OUR YEAR OF TRAVEL IN REVIEW 2014
As 2014 comes to an end we naturally begin to look back on our memories and accomplishments over the last year. This was our first year out of university and we spent it going on a few overseas trips and getting full time jobs so we could frantically save money to begin our year of full time travel in 2015.
There were a few life milestones that pushed us to get out and travel this year including a University celebration tour, my Dads 60th birthday road trip, a Bali birthday getaway for Jess's 24th and a goodbye family cruise that we are currently undertaking right now over Christmas and the New Year.
University Celebration Tour
Both Jess and myself had just finished our degree in late 2013 and decided that we would celebrate with a holiday to Singapore, The Maldives and Dubai in February.
Singapore
I had been to Singapore just a year earlier during a University study and when I got home I urged Jess to come back and experience this city with me a second time. I am not a fan of revisiting a country so soon but I was so amazed with the architecture and culture that I did not mind breaking my rule.
We spent 3 days in Singapore and even managed to put enough money away to stay at the luxurious Marina Bay Sands. Some of our highlights were the Night Safari, Singapore Zoo, Gardens by the Bay and Sentosa Island. It was a jam packed 3 days but we managed to squeeze a lot in to start our year of travel off with a bang.
SINGAPORE PHOTO DIARY PHOTOS
The Marina Bay Sands Singapore
The Maldives
Directly after Singapore we headed to a very small tropical island in The Maldives. Our experience in paradise was breathtaking, relaxing and gave us some well deserved down time.
Did we mention that we may of gone a little bit overboard on the luxury accommodation? Well we certainly blew our budget by staying in an over water bungalow for one of those once in a life time opportunities. Our highlights included snorkelling with a wild turtle and scuba diving around the island.
PHOTO DIARY: MALDIVES PHOTOS
PHOTO DIARY: MALDIVES PHOTOS
Dubai
A big milestone for Jess in Dubai is that she was able to conquer her fear of heights by jumping out of a freaking plane! Dubai is a beautiful and interesting city which easily made it our number one spot in our top cities of 2014 list.
Besides sky diving, our other highlights included riding a camel and dune bugging at the Desert Safari as well as sliding down plenty of water slides at the Atlantis Aquaventure Park on the Palm islands.
A picture of people skydiving in dubai
A picture of a camel in dubai
Jess's 24th Birthday
There seems to be a trend where every year we try to go away for Jess's birthday due to the convenient placing of it in the middle of the year...come mine in October and we are usually too busy with organising Christmas and summer getaways. This year was no different and we decided to go see the cultural side of Bali in Ubud.
Ubud, Bali
We managed to complete one of our most physically rewarding challenges so far by climbing an active volcano in which there was plenty of sweat, tears and only a little bit of blood. Other highlights on our trip included cycling through local villages, visiting monkey forrest and seeing many many holy temples. Whilst we were in Ubud we also had the opportunity to drink the worlds most expensive coffee.
a picture of an old man in ubud
top of mount batur
Dad's 60th Birthday
We decided to celebrate my dads birthday with a bit of a family trip in September. It was a great shock for him to see his best friend of over 40 years fly over from South Africa to surprise him at home!
Kalbarri Roadtrip
Our roadtrip to Kalbarri in Western Australia took us to the beautiful Nature's Window, Natures Bridge and we even spotted a pink lake along our drive which was a very interesting sight to see in person.
PHOTO DIARY: KALBARRI, AUSTRALIA
KALBARRI ROADTRIP PHOTOS
Goodbye Family Cruise
This is it - our last holiday for 2014 and we are currently undertaking this adventure as this post is publishing. Before we move away to see the world during our long term travels next year we thought we might take a goodbye family cruise with my immediate family, Jess and my sisters-boyfriends family - so one big ol' Christmas family bash to end the year.
Sydney, Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia
We are travelling to these destinations right at this moment so make sure you check back to read our experiences. In the meantime you can read about our previous visit to Sydney in which we climbed the Harbour Bridge.
What did your year in travel look like?
READ NEXT: OUR FAVOURITES FOR 2014
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