Chapter Three Recap: Africa & The Middle East
The last time I wrote a recap post we were 204 days into the Radical Sabbatical ™. As we boarded a plane from Morocco to Argentina on Christmas Eve, we were 326 days in, having wrapped three of four chapters. As we look forward to Chapter Four (the Americas), I want to reflect on the third leg of our journey.
Over the past 326 days, we’ve traveled 62,684 miles, visited 21 countries, dealt in 27 different languages, slept in 98 beds, and taken 30 planes, 36 boats, 22 trains, and 34 buses. During Chapter Three (Africa & the Middle East), I’ve come to understand the secret to great mint tea is heaps of sugar, I’ve seen the limits of how high people can stack mattresses while transporting them, and I have a rugby team I support (go Boks).
In this chapter we visited Madagascar (12 days), South Africa (41 days), Zambia (7 days), Zanzibar (14 days), Ethiopia (4 days), Oman (15 days), the UAE (5 days), and Morocco (24 days).
In keeping with the theme of these recap posts, I give you the rose, bud, and thorn of Chapter Three.
OK so truth be told I have a bouquet of roses for this leg. The obvious rose was having Anna Beanstalk Brown visit us for a whole month while we were in South Africa. Two little beans, bouncing around South Africa driving Quintin to the brink of madness. What could be better?!
Rose number two was officially visiting all the continents I’ll visit in this lifetime (I won’t be visiting Antarctica). Once we touched down in Antananarivo, I could check that off my bucket list. Bazinga!
And then finally, the third rose was going on safari in Zambia. This was definitely a Top 3 Experience of the Radical Sabbatical ™. I didn’t know participating in a safari was on my bucket list until I was doing it. It’s not something I ever dreamed of, nor something I thought I would love. But I suppose that’s been the beauty of this trip; millions of experiences forcing me to expand, define and redefine my interests.
My bud is being reinvigorated to explore more of the Middle East. I first visited the Middle East (Jordan, Palestine) in 2016 with Anna and we had a fabulous time. I left feeling like the two countries we visited were special. Now, having spent more time in the area, I feel like the whole region has a special je ne sais quoi and in the coming years, I hope to get to get to know more countries in the region.
Having now visited Jordan, Palestine, Oman, the UAE and Morocco, there are some themes that make me want to continue traveling in this region. First, is the genuine kindness of people living in the aforementioned countries. I always feel like I am being looked after, and when I ask anybody for help, I never feel like a bother. Rather, I feel that people are proud to help and show hospitality. Second, I always feel comfortable, at ease, and safe. Nobody messes with you and it’s so nice to not have drunk people on the streets. Third, there’s an amazing preservation and pride in local customs which manifests in everyday situations. You don’t have to wait for a festival or holiday as this pride is always on display. Fourth, bomb ass food. And finally, it’s just slap pretty with beautiful architecture, intricate handicrafts, with both stunning and super diverse natural landscapes.
My thorn was discovering we couldn’t afford to do many of the things we wanted to do in Africa with our budget. I’m a bit mad at myself for this one because with more time and more mental capacity to properly research, I think we could have found a way. BUT we didn’t have the time or the mental capacity by the time we sat down to do the planning, so my thorn it remains.
After 10.5 months on the road many of you have asked “what has surprised you the most?!” After some reflection, here are my thoughts:
First, I’ve been surprised by how easy things are. The internet and the proliferation of smartphones makes traveling EASY. 80% of our bookings (accommodation, buses, trains, drivers, tours, everything) we can manage in advance, online. This means means we don’t have to fuss with getting lost trying to find the bus station, we don’t have to deal with confusing lines, language barriers or having exact cash all that often. Even in rural ass rural areas, we can book almost everything online. Thanks to WhatsApp it’s so simple to correspond with homestay hosts, hotel owners, taxi drivers, bus companies, tour guides, etc. Literally everybody is on WhatsApp so we can correspond with them directly, in real time as we’re on the way, lost, confused, or need a quick answer. Also, being able to send Google coordinates - huge come up. Because of Google Translate, we can instantly translate menus and when we need to speak with somebody, we just type in what we’re trying to say and the app will do the work. Technology, a blessing.
A unexpected technological upside has been social media. Social media has made it so much easier to connect with people in person. Internet jokes, memes and trends are global because everybody across literally the whole planet is watching the same TikToks. Reading the same tweets. We’re all laughing at the same jokes. Because of this, it’s easier than ever to find common ground with somebody you don’t know, or whose culture you don’t know much about. So often we’ve been in situations where somebody will say “omg did you see this on TikTok” and then whip out their phone and show you a video. You watch it together, have a laugh and then say “omg, I hadn’t seen that but it reminds me of this, let me show you!” The result is you instantly feel like you have something in common, and it makes it easier to converse and share moving forward.
When I first started traveling this type of globalization definitely didn’t exist and while you could, of course, find things to connect with people over, it was harder.
Second, I’ve been surprised by the demographics of the people we’ve encountered while traveling. The overwhelming majority of people we meet are women. Of the solo travelers, I would say 70% are women and they span in age from 18 to in their 70’s. We frequently come across older women traveling alone. Nearly every group we encounter is women; we hardly ever run into groups of men. So much so that we met a group of men traveling together in Bolivia and I was so surprised I asked them if there was a special occasion. I’ve also been surprised by the fact that the majority of backpackers are our age. Most of the folks in this demographic are between jobs, on extended leave from a job they will return to, or got completely burnt out, rage quit and fled (thinking specifically of a Frenchman who was straight out of Emily In Paris. He fled his “director of marketing” job in the fashion industry and was joyfully splashing around in his underwear in a hot springs in Bolivia, renting out his home in Paris to tourists come relive the TV show. This man was a joy and a pleasure).
Finally, I was surprised to discover that I absolutely prefer traveling in areas where it’s common for backpackers to travel. When we started this trip I was like “uhmmmmmm, yeah, I’m NOT a backpacker. I don’t have a backpack, I’m not staying in a youth hostel, and I have a budget.” sticks nose high up in air. Well, as it turns out, we are backpackers and I SUPER prefer being in areas where there are other backpackers. Let me tell you why.
The image I had in my head of backpackers consisted of 18 - 24 year olds, who were inebriated, super cringe, and trying to get every little thing for free. This is incorrect. As I mentioned above, most of the backpackers we run into are our age, taking advantage of a few months between jobs. And honestly, the kids that fall into the stereotype of what I thought backpackers would be are pretty cute in the daylight. Like actually extremely cute. I also take my hat off to them because most of them are girls, traveling alone, trying to figure it out having never cooked for themselves before because, again, they’re 18.
Anyways, when you’re traveling in a place that isn’t frequented by backpackers it’s a bit lonely as people on family vacation aren’t super interested in bonding on a tour, or going to lunch together afterwards (fair). In areas where there are more long term travelers, this bonding & hanging out happens more frequently and it’s really nice.
Before we officially wrap Chapter Three of the Radical Sabbatical ™ I wanted to share a few fun statistics from the road!
Otherwise, as mentioned in the Chapter One and Chapter Two recaps, we’ve been reading and listening to some content that you might find interesting! Below for playlists, podcasts and books!
PLAYLISTS: In each country we visit, I download the Spotify Top 50 for that country and listen to it when we’re packing or in transit! I love comparing them across countries, and comparing them to the US Top 50 and Global Top 50! Miley Cyrus remains the top overall global superstar of the world.
South Africa, Top 50 (maybe Quintins favorite of all time?)
Zambia, Tanzania and Ethiopia didn’t have official Spotify playlists for their countries, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t able to indulge. The user created playlists from Tanzania are, I think, my favorite of the trip. Fantastic vibes all around. The fandoms of Diamond Platnumz v Harmonize always have something to say and I’m enjoying forming my own opinion on who the top dog should be.
I’ve continued to add to my playlist based on what we’re hearing out and about.
PODCASTS: On this leg of the trip I got really into Noiser's “Real Dictators” podcast. It’s the only show I listened to on this leg and I listened to SO many episodes. Here are the episodes I enjoyed:
BOOKS:
South Africa:
Zanzibar:
Oman:
Morocco:
Looking FORWARD, we’re headed to the America’s (South America, Central America and even North America) for the fourth and FINAL chapter of the Radical Sabbatical ™. I’m actually so late in posting this, we’ve already made it through South and Central America. It was action packed, which is why I am so dreadfully behind. Here are the stories you have to look forward to:
Argentina
Chile
Bolivia
Guatemala
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