The Most Epic Travel Moments Of My Life (So Far)

Last Updated on 20th July 2021

This post about my most epic travel moments contains affiliate links.

Inspiration for this post first struck me when I was re-reading ‘The Best Moment of Your Life‘ by Lonely Planet. It’s a book that I inhaled with immense enthusiasm before we began our trip around the world last year and it left me feeling inspired, motivated and determined to experience the same kind of things that the travel writers and explorers insisted they’d experienced.

Upon arriving back in the UK after cutting our indefinite trip around the world short due to Coronavirus, I picked up the book and greeted it like an old friend; an old friend that had incited something deep and meaningful inside me when I first read it all those months ago.

And so, after realising that I had now in fact experienced almost a year of travel around New Zealand, Australia and most of Southeast Asia, it struck me that I should create my own version of the most epic travel moments of my life.

Some of them are quite frankly outstanding, whereas others seem to pale into insignificance compared to the grand escapades of their competitors. It is in fact, however, the culmination of both the seemingly mundane travel memories and the unfathomably monumental experiences that make this list entirely unique to me and it’s a privilege to have created these travel moments that will undoubtedly live within my memory forever.

P.S. These travel memories aren’t in any particular order – it would be far too difficult for me to organise such incredible moments into such an order! This post is also written is a different way to my usual other posts so I hope you enjoy it and please let me know if you’d like to read more similar posts.

Driving the Milford Sound Road – epic travel moments

Despite insisting above that this list hasn’t been created with any particular order system in mind, driving along the Milford Sound Road on our South Island New Zealand road trip last year is undoubtedly one of my most cherished travel experiences.

The entire drive was utterly magical; I never knew something so beautiful and almost completely untouched existed and it’s one place that I always insist people need to see if they’re heading to New Zealand.

Scuba Diving in the Great Barrier Reef

For most people, this kind of bucket list item can only ever be dreamed up on vision boards so the reality of how lucky I was to experience this kind of once-in-a-lifetime opportunity certainly wasn’t lost on me.

Swimming somewhere so remarkable is always a privilege but diving deep down into the depths of the underwater unknown was such a pinch-me moment that I was sure I was dreaming.

Bungy jumping in North Island New Zealand

Yet another travel experience that’s sure to be on many people’s bucket lists (it was included on my own), and one that was in equal measures utterly terrifying and wholeheartedly liberating.

The sheer enormity of standing on the edge of a very wobbly platform with a so-laid-back-he’s-almost-horizontal Kiwi telling you to just “go for it” is a feeling that I’ll remember forever. Actually convincing myself to jump was by far the hardest part; after that, it was all about succumbing to the fall and letting gravity take its course.

Watching the sunset in Bali – epic travel moments

While at the time, I was sure that the fascination with Bali was incredibly overstated and somewhat unwarranted, reflecting on my two months there shows me that it really does have its own unique charm.

Balinese sunsets are legendary and undoubtedly some of the most beautiful in Southeast Asia. The one above was enjoyed on a busy beach in Kuta.

Seeing wild seals & penguins in South Island NZ

Memories from New Zealand and its wondrous charm appear quite frequently throughout this post and it’s no surprise that seeing wild seals and penguins on the southeast coast of South Island New Zealand feature as one of my top travel memories of all time.

These experiences were completely unprecedented, and I think that’s what makes them so special. They were never even supposed to happen and yet when they did, it felt as if we were meant to be driving on that particular road, on that particular day.

Cuddling a koala in Australia – epic travel moments

Another sensational animal encounter, this time one that was a little more premeditated, yet still altogether remarkable, was when I got the chance to hold and cuddle a koala at the Australia Zoo.

I’ll never forget the surprising weight of the furry creature and while its claw marks on my arms and waist were unwelcome, I felt so blessed to have held one of Australia’s most precious natives.

Seeing the Manhattan skyline for the first time

My fascination, and quite frankly, obsession, with New York isn’t something I’ve tried to hide over the years so it’s no surprise therefore, that one of my most beloved travel memories is that of seeing the Manhattan skyline for the first time in 2014.

My adoration for the Big Apple began some ten years before I’d even stepped foot in the States and when I saw those immense skyscrapers for the first time, it felt like I was home.

Street food tour in Ho Chi Minh – epic travel moments

Before we flew back to the UK, just in time for lockdown and before the world really started to “close down”, we spent three weeks in Vietnam.

Our first taste of Vietnamese culture and cuisine began with a food tour around Ho Chi Minh City. An evening spent exploring the streets of one of the busiest cities in Southeast Asia, all the while consuming delicacies produced by locals, opened my eyes even further to the wonder that is sampling some of the world’s finest cuisines.

Watching the sunrise on the beach in New Zealand

There’s a fair few sunrise experiences featured on this list, but perhaps one of the very greatest sunrises I’ve ever seen is the one on an unnamed beach somewhere between Christchurch and Dunedin in New Zealand.

It was only our second morning living in a campervan and as we walked the 50 metres from our van to the beach on that brisk winter morning in the South Island, we were greeted by a natural phenomenon that’s hard to comprehend.

Meeting elephants in Chiang Mai – epic travel moments

Despite always claiming that I’m not really an “animal person”, I’ve come to the realisation that that may not quite be the case, considering how many animal encounters are featured on this list.

While in Chiang Mai, Thailand, we headed to an ethical elephant sanctuary and spent hours feeding, stroking and admiring these magnificent beasts. It was an experience that I was very apprehensive about at first due to Thailand having such a bad reputation for its ethical animal sanctuaries, but I couldn’t have been more pleased with this experience and I’ll never forget these gentle giants and their tremendous trunks and tusks.

Riding in a Mustang along Sydney’s beaches

An experience that I never thought would be on my radar, yet one that sticks in my memory from our time in Australia perhaps more than anything else; riding a 1967 Mustang along the northern Sydney beaches.

Don’t worry – we’re not cool enough to have arranged this on our own. The ‘stang in question belongs to Matt’s relatives who we visited while on our road trip along the East Coast and when they offered to take us out in the car, it was an opportunity that you’d have been a fool to pass up.

Playing with kangaroos in Australia

Here’s yet another travel moment that features animals and this time it’s more Australian natives.

Hanging out with over a dozen kangaroos in a campsite next to the beach in Australia is something that I still find quite bewildering to get my head around to this day. While I certainly wouldn’t recommend going up to any old kangaroo and attempting to touch it, this utterly unique experience is one that I’ll always be grateful for.

Coffee tasting in Bali – epic travel moments

A self-confessed anti-coffee drinker enjoying a coffee tasting experience in Bali? That’s what I thought too.

But it wasn’t in fact exclusively the coffee itself, but the whole experience that came with it. Seeing how local Balinese women spent 12 hours a day crushing, grinding, collecting and caretaking the coffee beans in the middle of a small, family-run plantation was a privilege to see.

The view from the Top of the Rock

For me, whenever I think about the “best view in the world”, there’s very little that compares to the view from the Top of the Rock at sunset.

With New York already having a special place in my heart, when you combine that with a scheduled visit to the Rockefeller Center and its mighty observation centre, there’s not much more in the world that brings me as much sheer joy and unadulterated pleasure.

Watching the sunrise at Angkor Wat

As a whole, I was pretty spectacularly underwhelmed by Cambodia but if there’s one thing it knows what to offer its visitors, it’s an epic sunrise at the Angkor Wat temples in Siem Reap.

The 4:30am wake up call was made more than worth it once the darkness began to dissipate and in its wake, a glorious orange-tinged sky emerged from its ashes.

All day boat party in Greece – epic travel moments

An epic travel moment that was fuelled by an incomprehensible amount of alcohol and a two day hangover, caused by 12 hours of consuming various questionable liquors on a boat off the coast of Corfu.

While the events of the following day led me to try and convince myself to never touch spirits again, the boat party itself was arguably some of the most fun I’ve ever had. We spent less than 48 hours on the Greek island of Corfu and yet somehow managed to pack so many incredible memories into those short few hours, proving that you don’t need a lifetime to create something epic.

Drinking with new friends on Khao San Road

Bangkok is indisputably one of the most eclectic and hectic cities I’ve ever been to and its infamous Khao San Road only adds fuel to the fire.

It is however, a place that we spent hours navigating our way through the drunken crowds on one of the busiest pedestrian streets in Thailand and hanging out with friends, both new and old.

The view of Mount Cook when the clouds cleared

There are some moments in life that you never even considered happening and yet when they do, that feeling of immense gratitude and appreciation is so overwhelming that all you can do in that moment is be still and soak it up in every way possible.

That’s how I felt when I finally saw the tip of Mount Cook in New Zealand through a break in the clouds. We’d been trying to see it for the last two days and just as we were about to admit defeat and resolve to the fact that it just wasn’t meant to be, the vastness of the mountain appeared as if it had been listening to our desires all along.

Kayaking in the Big Lagoon – epic travel moments

After researching and writing about El Nido for a freelance travel client of mine years ago, I stumbled across the Big Lagoon and I held a fascination with it ever since.

When we spent a month island hopping around the Philippines last year, all I could think about was El Nido and the boat trip that promised to take me to the Big Lagoon. While some things in life can cause you to feel disappointment at expectations you had in your head, kayaking in the Big Lagoon certainly didn’t fall into that category for me and it remains to this day one of the most incredible natural experiences I’ve ever enjoyed.

Statue of Liberty ferry ride with Matt

Baby-faced and only a mere three months into our relationship, Matt and I headed to New York for his first jaunt to the city that never sleeps.

While I’d already been incredibly fortunate to have visited New York twice by this point, the novelty of being in my favourite place in the world with my favourite person certainly wasn’t lost on me. The ferry ride around the Statue of Liberty while Frank Sinatra’s ‘New York, New York’ played over the loudspeaker felt like something out of a movie.

Riding rollercoasters at Universal Studios Singapore

Singapore was extraordinary for many reasons and numerous other epic travel moments also hail from the Lion City, but my first Singaporean admission on this list is riding rollercoasters at Universal Studios Singapore.

As a lover of all things adrenaline-fuelled, I was delighted to discover that the theme park didn’t disappoint; quite the opposite, in fact. It’s home to some of the most formidable rides I’ve ever enjoyed and I spent that entire day with a jaw-achingly huge grin on my face.

Hiking down to Diamond Beach – epic travel moments

Peppered with spectacular shorelines like I’d never seen before, the island of Nusa Penida in Indonesia astounded me with its overtly impressive natural landscapes.

The hike down to Diamond Beach was no easy feat and actually almost had me in tears at one point due to its intense steep extremities, but the view of astonishing blue waves lapping against the golden-white sand is a view that I’d hike hundreds of miles just to see again.

Watching Jersey Boys on Broadway

A New York virgin at this point, I’d only ever seen people in movies and read about protagonists in my favourite romance novels frequenting the eclectic theatres of Broadway.

When my mum and I spontaneously purchased tickets to see The Jersey Boys from the concierge at our hotel, I didn’t really know what to expect apart from people singing and dancing on stage. What I was presented with exceeded all my wildest expectations and then some, and it remains as the greatest live performance I’ve ever seen.

Watching the sunset on the beach in Koh Lanta

A relatively small Thai island with not an awful lot going on, Koh Lanta seemed like the perfect place to spend a blissful couple of uninterrupted days lounging on the beach as part of our one month backpacking trip around Thailand.

I’d certainly seen better islands, but I’d be hard pressed to find a better secluded beach bar complete with insanely cheap cocktails and a sunset over the ocean that rivalled any other I’d seen.

Eating in George Town’s Hawker Markets

Consuming delicious worldly cuisines is a hobby of mine that was only properly reinforced when we began travelling last year.

Since then, we’ve eaten some truly unparalleled dishes but arguably none have been quite as enjoyable as the ones offered in the plentiful Hawker Markets in George Town, Malaysia. The vast offerings of curries, rice dishes and cuisines to suit all dietary and allergy requirements is one of the things that I miss the most about Southeast Asia.

Stargazing in South Island New Zealand

Would you believe me if I told you that the picture above holds no thanks to a filter of any kind in order to produce its impeccable clarity? I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t.

We stood outside for more than an hour on top of a mountain in -6° temperatures to capture a shot of the Milky Way and the surrounding stars and it was one of those rare moments where nature completely catches you by surprise and leaves you wondering just how insignificant we really are compared to the greater galaxy.

Christmas Eve in Gardens by the Bay

It was my first Christmas in my 21 years on earth that I’d spent away from my family and while I knew how lucky I was to be able to spend it in beautiful Singapore with my best friend, I couldn’t help but feel a tad homesick.

That was until we headed to the festive light and music display in Gardens by the Bay on Christmas Eve and all worries I felt completely washed away. It was also one of those unprecedented occasions where manmade landscapes blow you away, and my God, this one really did.

Seeing the Icelandic landscapes – epic travel moments

A surprise birthday trip to Reykjavik for Matt also led to us exploring the nearby Icelandic landscape, more commonly known as the Golden Circle.

Seeing such bewildering natural terrain was my first real foray into the world’s most momentous landscapes. The waterfalls, geysers and mountains that paved our journey through the Golden Circle are without a doubt some of the most breathtaking I’ve ever seen.

Seeing the Colosseum for the first time

A culture classic for history-fuelled travellers; Rome’s Colosseum never fails to impress no matter how many times you see it, whether that be in real life or through other people’s recollections.

We only spent a mere six hours exploring the Italian capital city and yet that first glimpse of one of the world’s most magnificent structures is a memory etched into my brain forever.

Watching the sunset from a rooftop bar in Bangkok

Bangkok’s second feature on this list derives from the striking view of the city courtesy of the rooftop of The Surawongse Marriott Hotel.

Rooftop bars and epic observation decks are somewhat of a luxury guilty pleasure of mine and Bangkok’s offering at sunset is definitely one of my all-time favourites. The fruity cocktails also complemented the experience beautifully.

Swimming with giant turtles in Indonesia – epic travel moments

Despite swimming, snorkelling and diving in many countries around the world, I still held a deep and all-consuming phobia of the ocean’s creatures.

After swimming with giant turtles in Indonesia who willingly swam right up to us, however, some of my fears dissipated somewhat, leaving a feeling of immense gratitude in their wake.

Seeing the Sydney Opera House for the first time

Another epic travel moment that I’d only ever dreamed of and seen on Blockbuster movies such as the likes of Finding Nemo, seeing the Sydney Opera House in real life for the first time was such a pinch-me moment.

It was just how I imagined it, which made the reality of seeing it right in front of my eyes all the more incredible, because how often is something we have certain expectations of ever greeted with a profound accuracy?

Paragliding in Morzine – epic travel moments

A family summer holiday to Morzine a few years ago led to my first real taste of action travel when I jumped off a mountain, strapped to a French man and a parachute tied to our backs.

Paragliding and sailing through the sky as the mountains and trees closed in around me was a sight to behold and that feeling of falling is one I can still remember whenever I think long enough about it.

Getting drunk with strangers in George Town

After almost no time at all there, George Town swiftly became one of my new favourite places on earth and that’s largely down to the amazing people, (who later became firm friends) we met there.

Love Lane is a street home to many eateries and bars for both locals and travellers and it’s there that we created some of my most beloved alcohol-fuelled memories from our trip around the world.

Watching fireworks at Marina Bay on New Year’s Eve

Singapore certainly doesn’t do celebrations by halves and their spectacular firework performance at Marina Bay on New Year’s Eve is one of the grandest displays of social gatherings in the world.

The couple of hours’ worth of fireworks that create a dazzling show over the whole bay are absolutely phenomenal.

Discovering paradise in the Whitsunday Islands

I’ve been immensely lucky to have seen some truly paradisal scenery while travelling the world but I can’t think of anywhere that defines paradise quite as accurately as the Whitsunday Islands in Australia.

Home to crystal clear waters and some of the finest white sand in the world, the Whitsundays offer an unparalleled beauty unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

Watching the sunrise from Mount Maunganui

I didn’t actually realise until I started putting ideas together for this post, but I was so lucky to witness many epic sunrises in New Zealand.

Another one of my favourite sunrises, this one in the North Island of the country, was provided by the vantage point of Mount Maunganui. An early start to the day was worth it to see the world come alive over the sea.

Gondola ride in Venice – epic travel moments

A truly iconic Italian city, Venice had been a place that I’d wanted to visit for such a long time so when I finally got the chance to go, I grabbed it with both hands.

Aside from eating all the carbs and enjoying the culturally accepted phenomenon that is drinking at any time of day, my fondest memory from our time in Venice was embarking on a Gondola ride along the famous Venetian canals.

Riding a motorbike on Bohol Island

From the abundance of memories that I’ve recollected from our trip around the world, there were many instances where I felt apprehensive and even completely and utterly terrified and the thought of getting on the back of a motorbike certainly fits that bill.

However, while I did spend the entire day grasping Matt’s shoulders so unbelievably tightly in fear of falling off, our day of exploring the island of Bohol and Panglao in the Philippines via motorbike is now one of my most epic travel moments.

Abandoned island in Oslo

I fell head over heels in love with Oslo when we went at the start of the year last year and it’s one of the most magical winter places I’ve ever seen.

Even though it was extremely cold, we hopped on a boat to a nearby island that appeared to be completely deserted. We spent a few hours exploring the mysterious island, admiring its ruins and snow-covered structures and it was a freezing, albeit incredibly magical day.

Surfing in Seminyak – epic travel moments

It’s highly unlikely that I’ll be entered into the world champion surfing competitions anytime soon but the two-hour lesson we had with a local instructor in Seminyak, Bali was a marvellous experience.

It was tiring and way more difficult than I’d anticipated but it showed me patience and perseverance and it turns out you’re not always good at something the first time you attempt it…

The view of the Gold Coast skyline from the beach

Australia’s beaches are some of the best I’ve ever seen (see above for the Whitsunday Islands), but when you combine bountiful beautiful beaches with seemingly endless stretches of city skyline, you’ve got a recipe for one of the most epic views in the world.

The Gold Coast was arguably my favourite place in Australia and somewhere that I could genuinely see myself living and the ability to enjoy the best of both worlds in terms of skyscrapers, sand and sea is a lifestyle that I certainly wouldn’t say no to.

Spending New Year’s Eve in Amsterdam

I never really bought into the hype of Amsterdam until Matt and I decided to go for New Year one year, but that trip saw me fall spectacularly in love with the vibrant city.

The night we spent in a huge club on New Year’s Eve, eagerly anticipating the inevitable countdown and drinking disgusting, far-too-expensive drinks, was certainly a New Year to remember.

Driving along Arthur’s Pass – epic travel moments

I think it’s probably more than clear by now just how epic New Zealand’s landscapes are and the views that you’re greeted by as you drive along Arthur’s Pass on the way back to Christchurch is one that rivals many others.

The snow-capped mountains tower above the road and as you drive towards them, you’re almost entirely convinced that they’ll swallow you up whole.

Related posts:

• The Best Things About Travelling Full Time
• 13 Things No One Tells You About Long Term Travel
• Adjusting To Life At Home After Travelling
• The Risk Of Travelling
• Travel Inspired New Year’s Resolutions

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What are some of your most epic travel moments? Let me know in the comments or on Instagram @imjustagirl_16.