I remember packing my bag just over one year ago. I was 19 years old and I had just finished my 2nd year at college. I was saying goodbye to my friends, family, routine and studies for a full year.
My first of 20 flights for the year was from Cape Town to Johannesburg, before making the long haul to Washington D.C. I spent a lot of time waiting in airports during my trip. I amassed about 60 hours of sitting and waiting for...
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The Australian leg of my journey marks the final stop of my WorldExplorer year. Today (24/11/12) is the one-year anniversary of me leaving South Africa. When I left South Africa one year ago I landed in a cold, snowy Washington D.C. Twelve months down the line, I now find myself in a warm, sunny, coastal city called Cairns, on the East Coast of Australia.

STA Travel have booked me on a Contiki tour called Beaches and Reefs. The tour starts in Cairns and ends in sunny Sydney. One of Contiki`s many trademarks became very clear to me soon after starting the tour in Cairns.

The people are awesome, the transportation is comfortable and best of all, the optional activities are top notch. I ...
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When one thinks of teaching English in Thailand the thought of working in small town seldom crosses your mind. When I arrived in Bangkok, three months ago, I had the idea that I would be working somewhere down south on an Island, sipping Mojito`s on the beach after a long day of work.

When I finished my TESOL course I was offered a placement in the small district of Bang Len, in the Nakhon Pathom Province of ...
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Flicking through old photographs is a great way to remember awesome times and places visited whilst traveling. The past ten days of my Contiki tour have resulted in my hard drive taking massive strain - not a single day has gone past where I am not in absolute awe of each and every destination.
As an aspiring photographer I have had my work cut out for me. It`s been an awesome line up: Paris, Bordeaux, Pamplona, Barcelona, Nice, Florence and Rome…and to top it off, the tour is not even at ...
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A big part of traveling is flying and the experiences that come with the process. Everyone has their own `long and awful` flight story that they love to tell. Four flights, thirty-six hours and a four am arrival have given me the right to tell mine. It is hard to describe the feelings one has when arriving in South America, on your own, with a massive bag and only an address written on a piece of paper. Lets just say I was dazed, confused and in major need of a bed. On top of that, trying to understand the Chilean currency, communicate with a less than basic understanding of the Span...
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After two nights in Brooklyn I packed up my bags and cruised towards Manhattan in search of brighter lights. A friend Christoff and I checked-in at one of the most impressive hostels I have stayed at thus far - Hosteling International NYC. Here we enjoyed great facilities and activities including a fully equipped kitchen, cinema, pool tables, numerous chill out areas, free pub crawls and hilarious comedy shows. It was a great feeling walking around the hostel and hearing different languages being spoken in each corner of the room. The most social and festive place at the hostel was d...
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It has been a while since I have put my thoughts down in words. I have fallen in love with photography and videography; the 550D that STA Travel has generously supplied me with has been a major contributing factor. It is definitely time for a good old blog post.
I have had a rather eventful couple of weeks. There is a great variety of things to do in Washington D.C. The key is to do something new every day-off from work and most importantly meet the locals! As with any travel experience...
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For the sake of brevity I will cut right to the chase, put the numbers down and let you imagine for yourself the time that is being had in the small city of Arlington just outside the nations capital, Washington D.C. Over one hundred South African students, sharing apartments in the same complex, working at the same hotel, at the same time...Its a recipe for...well you tell me?
After much hard work and preparation Chilli Adventures have successfully placed 120 South African students at the Gaylord National Hotel. The hours and stress involved with visa a...
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