The Gap Year Junkee

Because 1 Gap Year Is Not Enough. gapyearjunkee.com I followback with @frmelsewhere Happy Travels. x

[gapyearjunkee]

[gapyearjunkee]

------Original Message------

They are like scenes from a B Grade movie: under cloudy skies the jet skids in, bunny-hopping and serpentining its way to the end of the runway....

Read More The Chicken Bus Diaries: http://bit.ly/GYJ_CBD_Mex

[gapyearjunkee]

10 years?! No way...

Latin America was my first Gap Year. A whole 10 years ago. Armed with Beginners Spanish, a bucket list of adventure and a newly acquired law degree (bc that’s useful) I set out to backpack from Mexico to Patagonia. Solita!

I bused it, trained it, biked it and hoofed it - yeah I rode a freakin’ donkey through the Andes. I crossed deserts, ice caps and mountains. There were avalanches, gunfire, volcanic eruptions and over zealous Chavistas. I studied some, worked some (the legal thing came in handy after all) and had a lot of fun. I met people who are still my pals today. 

Sometimes we need to take a pause and look back at the achievements of the past that made us. So when I stumbled across the monthly group emails I sent home on that gap year I thought I might repost them as a nostalgic anniversary salute to the gap year that started it all and because...far out they’re hilarious. 

Hope you enjoy the email trail all along the Pan-American.

The Chicken Bus Diaries:  http://bit.ly/GYJ_CBD

[gapyearjunkee]

Sometimes the roads most travelled give us great memories too. those buses... 🚌 looking back this week at my very first gap year: Latin America 👣 bit.ly/GYJ_CBD

[gapyearjunkee]

Lazy Sunday. Newie Beach, Newcastle Australia

[gapyearjunkee]

The grand entrance to the Ocean Baths Newcastle Australia

[gapyearjunkee]

"I am from the sea." No filter required. The gorgeous Pacific Ocean.

[gapyearjunkee]

[gapyearjunkee]

This is my 'country'. I know the texture of its sand, the colours of its water, the heated scent off the trees. I'm never really homesick because I'm never really 'away'. I carry it with me as much as my own skin.

[gapyearjunkee]

Sense of Home

In Australian indigenous culture identity is tied to 'country'. But your 'country' is not as abstract and changeable as your nationality or the quarter acre block you have a mortgage on. It is the earth, the sky, the trees where you were born, where you are from, where your ancestors and people are from. To know it is to know yourself because are a part of it. You come from it. You belong to it. Its landscape and stories are in your DNA. You can change places, learn and live but you will always be of there.

[gapyearjunkee]

[gapyearjunkee]

When we need a wall to protect a wall that's protesting the need for any wall at all.

[gapyearjunkee]

A gorgeous morning in beautiful Berlin

[gapyearjunkee]

What you get by reaching your destination isn't nearly as important as what you BECOME by reaching your destination.

Zig Ziglar

[gapyearjunkee]

Getting ready for the big sled dog race in Aviemore Scotlands Highlands. Check out my latest blog post for all the pics from the Sled Dog Rally http://bit.ly/SCO_sleddogs 

[gapyearjunkee]

It was so cool to see these dogs in action. Some cruise along with their tongues out and others take it mad serious. Check out my blog post for some pics and facts about the sled dogs. http://bit.ly/SCO_sleddogs

[gapyearjunkee]

I love these dogs. They are gentle, kind and always warm and cuddly.  And on this day, he has his game face on...it’s race day in northern Scotland at the Sled Dog Rally. See the pix on my blog http://bit.ly/SCO_sleddogs