RTW Travel Destinations
Below you will find a list of destinations I visited during my Round-The-World Trip. It wasn’t really a trip around the world as you might imagine it. From one country to another going east or west and rounding the globe. My trip around the world looks more like an attempt to flee across the globe after robbing the crown jewels of the Emperor of Japan. As if I had been on a wild goose chase with the Japanese authorities.
Hong Kong
From Japan, we flew to Hong Kong. Why Hong Kong you might ask. Because it was cheap to fly from Japan to Hong Kong. I actually wanted to start with the UK but a direct flight would have been too expensive, and so we made a stop in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is an impressive city, and with 5 days we had enough time to explore it. Read the ‘Things to do in Hong Kong like a local‘ post to find out what we did there.
One of the absolute highlights of Hong Kong was my Hong Kong Foodie Tour. Read the full review of it here.
United Kingdom
After our 5 day adventure in Hong Kong, we flew to the UK. Where we first explored a little bit of London and then rented a car to drive around England.
In about 2 weeks we visited Bath, the Cotswolds, Oxford, Manchester, and Newcastle upon Tyne. On our way back to London we also made stops in York and Cambridge.
My two favorite cities were Bath and Oxford. I have written a post about each.
In Scotland, we were joined by my parents. In one week we drove around Scotland, visiting Edinburgh, Doune Castle, Pitlochry, Blaire Castle, Inverness, Rogie Falls, the Isle of Skye, Fort William, Glen Coe, Sterling, and Falkirk.
You can read the full Scotland road trip itinerary and everything else you need to know about a trip to Scotland here.
During our visit, the weather in Scotland was awful with lots of rain, cold wind, and gray days.
Germany
My visit to Germany was part home visit part traveling the country.
While we did spend time with my family and also took the opportunity to visit friends around the country we did find the time to explore some of the most interesting cities in Germany.
Not only Munich, where I am originally from but also Heidelberg, Cologne, and Hamburg.
I highly recommend all four cities if you are planning a stop in Germany during your trip around the world.
Portugal
Lisbon was a short 2-day stopover on our way to Morocco and the African continent.
The city was very interesting with its old castle, delicious food, and cute yellow trams crisscrossing the city.
Morocco
I had been wanting to visit Morocco ever since I saw the beautiful pictures my friend showed me of her holiday. The colorful cities, winding streets, and desert landscapes.
We started our trip around Morocco in Fes, then went to Chefchaouen, Tangier, Rabat, Marrakesh, the Sahara, and finally Casablanca.
Getting around Morocco by bus is quite easy once you have figured out the app, which is in French or Arabic only.
I enjoyed Chefchaouen, the blue city most of all, but our time in Rabat and Marrakesh where we stayed with locals was also memorable.
Egypt
Egypt might just have been the most disappointing part of my RTW trip. I had high expectations and booked an expensive river cruise for 7 days including guided visits to the pyramids and other famous sights in the country.
The boat trip itself was disappointing. It was too hot to do anything but stay in the room all day. The food was mediocre and the guided trips to different places along the Nile weren’t that great either.
The highlight of Egypt were the pyramids and the valley of the kings.
I recommend planning your Egypt trip by yourself, river cruises and tour guides aren’t worth the money.
South Africa
I had heard a lot about South Africa and was really looking forward to it.
We only visited Johannesburg and Cape Town, and both cities were very interesting experiences.
Johannesburg
In Johannesburg, we joined the Jozi Free Walking Tours where we learned a lot about history but also current life in the city. The Apartheid Museum is also a must-visit place if you are in the city.
We booked our accommodation via booking.com and stayed in a lovely room at Rose Garden Guest House run by Christine who is a lovely host, and very helpful. We felt right at home there. Book your stay at Rose Garden Guest House on booking.com
Cape Town
Cape Town was very different from Johannesburg. For one, I never felt unsafe there (even though we heard about another guy in our hostel who got robbed in broad daylight). Cape Town is a modern city with delicious cafes and restaurants, beautiful architecture and amazing surrounding nature. Great infrastructure makes it easy to get to different tourist places.
As always, we joined a tour, this time with Cape Town Free Walking Tours to learn about the city.
We also joined a day trip to the penguin colony and the Cape of Good Hope. The penguins were extremely cute and taking pictures at the Cape of Good Hope was just something we had to do while in South Africa. You can book the tour here.
In Cape Town, we stayed at Urban Hive Backpackers. The shared rooms were a little bit cramped but clean and all in all, it was a good place to stay. Book the Urban Hive Backpackers on booking.com
Namibia
From Cape Town we took a 24-hour bus to Namibia’s capital Windhoek. It was the first (but not the last) really long bus trip we took during our trip and it was an adventure.
In Namibia, we decided to rent a car and explore the whole country in 8 days. Driving a gigantic counter-clockwise circle.
Etosha National Park
We spent 2 days driving through the Etosha National Park on a self-guided safari. It was our first safari and an amazing experience.
We were able to see elephants and giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, lions, and even rhinoceroses. All animals in Etosha get together at the watering holes which makes it very easy to see them.
In Etosha, we spent the night camping at Halali camp inside the park. It has a pool as well as a watering hole close by where you can see elephants and other animals during sunset. It was a magical experience.
Opuwo
We went to Opuwo to visit the Himba people, said to have the most beautiful women in the world.
Quick research revealed that we would find a local guide in the parking lot of Opuwo’s main supermarket, and we did find one without a problem.
Skeleton Coast
Our luck started to run out on the way to the Skeleton Coast. After around 30 minutes on the road, we had a flat tire. We had already expected this might happen at some point with the awful roads in Namibia.
We changed to the spare tire, and drove back to our lodge to get a new one.
About 1 hour after re-starting our trip another tire burst. We decided it was not enough time to drive back again but rather decided to drive roughly 300 kilometers on awful roads to Swakopmund, our goal for the day and the next big city.
It cost a lot of nerves driving all day without a spare tire on roads that are almost empty and with no cell reception. But we were lucky and arrived in Swakopmund at around 7 p.m.
Swakopmund
Swakopmund reminds of a German town, with German roads and buildings.
It was fun to explore the town on our day in Swakopmund.
The next day we bought a new tire in Swakopmund and made our way to Sesriem to visit the Death Valley the day after.
But again, we weren’t lucky and rain swept away our plans in a flood. We spent the night camping in a toilet and the next morning the streets were flooded.
We decided to end our road trip of Namibia there and return to Windhoek.
If there is one thing I recommend if you want to do a road trip in Namibia, it’s to pay the extra money and get a car with 4 wheel drive. Our Toyota Corolla was not up for the job.
A second tip would be to take your time. 8 days is not enough to see the country. You will spend most of the time in the car, and that’s just not fun at all.
