50 short lessons from a year travelling the world...

Just over a year ago, I left London and jumped on a one-way flight to Perth with my wife to spend a year travelling the world.

We spent three months driving a campervan across Australia, the next three months campervanning our way around New Zealand, three months in Asia and a final three months living in a tent in the US and Canada.

In no particular order (and without taking any of this too seriously!), here are 50 things that I learned along the way.

1.       The most beautiful place in the world is a hillside in Fukushima during the cherry blossom season (see picture).

2.       It takes three months' away from work for my brain to go quiet.

3.       A quiet brain is a creative brain.

4.       Having stood at the southernmost tip of the South Island of New Zealand, I can’t help but feel that the world is not that big.

5.       Australians are extraordinarily friendly.

6.       I want to live in Seoul. I also want to live in Melbourne, Toronto, San Francisco and Wellington. I would like to think that somewhere out there in the multi-verse, there are versions of me that do.

7.       The best coffee doesn’t come from a shop. It’s the one you make yourself with a little gas burner, early in the morning, whilst standing in the woods or sleeping by a lake.

8.       I need very little ‘stuff’ to be happy. In fact, it turns out that the less stuff I have, the happier I am.

9.       A great audio book can make a ten-hour drive pass in a matter of moments.

10.   Pickleball is the next big sport. It is also massive fun.

11.   The only thing more unnerving than the risk of a bear walking into your campsite is hearing a German gentleman yell “Get the children inside – there is a cougar!” just a few feet from your tent.

12.   A bowl of miso soup sometimes comes with shrimp heads floating in it.

13.   Los Angeles is really seven different cities, linked together by enormous freeways.

14.   The most beautiful spot in New Zealand is a tiny town called Glenorchy, about a 40-minute drive from Queenstown (see picture).

15.   Brisbane is criminally underrated.

16.   The deep blue colour of a glacial lake comes from silt in the water (see picture).

17.   The impact of colonialism on indigenous peoples was horrifying and its legacy still has a very real and damaging impact on indigenous peoples around the world today.

18.   Yellowstone National Park is a magical place (see pictures).

19.   Bison are huge and entirely unafraid of cars.

20.   Be wary of drop toilets.

21.   You haven’t really seen a tree until you have walked through the Redwoods in California (see picture).

22.   Wineries in Napa are ridiculously expensive. Wineries in Australia are normally free and totally delicious. Canadian wine is overrated (sorry Canada!).

23.   The best moments in life are the quiet moments you get to spend with your wife.

24.   There are no snakes or spiders in Australia (in 3 months and over 12,000kms, we didn’t see a single one). New Zealand is creepy-crawly central.

25.   A lemon can be the size of a bowling ball. A yam can be the size of a small toddler. Elk can be bigger than a large horse.

26.   Bear cubs are really cute.

27.   Karaoke should always be sung with locals until 1.30am in the morning, followed by drinks under a cherry blossom tree on the banks of the Arakawa River in Tokyo. In fact, the Japanese have a word for getting wasted under the cherry blossom trees – a Hanami party. What a great tradition.

28.   Hitchhikers are generally normal enough, sometimes really friendly and almost always need a good shower.

29.   If you are planning a long trip away, be ready to scrap your itinerary in an instant in favour of simply following the sunshine. Rain ruins everything.

30.   A visit to Hobbiton is a dream come true (see final picture).

31.   The roads in Australia can turn from tarmac to gravel in an instant.

32.   Whale watching off the coast of Vancouver Island is a really special experience.

33.   Even on a hot day in the middle of the summer, the temperature plummets when you are sleeping in a tent above 2,000 meters!

34.   It’s a 500km drive from Alice Springs to Uluru (Ayres Rock). But it’s worth the journey to see it at sunset (see picture).

35.   I’m too old for the full-moon party in Thailand.

36.   It is a one-hour drive from Seoul to the De-Militarized Zone (known locally as the DMZ) – the dividing line between North and South Korea.  From there you can look into North Korea, a surreal but very cool experience (see picture). 

37.   The best treat in the world is something called a Doffin – a cross between a donut and a muffin. The best ones come from Butter & Cream Bakery in the Lau Pa Sat hawker in downtown Singapore. 

38.   On a windy day, the Golden Gate Bridge whistles.

39.   Sometimes, it’s better not to see what is flavouring the broth in a Vietnamese hawker.

40.   A traffic jam caused by a bear sighting is referred to by the Parks Canada service as a ‘bear jam’.

41.   Swimming with dolphins off the coast of New Zealand is a magical experience.

42.   Sorry. I’ve tried. But I really don’t get the appeal of Country & Western music.

43.   A spontaneous dirty dancing competition is a great way to distract a crowd from an ambulance pulling in to scoop up the last guy who tried to ride a bull at rodeo.

44.   There is a district south of the river in Seoul called Gangnam. Next to the Starfield Coex Mall there is a giant statue of two golden hands, with the Gangnam Style soundtrack playing. It’s massive fun to dance beneath it. 

45.   There are two places in the world where you are allowed to land a commercial flight on a beach. One is on Fraser Island in Australia. The other is in Scotland.

46.   The Great Barrier Reef is over 2,000kms long, and one of many reefs that you can find around the coast of Australia.

47.   The New Year’s Fireworks in Auckland are a little disappointing. The view from the top of the Auckland Skytower is stunning.   

48.   A visit to a fish market in South Korea can put you off-of sushi for life.

49.   The best zoo in the world is Australia Zoo, just north of Brisbane. It was built by Steve Irwin’s father, and the incredible job that the staff do caring for the animals that live there is a wonderful tribute to Steve’s legacy.

50.   You quickly forget the fear of leaving your job, home and life behind to go travelling. The opportunity to travel is a great privilege and one of the most enriching experiences that life has to offer. If everyone had the chance to travel a little more, meet some new people, see new sights and experience new cultures, the world would be a more tolerant and warmer place.