to my hotel in a very sketchy (but convenient) neighbourhood near all…
Harar- Eastern Ethiopia
After Marieke and Jon left for Lalibela on their very early bus, Cheryl and I had a lazy morning, enjoying the superb buffet breakfast at our hotel and got a free ride to the airport with their airport shuttle at…
How to Hike the Simien Mountains Independently- and Save (Some) Money
I was determined to do the Simien Mountains without joining a tour. Partly because I knew it would be cheaper, particularly for a group, and partly because most people joined a tour, so I wanted to buck the trend. The…
The Hassles of Hawzen
I had been warned that Ethiopia was a bit of a hassle. But I also figured that I had just spent months traveling around Africa, and so would be fairly prepared. This experience helped, but it also meant I was…