Travelog
This travelog is a snapshot of our more major trips throughout the years. To avoid making this too long, we’ve excluded day trips and weekend trips, but we’ll still be blogging about those under this tag. Let us know if you are particularly interested in hearing more about any of the trips below!
Gap Year 14/15: Honeymoon Edition
It’s been a big year.
We had extremely busy bursts of work. We caught up with visiting family and friends. We took short trips across different parts of Australia, from the Granite Belt in Queensland to Kakadu National Park in Darwin. We even flew to New Zealand – not just to travel, but to tie the knot on the spectacularly snowy Mt Cook.
It’s now September, two months since the wedding, and we’re finally off on our honeymoon! After some post-wedding celebrations in Hong Kong and Santiago, we’ve hit the road and headed south, weaving between Chile and Argentina until we reached Ushuaia. There were some incredible adventures along the way, not least being an unforgettable trip to Antarctica.
As mentioned in this post, we’re planning not to plan overly much, though we do have a rough idea of where we’d like to go between now and July 2015. The best part about having time is that we’re far more flexible than usual. We’re both curious to see how everything plays out.
Stay tuned for more posts to come, and feel free to also follow our Facebook page for more frequent updates and plenty of bonus photos!
Entries: Gap Year 14/15: Honeymoon Edition (with segments in Patagonia, Antarctica, Scandinavia and Australia)
Cameras: Canon EOS 5D MkII, Sony Cybershot DSC RX100
Lenses: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II USM, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM
Hiking in the Japanese Alps (and Fuji)
After Tasmania in 2012, we thought we’d try a multi-day hike where we wouldn’t need to carry our own tent, food or cooking equipment. The Japanese Alps seemed like the perfect choice, with its fantastic hut system and multi-course meals in the middle of the wilderness. What we didn’t expect was that we’d spend half the week hiking through a typhoon – but nor did we foresee how much more we’d enjoy the sunshine when it returned, and how quickly we’d fall in love with the dry rooms in the huts.
Entries: Japan 2013
Cameras: Canon EOS 5D MkII
Lenses: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II USM, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM
Hiking in Tasmania
In December 2012, we headed off on our first weeklong hike: the Overland Track in Tasmania. It was an interesting trek with a few unexpected twists and turns, not least due to the weather (sleet, hail and snow in summer) and food poisoning, but the experience was all the more memorable as a result. We were then joined by Angel’s family on a campervan trip involving plenty of scenic hikes, delicious food, and evenings of laughter over cards and wine.
Entries: Tasmania 2012
Cameras: Canon EOS 5D MkII
Lenses: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II USM, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM
Tibet, Nepal and the Himalayas
In April 2012, we visited the Himalayas with Bruno’s parents. The trip started with a two-night train ride from Shanghai to Lhasa and continued overland through Tibet, with stopovers at palaces, monasteries, various ruins and the much-anticipated Everest Base Camp. We then continued over the border to the Nepali side and spent a week romping through jungles on elephants, ducking past vehicles in crowded markets, and enjoying the freedom to eat and drink to our hearts’ content in the altititude-free cities. All in all, an eye-opening and memorable trip.
Entries: Himalayas 2012
Cameras: Canon EOS 5D MkII, Canon EOS 500D
Lenses: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II USM, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM, Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM
Holidaying in Japan
Camera: Canon EOS 5D MkII
Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II USM
Road-tripping in New Zealand
Cameras: Nikon D300s, Canon EOS 500D
Lenses: Tamron AF 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 Di-II, AF-S 50mm f/1.4G, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro, Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
Diving in Cairns, Australia
Cameras: Sony DSC W200 (with underwater casing), Nikon D300s, Canon EOS 500D
Lenses: Tamron AF 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 Di-II, Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4G, Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro
Hiking in the Whitsundays, Australia
Cameras: Nikon D300s, Canon EOS 500D
Lenses: Tamron AF 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 Di-II, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM, Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4G, Canon 18-55mm, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro
Holidaying in Hong Kong and Macau
Cameras: Nikon D300s, Canon EOS 500D
Lenses: Tamron AF 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 Di-II, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM, Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4G, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro
Backpacking through southern Argentina
Camera: Nikon D40x
Lenses: Tamron AF 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 Di-II , Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM
Hiking in Torres del Paine, Chile
Camera: Nikon D40x
Lenses: Nikkor AF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6G, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM
Driving through Chile - the beach to the Andes in 2h
Camera: Nikon D40x
Lenses: Tamron AF 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 Di-II, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM
Backpacking through Peru
Cameras: Nikon D40x
Lenses: Tamron AF 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 Di-II, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM
Holidaying in Iguassu Falls and Sao Paulo
Camera: Nikon D40x
Lenses: Nikkor AF-S 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6G, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM
Backpacking through northern Chile and Bolivia
Camera: Nikon D40x
Lens: Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6D EX DC HSM
Road-tripping in Tasmania, Australia
Camera: Sony Cybershot DSC W200
Hiking in Tokyo, Japan
Camera: Sony Cybershot DSC W200
Future travel plans
Our list of travel plans is endless and ever-changing, but on the short-term horizon is a round-the-world trip (for which we are taking a year off under the guise of a honeymoon). The highlights will be an extended road trip from Santiago, Chile to the Chilean and Argentine Patagonian region, with a cruise to Antarctica if we can manage it, followed by a period in the Andes. We’ll then head off to northern Europe and spend some time in Scandinavia, before squeezing in some time in other parts of Europe returning through either Asia or the US. Afterwards, depending on how much time we have left, we’ll do some driving around Australia.
Other ideas scattered more tentatively over the next decade include:
- Kilimanjaro and other parts of Africa
- Trans-Siberian, Trans-Mongolian and Trans-Manchurian railway trip, with a stop in Harbin during the Ice Festival
- Road trip around the US and Canada (this will tentatively be our next year off, so it’s a few years away yet)
- Eating our heart out in western Europe
- Arctic circle / Norwegian Fjords cruise
- Some tropical all-inclusive getaway with diving opportunities
- Egypt, Jordan and the surrounds, depending on the political situation
Photography note
We slowly pulled ourselves onto the DSLR bandwagon as the years went by, and after several upgrades, we now have a camera kit that should keep us both happy for the foreseeable future. Yes, it is far bigger, heavier and pricier, but the results are stunning and we learn more about photography with every trip. Our general approach is to have a DSLR and a point-and-shoot whenever we travel, just to cover all our bases.
We’ve included notes about the camera gear for every trip here, half as a reference point for ourselves and half for other photography nerds who might be curious. Refer to the fine print under the thumbnails for the details.