Last year
I had quite the travel bug. I visited thirteen new countries, bringing the total number of countries I have visited in my lifetime to 20.
While a majority of 2017
I have spent living in Vanuatu, I still started off my year strong with travel.
In 2017, I visited a total of SEVEN new countries/autonomous regions, bringing me to a total of 27 countries/autonomous regions that I've visited in my lifetime.
- Mongolia
- China
- Tibet (autonomous region)
- Hong Kong (autonomous territory)
- England
- Fiji
- Vanuatu
Those are just the new countries. I traveled to a total of 32
new cities and villages, one in the USA! (Technically I started my travels through
Russia in 2016, in St. Petersburg, I'd already lived in
Valencia and
Alicante, and I'd already been to
NYC and
Washington, DC before)
- Moscow, Russia
- Irkutsk, Russia
- Ulan-Ude, Russia
- Naushski, Russia
- Sukhbaatar, Mongolia
- Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, Mongolia
- Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
- Zamin Uud, Mongolia
- Erlian, China
- Hohhot, China
- Beijing, China
- Xi'an, China
- Lhasa, China
- Hong Kong, China
- Vancouver, Canada
- London, England
- Philadelphia, USA
- Nadi, Fiji
- Port Vila, Efate, Vanuatu
- Epau Village, Efate, Vanuatu
- Laonamoa Village, Pele, Vanuatu
- Warasiviu Village, Pele, Vanuatu
- Piliura Village, Pele, Vanuatu
- Taloa Village, Nguna, Vanuatu
- Meresewia Village, Nguna, Vanuatu
- Eratap Village, Efate, Vanuatu
- Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu
- Aore Island, Vanuatu
- Port Orly, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu
- Big Bay, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu
- Lakatoro, Malekula, Vanuatu
- Vinmavis, Malekula, Vanuatu
I made dozens of
new friends and travel buddies and Peace Corps family, and already
had a reunion with over 20 of them.
I went on a Monsoon Diaries trip (The
Transsiberian began on Dec. 31st of 2016) and met tons of new travel friends. In April, I began my service as
a Peace Corps volunteer in Vanuatu.
And I had immeasurable laughs, excitement,
frustration and joy through it all. Here are some of my pictures to summarize the year, places I've visited and people I've met. Click on a photo to enlarge.
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| The Trans-Siberian |
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| Ihita, Calvin, June, Taylan, David and LaiYuen on the train |
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| Moscow lights |
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| Moscow metro |
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| Moscow metro |
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| Taking pics of all the food at White Rabbit restaurant in Moscow |
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| GUM shopping center in Moscow |
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| Trying some traditional Russian winter games |
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| Lake Baikal |
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| Lake Baikal |
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| Fish-eating time |
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| An ice chapel in Irkutsk |
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| Lukas and I model our homemade water bottle cups |
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| Ger time in Mongolia |
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| Streaking in negative temps in Mongolia |
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| Genghis Khan is huuuuuge in Mongolia |
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| The Forbidden City in Beijing |
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| The Terracotta warriors in Xi'an |
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| Drum Tower in Xi'an |
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| Shops in Xi'an |
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| Jokhang Temple in Lhasa |
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| The new love of my life, yak meat |
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| Potala Palace, Lhasa |
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| Monks in the Potala Palace |
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Reuniting with Chris at the Iron Fairy in Hong Kong
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| Capilano suspension bridge, Vancouver |
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| Grouse Mountain 24 hour skiing, Vancouver |
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| The snowboarding trick I'm best at |
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| Me, Matt, Robin and Tom at Grouse Mountain, Vancouver |
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| Me and Tom at Granville Island |
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| High tea in London |
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| The obligatory Big Ben photo, London |
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| Taylan and I reunite in London (Photo courtesy of Taylan |
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| The streets of London |
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| The view of the beach in Alicante, Spain |
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| This couple is being hunted down by a statue in Alicante |
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| Enjoying a cafe in a cafe in Alicante |
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| Nicolette meets my Alicante host family, and I meet baby Bruno for the first time ever! |
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| Una fallera |
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| Las Fallas, Valencia |
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| Dani and Lucas made a firecracker display with my name in it, then burned it. |
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| Nicolette and I in front of the coolest gravity-defying falla |
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| Detail on the aforementioned falla |
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| Las Fallas, Valencia |
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| Burning the city down in Valencia |
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| Mihaela and I reunite in NYC |
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| Remi and I get up to trouble in NYC |
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| Yvonne and I attend a university dance performance in Philly |
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| The Liberty Bell! |
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| Carolyn, Greg and I reunite at Bar Hygge |
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| June and I reunite in DC and take a couples picture at the Jefferson monument with the cherry blossoms in full bloom |
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| June, Shanika, David and Ihita invite me to dinner at a Russian restaurant, only appropriate seeing as that we first met in Russia. |
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| Resort life in Fiji |
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| The water in Fiji. Really. |
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| Arrival in Vanuatu! |
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| My Epau host family makes laplap |
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| Colleen and I kayak in Vila |
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| Sydney holds a live chicken for the first time in Vanuatu |
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| Santiago looks out at Efate from the top of Pele |
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| Island girls |
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| My host family in Pele |
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| We worked on a library in Pele and found some fabulous books (Photo courtesy of Charlie) |
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| The education volunteers are sworn in! |
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| Mercy and her bridesmaids |
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| A little Tanna boy |
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| Introducing the local kids to hot cocoa |
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| I met the Pacific Games mascot, Nasi the parrot. Be jealous. |
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| Toara sports the Vanuatu flag. |
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| Riri showing his navel cutting a navel. |
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| Selena weaves. |
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| Kindy girls bring flowers to school. |
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| Frances wins the gold for the female half-marathon at the Pacific Games |
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| The gang at Port Orly on Santo |
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| Frances prepares to walk the plank at Riri Blue Hole |
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| Sydney is a goddess, obviously |
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| Eating laplap sorsor on Malekula with Colleen's host family |
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| The sun sets over Nguna |
