7 cool and crazy things I did in my year of travel to make you insanely jealous (You should do them too)

(Most of them)(Probably not all of them)

The microwave hums in the kitchen down the hallway. The crickets chirp outside my bedroom window. It’s been raining gently for the last few hours. Life is good but damn, I really wish that I was lying in the sand on a Mexican beach again…

I’ll be honest.

This post isn’t just to make you wildly jealous.

It’s also so that I can reminisce about my glory days and look back at some old photos and memories through rose-coloured glasses.

As you probably know by now, I spent 2024 on the road. To be more specific, I spent 2024 on a road that spanned 366 days of travel, did an entire loop of the world and crossed through 31 countries. It was a long road.

And yes, I’m going to milk that journey for at least two more blog posts, before I finally start to accept normality again.

That was my road

For now, though, I’m going to indulge my nostalgia for a moment and share some of the cool things I did over the last year.

Particular emphasis on “cool.”

When it comes to travel, there’s a set of generic activities that everybody does. They go to Italy and visit the Colosseum, then take a pasta-making class. They go to Mexico and try some street tacos, then come down with a violent case of food poisoning.

I’m not trying to be contemptuous when I say these activities are generic.

I too did all of these things

(including the food poisoning)

The generic set of activities is a set of must-dos. They are generic because everybody does them, and everybody does them because they’re good.

However, with a bit of tact, a healthy (or unhealthy) risk appetite and some good ol’ fashioned luck, I think you can do some things that are truly cool on your travels. Maybe even crazy.

In saying that, stepping off the beaten path can also result in some extremely not cool activities. I truly believe that when it comes to most things in life:

It’s either a good time or a good story.

So, here’s a collection of 7 accounts from my travels.

Some are good times, some are good stories.

I’ll let you decide which ones are which.

1. I volunteered as a doctor in Nepal then hiked up to Everest Base Camp (and got a little lost…)

2. I was scammed in Turkey and almost lost 1000 Euros (but got 1.1M views)

3. I got into Berghain, the world’s most exclusive nightclub (twice)

4. I walked the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival

1. I volunteered as a doctor in Nepal then hiked up to Everest Base Camp (and got a little lost…)

I was in Nepal for an entire month of my 12 months of travel. I spent the first 2 weeks of that month volunteering at a small hospital an hour east of Kathmandu. I did this for a few reasons.

Firstly, I wanted to make use of my knowledge and skills to help people in an area of need. Secondly, I wanted to ensure I didn’t completely lose all the clinical intuition I’d learnt from medical school and working in a hospital.

The experience was eye-opening.

The Nepalese doctors I worked with were extremely skilled in their respective fields and delivered high-quality patient care despite being under-resourced. They relied on clinical judgement and examination skills to diagnose conditions for which we’d usually rely on myriad tests and investigations in Australia (ie. in Aussie emergency departments, almost everyone with abdominal pain ends up getting a CT scan for one reason or another. This Nepalese hospital didn’t even have a CT scanner!). They also had some crazy endemic diseases. For example, there’s a condition called Mad Honey Poisoning that pretty much only occurs in some mountainous regions of Nepal.

Overall, it was an amazing learning experience.

My final two weeks in Nepal were spent trekking to Everest base camp. I managed to snag a good deal: The entire 15-day tour cost me $1200 via Intrepid, excluding food and tips. I won’t go into too much detail because if you, my dear reader, ever visit Nepal, I’m sure you’ll do a hike like this. 

But the one story I distinctly remember was climbing to Kala Patthar.

Kala Patthar is a mountain that rises over Everest base camp and is 5,644 meters above sea level. It was pitch black when my alarm woke me up at 4 am in the town of Gorakshep (5,140 metres above sea level). Aside from myself and one New Zealander in our trekking group of 9, everyone else was fast asleep and reeling from altitude sickness. There was no chance they’d be joining us on this optional, final hike of the journey. The two of us joined one of our guides and ventured outside into the darkness, our path lit only by a few head torches.

Outside, it was pitch black and it was -25 degrees Celsius

Halfway up the mountain, I couldn’t feel my fingers or my palms.

Towards the top of the mountain, Angus, the New Zealander, lost feeling in his feet.

Upon reaching Kala Patthar, we saw a spectacular sunrise over the Himalayas. I promise you it truly was spectacular, but we honestly couldn’t appreciate it.

We were so f*cking cold.

While our guide stayed at the summit to film some TikToks (I’m not kidding), we bolted down as fast as humanly possible. However, after descending a few hundred metres, we realised we were lost.

Kala Patthar didn’t have a clear pathway leading up or down the mountain; it was just a rocky surface to traverse on the climb. Furthermore, when we ascended, we did so in complete darkness and just followed our guide. Now, with our guide occupied by a different type of follower, we found ourselves descending through unfamiliar scenery without any sense of direction.

After slowing down our veritable sprint towards lower altitudes and warmth, we found ourselves wandering foreign territory without a clue as to where we had ended up. That was until we eventually came upon the last thing you’d expect at this altitude, in this weather, in this place.

A f*cking dog.

We were out of options. What else were we supposed to do aside from follow the good boy and hope he would lead us back to camp?

This isn’t the dog, but it is a dog.

And lead us back to camp he did. This heroic canine guided us all the way back to town in Gorakshep, where we were met with a fire, the rest of our trekking crew and some hot drinks.

There are stories aplenty of dogs appearing on mountain treks to guide lost hikers back onto the path. Are these dogs real or apparitions caused by the altitude and cold?

I guess I’ll never know.

2. I was scammed in Turkey and almost lost 1000 Euros (but got 1.1M views)

manoj_arachige

A post shared by @manoj_arachige

This Instagram reel got 1.1 million views.

It wasn’t really a good time, but I guess it must’ve been a good story.

3. I got into Berghain, the world’s most exclusive nightclub (twice)

Berghain is purportedly the most exclusive nightclub in Berlin and maybe even the most exclusive in the world. This isn’t because of a financial restriction (Elon Musk tried to get in and was rejected) but rather a vibe check at the door by the club’s famous bouncer. Most people who line up don’t make it in, and queues can stretch for hundreds of metres and last a few hours if trying to enter during peak times.

Whilst what happens in Berghain stays in Berghain, here are a few tips to get in:

1. Dress appropriately. Black, leather, and edgy is a good starting point.

2. Pick the right time to enter. Daytimes are usually less busy and thus, easier to get in.

3. Once you have a wristband, you can re-enter anytime that weekend without having to wait in line.

4. Be cool, calm, and ideally German. If you seem too earnest or enthusiastic, the bouncers will smell it.

5. Don’t line up in groups. Line up solo or with one other person only.

After being granted entry for the first time in April, I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a fluke, so I went again in July and was granted entry again in July.

I’ve never felt so validated in my life lol.

4. I walked the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival

In 2022, one of my good mates from high school (shout out to Dan Ham) attended the Cannes Film Festival. I was in awe. I had always been a fan of cinema, but due to work and now travel, I hadn’t really had a chance to watch the movies I once loved to enjoy. So, while I was holed up in a hostel in Nepal recovering from my base camp trek, I messaged him to learn how he did it.

I’m not one to gatekeep so here’s what I learnt:

Turns out, anyone can attend the Cannes Film Festival without having to be a celebrity or Instagram influencer as part of the “3 jours à Cannes” program. You need to write a statement of purpose about why you should be invited, your love of film and what you’ll get out of the festival. If successful, you’ll get 3 days of unlimited access to any screenings you can book a seat for, including red-carpet premieres.

So, I spent an afternoon thinking about my application essay, wrote it in one sitting, and then submitted it.

A couple of months later, I received my invitation.

While making my way through Europe in the weeks prior to the festival, an interesting phenomenon started to occur to me that had never really happened before. Everybody started telling me I had a doppelganger. And by everybody, I specifically mean most French or Belgian people I met - even complete strangers - would tell me I looked like someone called Pierre Niney. And to be clear, I’m not exaggerating here - over the course of my travels, almost all French-speaking individuals told me this. At the time, I had no idea who Pierre Niney was until it was explained to me that he was a famous French actor.

So it was quite the full circle moment when I went to the red carpet premiere of “Le Comte de Monte-Cristo” at Cannes and saw Pierre Niney in person. I was part of the crowd that gave the French film a 12-minute standing ovation, which I thought was quite cool.

Anyway, if you love movies and love France, set a reminder apply for 2025!

To be continued…

I know I promised seven stories at the start of this piece, but I’m currently only at four…

However, to avoid an ever-increasing word count, I’ll split this into two blog posts.

Keep an eye out for stories 5-7! Or in the meantime, read about how I managed to budget for this year of mischief

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