It felt surreal being at the same house that the von Trapp family once was. I was transported back in time. I could imagine them walking the exact same steps or looking at the same views.

​In a pocket of the country strange and new, distant and odd to me, I felt like I belonged. We were not alone in the west, nor in this country, but rather a part of it.

​She found the perfect place in an East London house share, and when she got to the room, she immediately felt at home. Maybe it was the map on the wall? Or was it the positive quotes and notes around the room? Something said this was the right place to be.

After a bit of soul-searching, we realised that part of the reason we felt so nervous was that the most common context in which we had seen Arabic script on a black banner or flag was in news coverage of ISIS.

​I had no agenda. I was just going back to my roots, to what felt good. To my happy place. To just be.

​The next few hours were spent filing through a series of lines sleep-deprived, as the airport kept filling up with people and news crews, with little to no one leaving.

​As I made my way onto the platform, I remember thinking to myself - these people can’t ALL be getting on the same train, can they? They won’t fit, surely? Oh, how wrong I was!

Unfortunately, life had plans for me that did not involve taking a single footstep in my hiking boots.

I never questioned whether it was meant to be - I knew instantly I’d keep the baby, but I felt so alone and scared.

To me, Japan is a country of convenience, politeness, discipline and gorgeous landscapes. It’s the country where napping on the train during the commute is perfectly normal. It’s home to the most polite and helpful people I have ever encountered.

To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all. ​- Oscar Wilde

The urban legend claims that for higher houses you need to make a more significant offering. No, it’s not two fetuses. It’s also not a grown llama. Brace yourselves; it’s a human.

Over the next couple of days, it didn’t get any easier, but I learned to love the challenge and accomplishment. Each night coming to camp I felt proud of myself for making it, and that sense of accomplishment kept me going.

We have a proverb in Romania that says: “Even drunk people have their own God.”  
After this adventure I definitely believe that travelers have their own God too. ​

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.  - Eleanor Roosevelt

Living in a place that was away from the hustle and bustle of the usual tourist spots gave me a greater insight into the Ecuadorian way of life.

If anything can save the world, I’d put my money on beauty. - Douglas Tompkins

Knowing that you will never have another day like this, in this company, at this place—it makes it all that much more intense and valuable.

They made me feel at home, and I always felt like I was able to give my love to them in return. Love is not something that you keep to yourself. It is something that you share with others. ​

The value of a trip should be measured by the experiences you've made and the lessons you've learned, not by the amount of money you spent. 

I dream of other roads in other lands. Of another home.  - Samuel Beckett

...the moment I landed in Buenos Aires, I realised that I had been somewhat cocky about my abilities.

We act as if it is normal to say “I am busy” every time somebody asks us how we are. 

The next morning JP told me we would be climbing several 450 meter hills over the next three days. 'I thought the coast would be more coasty,' I thought, as panic and dread set in.

For a claustrophobic person like me, the concrete jungle was sometimes unnerving when I was unable to see the horizon or orientate myself amongst all the similar buildings.