Hi and welcome to everyone who will be joining us on our low-budget trip around the world! :)
More than 3,5 years ago (December 2012) we met each other at the Christmas market in Brussels. The first topic we talked about was traveling, something we’re both very passionate about. Carl has been into backpacking since he was a teenager, Freyja has always been eager to discover different countries and cultures. With a combination of hiking and sightseeing, of nature and culture, our trip through Scandinavia in July 2015 (a three week travel through Denmark, Norway and Sweden) was already a little taste of what our worldtrip is going to be.
So for those thinking we planned a one-year holiday at the beach or at the tourist info center, we have to disappoint you. It is not our intention to travel the world as tourists (although we'll certainly look like them with our enormous backpacks). That’s why we'll try to WWOOF as much as possible. For people who are not familiar with the WWOOFing concept: WWOOF stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, or Willing Workers on Organic Farms, and is a worldwide movement linking volunteers with organic farmers and growers to promote cultural and educational experiences based on trust and non-monetary exchanges, thereby helping to build a sustainable global community. This means that in return for volunteer help, WWOOF hosts offer food, accommodation and opportunities to learn about organic lifestyles. (source: official WWOOF website). We find it very important to connect with locals but also to do more with our hands, learn different crafts and (re)discover our (lost) connection with the earth that feeds us. Therefore, this blog will not show you all the hotspots you can find in a country (and on the internet), but it will be mostly about our work experiences, about the people we meet and about our general impressions of the many places we visit. Another reason to WWOOF is to find some peace and rest on our undoubtedly sometimes busy, noisy and stressy trip. We also think we'll get another (and probably better) view of a country’s culture by WWOOFing than by solely visiting cities, since cities are not always representative for the true culture of a country but have often developed a different and rather “modern” culture due to both the natural characteristics of a city and, probably even more important, the inevitable globalization and westernization of many cities in the world today. And last but not least, let us not forget about the amount of money we save by working on a farm in exchange for food and accommodation :)
Of course we'll also do some touristy things (hello great wall of China, great barrier reef, great other places, etc.) and we’ll keep you updated on those things too. But they will not be the goal of our trip or this blog. Another important remark is that we'll try to take as less flights as possible during our trip. We'll travel mostly by train and public transport, since we firmly believe that traveling over land allows you to see and experience more of the country and environment you cross than when you travel by air. This also better fits our (travel) philosophy of living (and thus traveling) more slowly than most of us do today in modern society. Another (and the last we'll mention, so don’t worry) of the many advantages of traveling by train is of course the saved airplane pollution :)
The part everyone will probably be most curious about is our itinerary. First of all, we would like to stress that our itinerary is not already fully booked in advance, but that it serves more as a basic indication. This means we have already mapped out a preferred route before our departure to have a basic idea of which countries we would like to visit, in which order and by which means of transport, but that the real route may eventually differ from the planned route (depending on the decisions we make along the way). This minimum of strict plans, or so called (travel) freedom, is another important part of our (travel) philosophy. We'll visit every continent except Africa (this continent is not situated on our preferred route, but certainly remains on our “to visit-list”). Because of visa demands for certain countries, the first part of our trip is (unfortunately) already fully planned and booked (from Russia to Vietnam). After China, however, we'll mostly let us guide by our desires and the people we meet, and try to plan more day by day. On the map below you can see our planned itinerary.
The arriving and departure dates you see on tripline are again a basic indication and can (and probably will) differ in reality. The only date we're planning to stick to is our arrival date in Australia, since we had the wonderful idea to celebrate Christmas in this warm and beautiful country (finally a Christmas at the beach!). This means we would like to arrive there somewhere in December (before the 24th of course).
We hope you’ll enjoy reading our blog and always feel free to leave any comments and/or questions! :)
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For those too lazy to read the long introduction text above, here you can find a short list of the most important facts of our trip:
Who: Carl & Freyja
Duration: approximately 1 year
Countries (in planned order): Belgium -> Russia -> Mongolia -> China -> Vietnam -> Laos -> Vietnam -> Cambodja -> Thailand -> Malaysia -> Singapore -> Australia -> New Zealand -> Chile -> Bolivia -> Peru -> Ecuador -> Costa Rica -> Cuba -> USA -> Canada -> USA -> UK -> Belgium
Activities: WWOOFing, working, sightseeing, hiking, relaxing, yoga, meditation, enjoying :)
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