The best places to visit

In my last monthly summary , I wrote about how I often struggle balancing work and travel. When it came down to choosing one, I (of course!) went for travel and didn’t regret it. I had the best time exploring Myanmar and created some of my favourite travel memories of the year. I paid for it this month, though, when it came time to play catch up. So many deadlines to meet, so many pages of How Not to Travel the World  to edit. My writing on Never Ending Footsteps fell to the wayside and my stress levels hit their peak on a New Year’s Eve with 15 freelance articles due. Still, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t continue to travel when I desperately needed to stop. Here’s what I’ve been up to over the past four weeks! Kalaw sunset. Photo by Dave. After leaving Bagan, passport clenched tightly in fist, I headed for Kalaw, a beautiful hill town with cooler temperatures and incredible Indian food. Most travellers only visit Kalaw as a starting point to thei...

Two years. When I first left England, I wasn’t sure I would make it two days let alone two years. I was afraid of everything, I’d never travelled before and had never been outside of Europe or the US. And yes, I’d never eaten rice or eggs. My friends held bets on how long it would be until I was home and took great delight in telling me that I was going to die. And now, 41 countries and two years later, I’m still going strong and I’m happiest I’ve ever been. The fact that I’ve fallen in love with this lifestyle and somehow manage to scrape together enough money to keep me on the road for, well, as long as I like blows my mind on a daily basis. I feel so incredibly proud and grateful and  I can’t believe I’ve made it this far. This month has been one of my favourites and I’m sure it’s no coincidence that it’s a month where I moved and did very little . It all began with a horrendous 36 hour travel day from Saig...

After a whirlwind few months full of movement, travel and very little relaxation, this month I finally found time to stop. …And you probably won’t be surprised to hear that I stopped in Chiang Mai, somewhere I’ve lived three times in the last three years — I just can’t seem to keep away! It was never in my plans to go to Chiang Mai, my original plan was to spend this month travelling through Malaysia and Myanmar. However, after a two week scooter trip in the Mekong Delta followed by a week long road trip in Australia followed by a two month road trip in New Zealand, I was just about ready to keel over and sleep for a week. I desperately wanted to explore both Malaysia and Myanmar but sadly, my heart just wasn’t in it. I was exhausted, I was incredibly behind with work (something which wouldn’t be helped by the lack of internet in Myanmar!) and I was ready to have a home again. So what better place to do so than in Chiang Mai?! The city was fa...