Announcing our upcoming travel plans...

The first half of 2theworld finished his PhD a while ago. Now the second half of 2theworld has also finished her PhD, it is time to announce our upcoming travel plans.

First, we had the plan to buy an old Toyota Landcruiser HJ60 and ship it to Cape Town to drive through Southern Africa for some months. After searching for the perfect car, reading a dozen of books about refurbishing old cars, our government changed the tax rules for old timers, making it very unattractive to buy one. That was the first plan we had to throw overboard.
We quickly had another plan: cycling! We love to cycle and that was also the advantage over a car: we already owned proper touring bikes. After reading a dozen more books, we were able to plan our ideal route: from the Netherlands to Singapore. Wow! Or not... When talking to fellow cyclists about our planned route, we became aware of tensions in some area's we would be cycling through. Because we never had the intension to put our own lives at risk, we were not sure if this was the most ideal route in the end. Because we always said that if one of hesitates, we find something else to, we also skipped this plan.

We looked into cycling and climbing Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand). However, after realizing that we had to bring all our climbing gear on our already packed bikes, we considered this impossible. After throwing overboard our plan to travel by car through Africa, this was yet another plan that was quickly thrown overboard. We really had to start again with finding a new plan. Most readers would now question why not just go backpacking? Well, we like to challenge ourselves and we don't think that backpacking will challenge us. But we didn't had to be sad for a long time: about two years ago, we found a new plan. A plan we haven't shared with anybody yet. Until now!

Our upcoming travel plan is unique (at least for us). The idea is to fly to New Zealand in October and set off on a hike. Not just an average (day) hike. No, a hike that will last some 6 or 7 months, from the most northerly point to the most southerly point. Or in other words: from Cape Reinga to Bluff. Some 3.000 kilometers that is also known as the Te Araroa (or the Long Pathway). A thru hike that will run across beaches, through forests, rivers, towns and villages and mountains. A hike that will demand the most of us, but especially a hike we have been looking out for for the past 2 years.

Now that October is approaching fast, we have started counting the days. We have arranged our visa, booked a flight to New Zealand and are working on our condition as we need to be able to walk 20 to 30 kilometers every day. But in the coming weeks, you will be able to read more about that. Much more...

Comments