2012 has been a pretty dam epic year for my backpacking travels and indeed the blog too! In the past 12months I’ve left rainy cold England behind and spent pretty much all year basking in the warmth of an endless summer on my RTW backpacking trip.
I’ve covered 4 continents and 10 countries, all of which were jam packed with amazing times and amazing people! And of course my camera has been in tow throughout – producing some tasty treats for the Photo of The Week feature and some to go alongside everything I’ve bantered about!
So here is a photo round up (littered with links to some of my highlights of the year!), one per month of travel – 2012, My Year In Pictures; (just click on the images to enlarge them!)
January – January saw the beginning of my trip where I headed off to Ecuador where I’d scored my dream job as a surf coach! I was right back into the backpacker bubble with an epic lifestyle of surfing all day and partying all night!
February – I’d settled right into south american life by Feb and life on the road was sweet as! My blog was going from strength to strength so I could be found swinging in a hammock with my laptop and an ice cold mojito!
March – I made the spontaneous decision in March to join a couple of my Montanita buddies and head to the Galapagos where we spent an awesome week chilling on a boat and soaking up the pristine wildlife that call the islands home.
April – Busting out of Ecuador I got properly on the road again and my first port of call was Peru. I ended up spending all month there and my highlight was undoubtedly hiking the Inca Trail. This shot is of the milky way – clear in the sky from our base camp on the first night.
May – After a quick pit stop in the UK for my buddies wedding me and a friend headed the way of Asia where we spent the majority of May in Laos. The waterfalls outside Luang Prabang were amazing and probably my fave spot there – the perfect way to relax and escape the balmy Asian heat.
June – My birthday month was spent backpacking through the Thai islands with my little bro and his mate. Koh Tao was an amazing stop where we indulged in island lifestyle, scuba dived with whale sharks and generally kicked back and partied hard in the evenings!
July – I finally got back to the surf in July after a couple months out of the waves and jumped in at the deep end in Indo, booking myself onto the Dream Weaver Surf Charter and exploring Bali, Lombok and Sumbawa in search of empty perfect waves…and find we did!
August – In August the girl flew over and met me in Thailand where we proceeded to have an epic couple of weeks flashpacking through the Phi Phi Islands courtesy of some of my sponsors! Needless to say she was stoked – considering she expected to be staying in 10 bed dorms and ended up in 5* luxury!
September – After a few months of literally partying and doing very little in the way of anything productive I decided to start my Dive Master course in September. In the end though I opted out after completing my Rescue Diver course, but I still had some epic times diving on Phi Phi and working with the Barakuda Scuba crew. The highlight was swimming with Leopard Sharks, amazing creatures!
October – After bailing out of Phi Phi I met up with a buddy from home and we decided to head to Cambodia, the 3 weeks I spent there were some of my best memories from backpacking in Asia and Cambodia is firmly at the top of my favourite Asian countries, everyone there is so friendly and it’s got an amazing mix of beaches, cities, history, parties and best of all its super cheap!
November – After nearly 6 months in Asia and a heap of changed travel plans I decided to really mix things up and headed to Switzerland to spend some time with the girl and explore colder climates! For a photographer it’s an amazing country and every view is postcard perfect, snow capped mountains, quaint villages and gorgeous landscapes! For a backpacker on a budget though it’s heaps expensive!
December – After another period of being out of the surf, and one that quite frankly lasted heaps too long, I headed to my final country of 2012 – Morocco. I’ve started working here at Surf Berbere as a surf coach and I’m thoroughly enjoying being back in the sun with pumping surf right on my doorstep! I’m headed back to Switzerland for xmas with the girl but I’ll be back to finish 2012 how I started it – in the ocean!
…not a bad year all in all!
Hi Chris,
Loved your post above. Awesome adventures. You beat me by 3 countries ;) I was quite inspired and just did my review in photos as well. I hope you don’t mind that I copied your style.
http://www.consciencewow.com/2012-review-in-photos/
If you ever want to come visit Egypt to learn kiting, hit me up. 500km south of Cairo so far away from all the conflict. We can perhaps do a surf/kite exchange.
From your fellow ocean-lover
Naomi
awwww but you did some epic countries! I’d love to hit up Japan! You’ve got some great shots up their too and I’d definitely be game to swop kiting for surf lessons! Not sure when I’ll be heading Egypt way though!
Um yeah you had a bad ass year. I love all the photos too, but my fav is the Cambodian one. Umm the baby is pinching his fathers nipple. I mean not only is it amazing already but then he’s doing that.
hahaha yeah can’t complain bro – but then again neither can you!
Pretty sure that Cambodian shot is my fave of all the year, and your observation is part of that – it makes me chuckle everytime!
Love it mate! Fully inspired for when I hit Loas and Cambodia in April :)
Love that inca trail shot too.
how long you spending in Asia bro – I’m heading back that way late April I think! I’d take Cambodia over Laos though, can’t say it impressed me heaps except Luang Prabang
Sounds like you had great year! i like February to August view, It reminds me some similar places I’ve seen last year.
Wow, crazy year. Hope 2013 is just as awesome for you.
thanks Seattle – I hope you have an epic one too!
You had a productive 2012! It’s my first time here in your blog and I’m gonna read more entries later. Visit the Philippines on your next Asian trip. There’s a number of good surfing spots here :D
hahaha yeah it got a bit more crazy than i anticipated! Funnily enough I’ve put surfing in the Philippines on my to do list for this year – you’ll have to show me around!
wow you had a much much better year than mine…in england! your photos are gorgeous by the way, enough to make anyone pack up and leave. Question… i see your macbook there, i have a macbook too and i thought it would be useful to take it but i worry about the expense of it and the possibility of it being stolen and all my memories going with it and I’m a weak little girl so i have no chance if someone tries nabbing it. Have you ever had any issues with regards to people trying to rob it? have you always had somewhere safe to store it? its an expensive laptop and i worry about sticky fingers!
Glad you like the shots Emily!
Macbook wise I just keep it hidden and try not to use it too openly. I’ve insured the hell out of it too!