Journal - Jake's Journeys

I Fly to Colombia with Just 500 Dollars

Jun 23, 2023

So my budget for 3 months in South America wasn’t very large to begin with—around 3k. After splurging by doing the Inca Trail and eating in top 10 world restaurants in Peru, I find myself with most of my money used up as I start my journey in Colombia. I flew into Bogota by myself yesterday, having finished my travels with my brother in Brazil. I will stay a few days here, then I will head to a smaller town to seek some kind of work to keep me going, whether that’s teaching English or volunteering at a hostel (or maybe even working on a farm lol). I need to make my $500 last for about a month and a half, as my flight home is on August first 😅.

Travel Update: The Wonders of Peru

Jun 7, 2023

Zach and I have explored the wonders of Peru since I last wrote here. As we headed south towards Cusco, we wandered the ruins of the massive mud fortress known as Chan Chan, braved altitude sickness and hiked to the pristinely blue Laguna 69 in Huaraz, ate at a top 10 restaurant in the world in Lima (blowing like half my travel budget in one go), and sand boarded down the massive sand dunes surrounding the oasis of Huacachina. We made it all the way to Cusco (only being held back when our bus caught fire in the middle of the highway at 1 am) and immediately embarked on the four-day journey of the Inca Trail as we approached our ultimate destination: Machu Picchu.

First Steps in South America!

May 27, 2023

3 months into my backpacking journey I have made it to South America! Last time I wrote here I was in my final days in Vietnam. Since then I spent a month traveling through Cambodia and the Philippines. We celebrated a New Years festival on a tropical Cambodian island (where the local teenagers poured baby powder all over our faces), visited Angkor Wat at sunrise, went to a rat museum in Siem Reap, went scuba diving with turtles and swam with whale sharks in Cebu, and visited my extended family who hosted us in Manila and Cebu City.

Final Days in Vietnam

Mar 29, 2023

The last time I wrote in this journal, Kenzie and I had just arrived in central Vietnam. In just two weeks, I have beheaded a chicken in Phong Nha (which a local lady then fried for us and served with peanut sauce for lunch), scaled Mua Peak and boated through caves in Ninh Binh, visited a secret coffee shop on a train track in Hanoi (an older local lady led us through a hidden alley past the police checkpoint), and explored the northernmost regions of the country on a motorbike, even driving within a few hundred feet of the Chinese border. We are already two months in with only one to go; we head to Cambodia in a couple of days.

Update 1.5 Months in: A Hole-in-the-wall Haircut

Mar 14, 2023

We have just arrived in Phong Nha in the middle of a rainstorm. The gentle rain patters steadily around the courtyard as I sit in our garden guesthouse. It is our first real day rained in. We have been working our way north through Vietnam after flying into Saigon two weeks ago, mostly taking night buses and stopping in towns along the way. We stayed a couple of days in the old city of Hoi An, known for its excellent tailor shops where you can get nice hand-tailored suits for very cheap. Highlights from here included getting our suits tailored, crab fishing and spinning in a coconut boat, and a very interesting haircut experience.

No Injuries: Motorbiking on Koh Phangan!

Feb 12, 2023

When we arrived to Koh Phangan, we realized that by far the best way to see the island was by motorbike. Everyone does it—it is incredibly cheap (around 6 US bucks a day), incredibly flexible (no need to call taxis for every destination), and safe in that most of the roads are very empty and there aren’t many cars on the island.

Two Days in Ao Nang

Feb 12, 2023

Our first day in Ao Nang was supposed to be a rest and relaxation day but we were so excited we ended up exploring the entire town! We walked the length of Ao Nang beach, then hiked past crazy monkeys through the jungle to nearby Pai Plong beach. I was worried our flip flops would fall through the cracks of the precarious wooden planks we had to climb. This beach had a long floating dock at the end of it that moved with the waves, which was fun to walk on and jump off of.

36 Hours of Straight Travel to Paradise

Feb 7, 2023

I am writing this sitting in a van making our way across green and sunny southern Thailand to the island of Koh Phangan. Kenzie and I spent our first 3 nights in Ao nang, Krabi, Thailand, after a chaotic 36 hour stretch of straight travel from DC. (This included 27 hours of flights and layovers, a taxi ride, over an hour waiting at a random bus stop on the side of the highway, and a four hour van ride that I had mistakenly made our pickup point for an hour from the airport.) After realizing we did NOT have time to make it to our bus after landing, we luckily were able to get picked up last second somewhere closer. Shout out to the two friendly info desk workers who translated directions for us onto a piece of paper from our stressed customer service agent over the phone who we couldn’t understand. So thankful for friendly people, maybe this is a sign we need to learn some Thai 😂.