Martine Nyhof

Alrighty! Welp. I guess this is a wrap...I'd like to begin my post by thanking you, the reader. Because if you're reading this, it shows you care and have taken an interest in my travels which I am thankful for and I honestly really appreciate. It gave me a sense of not being so far from family and friends. Personally, I loved doing this blog for myself. I find it so cool looking back at my "journal" and seeing everything I have done this trip and reflecting on opportunities I took. This trip truly has been a trip of a lifetime and one I will forever tell stories about. At this point, I think it has come to the perfect ending because it's Canadian Thanksgiving! So now I'm off to the cottage for the long weekend to spend time with family (who I haven't seen in at least two months!!) I'll be excited to get some warm hugs 🤗

To sum it up, I have been travelling for 63 days (August 5th-Oct. 6th 2022) and been in 15 different countries!! Crazy when I put it like that 😂 So amazing! Solo travelling has really taught me a lot, first thing being that you are actually never alone 😂 When I wanted to be alone, I actually had to work hard to be alone because otherwise, I was constantly surrounded by fellow travellers which I LOVED (throwback to Copenhagen when I had really hit my social capacity and was alone for about 5 min in the kitchen until these people just wouldn't let me be alone - for the best though because we had a great night) I've met some people that I know I will see again in the future and had a massive positive impact on my trip. I also have people I can visit all over the world for future travels! In addition, I am so appreciative of the people I knew going into this trip that I visited (Ben, Alex, the Mouser gang, the Bisons, and the Nyhofs!) Having a place to be surrounded by family every little while was really great and everyone was so accommodating and generous.

I also learned a lot about being adaptable because at this point, I'm on itinerary number 73916 😂 when you are travelling, the worst thing you can do is lock yourself into planning in advance because most times, it doesn't pan out or something better comes up - talking to the locals is the way to go. In addition, you are hit by all these other factors that force you to alter plans, like delayed trains, fully booked hostels, and also just joining into other people's plans instead! But I wouldn't have changed any of these bumps or hiccups because something good always came out of it (shout out to my Madrid homies! - we got stuck in Madrid because the Barcelona train was fully booked and now, we have new friendships and a group chat that is still active!)

I am also now full of inspiration for my home life that I'm sure, when reality hits, might go out the window 😂 I mean, vacation does that to you when you have all this time to do things. Some of the more realistic tasks include learning spanish, make a bread starter, plant mom, cook with more diverse ingredients including spices, tofu, and coconut milk, and continue a life long journey of self growth :)

Some of the other things I have learned include how to eat a whole chocolate bar solo, a diet that mainly consisted of bread, chocolate, and train mix, and lastly that I'm way to stubborn to pay to use a bathroom (human necessity I'm too cheap to pay for - I mean sometime this was not great when I really had to pee but whatever) 😂😂😂

Some big hits I'd love to tick off the list on my future travels include hut hiking in the dollomites in Italy, skiing in Austria, and cycling across countries in Europe (haven't quite figured out my route yet!)

Quote of the trip: "the plan is I have no plan"

Thank you thank you and I hope to see you all in person soon! ❤️Read more