![It Could Only Happen To Me - Seasickness during a surf lesson in Peru](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/surf2-470x140.jpg)
One of the things I’ve always thought was quite unfair, considering how much I love travelling, is that I get incredibly bad motion sickness on…
![It Could Only Happen To Me - The Never Ending Journey in China](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/dscf2590-470x140.jpg)
You know those never-ending journeys when you were kids? The ones that went on and on and were only punctuated by the eternal question: “Are…
![It Could Only Happen To Me - Teething troubles in New Zealand](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/teeth-470x140.jpg)
There’s nothing worse than being ill on the road. No matter how old you are when sickness strikes the first thing you want to do…
![Gatecrashing a Geisha tea ceremony](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/themes/oxygen/images/archive-thumbnail-placeholder.gif)
My attendance at a geisha tea ceremony wasn’t something I really planned. During my visit to Japan I serendipitously happened to be in Kyoto during…
![It could only happen to me - standing on a pig in Laos](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/dscf0728-470x140.jpg)
It had already been a stressful day. We were in the south of Laos, sitting in the boiling heat at the side of the road…
![It Could Only Happen To Me - A transport downgrade in Burma](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/dscf1550-320x140.jpg)
When you’re travelling long-term it’s inevitable that you’re going to have a few bumps and scrapes, along the way. Plans don’t always run smoothly, things…
![It Could Only Happen To Me - Becoming a local celebrity in China](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/china-403x140.jpg)
As a journalist I’m used to being the one asking the questions and staying out of the limelight. So it came as a bit of…
![It Could Only Happen To Me - Being abandoned during an earthquake in my first week in Peru](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/earthquake-470x140.jpg)
When the table first started to shake at my hostel in Huacachina it took a second for me to process what was going on. At…
![It Could Only Happen To Me - Inviting myself to stay at a stranger's house in Burma](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/kids-320x140.jpg)
I don’t know what is the most “it could only happen to me” moment of my visit to the village of Pan Kam in Burma….
![It Could Only Happen To Me - Getting thrown off a horse on my first riding trip in Bolivia](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/wild-west-country-2-tupiza-300x225-300x140.jpg)
When I signed up for a horse riding trip in Tupiza I’d had a romantic vision of being carried leisurely through countryside which wouldn’t look…