13 Countries in a Year and a Half
I am a dual citizen (US & UK) who has traveled to 23 countries already in my life.
From a young age, I always dreamed of traveling after college. After graduating, I made that dream a reality when I backpacked on my own through 13 countries in a year and half, treating the experience as an additional year of education. It was the most challenging, yet rewarding year of my life, filled with countless experiences that changed my outlook on the world and my place in it.
I spent two months in Nepal, trekking in the Himalayan mountains and working with the first Nepali female OBGYN in rural women’s health camps.
I taught English to Buddhist monks in a monastery in Thailand, spent Christmas in the horrific Khmer Rouge regime “Killing Fields” in Cambodia, recorded the longest bus ride of my life (21 hours!) in Vietnam, and got off the beaten track in Myanmar.
I lived in China with my life partner, who was playing professional basketball and played in tournaments in remote Chinese villages who had never seen a westerner before.
Throughout the journey, I documented my experiences in a blog. Here are a couple entries:
Supermarket Tales: Week 1 in China
Instead of being a simple, short errand, my grocery shopping trip was a challenging and a thought-provoking cultural experience. I never thought I could have so much to say about a grocery store…
Tuklung Village: Two Months in Nepal
We were on our way to assist a health camp in the rural village of Tuklung, a small remote village in Nepal. Sarita, the first Nepali female Ayurvedic doctor, led the way along with a crew of doctors, assistants, program managers, and me…