the adventures of julia and chris

Vilankulo and some great diving

After several days of yet more loooooong African bus rides, Chris and I landed in Vilankulo. Click here to read about diving in paradise and our visit to the ghost-town island.

Northern Mozambique and more border crossing adventures

Northern Mozambique was a major change from Malawi and Zambia. Click here to read Julia’s blog entry about the African version of “luxury” buses and another border crossing adventure.

Photos from Northern Mozambique

Zomba

After two months without any real exercise, we decided to hike up a giant plateau in Southern Malawi. Click here to read about it.

Zomba photos

Here are some photos from our time in Zomba, Southern Malawi.

Cape Maclear

We liked Malawi so much, we went back for a second helping. Clear here to read about Chris’ experience with “happy-pants” sandwiches, botched fishing adventures and riding in the back of African pick-up trucks.

Cape Maclear Photos

Here are some photos from our time in Cape Maclear, Southern Malawi.

Zambian safari

We had an amazing safari in Zambia’s South Luangwa National park. Click here to read Julia’s blog entry about our safari…

Zambia safari photos!

African cultural lessons

Traveling in Africa has been an interesting learning experience. Click here to read Julia’s blog entry about some of our African “learning experiences”. 

Backpacking with Julia

While Julia and I have been together for over a couple years and taken some brief vacations, this trip is by far the longest.  Spending this much one on one time together has taught us a lot about each other, and also pointed out some funny differences.  Julia seems to have perfected the art of traveling during her yearlong backpacking trip through Central America and Asia.  While I have also done quite a bit of traveling, this is one of my first times where I have had to carry everything I need to survive on my back for several months at a time.  At the beginning of the trip I found myself turning my backpack inside out every time I needed to find something.  On the other hand, Julia has her backpack clearly organized with a special compartment for each item.  Whenever I ask her for sunscreen or even a piece of paper and a pen, she knows exactly where to look and can pull it out in less than 10 seconds, while the same task would have taken me at least 10 minutes.

Most people that know Julia have seen her amazing planning skills in action, and she is no different while traveling.  For example, it typically takes me a minute or two to find the page I need in our travel guidebook (The Lonely Planet), but somehow it only takes Julia one or two seconds.  She seems to have the book memorized and I guess her color coded tags help.

I have also recently noticed how much more social Julia is than me, and I think her parents must have forgotten to warn her about the dangers of “talking to strangers” as a child.  On some stretches of this trip we have gone for days without seeing other backpackers, so when we do, Julia wastes no time in striking up a conversation even if it is 4am at the bus station.  On the other hand, talking to other backpackers has turned out to be one of the best sources of information while traveling and we have been given some great tips on places to stay to sites to visit from travelers coming in the opposite direction.

While I am quickly climbing the backpacking learning curve, it’s comforting for now to be traveling with an expert.

-Chris

Photos from Nkhata Bay (Northern Malawi)

Nkhata Bay

We had a fantastic time on the Northern coast of Lake Malawi. Click here to read about the place we loved to much, we got “stuck” there for 10 days…

(Almost) Crisis at the Malawian border

Crossing into Malawi turned out to be a little more stressful than we imagined. Click here to read about our slightly scary day of overland border crossing in Africa…

Tales of a Serengeti Safari

We had an amazing safari in the Serengeti (Northern Tanzania). Click here to read Julia’s blog entry about our first safari experience…