A New Adventure Beckons! Where Venga, Vale, Vamos Is Now

It’s been quiet on the Venga, Vale, Vamos front, and I’m sure that most of you have been on the edge of your seats just dying to know where your favorite travel blogger (that’s me, right? shh, play along) has been and what she’s been planning. Never fear, I’m here to tell all!

Cartagena, Colombia this week

I write to you from Bogotá, Colombia, five days into a brand new trip that will take me around South America for over two months. I’ve dreamed of exploring Latin America for years, and I had brilliant tastes of the region when I visited Peru, Argentina, and Uruguay in 2011 and Cuba at the beginning of this year, but that wasn’t enough! When I first left Australia to travel, Central and South America were in the travel plan, but, with time, I began to get burned out on travel and focus on other priorities, nearly canceling this leg of the trip.

Colorful Bogotá

But if the first five days in South America are any indication, oh am I glad I didn’t! I adore Colombia (at least what I’ve seen of Cartagena and Bogotá), and in the next two months I’ll be exploring Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil. So send any suggestions you have for those countries my way!

To catch you up on my previous months, after leaving Australia, I traveled through New Zealand for a month, then spent three months in Asia (mostly Southeast Asia), and next journeyed to Europe, where I had the chance to catch up with lots of old friends and revisit my favorite country and former home, Spain.

Revisiting Granada, Spain in July, ten years after I spent a month there and first fell in love with travel

Following those travels, I returned to the U.S., seeing friends and family in New York, Washington DC, Virginia, and West Virginia, before going home sweet home to California. The more time I spend overseas, the more I appreciate my homestate, and it was fantastic catching up with people, eating allll the food, and taking a break from the hectic backpacking lifestyle over the nearly two months I was there. During that time, I also traveled to Mammoth Mountain, the Colorado River, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

White water rafting with my sister, mom, and aunt in West Virginia in August

I’ve been amazingly fortunate to spend so much of this year traveling. It has mostly been all rainbows and butterflies, but long-term travel is still life, and life has had its ups and downs. Big plans, relationships, and priorities have changed, but, hey, doesn’t that take me one step closer to where I’m really supposed to be? And, anyway, who can complain about seeing thirty countries in one calendar year?

Hiking to Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand in March

To follow along with my time in South America, be sure to like my Facebook page, follow me on Instagram and Twitter (and Snapchat as KirstieTravels, although I’m just starting to use it!), or subscribe to the right.

Here’s to many more adventures ahead!