Hey, it’s me.

I know, it’s been a while since I wrote here!

It’s not that I’ve disappeared, it’s just the things I’ve been working on this year weren’t really conducive to blogging. Since travel has been off, I’ve been working on other areas of my life that have been neglected for the past, well, 10 years. And it’s also been an opportune time to take a long blogging vacation.

But now we’ve welcomed in 2021, I’d like to continue with tradition and take a look back on the year.

For me personally it was actually a decent year, considering everything that happened. Of course I spent a good amount in hard lockdown (locked in the house) and soft lockdown (locked in the country) but since New Zealand handled the situation reasonably well, life went back to normal within a few months.

With most of the world’s borders closed, I finally was forced to stay put and work on building the online empire I’ve had planned for years, something I’ve never had the chance to work full time on. The year also brought a few highlights – I got to see three friends get married, and trained and completed two big races, adding a couple more medals to the collection.

Here’s a look back on everything 2020 brought:

Japan

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Pre-corona the year started reasonably normally. January already had me on the road, where I headed to Yokohama for a week to attend my friend’s wedding.

I know Japan reasonably well, but this trip was kind of different as I was in the middle of Ironman training at the time. That meant instead of just noodles and shopping my trip was all about squeezing in runs in the mornings and nights.

One thing that was cool about Yokohama is it’s actually a very fit city, and even in the freezing cold mornings there were people out jogging and cycling all around the city.

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Also my skin is still making its way through the healing process for TSW, and the winter is particularly bad for my skin so that made the trip a little more challenging. Everything worked out fine in the end. Japan’s not my favourite country, but it’s always a pleasure to visit.

It was while in Japan that we first started to hear about corona as well, as it had just started moving out of China into the rest of Asia while I was there. However, it just seemed like another SARS 2.0 and none of us were really too worried about it. It was actually the passing of Kobe Bryant that affected me a lot at the time. I wrote about those few days in my blog post Running Yokohama: The Day Kobe Died.

Ironman New Zealand

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Once I returned to New Zealand my whole life became about Ironman. Wake up, train, eat, sleep. Literally!

One thing that caught me a bit off guard about this race was the amount of studying I had to do as well. After training 4-6 hours a day, I spent most of my evenings on Youtube going through swimming or biking tutorials, or reading running books. There was so much to learn, it overwhelmed me at times, but that’s also what I loved about it too.

At the time I signed up for the race, it was only 3 months out. I wasn’t even sure if it was possible to do an Ironman on 3 months training. But when race week finally arrived in March, I was so prepared, I had never worked harder for anything in my life. Literally my entire life had just become Ironman from morning until night. I look back on it now, and I also remember it as three of the best months of my life.

Strange, since I’m not really a big fan of running, or biking, or swimming, but somehow, I loved every second.

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Luckily, race day turned out to be a perfect day. Low winds, sunshine all day, not one drop of rain. I swam faster than I expected, biked a little slower, ran the marathon right on time.

It was an emotional race. After the 2019 I had, the last place I expected to be one year later was in the NZ Ironman. Even now, nearly a year later, I still think about that day every day.

You can read a full race recap in my blog post The Day I Became An Ironman.

Quarantine Challenges

Just a couple of weeks after Ironman finished, New Zealand went into lockdown.

To be honest I wasn’t too sad about it, I was just super relieved we’d raced Ironman in time. Had the race been cancelled after all that work, it would’ve really crushed me. Surely my streak of bad luck can’t be that bad.

Then of course the seriousness of the situation became apparent and New Zealand quickly went into Level 4, which meant we could barely leave the house.

To stay productive, I started my Quarantine Challenge series, which included doing 1,000 pull ups in a week, racing a virtual half Ironman, doing a 5 day fast, reading 7 books in 7 days, and writing a novel in 4 weeks.

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Quite a few readers got in touch and told me they’d started taking on the challenges too, especially the reading and writing ones, and quite a few people were taking up running too.

Always love to hear you guys are getting after it too!

Auckland Marathon

When I received the email invite for Auckland Marathon this year, my first thought was no way.

You might remember, when I ran this race last year it was my first marathon, and was a special moment for me for reasons that had nothing to do with running.

Also after already doing Ironman in March, I had no interest in going back into training for another big race.

Then it kind of ate away in the back of my head for a few weeks, and I thought maybe I should do it after all. It wasn’t like I had any big trips to take, and I figured going into training might be good for my skin, as my exercise was getting lighter and lighter as I was working a lot.

I finally signed up 13 weeks out and it was straight back into training camp. I was a much better athlete than I was the first time around, so my training was lighter and smarter, though a lot less disciplined too.

The goal was to run sub 4 hours (4:37 was my 2019 time). I got to race day maybe 20% undertrained, but confident I could do it if I ran smart in the first half and had a good beast-mode in the last 10km.

Unfortunately it wasn’t my day, a few rookie mistakes (which is fine, I’m still a rookie!) and the race got away from me in the last 6 or 7 kilometres. I crossed in 4:08. Overall, great race, learned lots, I’m sure I’ll get em next time!

You can read a short race recap on Instagram here.

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Another fast!

I finished the year with another long fast, which is becoming tradition for me in recent years. It always feels like the right way to end the year so I can start the year with a fresh mind and fresh body.

Each fast is always different, you might remember I started with juice fasts several years ago, but this year I did 10 days of water fasting, and then 5 days of fasting on raw milk.

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The raw milk fast is something I heard about a couple of years ago and always wanted to try, though never really had the chance.

I knew it would have to be in New Zealand, as we have a pretty well regulated raw milk industry and the chances of, well, “complications” would be a lot slimmer than elsewhere (I’ve had raw milk in a few villages around the world, it’s delicious, but not the most hygienic food usually).

I got myself 15 litres of raw milk from Bakewell Creamery – a little farm an hour out of Auckland. The first two days was a little tough on the stomach, but after that I actually felt amazing. All the clarity and lightness from a regular fast, but without the hunger. I could’ve gone 30 days easily. Did wonders for my skin too.

Blogging

While I still love this blog with my heart and soul, I just didn’t feel compelled to write much on it as the year went on. This blog survived mostly on travel related content (and income) and since travel is currently dead, there wasn’t much for me to tell.

One thing I did was a full redesign on my own, which I’ve never done before. I’ve always hired a dev to do my designs for me, but website tech has come a long way since I started this site. Now for about $100 I can get all the tools I need to custom design the site on my own!

I wrote about the new design and how I did it in my post Redesigning Bren On The Road.

Also, this year brought one of my most popular posts in recent years, which was the update on Couchsurfing. As I’m sure you all know (since I’ve promoted it to death) I have been a tireless ambassador of Couchsurfing throughout my travels, and some of my closest friends have come from that community.

However, Couchsurfing is now owned by private equity, and mid way through the year they made some big changes to the site (including charging people to surf and host).

To be honest, most of us had seen this coming several years back, but this was the year Couchsurfing and I finally broke up. I wrote about the changes, and some history for context, in my post Is This Finally The Death Of Couchsurfing? (And What’s Next?)

I also did write one travel story to add to my collection early in the year, which was Love Cape Town. I think it’s one of my favourites so far. Not only was it a special time in my life, it was my final trip before my life got turned upside down.

Niche sites

I’ve been working part time on niche sites alongside my blogging for the last several years, but never really had the opportunity to give any real attention to it. It was also something I wished I had more time to do, because I had so many ideas but backpacker life always got in the way.

Let’s be honest, it doesn’t really matter how good your ideas are – if you’re in Thailand and it’s a Thursday night what are you going to do – stay home and brainstorm keywords, or go to the market and eat endless bowls of delicious noodles?!?

Well, corona finally took away that second choice, so I was able to finally spend all day and all night building sites from the ground up. I purchased two existing sites, and started building two new sites, and also revived one site that had been stagnant for a while. I also hired three writing assistants and a Pinterest assistant (my friend Kirsten from Sand in my Curls) and it was all engines go from there.

These now make me a pretty good income and keep me busy – another bonus is I no longer need to rely on Bren On The Road for income, it can go back to just being where I blog for fun. Exactly how I’ve always wanted it!

I’ve written about my process for building profitable sites in my guide How To Build A Micro Niche site. I’m not longer building micro niche sites and now focus on large niche and authority sites, but the process is mostly the same.

Writing

I did a lot of writing offline in 2020 – the novel from the quarantine challenge, plus other book drafts.

I’m not going to share much more or make any announcements, because that just seems to jinx things every time I do it. I’ll just say I’ve now finished drafts of three books! (and published zero…)

Anyway, I’m working on it…

Reading

I read some great books in 2020.

There were a few classics that I really loved, including The World Of Suzy Wong and The Perks Of Being A Wallflower. Another that surprised me was The Forty Rules of Love, written by a Turkish author which is apparently super famous though I’d never heard of it.

For money books, I read The Millionaire Next Door, which I think should be mandatory reading for everyone by age 18! I also read Money by Tony Robbins, which should be mandatory reading for everyone by the time they get their first job.

Lifespan was an amazing introduction into the world of anti-aging by Harvard geneticist David Sinclair. Not only did it illustrate real experiments and findings, it had a lot of practical recommendations too.

Memoir is my favourite form of writing, and Matthew McConaughey’s new memoir Greenlights was the most entertaining I’ve read in a long time. His travel stories alone were worth the price.

But my favourite book of the year was Friday Night Lights. It’s been on my reading list for years, I loved the movie and the TV show immensely. The book turned out to better than both.

I keep a full list of everything I read on my Books I’m Reading page.

What’s the plan for 2021?

There is no plan right now. I’d actually be quite comfortable travelling today, but the reason I won’t be is NZ’s borders remain closed with very limited quarantine spots. That means I’d have a lot of trouble returning home if I ever needed to. So for now I’ll be staying here and getting work done.

Of course I miss the road, but I also think this break from travel has been really good, for us travellers and for the world too. Once we all get through this, I’m sure I’ll be one of the first back out there.

I’ll also do my best to blog more in 2021. Promise!

Happy new year and let’s all crush it this year.

B

I can’t believe it’s over.

Certainly the most significant year of my life, the most painful, the most joyful, the most emotional, the most humbling.

I always write annual review posts each year, but this one will be slightly different as the year was chaotic and didn’t really fall into the same structure as previous years. In fact I’m not even really sure how to write this post. Let me just start from the beginning and I guess we’ll both find out how it turns out in a minute.

Penang

2019 was the first year I travelled in January. Normally I start the year slow with a summer in New Zealand, training with my old squad down at Auckland MMA. However this year I was on the road as soon as possible, on a whim I chose Penang as my base for those early months.

Penang became a new home in many ways. I bought a membership at Scoopoint, a co-working spot in the centre of Georgetown, and quickly settled into a routine which consisted of morning yoga/gym/stretching, fruits for breakfast, work from lunchtime until 9-10pm, then catch the bus home and crash.

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I met some fun people at that co-working joint and we would take long afternoon teas and hang out on weekends etc. It was almost like I was working a 9-5 again, but it was more like a 12-9, and I didn’t have to wear a suit, could walk around the office barefoot, play ping pong and Playstation when I got bored and didn’t have to pretend to like my workmates.

When you can do all that, working in an office is actually pretty fun.

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While Bali and Chiang Mai and Saigon get all the love from nomads, I think Penang is just as good and supremely underrated. It barely gets talked about. But it’s super affordable, safe, lots of great places to eat and chill and Georgetown is beautiful. I’m puzzled as to why more people don’t love it. I’ve even been considering buying an apartment there.

I returned home briefly in February to speak at a conference, which was my first time speaking at an event and I really enjoyed it. I actually attended the same conference as a 21 year old when I had just starting work as an accountant. I was exposed to so many great individuals and stories and it really made a difference to my ambitions in life at that young age. It was an honour to be invited back as a speaker and share some stories of my own.

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After that it was back to Penang for the remainder of February and March, and it was more of the same; getting lots of work done, hanging with my new friends and EATING LOTS OF FOOD.

Penang is famous for being a foodie city, and I documented (almost) everything I ate in my post, All The Things I Ate In Penang.

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Had I not needed to leave again for some family stuff in April, I probably would’ve stayed a lot longer.

Verdict on Penang: Highly recommended!

South Africa

After spending some time with family in Sydney, I jumped on a flight to Cape Town. I’d always heard so many great things about this city, and now I finally had the chance to go.

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My main reason for heading to South Africa was to attend the famous AfrikaBurn – a week-long event living in the Karoo Desert.

The Karoo is around an 8 hour drive from Cape Town, so I had 3ish weeks to prepare, buy supplies and do all my touristy things, then it was off into the wilderness.

I’d heard about AfrikaBurn a couple years earlier, and had always been curious to experience it. I was still in Penang when I first considered attending the 2019 event, and was talking about it on the phone with a friend while moping around in the Scoopoint lounge one night. Since it was only two months away and I felt like I’d be rushing everything I said “Maybe I’ll just go next year”, to which she said, “That’s brave.” And I asked, “What do you mean?” and she said, “Brave to assume you’ll even have a next year.” And that was the truest thing I could’ve heard, and I loved her for it. So I bought my AfrikaBurn ticket that night, and I didn’t have a flight to Cape Town yet, hadn’t even looked at the fares, didn’t know how I’d get to the desert, really didn’t know anything at all. But I knew I was going.

Cape Town turned out to be a special place, not because the city itself was so remarkable (though it has its charms), but because I met so many amazing people there. I spent almost a month there, not including my time in the desert, and I loved being around so many vibrant people. After many months of trying, I managed to put that experience into words in my story Love Cape Town.

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AfrikaBurn

It’s hard to write about this experience. I look through my old photos from Burn, and it feels like it was a dream sometimes, like it didn’t really happen. That event has so much love and passion poured into it that so much of your energy is spent simply being there and taking it all in. For a community that big to come together and create something so elaborate and powerful and different was a spectacle unlike anything I’ve been a part of.

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A few months later I sat down to write that story and it ended up becoming five parts, the length of a short novel, and I could’ve written five more. Even then I don’t think I aptly described what it feels like to be there, it probably fell flat for most readers, but the AfrikaBurn community really loved and appreciated it. It’s something that just needs to be experienced.

You can start reading Part 1 here.

Namibia

I finally left Cape Town in mid May, moving north to Namibia, on my way to my annual visit to Tanzania. I have some good friends in Namibia who I haven’t seen in a couple of years, so it was nice to reconnect and see them again. It had been the perfect start to the year, and I was looking forward to another adventure across Africa to finish the last half of 2019.

Unfortunately that was cut short, and life turned upside down overnight.

Emergency flight home

It started with some standard rashes on my arms and back. However they spread quickly, and flared up quickly, much more than I’ve been used to. I’ve dealt with eczema my whole life, but I could already tell there was something different about this.

The next day it was twice as bad, and had spread almost over my entire body, including my face. By the third day, I knew this wasn’t something that would “just go away” any time soon. I was in pain now, couldn’t move freely, couldn’t go five minutes without scratching, my skin was opening up with blood and ooze, and was only getting worse. I booked the first flight home and was on a plane the following morning.

That plane ride was ~30 hours and the worst flight of my life. My entire forehead had oozes and scabs all over it, and I couldn’t bring myself to look a flight attendant or customs officer in the eye, I was so ashamed of my face. I was actually scared they would look at me and send me to quarantine because it looked like I had some weird exotic disease.

Hell

I soon learned I was going through something called TSW or Topical Steroid Withdrawal. Over time steroid creams inhibit the body’s natural adrenals and cortisol, so when the steroids suddenly stop, the skin is unable to function. Even the tiniest rash causes a complete panic attack in the skin, it spreads like wildfire, and your skin basically shits itself and starts to die. The itch is unbearable and open wounds and rashes cover your entire body, rendering you almost immobile at times, your body will shed so many layers of skin it will look like your sheets are covered in ash. It’s not different to an alcoholic trying to give up alcohol, the body (skin in my case) goes through a vicious withdrawal period before it can operate normally again.

Now that I look back on it, it all makes more sense. I’ve used steroid creams my whole life but I’d been using them a lot more during the year, first in Penang, possibly due to the heat and all the junk food, and then in Cape Town, where my eczema had started playing up somewhat during the cold nights.

In my last couple of weeks in Cape Town I decided it was time to stop, so I threw them away and tried to let my body deal with it on its own. Over the last few years I’ve had great success in eliminating my long term medications, simply by ceasing use and focusing on diet and lifestyle.

I suspected I’d go through some kind of “detox” or adjustment period, but I didn’t realise how powerful or addictive steroids were, and that this “adjustment period” would send me to the darkest time of my life.

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TSW isn’t widely recognised in New Zealand so my dermatologist was of no use at all. He actually diagnosed me with scabies and staph (I had neither) and sent me away with a laundry list of steroid creams and pills. I mentioned TSW, but he waved it off like an urban legend, and after a $300 appointment wanted to put me on prednisone, sleeping pills, more steroid creams and antibiotics. I already knew in my gut that was a path to nowhere. I threw the prescription away.

The next few months of my life became hell. Painful, sleepless nights, one after the other, constantly covered in blood and ooze, not to mention looking like a horror movie. But the real hell was not knowing it would be just a few months. At the time there was no end in sight, and for some people withdrawal lasted 2, 3, 5 years. In the depth of it, I found myself thinking that I would never last that long. I would walk into the ocean and never turn back before I ever made it that far.

It was this blog post by a Japanese woman named Tokuko who put me on the path to healing, and possibly saved my life. Luckily TSW is reasonably well researched and recognised in Japan. She had one of the worst cases of TSW that’s been documented, and was treated with near-miraculous results by a TSW specialist doctor in Osaka named Kenji Sato. She translated his protocol into English on her blog, which very quickly spread worldwide.

A support group she started on Facebook brought together people like me from around the world, and we leaned on each other. I met some warriors in that group, I don’t know where I’d be without it.

Tokuko has told us responding to questions from around the world and helping others with TSW is now a full time job for her, which she does voluntarily (bless her soul). She tells us thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people have since contacted her with equally miraculous results, and hundreds more each week. I’m happy to say I’m another name that can now be added to that list. So many of us owe her so much, and we’re trying to find ways to help ease some of her workload and also spread her message further.

I’ll have a much larger article on my journey with this condition and exactly what I did to heal, so I won’t write any more about it here. It’s a long story and I could write multiple books about it. If you do have questions in the meantime please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Living with TSW

One big problem with TSW is it’s unpredictable. Your skin can be healing strongly and at 80% one week, then drop to 40% within a few days for no apparent reason.

In my second month of TSW I was healing well after finding Tokuko, and being overly optimistic, committed to a press trip to the Solomon Islands two months later in August. Then literally a week before the trip my skin decided to flare horribly, almost the worst flare I’d had.

While my first intense flare hit my back, torso and forehead, this flare hit my face, groin and chest. What I had hoped would be a week of relaxing with cocktails and swimming in the ocean to heal my improving rashes, suddenly looked like a week of pain, sweat, itching and misery.

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I tried to pull out of the trip, but literally thousands of dollars had been spent on flights, hotels, guides by the tourism board. This is the one time when being a travel blogger felt like the worst job in the world, but I’d committed to the trip and eventually forced myself to go.

The trip turned out to be a blessing.

My skin improved almost instantly as soon as I landed. I remember sitting outside my room on the balcony on the first day, and it struck me how it was the first time in months that I’d been able to just sit in a chair like a normal person. TSW makes you very sensitive to cold, as your skin no longer works so cannot hold in your body heat. Plus Auckland was having a particularly severe winter. That combination was miserable and even with heaters on full blast, just sitting down in a chair meant I was constantly shivering and in pain.

As soon as I hit the tropical weather of the Solomons, it was like my body suddenly relaxed and came out of crisis mode. I wasn’t cold and wasn’t in pain. I had never enjoyed sitting in a chair so much in my life.

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For the next week I island hopped around the Solomons with three other awesome bloggers, and we ended up having an amazing time.

My skin was still very far from normal, and I couldn’t do all the fun snorkelling and swimming the others did, but it was still a trip to remember. We ate so much tropical fruit and fresh seafood, talked blogger life around the dinner table and sampled some of the country’s finest resorts. I would love to go back.

Three of my favourite days were documented in my posts A Day In Munda, A Day In Gizo and A Day In Honiara.

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The Marathon

I didn’t tell anyone about the marathon, except my Mum. Back in Auckland after the Solomons, it was back to winter and bad skin, I was in hibernation mode, and wasn’t really talking to anyone about anything anyway. But I kept the marathon a secret because I wasn’t even sure I could do it.

Part of the Dr Sato protocol was to exercise daily. The exact prescription was to raise your heart rate to 120bpm for at least an hour each day. This does all kinds of great things for the skin, like releasing endorphins and hormones and sweat which all aid healing. It also hurts like f*ck as soon as you start sweating because the salt hits your wounds and makes you want to cry. But that was what was needed to heal.

At the time I didn’t have a bike, couldn’t go to the gym and definitely wasn’t joining any kind of fitness class when I only had half a face.

The only option was to run.

My first run was a highly unpleasant experience around my neighbourhood, which lasted about 20 minutes, 2.14 km and I arrived back at my doorstep barely breathing. I hate running, mostly because it’s really hard and also really boring – two things that are difficult to love. But I kept running each day, and part of me started to love it. Not the running itself, but the challenge. It felt like my way of fighting back, that every skin cell in my body was telling me not to run, and I was doing it anyway. I imagined all the pain I was feeling was the bad skin dying, and after every run I would imagine all the new skin being born.

It was one particularly bad morning the marathon idea came about. Sleepless nights were common, in fact I always dreaded going to bed at night, it brought me to tears sometimes, but this night was the worst. And somehow when the morning came, all I wanted to do was run. I felt like if I ran and sweated and beat myself down into nothing, I would feel better, I would feel alive again. One thing about Auckland winter mornings, they are fucking miserable. The temperature might only be 7 or 8 degrees, but the actual feeling in the air, the dampness, the sharpness of the cold, it’s like minus 100. That’s why everyone in Auckland is an asshole during winter. Auckland in winter is the most miserable place in the world.

I went outside that morning wrapped in my hoodie and sweatpants, it was maybe 7 o’clock, and just as I started running it began to rain. And the only thing more miserable than an Auckland winter day is a rainy Auckland winter day. I felt the rain patting against my face and have never been more angry at the world. I said I don’t care, your shitty rain can’t stop me from running, this shitty skin can’t stop me from running, I can run forever! Let me show you! So I got home and looked up marathons in New Zealand, and the Auckland marathon was nine weeks away. And I signed up that night.

At the time, a marathon to me was so far in the realm of impossible that even while training for it, I found it hard to believe I was actually going to show up for it. Whenever I went out to train, I visualised myself crossing the finish line, just thinking about it brought me to tears every single time. To go from a scabbing oozing bleeding blob of flesh to a marathoner in nine weeks? It was the ultimate mission impossible.

But I was diligent with the training, even though my training plan was just mashed together from some blogs I had Googled. When I finally ran my first 10 km in training, I thought Wow, that was a quarter marathon! I rested for two days after that, because I was so amazed I’d run a quarter marathon. And a few weeks later I ran 21 km, and I couldn’t believe that was a half marathon. By the time race day came around, I told myself, there is no way I’m not finishing this race today.

I think my Mum was more excited than I was on race day. It’s quite a big spectacle, being part of a marathon. I wasn’t excited at all to be honest. I was anxious, I just wanted to start, I wanted to get moving and start knocking off the kilometres and finish. I’d never been part of a race before, it was all new to me.

They say there will never be another day like your first marathon, you’ll remember it forever. They were right. Even though I hated every minute of training, I wouldn’t give back a minute of that race for anything. Nothing prepares you for the struggles and emotions out on that course. It will change your life.

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You can read a full play-by-play of the race in my article Running The Auckland Marathon.

Marathon Number Two

After running Auckland, I felt a bit empty. I still had to run for my skin, but now running felt meaningless, because if I wasn’t training for anything it felt like every run was going to waste.

Not only that, the more I thought about Auckland, the more I felt like I had more to give. I looked back over my race numbers and thought, could I have pushed a little harder? Was I really that tired? Was that really the very best I could do?

And it started to bother me that I finished below average, that I didn’t have a better time, that when the 4:30 pacer group passed me, I let them go instead of grinding my teeth and staying with them.

The next big race on the calendar was Singapore, six weeks away. I was 50/50 on going for it, but if I’d learned anything during the year, it was that when you have the chance to do something, you do it. Life changes in a click of the fingers, and you can never know what tomorrow brings. Maybe your skin flares up tomorrow, maybe you lose your legs, maybe you’ll be in heaven.

I took one week of rest, then it was back to training.

Six weeks later I was in Singapore. My parents also flew out a few days before the race, to support me, and I suppose for a little holiday too. These events get pretty big and special, and it’s all new to them as well so it’s a joy to share it with them.

Singapore did not go as planned. I was mindful of running another marathon again so soon, so I was slightly undertrained for the race. I also underestimated the heat and humidity, and how much this would affect me on race day.

Short version: Running in Singapore is a nightmare, and that race nearly killed me. But I look back and I’m super grateful for that race, I learned so much, and just being there was special after everything I had been through. It was the perfect welcome back to life on the road.

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Dec 2, 2019 at 12:58am PST

You can read the full play-by-play in my post Running The Singapore Marathon.

Chiang Mai

After a few days unwinding in Singapore, my parents returned to New Zealand and I travelled on to Thailand. I had three weeks before I had to be home for Xmas, so I decided to finally check out Chiang Mai and see what the fuss is all about.

Chiang Mai is a beautiful city, at least in December. The nights are cool so you can sleep well, but the days are warm and sunny. Traffic isn’t bad so getting around is painless, and it has every western comfort you could want, while still being unmistakably Thai. It felt a bit bland at first, but I loved it by the time I had to leave.

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Dec 12, 2019 at 8:45am PST

My skin was bouncing between 75%-90%, some days it was perfect, other days my face was flaking heavily, but always pain free. Now that I looked like a normal person again on most days, I had started triathlon training, which meant lots of time in the gym and some swimming, along with regular runs.

Chiang Mai turned out to be the perfect place for this, there was a great gym just around the corner from my Airbnb for 100 baht per day, and the old ASEAN Games stadium in Chiang Mai is still maintained but always empty. That meant I had an Olympic quality running track and swimming pool to myself whenever I wanted it!

On the week before I left, I managed to get an entry into the half event for the Chiang Mai Marathon. One final race to finish the year.

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Dec 22, 2019 at 6:04am PST

When I went through airport security before my flight home, they tagged my bag and searched it thoroughly. These two ladies kept x-raying it and searching it over and over again and I couldn’t figure out why. I almost had to ask them to hurry up so I didn’t miss my flight. Then they asked where I was hiding the big metal balls in my bag.

I laughed and pulled out my Singapore and Chiang Mai race medals which I’d tucked into a shopping bag under all my clothes. They groaned and laughed at each other and I thought, I guess it’s not often people come home from Thailand with two big marathon medals. It was one of those moments where I realised how far I’d come during the year, not only did I survive the storm, I thrived in it, and I finally let myself feel proud for the battle I’d been through.

It was the perfect way to end 2019. Back on the road, training, eating noodles – life wasn’t 100% back to normal, but it almost felt like it. And after the year I had, the road was even more beautiful than I’d remembered.

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Dec 30, 2019 at 5:27am PST

A full recap of my time in Chiang Mai can be found in my blog post, Laps and Miles in Chiang Mai.

What’s in store for 2020?

I’ve got my first triathlon coming up in March, and after that it all depends on how good my skin is. If it behaves I’ll be doing a little travel, if it doesn’t I’ll just find somewhere warm to lay low and take care of myself. Like I said, life can turn upside down overnight, so I don’t plan too far ahead. Remember to enjoy each day as it comes.

Again, thanks so much for being with me this year. It’s been a privilege to share this journey with you. Sending all my love your way and hope 2020 is your most prosperous year yet.

B <3

What a year!

2018 is behind us, but as I always I need to take that final look back before I say goodbye.

As most of you already know, I had a mixed 2018. Lots of ups and downs, but nothing that I didn’t learn from or appreciate in some way. It was probably my “worst” year in recent years, but that doesn’t mean it was a bad year! 

Let’s take a look:

Health

I spent most of the first half of 2018 focusing on my health.

I’m not 21 anymore, so I’m at the age where little health problems keep popping up and I need to stay on top of them. This involves a lot of learning and experimenting with my body and finding out what heals and what doesn’t.

I actually saw a specialist early in the year and she prescribed me a long term pain medication. I generally don’t like taking medication, so I asked how long I needed it and she said “6 months to indefinite”. Obviously I said F*CK THAT and started researching an alternative.

Luckily I was already on a shakeup of my diet. I’d done a 10 day juice fast, and liked the feeling so much I had already gone 90% plant based after that.

Since most pain is just inflammation I continued to stay off all inflammatory foods (dairy, meat, processed food, sugar etc) and lived on vegetables, smoothies, nuts, seeds and lots of fruits. 

I was on my sober year too so all alcohol was out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Feb 17, 2018 at 6:39pm PST

I also did a seven day water fast a few months later which gave my system another good cleanse.

Outside of diet I was doing lots of structural work on my body that I’d learned from my shoulder injury (yoga turns out to be pretty amazing just for overall blood flow and health). And exercise wasn’t a problem as I was training 4-5 days a week at my favourite gym Auckland MMA.

By the time I left for my first trip in May, all my pain problems had somehow disappeared and I was in perfect shape, no meds at all. 

I did start eating more meat once my travels started, but I made an effort to stay diet conscious during the whole year and everything still feels good.

I also managed to complete the sober year in October so that was a nice accomplishment to add to my list. Health is a blessing but it’s a blessing you need to work for!

Blogging

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Jun 17, 2018 at 11:46pm PDT

I became a bit disenchanted with blogging in 2017, so 2018 was just about enjoying it again. I know some bloggers literally rely on blog money to eat but luckily I’m not one of them.

I wanted to write stories again and wrote a few during the year: Memories of Malaga, A Day in Harare and Lost and Found In the Netherlands. 

I also wrote some musings during the year, a few that I published were The Secret To Solving All Your Money Problems, Will I Ever Stop Travelling? and All My Superheroes Are White.

Early in the year I also made my second movie, this one about my time in Namibia. While I was making it I swore I would never make a movie again because they just take so long, but when I watch it now I love that I have a souvenir of that trip. Maybe I’ll make another one when the time is right.

My blogging hit a speed bump after my arrest in Tanzania in July My lawyers told me to basically stay off the internet until I was released, which took almost two months (I’ll get to that below), so I was on hiatus until I sorted all that out.

However once I got back on the road I managed to start writing again, such as my Belgium waffle crusade and my thrift shop mission in Amsterdam, plus a bunch of other stuff (my full archives are here).

During the first half of the year I also finished the first draft of my book! To be honest I hate most of it so I’ll probably just be rewriting it all, but it was a milestone nonetheless. They say being a perfectionist and a writer are two of the most incompatible things; the irony is all writers are perfectionists which is probably why they’re all broke. Anyway, for the fourth year in a row, I’m working on it…

Finances

Luckily most of my blog is set up for passive income rather than sponsored work or freelance work, so even though my working ability was up and down during the year things still ticked along nicely. It’s a bit early to tell but I think income was flat with 2017.

The 2018 tax year was actually the first year the blog covered all my travel, so that was a nice milestone.

The niche site I built last year is the coolest little thing that brings in pocket money every month. The smart thing to do now would actually be to sell it as niche sites have high asking prices these days (about 20x-30x monthly earnings). However I think I’m just going to hold on to it while I continue to build more. I’ve been working on a couple of new ones, which has been fun.

I also spent a large amount of time studying Bitcoin and cryptocurrency this year.

It started when I read the book Digital Gold (highly recommended). Everyone was talking about Bitcoin, so I figured I should learn what the big deal was. A fascinating book and almost read like a Hollywood thriller. I wasn’t aware of how complex and turbulent the beginnings of Bitcoin were, which in reality was just a “nerd experiment” that took off.

I then read a more educational book called The Internet Of Money which validated a lot of my thoughts and ideas on the space. 

I summarised those thoughts in my blog post This Is Why Bitcoin Is Going To Win.

The final book I read on the subject was Cryptoassets, although I didn’t learn much new from it.

While the market tanked during 2018 it was actually the best year on record in terms of development. I’m really looking forward to what lies ahead in that space in 2019.

Overall, finances weren’t really on my mind a lot during 2018. As most of you know I make a big effort to stay frugal, plus I’m single and childless so it’s often not an issue for me. As long as I’m earning enough to eat I’m happy!

Hobbies and Learning

A few years ago I was about learning every new thing under the sun. It’s a bit different these days as I feel like I always have something to do, so finding new hobbies isn’t really necessary anymore.

I love martial arts and I train whenever and wherever I get the chance. I’ve trained at so many different gyms around the world now, and it’s cool that it’s so universal and the community is always humble and welcoming. The thing about fighting is there is always someone that’s better than you, so you rarely meet very arrogant or douchey people. Those types of guys get humbled quickly, so the learning environment is always great.

My home gym is Auckland MMA and I spent about five months there this year. I love the challenge, it’s never ending.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Mar 21, 2018 at 6:43pm PDT

Another thing I love (but am so terrible at) is surfing but I’m determined to get good! I’m so grateful my Mum forced me to take swimming lessons for many years as a kid, because it would be impossible to surf otherwise. I’ve had some hairy situations in the surf but as a strong swimmer I’ve always been okay. I’ve also had some awesome coaching from the guys at Rapu so that has literally saved my life a few times.

I didn’t do much surfing this year, but did get a week in while in the Ivory Coast. It mostly just reminded me how bad I was, but I’m getting closer to being not-shit, I can feel it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Nov 17, 2018 at 2:03pm PST

Outside of sports one of my hobbies is language learning and I leaped several levels in my Swahili this year, to the point that a lot of people thought I was fluent (I’m definitely not). That was cool and coloured my experience in Tanzania very differently as I could interact with literally everyone.

I also saw a small improvement in my French in the Ivory Coast. I actually studied French in France a few years ago, but it wasn’t very fruitful. When I got to the Ivory Coast I set myself a goal to self study every day, which started well, but after a couple of weeks I slacked off completely. I seem to do that with a lot of things, I don’t really know why. Maybe I’m just not that disciplined.

I did do a lot of reading though! I think I did around 14 books in 2018. One up on the year before. Still improving 🙂 I haven’t been doing book listings like I used to, but I do have a full list of everything I read on my Books page.

The last thing I’ve been spending my free time on is writing music. It’s cool having something creative to do where you don’t have to try and be “good” and you can just make whatever. Plus you can do it anywhere! That’s been a lot of fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on May 18, 2018 at 6:47am PDT

Travel

My travels for the year started in May with a trip to Tanzania to visit my sister.

Everything was great for the first month, I even had a non-profit project in the works that was going to be pretty amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Jun 11, 2018 at 8:56am PDT

Then my grandfather passed away, so I flew to Australia for the funeral. Luckily travel insurance covered it (always get it!) but I still had to do about 70 hours of travelling in a matter of days to get there and back.

On the flight back to Tanzania I actually had a really bad flu/virus so I had to do a 30+ hour flight while sick – definitely the worst flight I’ve ever had to take!

The second month in Tanzania is where things got interesting.

I got randomly picked up by immigration at an internet cafe. Things escalated very quickly that day and they raided my house and all my belongings, then confiscated my phone, laptop and camera and told me I was under arrest. I got taken into the immigration holding room and when I asked what I was under arrest for he said “I’ll tell you tomorrow”. We basically found ourselves in a stalemate for the next 8 hours when I refused to sign any of their forms. Instead I got my embassy and some lawyers involved and it turned into a six week “investigation” where they tried to charge me with all kinds of bogus things. 

This was definitely one of the toughest travel experiences for me, but it also showed me a lot of things. Almost everyone I talked to (it felt like the entire town knew about it) commented how well I was dealing with it, and that most people would be “losing it”. I had a lot of time to sit around and think, and I realised that all the years of travel up until then had prepared for me for this moment. I had learned to stay calm and make the right “plays” in those situations, and while I didn’t make the right plays every time I certainly dealt with it better than I would have ten years ago. Not only that, these things are not uncommon in travel. In fact I’ve heard so many stories like this from other travellers that when it happened to me, I just figured it was finally my turn to go through it.

After being held in the country for six weeks my passport was finally released. My embassy advised me to leave the country immediately (as if I was planning on staying!) so I headed to Kenya to recollect after the whole ordeal.

Kenya was great. I headed to Mombasa and spent a week relaxing by the coast, eating lots of good food and just enjoying my freedom again. Then I caught up with a few friends in Nairobi before finally heading to Europe. Kenya has always been good to me and I hope it continues to be!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Sep 12, 2018 at 8:28am PDT

I went to Europe to meet my parents, who I needed to see after the whole Tanzania mess. My parents were travelling around the UK and Ireland so I joined them on their month long road trip.

Halfway through that trip was the second big incident of the year – we got rammed off the motorway by a freight truck. It was a pretty violent accident and we were spinning out for what felt like ages before finally smashing into the barrier.

Miraculously we were all fine except for a small burn on my Mum’s arm, although the rental car was totalled (another reason to always have insurance!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Sep 16, 2018 at 1:26pm PDT

Obviously that was a shitty day, but the thing I remember most was that nobody on the motorway stopped to help! People just slowed down and watched us crash (to protect their precious cars from a scratch, obviously), then just carried on driving. Even in New Zealand people usually stop to check after an accident like that, so that left a sizable dent in my impression of the English. Lucky we were all okay, because with any serious injuries someone stopping to call an ambulance can be the difference between life and death. One guy did eventually stop much later though and helped us call the police, which was lucky since we all had no idea what to do.

Overall the UK trip was pretty good though. I didn’t write about it since it was mostly just sightseeing, but I thought Scotland was very intriguing and would like to go back there someday. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Sep 19, 2018 at 6:54am PDT

After my parents returned home, I found myself in Europe without much of a plan.

First I went to Mallorca to catch up with my homegirl Fernanda who you might remember from When In Berlin. We spent a week driving around the island and eating junk food.

I personally wasn’t that impressed with Mallorca (the Germans talk about it like it’s an island off the coast of heaven), but I can see why people like it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Oct 12, 2018 at 1:44pm PDT

After that I flew to Amsterdam and thought it was a very impressive city. It’s probably one of the few cities I’ve been to that can justify the high price tag. It’s super organised and developed and feels like they’re ten years ahead of everyone else!

From Amsterdam I headed south to visit a friend in the city of Breda. It’s always nice to meet old friends from the road, one of the joys of travelling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Oct 21, 2018 at 11:49am PDT

From Breda, I headed to west to Zeeland, the namesake of my home country. I loved Zeeland and am really glad I made the effort to visit. It was exactly the place I needed at that time. 

I wrote about all those places in this blog post here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Oct 23, 2018 at 3:26am PDT

The next stop was Belgium.

I caught a bus from Zeeland to Bruges, and to be honest there isn’t much to see in Bruges if you’re not interested in buildings and churches. That gave birth to the Bruges waffle tour which you can read all about here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Oct 24, 2018 at 12:16pm PDT

After Bruges I visited a friend in Ghent for a day, and then headed onto Brussels. I can’t say I did much in Brussels either – mostly just walked around looking for a place to cut my hair. It’s quite a messy city, not what I expected.

The last stop in Europe was Luxembourg. I caught the early morning bus and arrived around lunchtime to a completely dead city! I’m not sure where all the money in Luxembourg comes from because it was an absolute ghost town. It’s beautiful though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Oct 28, 2018 at 9:32am PDT

The real reason I went to Luxembourg though was to catch a flight.

I had found a cheap(ish) flight to the Ivory Coast, and figured this was as a good a time as any. I’ve wanted to go to west Africa for so long, especially the francophone countries, so with a few months left in the year I finally made it happen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Nov 5, 2018 at 9:29am PST

Abidjan was not the city I was expecting. It’s a lot more French than I thought it would be, and everything is far more expensive. It was once called the Paris of Africa, and while it doesn’t look like Paris it does have prices like it. 

One of the main goals of heading to Ivory Coast was to surf, so after a week in Abidjan I finally managed to find a ride out to the beach. I spent about 9 days living right on the sand and surfing every day, eating fresh fruits and living in paradise. It wasn’t cheap but it was worth every second! I would’ve stayed a lot longer if it weren’t for a stupid injury I got.

Shout out to the guys at The West Factory – the dudes there answered a lot of my questions and helped make the whole adventure happen. When I finally settle somewhere I’ll definitely be getting a board from them 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Nov 17, 2018 at 2:03pm PST

After I hurt my foot it was back to Abidjan, basically to catch up on all the work I’d missed during the year. I didn’t love Abidjan at first but it really started to grow on me after I learned a little more French and met a few more people (most African cities are like that). I still think about Abidjan a lot actually, it left an impression on me. Maybe I’ll go back some day. There isn’t much information on it online, so I wrote a huge beginner’s guide for anyone heading that way.

Finally as December closed out, I got on a flight back home to spend Christmas with my family. Always the best way to end the year 🙂

On a sidenote, I had three of my longest journeys happen this year:

I did Tanzania to Australia and back, which was around 70 hours of flying in 5 days.

Then I had to do Mombasa to York, which was 3 trains and 2 flights (44 hours).

Lastly I did Abidjan to Sydney, which was 38 hours. 

As you can see my love for travel was certainly tested this year. Couldn’t break us though, we’re together for life 😀

Plans for 2019

The year is still open! 

On the 2nd day of January I flew to Penang, so the travel schedule has already kicked off! I’ll be back in New Zealand in February to speak at a conference, but as for the rest of the year I’m not sure.

I have ideas, maybe central Asia, there’s also a festival in the States I’m interested in going to. Africa again? Yeah, probably.

Of course wherever I end up going I’ll be sharing it all with you. Feel free to send me ideas 😀

Have an awesome 2019!

B

2017 has come to an end, and it’s been a funny one.

Following on from my 2014, 2015 and 2016 reviews, I’m going to take a moment to reflect on 2017 and my thoughts on the year.

As I always say, you should do the same 🙂

Blogging

 

A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Jun 10, 2017 at 10:22pm PDT

I did do quite a lot of writing in the first half of the year. When In Berlin, A Tammisaari Story, and Things Are Nice In Switzerland were some stories I added to my collection. I actually love all three of them, and I read them every now and again. Some musings I put together were also popular – We Should All Be So Curious, The Real Reason You’re Afraid To Chase Your Dreams and What Do You Do When Your Dreams Come True?

Then later in the year, and my email subscribers already know this; I took a hiatus from blogging. I became quite disillusioned with blogging in general, and decided I needed a “holiday”. I know it can sound funny for a travel blogger to need a holiday, but we need them too, like everybody else. I decided I would let my blogging schedule go – no promotion, no writing, or any other blogging duties for the rest of the year.

So what did I do?

Funnily enough, I couldn’t stay away too long and just kept working. But taking the pressure off myself to write regularly was a huge change. In that time I wrote a short (and free) course on building niche sites, I wrote a few accommodation guides just to keep the site active, and I did some niche site building of my own. Working only when I wanted, rather than forcing myself to work, was a refreshing change I needed.

Other than that, there really isn’t much to tell you about the blog. There were no big redesigns, no big product launches – it just kind of chugged along. I’m not sure exactly where it goes in 2018, but I’ll be writing, that’s for sure.

Want to start your own blog? Check out my guide by clicking here.

Finances

Everything is going fine. As you’ve probably heard, Bitcoin went through the sky this year which has made me a handsome sum, as has the stockmarket which I also have skin in. The blog income continues to trickle in, although I’m still reluctant to monetise it heavily which has put a ceiling on how much it can make. 

As I touched on earlier, I started investing time in building niche sites this year which has been a lot of fun – something to get me away from the blog but still do something productive. The problem is I have too many ideas and I keep trying to start more projects, which isn’t good, I need to focus on a small few! So that will be something to focus on next year.

Other than that, nothing eye opening to share here. I’m just ticking along.

Hobbies and learning

I was in New Zealand until June, and was training at Auckland MMA five times a week. I love the complexity of martial arts and how you can never finish learning – there is always more to challenge yourself with and always someone better than you. Plus getting punched in the face helps you learn stuff pretty quickly. I also did some self training while on the road and spent a few weeks tuning up at a gym in Namibia – I’ll talk more about that in the travel section below.

 

A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Mar 3, 2017 at 12:35am PST

I also spent some time surfing during those early months, but not as much as I wanted to. It started with another surf camp with the guys at Rapu, which is always awesome. I’m at that annoying point with my surfing where I’m stuck between “not a beginner” but “still kinda shit”. I’m good enough for small waves, but still getting smoked on medium waves. And I’ve graduated from a longboard but still not good enough for a shortboard. I’ve noticed this happens with pretty much every new thing you learn, and if you just grind it out you’ll pass the plateau. Hopefully I’ll get my wave count up next year and start shredding some real ocean.

 

A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Jan 20, 2017 at 2:41pm PST

I also started writing music this year. It’s been a lot of fun. Poetry, songs. I can’t make beats so I steal them off Youtube, but it was a regular outlet for me early in the year. On the road it’s a bit harder to write, but I still did a little writing out there. Nothing to pursue professionally but a lot of fun.

As for next year – I still want to learn an instrument. I’ve come to terms with the fact the guitar doesn’t like me, though. I’m moving on to something new.

Also, I read 15 books this year! New record.

Friends & Family

I’ve become a total travel SNOB. I became really choosey this year about who I spent my time with. I passed on a lot of social events, because I already knew what was going to happen – people were going to get drunk, spend lots of money, take selfies and get a hangover. Of course there’s nothing wrong with that, but I was super selective about who I would do that with.

 

A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Jul 4, 2017 at 9:51am PDT

In hostels I used to always head to the lounge and chill with people, this year I avoided that almost entirely to read or work. I couldn’t sit there and listen to how another person was finding themselves and how travel was teaching them so much (told you – total travel snob). But the people I did take the time to know were awesome – smile.

I also got the chance to connect with a lot of old friends this year. I’ll touch on that in the travel section, but it was nice to see lots of familiar faces around the world. As your travel network grows the world becomes a lot smaller and friendlier.

As for family I was home in Auckland for almost half the year, plus I travelled with my parents for a few weeks, and saw all my extended family in Australia for the grandfather’s 100th birthday. All good stuff.

 

A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Aug 20, 2017 at 7:52am PDT

Health

It’s tough staying in shape on the road, but I did a pretty good job this year. I’m actually in the middle of a juice cleanse as we speak, which I do once a year or so, but I’m starting off in better shape than usual. At the end of the year I often have a tendency to let myself go, but I stayed in control this time – lots of fruits, veges, and minimal alcohol.

 

A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Jun 15, 2017 at 9:53am PDT

Overall, the first year of my thirties was almost perfect healthwise. A few ailments to be expected here and there, but nothing that affected my day-to-day life.

I’ve also had no serious injuries this year. The shoulder has been perfect and everything else has stayed together pretty well. I did a lot of maintenance and mobilisation work while I was in New Zealand, and I’ve been learning about that stuff for a few years, so it seems to be paying off now. I also follow a lot of mobility channels on Instagram which always give me fun and easy exercises to do on the road. @moveu_official is one of my favourites.

The one thing I do want to work on next year is my paddling fitness. People always assume I’m the fittest guy in the squad until I get into the surf. Five minutes of paddling and I’m stuffed! I think it’s because my arms are so short. That’s the next obstacle to getting my surf game on point.

Travel

When I looked back on the year my first thought was “I didn’t travel that much”, and compared to last year that may be true, but I did actually do a lot!

I left New Zealand for Tanzania in June. I spent the about five weeks there, tutoring some of my students. I visit this part of Tanzania almost every year, so it’s always nice to come back and see how things have changed. My Swahili also improved a lot, which I was really happy with.

 

A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Jun 10, 2017 at 7:42am PDT

After all my kids went back to school I had a month to spare, so I caught the bus up to Kenya and spent about five weeks in Nairobi. One of my old classmates from France lives up there, so we connected and she showed me what today’s Nairobi is all about.

 

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It has changed so much since I first visited there in 2012. Before all the coffee shops were filled with white expats and businessmen. Today, they are all filled with young Kenyans. The younger generation are all coming out of university talking about social issues and building startups and NGOs and are out socialising and having fun on weekends. It’s going to be a great city when it matures.

After Nairobi I had to fly back down south to Australia. I had a family reunion in Coolangatta – my grandfather turned 100 and we all gathered to celebrate. What an awesome thing to be a part of. 

 

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From there, I joined my parents on a trip back to the motherland. My parents have gotten over the Africa phobia most people have and have now seen Morocco, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Botswana and Tanzania. More countries than me!

We spent about two weeks in Namibia, visiting the famous sand dunes and Etosha National Park. Namibia wasn’t a country I knew much about, but I was intrigued after seeing it for the first time. It’s unique, unlike any other country I’ve been to. As it turned out, I would return soon.

 

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From Namibia, we ventured up to Zimbabwe to visit the Victoria Falls. The falls were, in a word, overrated. But Victoria Falls itself was a cool little town, not the hopeless Zimbabwe that CNN makes you believe it is. 

 

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After Victoria Falls, I had to return to Tanzania. On the journey over I spent one night in Zimbabwe’s capital – Harare – where I Couchsurfed with a girl and her mother. She showed me around Harare which turned out to be quite different than I expected. It’s a slow city, obviously not without problems, but not hopeless either. I think it has great things ahead of it with the right leadership.

That second stint in Tanzania was about a month, to see one of my students graduate. This was a special moment for us and I was so grateful to be there to share it with her. Other than that, Tanzania is much like home now. Travelling there isn’t so much a holiday but returning to a familiar place and routine. Travellers have a tendency to build homes in different places around the world. Tanzania is one of mine.

 

A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Jun 9, 2017 at 11:21am PDT

Next – Germany! One of my biggest inspirations – J.Cole – was touring his new album this year, and I bought tickets to his Berlin show back in March. This was only because his New Zealand show sold out in about ten seconds, so I bought a ticket for his Berlin concert instead. I really had no intention of actually going to it, I just wanted to buy a ticket to support him.

As it turned out, my schedule cleared just in time and I realised I could actually go! I booked a flight to Berlin and the show was incredible – the highlight of the year.

 

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I was only supposed to be in Germany for about a week, but as we know it never works out that way. My dear friend Fernanda had an empty apartment in Berlin (long story) where I was able to sleep for free, so I stayed on for a while. I got to meet up with all my old friends from last year’s Berlin chapter, and it was just like old times. Berlin’s a funny city – not very pretty, but always a good time.

Part of the reason I was in Germany so long was, I couldn’t decide what to do! I thought I could travel Europe a little, or head back to Africa, or even just go home. But something about Namibia was calling me back. I had driven past the surf there on my earlier visit, and it looked special. Surfing Africa. I checked flights and, like a sign, Germany to Namibia turned out to be insanely cheap (Namibia is an old German colony). 

The flight was from Cologne, so I caught the overnight bus to Cologne, explored that city a little, and then jumped on the plane a few days later.

 

A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Nov 24, 2017 at 5:07pm PST

Namibia was a good finale to the year. I actually got stuck in Windhoek – the capital – for longer than expected. I didn’t want to head to the surf right away, plus I was a little tired, and wanted to see what Windhoek had to offer. I got an Airbnb for a month, joined the kickboxing gym down the road and tried to see what the city was about.

 

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Windhoek is sleepy for a capital, but it can be a lot of fun too. It’s quite unique – both the racial mix and the culture. I’ll probably be able to write a whole post about it. Also, my buddy Janika, who I met during last year’s Eurotrip, was in town on a volunteer post. I got to see some of the local scene and mix it up with her crew for a few weeks.

 

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Finally in December I headed out to the coast. I stayed at a surf hostel in Swakopmund called the Salty Jackal; the passion project of Olli – a young German Namibian guy.

 

A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Dec 12, 2017 at 1:53am PST

I spent about two weeks here, and lots of good times were had in this hostel, from early morning surfs to sandboarding to barbecues and just all-round good fun. I even made a movie about it. I was sad to leave, but soon it was time to head home for Christmas, as always.

The route home for Xmas had one last little adventure. I flew through Doha, and I’ve had some pretty long layovers in that airport. However this particular one was 20+ hours, so I decided to venture out and get a hotel for the night. That meant I finally got to walk around Doha and see what it was like. Cool way to cap off the year.

 

A post shared by Bren (@brenontheroad) on Dec 21, 2017 at 7:28am PST

Overall I knocked over three new countries (Qatar, Namibia and Zimbabwe), and visited four oldies (Germany, Tanzania, Kenya, Australia). Not the wildest of years but still a lot of hours on the road!

Plans for 2018

Absolutely nothing!

As for travel, most likely I will be Africa bound again but I’m not sure. Re the blog, I plan to go back to old school writing, and move away from the more monetised posts. I wrote some slightly more commercial stuff in 2017 mostly as an experiment, and it didn’t seem worth it or bring the results I was hoping. Rather than keep the blog as a central part of my life, I feel it needs to be more as a side hobby, a labour of love, where I can write freely when I feel like it. I suspect it will move that way for most of 2018.

That of course doesn’t mean I won’t be busy. I always have something to work on, and my laptop will continue to come with me everywhere I go. 

Again, thank you all for being here! Even though I’ve been absent for some months, it’s been amazing to have you tag along as always. This blog continues to bring so many great people into my life, I couldn’t be more grateful. Hopefully will meet many more of you in the coming year.

Keep on living,

Bren

It’s been an amazing year. I’ve made so many new friends, caught up with some old ones, seen a few new countries and have learned so, so much.

Now’s the time to reflect and put it all together.

Let me first say that this is more of a personal post; a way for me to collect all my thoughts on this past year and give me something to refer back to down the line. I’ve spent a long time thinking about direction in my life, and I know in future I’m going to want to look back and see where I’ve come from. But I also thought it might be a good idea to make it public, and perhaps one or two of you might find value or learn something from it as well.

Below I’ve written personal reflections on various areas of my life this year, breaking it down into the things that are most important to me right now – blogging, finances, health, friends and family, travel, and future goals. As an exercise in clarity it’s actually been very helpful, and I’d encourage all of you to do the same.

Blogging

Wow – it’s been an amazing ride. I sent this blog live on January 23 this year, and am still so blown away by how much it has grown. When I first started out I had goals of 1,000 Facebook likes in my first year, didn’t even know what an email list was, and hoped to one day beat the 800 page views I got when I first shared the blog with my friends on Facebook.

Today, after being live for just over 11 months, I have around 5,700 followers on Facebook, just under 1,000 email subscribers and have almost hit one million page views in the first year. Compared to many blogs those stats are mere child’s play, but they have completely blown my expectations out of the water and I still find it hard to believe anyone but my mother is actually following my blog and my story.

More importantly, the blog has allowed me to meet and connect with so many amazing people, and become a part of a community that loves and understands nomadic life as much as I do. In a world where I once felt like the odd one out, I’ve now discovered a community of people who also see and embrace travel as a way of life. As a result, my travel dreams have grown even bigger than before.

For those out there who are looking for an outlet, I’d highly recommend starting a blog. It acts as your window to the world, giving people a look into your world and the chance to share their story with you as well (if you need help setting it up, just ask). Even if you don’t grow a large readership, the process of putting your thoughts into words can be extremely liberating. Overall I’m extremely happy with where the blog has gone this year, and will definitely be continuing to write and grow in 2015.

Finances

I didn’t make as much money this year as I probably should have, and that’s because I didn’t really spend much time “working”. I turned down most freelance writing projects I was offered, including a large one that would’ve netted anywhere between $5,000-$10,000, in favour of working on the blog and getting it to a level I was proud of. In the small amount of freelance writing I did do, I tried to move out of the finance niche and try and find something related to travel. Not much came my way, but I did do some writing for G Adventures’ Looptail Blog, which has been a lot of fun. I am not sure if freelance writing is something I’ll pursue aggressively in 2015, but we’ll see.

Want to get started in freelance writing? Check out my guide.

The other reason my earnings were down is because I rejected 99% of the blog-related income opportunities that were sent my way. During the year you may have noticed a few ads on this site as I did some Adsense experiments, and those did net a few hundred dollars, but for now I’ve canned them in favour of having a cleaner blog. I’ve also been offered countless paid posts and advertisements, a couple of press trips and a few partnerships as well, all adding up to several thousands in potential income, but none of the opportunities really felt right to me so I politely turned them down. In truth, this blog has never been about money. It’s been about sharing stories, advice, and a wider message of venturing out and chasing your dreams. When I’m more comfortable with my identity as a blogger I may be more open to opportunities like this, but for now I’m happy to let them slide.

One thing I did do was accept a few freebies from some NGOs who had a greater message to share (I’ll cover these below in the travel section), and despite not earning me any income it was fun to connect and put together some content for them.

New projects

In terms of money going forward, I have so many projects and ideas on the go that I simply don’t have enough time in the day to work on everything. I have a few experiments I’ve been running with affiliate marketing, niche websites, e-commerce and with this blog as well, and hopefully when I get a grasp on things I will share the details of these with you. Whether I do that on a new blog or on this site is still a question mark, but I know people are very curious about how to earn location independent incomes and I’m excited to one day be able to teach people to do this. The first guide I put out on freelancing has been quite popular, and I’m looking forward to put out more posts like this when the time is right. All in all these are still just side projects though, and my focus remains on my writing.

As for my old career, I can now say with 150% certainty that I will never work as an accountant ever again. I know people always say you should never say never, but in this case I’m saying never. Simply by starting this blog, I have been introduced to so many opportunities that the only difficulty has been deciding which one I want to pursue. Ever since I quit my job I’ve always had in the back of my head that I might one day need to return to my old career, but now those reservations have well and truly gone. From here on, it’s full steam ahead.

Concerning this blog in particular, I’m currently working on a blog re-design and two new books, and I’ll keep you updated on these things during the new year.

Education

In terms of personal development it’s been an incredible year. As you know, a priority of mine has always been to incorporate learning into my travels as much as possible, whether it’s language, martial arts, dancing, teaching – wherever I go I always find it important to leave with skills or knowledge that I didn’t have when I arrived. This year I was lucky enough to spend 3 months in South America tuning up my Spanish and completing a salsa course, which was incredibly rewarding. Following on from my Spanish classes in 2010 and 2011, I can now converse very comfortably in Spanish and my dancing isn’t too bad either!

And then of course is my new career on the internet. Nowadays I spend at least 4-5 hours a day listening to podcasts, reading books and guides, reading blogs and running experiments, and the amount of information and opportunity out there is astonishing. I went from not knowing a single thing about building a website to generating several (but small) streams of income online, and I’m excited to learn more and grow these streams in the coming year(s). The balance between work-related learning and hobby-related learning can be hard to find sometimes, but I’m happy with how I managed to make it work for this year.

Friends & Family

One of the hard things about travelling is keeping a balance between spending time on the road and spending time with your family and friends. I was lucky this year to spend the first 5 months at home in Auckland with my parents after spending basically all of 2012 in China and all of 2013 on the road. I also joined my parents in September for a few tours through Ecuador, and then managed to make it home for Christmas. I feel like this year has been good in that regard and I’ll be planning to spend several months at home in 2015 as well.

Health

As I get older, I always start to take my health more and more seriously. This year I started introducing juice to my diet, which has been really beneficial and a lot of fun. I have also been introduced to MobilityWOD – a body maintenance program that has made a huge difference to some “permanent” injuries I’d been starting to give up on (thanks Spartan Traveler). After working through some rehab, I was finally able to get back in the gym in the later half of the year and start some light lifting, and I’ve also learned to start focusing on my endurance and flexibility as well. Although not 100%, the body has been feeling a lot better than it did last year, and I’m hoping to continue to improve my durability in 2015.

One of the silver linings of not being able to max it in the gym like I used is I’ve needed to eat healthier. I sometimes frustrate friends with how clean my eating is sometimes, but it’s definitely helped me stay in decent shape and has been really positive for my productivity as well. Of course I have lapses from time to time, but discipline with eating hasn’t really been a problem this year, so hopefully it stays that way.

Travel

I continue to fall in love with the world. Although I only visited two new countries this year (Cambodia and Ecuador), I did spend a lot of time on the road and made some really amazing new friendships.

The year began in New Zealand, where I stayed home and worked full time on the blog from January to May. This brought many headaches and sleepless nights, sometimes working 16-18 hour days, and when winter came around I knew I had to get back on the road to regain my sanity.

First I headed back to Bangkok, a city I am now completely in love with, and I know the food especially will continue to bring me back. I also got to meet fellow blogger James from Nomadic Notes, which was really cool.

After that I crossed the border and visited Cambodia for 3 weeks. My first stop was Siem Reap to visit the famous Angkor Wat, but the true highlight ended up being my time at Phare; an NGO who is doing amazing things. After that I spent a few days in Battambang and then boarded the bus to Phnom Penh where I stayed for a good 2 weeks. I left with nothing but good memories of Cambodia – it was a country that both inspired me and broke my heart at the same time, and I cannot recommend it enough.

Before leaving Asia I spent another month in my favourite country ever: The Philippines. I’d received an invitation from Smokey Tours; an NGO who wanted me to help spread the word about the work they were doing in Manila’s slums, and decided I’d go check it out since I was only a short plane ride away. Like Phare in Cambodia, this organisation was doing amazing things and I was happy to share their message. I also met up with Anton from Our Awesome Planet and Yoshke from The Poor Traveler; two incredibly successful bloggers who were awesome to meet and showed me some classic Filipino hospitality.

After that I spent a week in transit in New York – a city I’ve always wanted to visit. I faced some old demons of mine on Wall Street, visited some old friends I’ve met on the road, did the typical tourist circuit and then headed to Ecuador to join my parents on their Amazon and Galapagos tours. The Amazon was a lot less scary and Galapagos a lot more touristy than I’d expected, but both were great experiences. After that I had planned to backpack Central America for the first time, but I suppose my travel fatigue kicked in (I’m getting old!). Instead, I ended up living in Quito for 3 months, which definitely ended up being one of the year’s highlights. I spent my time completing a salsa course, tuning up my Spanish and working on some of my projects, but the incredible people I met during my stay was what made it all something to remember. A city that has never been on my wishlist, Quito now feels like a second home.

Goals and plans for 2015

Africa! As some of you know, I’m connected with a teaching and sponsorship project in Tanzania and I try to visit on a regular basis. 2014 was the first time in 3 years that I didn’t make it over there, so I will definitely be going in 2015, which is going to influence my travel plans a lot. I will probably spend the first few months of the year in New Zealand working, and if funds allow I will add a few Europe stops onto my trip as well – we shall see, but as of now East Africa will be the central focus of my travel plans.

As I’ve always done in previous years, I’ll be aiming to learn something new next year as well. Right now I’m thinking it will be a new language, and a French course has been on my agenda for a while (I’d had it planned for 2014, but plans changed). If funds and time allow it, I’ll look to do a 4-6 week intensive somewhere in the world. My Spanish teachers tell me I should pick it up rather quickly as the mechanics of the languages are very similar, so that’s encouraging.

I’ll also be taking this blog to the next level, with some great new ideas in the pipeline. I’ve always written this blog with the intention that it should be able to help someone, whether it’s tips on how to save money on your travels or sharing a lesson I’ve learned through some story or situation. If you ever feel the blog has shifted from that, please let me know! The blog definitely sucks up more time than anything else, but as long as I’ve got at least one person reading I will continue to write.

As for my other side projects, they will remain exactly that – side projects. Travelling, writing and my desire to learn is still where I will be giving most of my time. I will definitely still be working hard on these other muses though, so it’s looking like a busy year ahead.

A big, big thank you

Lastly, I need to take this chance to thank all of you for an amazing year. By far the best part of publishing my writing on this site has been getting to know all of you, and every time you leave a comment or send me an email I’m reminded of why I started this blog in the first place. There have been times this year where I’ve been so frustrated and tired with the workload this site brings that I considered throwing it all in, but receiving emails and comments like this always inspired me to keep on writing, so thank you.

One of my favourite things to write is my monthly newsletter, which always seems to start email conversations where I get to know more about you and who is reading my site. I know many people come here for life and travel inspiration, but you should also know that hearing your stories and thoughts and ideas always inspires me as well. It’s been amazing connecting with you all, and I hope to get to know even more of you in the coming year.

(If you’d like to subscribe, you can do so here).

Final words

Overall the year has definitely been one of discovery and new direction. I’m proud of the growth I’ve had as a writer, a traveller and an entrepreneur, and am really excited for the challenges and opportunities to grow even further in 2015. The year has also brought many incredible people into my life who I’m so grateful to have met, and I feel truly blessed for all the friends my travels have connected me with. While life on the road has brought its share of self doubt and loneliness, I know that the good has far outweighed the bad, and I continue to fall in love with travel and this lifestyle more and more.

As for now, it’s time to enjoy a few days of rest, and then I’ll be knuckling down to kick 2015 off with a bang.

Thanks so much for following along, and see you all in the New Year!

-Bren