Postcards form a Backpacker

The Route, The Plan & What all this is About

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Mark is a 20 something male form Northamptonshire in the UK whose interests include travel, information technology and music. Mark was educated in Southampton where he studied a Degree in Computer Network Management. Mark decided to take a sixteen-month break and travel the world.

It’s been along time coming but finally I’ve embarked on a trip around the world visiting 22 countries in 503 days covering over 35,000 miles.

The first part of my journey took me across East Africa on an organised overland trip lasting 49 days with tour operators Kumuka Worldwide. Kumuka offer various overlanding experiences across Africa ranging from 7 to 63 days in length. I opted for the ‘Pride of Africa’ tour from Nairobi to Johannesburg visiting Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa. The second part of my African trek was round the coast of South Africa on ‘The Baz Bus’ described as a hop-on hop-off door-to-door adventure designed for the independent traveller. It’s essentially a pre-paid minibus that takes you from hostel to hostel along the South African Coast. During my time in South Africa I spent my first Christmas in a foreign country afterwards I had enough time to travel into Namibia on another overland tour organised by Umkulu.

The second part of my trip is where I start to use a round the world airline ticket. The first destination is Hong Kong, China where I have 10 days to explore the city and surrounding area. Next Bangkok, Thailand from where I plan to base my travels around the rest of Asia more specifically North and South Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam before returning to Bangkok to catch a flight to Australia.

Flying into Sydney it’s time to do some work. I have already applied for a work visa that allows visitors to work for any employer for a maximum of three months in a twelve-month period. I plan to work for around six months to fund my travel up the East side of Australia through New South Wales, Queensland and visit Ayres Rock in the Northern Territory. Following this is a short hop across the water to New Zealand and a chance to visit some of the spectacular scenery New Zealand has to offer.

The final leg of the trip begins in Santiago, Chile where I catch a flight to Quito, Ecuador. From Quito I join another organised tour this time with Budget Expeditions. This tour called ‘Pacific to Atlantic’ lasts 70 days and travels through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil. The trip starts from the equator in the Amazon Jungle, and then we follow the footsteps of the Incas into the mountains, across the Chaco of Northern Argentina, up to the Iguazu Falls before finishing on the Brazilian coast in time for the Rio Carnival 2007 the world largest street party!

This site is designed to be an on-line journal of Mark’s adventures as he travels 35,000 miles around the world visiting 22 countries. The site allows Mark’s family, friends and anyone else who’s interested to keep up-to-date with his progress and provides an easy way to communicate be it by leaving a comment or sending an e-mail.

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