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nomoreofficedoor

Good morning Australia! Welcome to Sydney! After 2

Good morning Australia! Welcome to Sydney! After 28 days at sea, I’ve reached my 7th continent! Here’s to the next few months in Oceania!!

Cruise 1 from Vancouver to Honolulu USA done, and

Cruise 1 from Vancouver to Honolulu USA done, and cruise 2 to Sydney is about to begin! The first cruise was all at sea until we reached Hawaii, but then we got off the ship and did all the things! North Shore beaches, Diamond Head Hike, Waikiki Beach, U.S.S. Arizona, shave ice, poke… I’m exhausted and ready for another week or so at sea to recover!

#hawaii #RoyalCaribbean #ovationoftheseas #islandlife #nomadlife

I’ve been in Canada for about ten minutes and I’ve already seen two Tim Hortons.

If you’re over 18, and a U.S. citizen, you shoul

If you’re over 18, and a U.S. citizen, you should be registered to vote and you should exercise that right. Full stop. No excuses. I will be living in a van in Australia the week of the U.S. election, so I dropped off my mail-in ballot today. If I can vote when I’ll be halfway around the world, you can too. #govote #GetOutTheVote #votingmatters

Day 8. El fin. 16 miles. For a total of 96 miles i

Day 8. El fin. 16 miles. For a total of 96 miles in 8 day. Today was beautiful, except for a couple patches of, you guessed it…rain. Enough that I stopped to put on my rainpants only for the rain to quit as soon as I had them on. It eventually got hot enough that I even took off my raincoat…at which point it started raining again. But overall it was a lovely day. Which is good because it was my longest distance. The initial mile or so was the hardest with a switchback climb out of town. But the views were worth it! A couple German girls I met at the hostel on day 2 have been on the same schedule as me, and we finally remembered to take a picture. They usually pass me each day and then I see them when I reach the finish; today was no different. As I got to the end I ran into them one last time in Fort William. As I headed down the last hill into town I finally saw a little rainbow peaking out of the foliage! With all the rain I’ve been keeping an eye out but this was the first one I spotted. A nice way to end the walk. The bench with the statue of the guy is the traditional end of the Way.

If you’re counting you’ll realize it had been much more than 8 days since I first posted about the West Highland Way. Truth is I finished walking almost 2 weeks ago. I spent a couple days recovering in Fort William and since then I’ve been living in a campervan road tripping around the Scottish Highlands. I’m currently in Durness (you’ll need to Google it). I’ll post some photos from my road trip soon!

#scottishhighlands #highlands #hikingadventures #Scotland #westhighlandway #backpackerlife #FortWilliam #fortwilliamscotland

Day 7. Today’s hurdle was the Devil’s Staircas

Day 7. Today’s hurdle was the Devil’s Staircase. In my research into the West Highland Way, this seemed like it would be the hardest part. A couple people mentioned this morning they were thinking about taking the bus because there were supposed to be high winds along with our trusty rain. I decided to give it a shot— what else was I going to do today? Luckily the distance wasn’t bad, only 9 miles. So I just had a nice, leisurely walk up the staircase and then down the other side. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting. Definitely not the hardest part; that honor still lies with day 3, part 2. I actually arrived at my destination before check-in time at my b&b, so I killed time and dried out a bit in a nearby pub. Tomorrow in the last day, and my longest distance. Almost done!

#scottishhighlands #highlands #hikingadventures #scotland #westhighlandway #DevilsStaircase

Day 6. Remember I said I split day 5 into two days

Day 6. Remember I said I split day 5 into two days? Well this was the second day. I woke up ready for another “short” day with just 10 miles to cover. The sun was shining through my window, the birds were chirping, the sky was blue. After breakfast I packed up, went next door to get a sandwich for lunch, stepped outside to put it in my backpack, and the sky opened up. 🌧️ aAbother walker commented it would be like this for the rest of the day. Remembering my mistake day 1, I quickly put on my rainpants, along with raincoat, hat, buff, and backpack rain cover. Was NOT gonna be caught out again!

(Side note, I don’t know why I’m so resistant to wearing my rain pants, they really are awesome. They pull on over my hiking pants, they weigh nothing, and they’re actually slimming. But I still hate wearing them.)

Despite the blue skies in the photos it rained almost all day. I snapped pictures in the few rain breaks. Also despite my rain gear I ended the day wetter than I did day 1. So did everyone. The drying room at my accommodation that night was so wet, my things didn’t dry out completely overnight. At least my boots did. Someone told me there was 6 inches of rain that day. It rained all through the night. The last photo is of the window while I was eating dinner. The rain made it rough but the walk itself wasn’t too bad. Tomorrow is the real challenge: the Devil’s Staircase….

Day 5. Thanks for all the well wishes, I woke up f

Day 5. Thanks for all the well wishes, I woke up feeling much better and ready to go again. Also happy that this was going to be my shortest day yet, with only 9 miles to cover. Still took me all day. The weather was cloudy and windy, but not really rain until the last hour. And even cloudy I could see pretty far into the distance. Who has the right of way on a walking path, the walker or the wildlife? Had to take a little break when a sheep stared me down and dared me to get closer. But she quickly got bored and moved on. Crisis averted. The rain or course started just as I began a long descent to my stop for the night. Sometimes downhill is harder than uphill! But the Inn was warm, comfortable, and filled with Germans. Usually this day is 19 miles, but I split it in half and am taking an extra day. Saw a few other familiar faces who decided to do the same. Definitely the right decision, and made for my best day on the trail so far.

#ScottishHighlands #highlands #hikingadventures #scotland #westhighlandway #givewaytosheep

Day 4. Started out strong, and was a beautiful wal

Day 4. Started out strong, and was a beautiful walk. Unfortunately things went downhill for me quickly. I stopped a the top of a hill a couple hours in to eat half of my lunch while it wasn’t raining. Because of course it rained again. Not so bad, just a smattering here and there, but I found a dry rock, so I took advantage. Bad move on my part. I started feeling sick not long after I ate half my sandwich and an apple. Now I don’t know which of those items made me sick, or if it was something I ate at breakfast or dinner the night before. But all of those meals came from the same place, so I know where I’m placing the blame. Anyways, hiking while feeling like crap is…unpleasant. It also meant I didn’t want to eat the rest of my lunch because that might’ve been what made me sick. So with a couple hours to go I was dragging pretty badly. I even messaged my new friend Leanne, who had started earlier and was ahead of me, and told her if she didn’t hear from me by like 6pm, to literally send a search party. I hadn’t seen anyone on the trail for a couple hours and was worried no one would pass me if I passed out or something. She agreed, and then soon after a few people came up behind me, setting me at ease that there were still people coming. Even better, I remembered I’d been carrying a bag of chocolate covered pretzels, so I stopped and ate some of those. With that additional energy I made into Tyndrum, and who do I see when I’m heading for my hotel? Leanne, waving at me from outside a restaurant where she was waiting for her ride home. So it was a rough day for me, but not because of the trail which, after Day 3, was a breeze. Some beautiful views along the way of course and a fair bit of historical information boards. And of course, sheep and some highland coos!

#scottishhighlands #highlands #westhighlandway #tyndrum #Scotland #backpackerlife #hikingadventures

Day 3, part 1. You may have noticed I’m a littl

Day 3, part 1. You may have noticed I’m a little behind on my posts (who’s surprised? 😇). I blame it on day 3, which was so long and tiring, that when it was over all I could do was shower, eat, sleep, in that order. It was so long that I have to split it into two posts.The first half of the day was a 7 mile walk along Loch Lomond. Generally pleasant, not overly taxing. There were two routes to choose from, the low road and the high road. I chose the high road because when they go low….ya know. But really I chose it because it was supposed to be slightly easier and shorter on what was touted as the hardest day of the trek. I’d heard there were waterfalls along this stretch but nothing I read said if they were along the low road or high road, so I was worried I’d miss them. Y’all know how much I love a waterfall! Luckily, there were plenty along my chosen route. If only they had been the whole day, but no, I was only halfway there. Now might be a good time to mention all of the photos I’m posting are taken with my iPhone, I didn’t bring my camera on this trek!#scottishhighlands #highlands #lochlomond #scotland #westhighlandway #waterfall #waterfalls #waterfallphotography

Day 3, Part 2. If this morning was waterfall alley

Day 3, Part 2. If this morning was waterfall alley, this afternoon was the road to hell. Okay, I might be slightly exaggerating. Slightly. This morning I covered 7 miles, half of today’s distance, in less than 4 hours. I wasn’t rushing. So you’d think I’d be able to do the same distance in the afternoon in the same amount of time, right? RIGHT!? Nope. This 7 miles took more like 6 hours. There were a couple miles that actually took an hour a mile. Yes, I’m a slow hiker. But this wasn’t that. The trail was HARD. Very technical. A few places where I had to scramble, or hold into trees to not fall into the loch, or squeeze through narrow gaps. Oh, and didn’t forget to mention it was raining again?

Luckily I made a friend so I had some company all afternoon. Leanne Rea is a local but she’s never walked the whole way before, now she’s doing it on weekends. After walking Day 3 on Saturday I was so impressed she showed up for Day 4 on Sunday; I would’ve said enough for one weekend after Saturday and picked back up next weekend!

Day 3, part 1. You may have noticed I’m a littl

Day 3, part 1. You may have noticed I’m a little behind on my posts (who’s surprised? 😇). I blame it on day 3, which was so long and tiring, that when it was over all I could do was shower, eat, sleep, in that order. It was so long that I have to split it into two posts.

The first half of the day was a 7 mile walk along Loch Lomond. Generally pleasant, not overly taxing. There were two routes to choose from, the low road and the high road. I chose the high road because when they go low….ya know. But really I chose it because it was supposed to be slightly easier and shorter on what was touted as the hardest day of the trek. I’d heard there were waterfalls along this stretch but nothing I read said if they were along the low road or high road, so I was worried I’d miss them. Y’all know how much I love a waterfall! Luckily, there were plenty along my chosen route. If only they had been the whole day, but no, I was only halfway there.

Now might be a good time to mention all of the photos I’m posting are taken with my iPhone, I didn’t bring my camera on this trek!

#scottishhighlands #highlands #lochlomond #scotland #westhighlandway #waterfall #waterfalls #waterfallphotography

Day 2 on the #westhighlandway. Today’s theme is

Day 2 on the #westhighlandway. Today’s theme is wind. And mud again. I walked 14+ miles from Drymen to Rowardennan. Made a new friend from Colorado along the way. I thought today’s challenge would be Conic Hill, with its high climb and then steep downhill. But that was only the first half of the day and really wasn’t that bad. The wind kept it cool. The real challenge was the second half of the day which just seemed to take forever. Some short but steep climbs when I was already tired from earlier in the day. But after 9 hours walking I finally made it to my accommodation. This is one is the few nights I’m staying in a hostel, which I wasn’t thrilled about, but at least I got a bottom bunk. The last photo is the hostel, which looks like a castle and is right on Loch Lomond. Clearly Scotland knows how to hostel! Tomorrow is supposed to be one of the hardest days, so I’m calling this an early night.

#scotland #lochlomond #conichill #highlands #scottishhighlands #drymentorowardennan

Day 2 on the #westhighlandway. Today’s theme is

Day 2 on the #westhighlandway. Today’s theme is wind. And mud again. I walked 14+ miles from Drymen to Rowardennan. Made a new friend from Colorado along the way. I thought today’s challenge would be Conic Hill, with its high climb and then steep downhill. But that was only the first half of the day and really wasn’t that bad. The wind kept it cool. The real challenge was the second half of the day which just seemed to take forever. Some short but steep climbs when I was already tired from earlier in the day. But after 9 hours walking I finally made it to my accommodation. This is one is the few nights I’m staying in a hostel, which I wasn’t thrilled about, but at least I got a bottom bunk. The last photo is the hostel, which looks like a castle and is right on Loch Lomond. Clearly Scotland knows how to hostel! Tomorrow is supposed to be one of the hardest days, so I’m calling this an early night.

#scotland #lochlomond #conichill #highlands #scottishhighlands #drymentorowardennan

Laura Lang specifically requested that I post dail

Laura Lang specifically requested that I post daily my time on the West Highland Way, so I’m gonna try.

Today’s themes were rain and mud. It was drizzling when I set out and I thought ‘not so bad, I can hike in this, and my hiking pants can take it.’ I saw a couple people hiking with umbrellas and I’d thought about bringing one but opted out in favor of being able to hold my hiking poles. ‘Twas a good decision to not bring the umbrella. But twas a bad decision to not put on my rain pants. When the rain picked up, everything soaked through, and I found myself wet in places that should not be wet when one is just out for a walk. I stopped for lunch and luckily when I finished, so had the rain. The afternoon brought blue skies but still plenty of puddles and mud from the downpour in the morning. I managed to mostly dry out on the second half of today’s walk, and I can only hope my socks dry overnight. The hike itself wasn’t difficult today, mostly flat other than jumping over puddles. I’m pretty sure that’s the last of that though, as it is the Highlands. I guess I’ll see tomorrow!

#westhighlandway #milngavietodrymen #milngavie #drymen #scottishhighlands #highlands #notthecamino #WetterThanWet #hikingintherain #hikingadventures #nomadlife #throughhiking

Sh*t’s about to go down in Glasgow…. #glasgow

Sh*t’s about to go down in Glasgow….

#glasgow #DoctorWho #policebox #dontblink #iykyk

Jonathan and Maureen, I might need to borrow a cat

Jonathan and Maureen, I might need to borrow a cat….

Instagram post 17892083421052827

Instagram post 17892083421052827

10:00pm in Tallinn, Estonia…. Looks like the sun

10:00pm in Tallinn, Estonia…. Looks like the sun is finally setting but it won’t actually get dark until around midnight, and it starts getting light again around 3am! #tallinn #tallinnoldtown #tallinnestonia #estonia #midnightsun #oldtown #livemusic #nomadlife #nomadlifestyle #whyoffi #financialindependence #locationindependent @around.the.sun

Great first day in Tallinn, Estonia! It was so fun

Great first day in Tallinn, Estonia! It was so fun to meet up with friends from different corners of the world. Tobi and I are friends from college and we travel together regularly. I met Gina in Buenos Aires and we got got to spend a couple weeks hanging out in Antarctica and the Falkland Islands. Now here we all are in Estonia! After a delicious breakfast at a nearby cafe, we joined a walking tour that was more about the stories and lore around Tallinn than the usual history lesson. Our guide was in medieval garb and very enthusiastic. We then had an authentic medieval dinner at the Olde Hansa Restaurant. I thought it would either be cheesy or gross, but it was neither! The food and drinks were great, the atmosphere felt authentic without being over the top, and the waiters and staff were enjoying it as much as the customers. We ended the day at a speakeasy, which was hidden in plain sight and a lot of fun. Sad that Gina is leaving today, but so glad we were able to overlap for the day.

#estonia #tallinn #tallinnoldtown #whispersisters #restoranoldehansa #medievalhistory #tallinnestonia

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