A little bit behind on the blog, but here’s my Q3
recap! If you don’t care, then don’t
read it.
Total time spent:
91.67 days and 92 nights
Start: Night of
Tuesday, January 12 at Tokyo Narita Airport
End: Afternoon of
Wednesday, April 13 at Quito Airport
Continents visited:
3 (including my first time in South America!)
1. North
America: 73%
2. Europe: 13%
3. South
America: 12%
In transit between continents: 2%
Regions visited:
5
1. North America: 37.4%
2. Central
America: 19.4%
3. Caribbean: 15.4%
4. Northern
Europe: 13.0%
5. South
America: 11.9%
In transit between regions:
3.0%
Countries visited:
8
1. United
States: 27.00 days / 28 nights (29.8%)
2. United
Kingdom: 11.83 days / 12 nights (13.0%)
3. Ecuador: 10.83 days / 11 nights (11.9%)
4. Cuba: 10.33 days / 10.5 nights (11.3%)
5. Costa Rica: 10.00 days / 10 nights (10.9%)
6. Nicaragua: 7.67 days / 8 nights (8.5%)
7. Mexico: 6.67 days / 7 nights (7.4%)
8. Dominican
Republic: 3.67 days / 4 nights (4.1%)
In transit between countries: 3.67 days / 1.5 nights (3.2%)
And just for fun – time spent in countries that drive on
the:
1. Left side of the
road: 14% (UK)
2. Right side of the road: 86% (everywhere
else)
Border crossings:
9
- 8 border crossings
by air
- 1 land border
crossing (on foot from Costa Rica to Nicaragua)
Airports visited:
15 (up from 10 and 13 in Q1 and Q2)
Tokyo (Narita), Abu Dhabi, London (Heathrow), London
(Gatwick), Fort Lauderdale, Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, Santo Domingo, Mexico
City, Havana, Panama City, San Jose (Costa Rica), Managua, Quito, Baltra
(Galapagos)
*My flights from Quito to Baltra and back also landed to
pick up and drop off passengers in Guayaquil, but I didn’t get off the plane so
it doesn’t really count.
Airlines flown:
9 (up from 5 and 6 in Q1 and Q2)
Etihad, Norwegian, Southwest, American, Spirit, Volaris,
Aeromexico, Copa, Avianca
Accommodation:
1. Friends and
family: 39 nights (42% - UK and USA)
2. Hostels: 26 nights
(28% - Latin America, though I often had a private room)
3.
Guesthouse/Homestay: 18.5
nights (20% - Latin America including
“casa particulares” in Cuba)
Other types of accommodation: camping (Galapagos), hotels (1 night in
Houston, 2 in Quito), and airplanes (woohoo!)
Bathroom situation:
1. Private
bathroom: 74.5 nights (81%)
2. Shared
bathroom: 17.5 nights (19%)
And now, for some less statistical lists…
Top 6 Experiences (in chronological order):
Because there’s more good than bad, I’m keeping my trend of
doing 6 top experiences and 5 bottom experiences.
1. Seeing family and friends – I got to
visit friends and family in the UK and USA, and meet up with friends in
Cuba/Costa Rica and Nicaragua. It was
nice catching up with familiar faces!
2. Mexico City food porn – I fucking love
Mexican food and Mexico City provided one foodgasm after another. Heaven.
Eating the Tex-Mex in Texas was orgasmic too!
3. Teotihuacan tour – My tour to
Teotihuacan from Mexico City was fantastic.
The sights were great, the guide was great, and crossing off one of my
103 Things was great!
4. Monteverde zip line – Another of my 103
Things, I can’t say that I wasn’t terrified at the start, but zip lining ended
up being a ton of fun!
5. Galapagos Islands – These islands were
stunners. I don’t even like animals all
that much but the wildlife watching was fantastic. This should be a must-do on everyone’s list!
6. Quito walking tour – when the tour
guide didn’t show up, two other travellers and I did our own walking tour and
it turned out to be an absolutely lovely day.
Bottom 5 Experiences (in chronological order):
1. British transport – I hate British
transport. It’s expensive. It’s crowded.
It takes ages. The staff are
unfriendly and unhelpful. I can’t
believe the Queen lives this way.
2. Texas Republicans – It was local election
season in Texas and campaign flyers and billboards touted these assholes’ anti-gay,
pro-gun, anti-choice “accomplishments”.
I was uncomfortable.
3. Cuban pizza and sandwiches – I love
Cuban food in Miami but the Cuban food in Cuba is pretty shit. There’s only so many shitty pizzas and
sandwiches you can have. There’s no
variety at all.
4. Border crossing stress – The staff at
my hostel in Monteverde told me that the border crossing to Nicaragua might
take all day. I was super stressed for 24
hours, but it ended up being a breeze.
5. Spider shower – The campsite on Isabela
Island (Galapagos) had giant spiders in the showers. I left Australia – I shouldn’t have to deal
with this shit.
There were no major mishaps in Q3. Woohoo!
Top 3 Places I Could Live (in preferential order):
1. London – I have a ton of friends here,
there are tons of job opportunities, it’s English-speaking, and well-connected
to the world!
2. Bristol – It’s not glamorous, but it’s
close to London.
3. Mexico City – Food.
I think I’d rather live in a new Latin American city than
live Florida or Texas. Been there, done
that. I’d probably rank San Jose and
Quito before the US cities I visited too.
But not Cuba. No way.
Top 3 Places to Visit Again (in preferential order):
1. London – I was so busy visiting friends
in London that I hardly saw anything touristy.
I’d like to change that.
2. Costa Rica – It’s a great little
country and there are other parts I’d like to see. 10 days was not nearly enough!
3. Galapagos Islands – One day when I have
money, I’d like to do one of those rich bitch boat tours and check out some of
the uninhabited islands.
I also wouldn’t mind checking out more of Mexico and
mainland Ecuador. It would be fun to go
back to Cuba one day when communism finally disappears.
Top 3 Accommodations (in preferential order):
1. Hostal Monte Cristi (Managua) – I only
had one night here before my flight, but the room was nice and the owners were
lovely and I wish I had booked in a day just to chill here.
2. Can San Ildefonso (Mexico City) – While
I wish I had stayed in a different neighbourhood, the building here was
charming and the staff were super friendly.
I met some nice people too!
3. Posada del Arenal (La Fortuna, Costa Rica)
– This little guesthouse was brand new, conveniently located, had good air
conditioning, and the owner was sort of a DILF.
Because I stayed in seven different family and friends’
homes, I’m not including them in this list.
That would be rude to rank them, but maybe I’ll do it quietly in my
head.
The end is quickly approaching. Noooo!
Q4 will feature an impromptu wedding (not mine), a shit ton of coffee, trying
to figure out how to watch Eurovision from South America, and a visit to one of
the world’s most remote islands. But
first, let me take a selfie.
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