The next nine or so months will see my girlfriend, Emily and I travel around the globe with flexible flights to 12 different countries.
After I finished my Masters in Sports Journalism, I was at a crossroads in my life. I applied for the position of Media Assistant at Rochdale FC – a perfect entry level job which would have kick-started my career in the journalism industry.
However, after three successful interviews, I was told that I didn’t have enough experience for the role. I was gutted, but they always say that things happen for a reason…and I’ve been planning this trip ever since!
It’s fair to say it took a couple of months to persuade Emily but she soon came around. Em gave up her first salary paid job as a Digital Account Executive on 5 January (I still struggle to understand what she really did) and we moved out of our apartment in Castlefield, Manchester a few days later.
We’re both now home in Blackpool for the next few weeks and are looking forward to having some time with our families before we leave.
I’m sure there will be challenges along the way, including being away from home for such a long time, but we’re both so excited to get started!
Itinerary
South Africa ๐ฟ๐ฆ
Our adventure begins on 9 February in one of the most multicultural cities in the world – Cape Town, South Africa.
*I should note that all of our flights and bus passes booked through STA Travel are flexible. This means if we wish to have more time in one country, we are more than likely able to do so. Alternatively, if we want to leave a country early, the chances are we can do.*
After spending around a week in the capital, we will then travel along the coast and famous ‘Garden Route’ pass to Port Elizabeth on the Baz Bus.

From here, an internal flight is needed to get to Johannesburg, where our 4-day Safari to Pilanesberg Game Reserve begins. We really hope to see the big 5 (lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and Cape buffalo).
You may wonder why we didn’t opt to visit the
India ๐ฎ๐ณ
An 11 and a half hour flight via Abu Dhabi will eventually see us land in New Delhi on 27 Feb.
India is notoriously hard to navigate around on your own, which meant we were encouraged to book an
Andy and Jess, who are the travel agents overseeing our trip suggested GA Adventure’s 8-day ‘Golden Triangle’ tour of India because it is considered to be India’s most famous and popular tour. Therefore, we took their


Sri Lanka ๐ฑ๐ฐ
A relatively short 3 hours
This spectacular country is renowned for its Buddhist temples, heritage sites and wildlife, but likewise, it isn’t the easiest to travel around.
Andy highly recommended One Life’s 12-day tour of Sri Lanka, because he had completed the tour himself. Therefore, we decided to book onto the 12-day tour, beginning 9 March.

Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia ๐น๐ญ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ป๐ณ๐ฒ๐พ
This is by far the longest part of our nine months away, which will see us spend around 10 weeks in these four different countries.
We have booked a hop-on, hop

We then plan on flying from Hanoi to Phuket in Thailand in order to visit the Western island of Ko Phi Phi.
Internal flights or rail will then be needed to get to Surat Thani, in order for us to see the Eastern islands of Koh Samui and Koh Tao. We also intend on being on the island of Koh Phangan for their monthly moon party on 7 May!
The plan is then to travel south to Penang and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia before flying out of Singapore at the end of the month.
Bali ๐ฎ๐ฉ
10 days of sandy beaches, crystal blue oceans and cocktails.
We’ve not
Australia ๐ฆ๐บ
G’day maaaate, put another shrimp on the barbie!
We’ve estimated we’ll need at least six weeks in Australia. Therefore, we’ve booked a 60-day hop-on, hop-off bus service that will take us from Cairns all the way to Melbourne, passing through Rockhampton, as well as along the Gold Coast.
This package also includes 3 days on Fraser Island, 2 days sailing on the Whitsunday Islands, as well as a Great Barrier Reef Cruise!
New Zealand ๐ณ๐ฟ
By this time it’ll be September, which will mean we’ll get to see New Zealand in its natural beauty.
Similarly, we’ve secured hop-on, hop
We estimate that we’ll need around one month here.

Fiji ๐ซ๐ฏ
We’ve then
More sandy beaches, blue waters & cocktails!

USA & Canada ๐บ๐ธ๐จ๐ฆ
Our mammoth trip concludes with 6 weeks in
We intend on hiring a camper van to drive along the West Coast of America, as well as visiting Las Vegas & The Grand Canyon.
In truth, we haven’t planned this far ahead yet, but I imagine we’ll catch an internal flight to Vancouver in Canada and then fly to Toronto to see the Niagara Falls.
The amazing thing about STA Travel is that all of our flights are interchangeable, but as it stands, we fly home from New York on 20 October.
And there you have it… our journey eventually comes to an end 10 days before my birthday.
How have we afforded to fund this trip I hear you ask?
As many of you will know, I sadly lost my Dad on 15 December 2018 to the bitch that is cancer. Like me, my Dad suffered a stroke three years prior and
Obviously, I would rather have my Dad here but it is thanks to his inheritance that we are able to embark on this amazing adventure!
If you have any questions or want to share your experiences if you’ve visited any of these destinations, then please get in touch via our contact page or social media.
Sounds so amazing Alec, I am very jealous! And btw you should definitely go to the Gili Isles off Lombok, I was there over 20 years ago (ouch), best diving and most beautiful island, clear starry skies! Canโt wait to hear what you are getting up to xx