![Happy New Year and all that jazz](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/fireworks-284x140.jpg)
As the clock struck midnight last New Year’s Eve I was on a rooftop in Buenos Aires, surrounded by new friends I’d met at the…
![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 - 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…
![It Could Only Happen To Me - Getting caught up in a rock fight 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/2012/11/traffic-queues-waiting-to-pass-the-blockade-2-470x140.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…
![#28 Write yourself a postcard from every country you visit on your trip (suggestion from Ruth)](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/dscf3769-470x140.jpg)
I love this suggestion from my friend Ruth. When you’re on the road for a long time you have the tendency to forget about the…
![Moving on from South America...](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_470,h_140/https://thegrown-upgapyear.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/cimg5269-470x140.jpg)
So the South American part of my adventure has come to an end. On one hand it feels like a lifetime ago that I was…
![#8 Trek in the amazing Torres del Paine](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/cimg5973-470x140.jpg)
“There are going to be times when the wind blows so hard you are going to have to lie down so you don´t get blown…
![#7 Climb a volcano](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/cimg5818-470x140.jpg)
It`s easy enough to write down ´climb a volcano´on a list when you`re sat on your cosy warm sofa. But it was as I was putting…
![D is for Dolavon - en route to Gaiman (Continuing with the alphabet challenge)](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/imgp4765-470x140.jpg)
Hmm…how did we end up here? We were on our way to a Welsh teahouse and I was excited. (Why wouldn´t I be? I´m half…
![Time for tea](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)
As a self-confessed tea addict I am absolutely fascinated by the tea situation in Argentina. Now I’m all for travelling with tea – teabags being one…