Interactive Map - My Route from 4/12/2019 to 3/20/2020
Below is an interactive map I manually created on Traveller's Point. You can scroll and drag around the map or zoom in/out to see the route I took through 13 countries for my one year of travels. It's not perfect, but it gives the major picture of how I traveled. All of these routes were spontaneous with the exception of these flights that I booked at least two weeks in advance: LA to Guatemala, Panama City to Medellin, Bogota to Detroit, Bangkok to Cambodia, Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, Cebu City to Siargao island. The way I did it was very fluid, so the logistics might not have been the most ideal at certain times.... (especially in Asia) but it worked!
- Red - Air travel by plane (~43,358 miles)
- Green - Land travel by bus, shuttle, or motorbike (~7,965 miles)
- Blue - Boat travel on sea, river, or lake (~1,148 miles)
If you are having difficulty viewing the interactive map, below are some screen shots of distinct regions I traveled through with a brief synopsis explaining how I traveled.
(northern) Central America [4/24 to 7/28]
California-> Guatemala -> Belize -> Guatemala -> Honduras -> Guatemala -> El Salvador -> Nicaragua ->
I flew into Guatemala City on 4/24/2019 after a family California road trip to spend 3 weeks in Spanish school in Antigua. Next, I traveled north through Guatemala by shuttle on my way to Caye Caulker island, Belize. I then quickly transited back through Guatemala to get to Utila island, Honduras. Dangerous political riots evolved on mainland Honduras while I was there making it impossible to travel by land at the time, so I snagged an expensive flight back to Guatemala City. I took some more Spanish classed and then shuttled to the beach town El Tunco, El Salvador. At this point, I began to learn that public "chicken buses" were actually safe, so I bussed south down the Pacific coast of El Salvador and Nicaragua while making several stops along the way for cities, beach towns, and inland volcanoes.
(southern) Central America & Colombia [7/29 to 10/16]
-> Nicaragua -> Costa Rica -> Panama -> Colombia -> Michigan ->
I stayed in San Juan Del Sur Nicaragua where I spent a couple weeks to learn how to surf, and then I continued to bus down the west coasts of Costa Rica and Panama while stopping at some surf towns and checking out national parks along the way. I spent a few days out in the Caribbean amongst the San Blas Islands before heading back to Panama City for my flight to Medellin, Colombia to meet up with Jason. Jason and I were on a strict timeline with Zac so we flew to Cartagena shortly after, but after Zac left we bussed along the Carribean coast while stopping at beaches, national parks, and mountain towns. We then took a overnight bus down inland to San Gil and then another overnight bus a few days later to Bogota for our flight to Leticia, which is only accessible by plane or river because it is deep in the Amazon rainforest. After a few days down in the Amazon, we chilled in the capital of Bogota before my flight back to the US. I took a quick pit stop back home in Michigan before flying out to Asia for a few months.
mainland South East Asia [11/3 to 3/5]
-> Michigan -> Thailand -> Cambodia -> Vietnam -> Laos -> Thailand ->
Pat and I flew into Bangkok for a rushed two week trip of some of the highlights of Thailand. One way flights throughout Thailand are very cheap and quick, so we took advantage of this and flew up to Chiang Mai in the north and then down to Krabi where we stayed grounded for a week by constantly using buses and ferries to island hop. We then flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia for a few days before Pat returned to the US. Once Pat left, I only traveled southeast through Cambodia by night and day buses. I eventually crossed the border into Vietnam to explore the Mekong Delta before posting up in Ho Chi Minh City. I flew north to meet up with my sisters in Hanoi, which we would use as a central base to access Northern Vietnam by buses and motorbike. I tried to bus through South East Asia as much as possible, but traveling on other people's schedules and the fact that last minute flights could be so cheap swayed me to fly pretty frequently.
After Lauren and Rachel left, I traveled south by bus and motorbike down the coast of Vietnam until my 30 day visa expired and then crossed over into Laos, which I traveled completely by bus and motorbike. I then started to fly again as I hopped from Luang Prabang to Chiang Mai to Bangkok to Cebu, Phillipines. The night buses in Vietnam were comfortable and convenient, but the several night buses I took through Cambodia and Laos were hell.... It was impossible to sleep as drivers constantly swerved around to miss potholes while laying down their horn at traffic. My least favorite part was when these buses would drop you off at the destination at 3-4am with no sleep. If I were to do it over again, I would have bought a motorbike to traverse all of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos for more freedom and a cool experience.
After Lauren and Rachel left, I traveled south by bus and motorbike down the coast of Vietnam until my 30 day visa expired and then crossed over into Laos, which I traveled completely by bus and motorbike. I then started to fly again as I hopped from Luang Prabang to Chiang Mai to Bangkok to Cebu, Phillipines. The night buses in Vietnam were comfortable and convenient, but the several night buses I took through Cambodia and Laos were hell.... It was impossible to sleep as drivers constantly swerved around to miss potholes while laying down their horn at traffic. My least favorite part was when these buses would drop you off at the destination at 3-4am with no sleep. If I were to do it over again, I would have bought a motorbike to traverse all of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos for more freedom and a cool experience.
the Phillipines [3/6 to 3/19/2020]
-> Phillipines -> USA...
With the exception of a pre-booked flight to get to Siargao from Cebu, I traveled all of the Phillipines by ferry and buses, which was definitely the way to go. I learned that overnight ferries were comfortable and wayyy cheaper than flights for nearby island hopping. Unfortunately, my time here was super short due to COVID-19, which forced me into a lots of unexpected traveling within a short amount of time. Once the president announced full lockdown of all metro-Manila for 30 days, things started to get super chaotic as more and more islands shutdown, flights started getting cancelled and all the surrounding countries started to shut down their borders. After I had 5 flights cancelled, I finally managed to successfully fly from Cebu to Japan to Hawaii to Detroit thus ending my trip...