Today’s guest is one of those random, serendipitous moments: someone I know from a real-world networking group saw some of our travel interviews and said she had a friend who would be perfect for our weekly column. Her friend was travelling around the world, though, and sometimes difficult to get ahold of. I was immediately interested – perhaps just for the challenging of tracking down Gina and hearing her story. (The funny part? Gina’s now suggested someone else I should be talking to. I feel like I’m now in a chain of fabulous traveller stories…)
Anyhow, serendipity and less-that-six-degrees-of-separation aside, here’s Gina and her story.
Could you introduce yourself?
My name is Gina Bees, I’m 37 and was living in London working in a pretty stressful job in IT before the trip. After going through a break up and re-evaluating some things about my life, I decided it was now or never so took 6 months out to travel around the world.
I know many of your experiences have been volunteering. Do you volunteer often, how have your experiences been?
Before the trip my only volunteering experience had been with the National Trust doing a weekend of clearing scrubs from an area of Specific Scientific Interest (SSI) in the South Downs. But after 4 months of ‘holiday’ on the trip, pleasing myself (and having some wonderful experiences on the way) I decided it was time to do some work. So I booked 2 weeks volunteering at an animal reserve in the Amazon Basin. Yana Cocha Rescue Center is near Puyo in Ecuador, it’s a a non-profit organization that strives for the protection of wildlife and prevention of illegal trafficking of Amazonian flora and fauna.
I arrived the first day and got to meet the other volunteers, they were a great bunch and everyone was very friendly and welcoming. The next day it was time to start work, first we cut up all the fruit and vegetables and prepared all the animals food according to their diet sheets. Then it was time to go out and feed them. It was an amzing experience getting so close to monkeys, caimans, big cats, birds, porcupines, squirrels, wild pigs, guinea pigs, tortoises cusumbos and my favourite the Cabeze de Mate’s. These were intelligent, ferret like animals that were inquisitive and playful, although you need to wear wellies as they like to chew your feet! I made a great impression on the first day as I fell waist deep into a muddy lagoon while feeding Rebecca the parrot. She was very polite and didn’t laugh but the other volunteers (of course) just happened to be walking past when I made my graceful fall from the log! Once they realised I was laughing as well (and not throwing a hissy fit) there was much merriment.
Every day was different, from searching for escaped animals, to caring for new ones brought in, to monkeys stealing our body creams, to giving medicine to sick animals and watching them recover, to nights out drinking tequila slammers! Inge the volunteer co-ordinator made everyone feel very welcome and I soon picked up the routine and have to admit to bidding a tearful farewell to the animals, and the humans at Yana Cocha that had touched my heart at the end of my two weeks.
Andy: What a great story. Your comments have made me reflect and realise that I’ve certainly not done as much volunteering as I could be doing. Must rectify!
Would I do something like that again? What advice would you give someone thinking of something like this?
Yes definitely! As a solo traveller it’s a wonderful way to meet people, it’s rewarding and satisfying. Go for as long as you can (I think a 3-4 weeks is ideal), be prepared to get muddy, throw yourself into everything. I can guarantee it will be a completely different experience than anything else you’ve ever done, so have a go at everything, you’d be surprised the skills you never knew you had (I found out I’m an expert net throwing fisherwoman
. And finally, look beyond the day to day work you’re doing volunteering, are there skills you have in your day to day life that you can offer to the centre? It’s not just about you getting something from the experience, but if you can offer something back that’s even better!
Andy: I think that regardless whether you’re solo, a couple or a family, “just be prepared to get muddy” is great travel advice that suits all sorts of situations, with or without monkeys. 
What’s the attraction with a round the world tour?
I couldn’t decide on any one continent, and I like change so thought doing round the world would allow me to experience it all! And going ’Round the World’ has such an exciting, adventous ring about it
What’s been your most inspirational travel experience?
Most inspirational experiences? There are so many, here’s a few:
- Travelling on motobikes in rural Cambodia, pootling along small unmade roads, covered head to foot in dust with the sun shining down. As we drive past small villages small children running out of their wooden shacks to shout Hello! wave and high five us as we go past. We stopped once to rest our weary behinds and a Grandmother, her two daughters and 4 grandchildren working in the rice fields in front of us offered us cold water and chatted about their lives and were so interested in our lives and what we did, where we lived etc. A real experience that taught me people around the world are all the same, everyone’s trying to make ends meet and enjoy themselves along the way. What we take for granted here in the West is how much easier the ’making ends meet’ bit is for us with electricity, clean running water, social services etc.
- Waking up Christmas morning to bright sunshine, 30 degrees heat and heading out to the beach in New Zealand. Mucking about in the sea with the surf crashing around us before cooking sausages on the beach in our Santa hats for a Christmas breakfast sausage sarnie.
- Climbing a volcano with my best friend who lives in New Zealand. And unlike the other ‘serious’ hikers celebrating at the top with a bottle of champagne and some cheese! Sitting at the campsite at the end of the day in the sunshine, and the relief of taking off the walking boots and socks and letting the fresh air get to our very weary feet but with a fantastic sense of exhiliration and achievement.
- Waking up on a boat every morning with the gentle rocking of the sea and the sounds of the birdlife around me ready for another day in the spectacular Galapagos Islands. Frolicking with sea lions on the beaches, swimming with manta rays, sharks and turtles when snorkelling there. Watching baby Boobies being fed by their parents, you will never, ever have a wildlife experience like it anywhere else!
- Sitting in a hammock on the balcony of my wooden hut in the amazon jungle, watching the sunset and listening to all the different sounds of the different animals, a dusk chorus that will stay with me forever.
- Being surprised on the last leg of the trip, as planned a friend was flying out from the UK to Buenos Aires to meet me. What was unplanned was another friend flying thousands of miles to surprise me, eyes were registering that she was stood right in front of me, brain couldn’t quite handle the shock, result was much goldfish like gaping!
Andy: How I do love a good surprise, either on the giving or receiving end!
How do you choose which destinations you’ll go? There world is an awfully big place.
The world is indeed a big place, but I’m lucky to have friends dotted around it. So Singapore and New Zealand were on the agenda from the outset, my best friend from school moved out to NZ about 8 years ago so it was always on the cards to spend Christmas and New Year with her. Singapore I dropped into visit friends and ended up going to a Ball, how may travellers have a ballgown in their backback?! I decided since I only had 6 months I didn’t want to be constantly ’passing through’ places so set out to do fewer countries but to spend a month in each one to really get to know that place, what makes it tick, what are the people like, what atmosphere etc. Cambodia was somewhere far removed from anything else I’d ever experienced and that was what I was looking for. Galapagos was a lifelong ambition and dream, the Amazon was too enticing to miss out on, and Buenos Aires was a perfect city for a girlie holiday with friends at the end of the trip. Favourite place? Loved all of them!
What advice do you have for people who are considering a round the world adventure?
DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! I never met one single person travelling that had regretted it. If you’ve ever looked out the window and dreamt about it, if you’ve been jealous of other people’s tales, if you think one day when you’re old you’ll regret never having done it. DO IT! There are ways to make it work from finding work along the way, to only taking a few months. It’s an experience you will never forget, something that will give you confidence, teach you about people and cultures around the world, and like me if you’re facing a crossroads can help you decide on what’s important in life and what path to take next. And if you’re worried about being a single traveller, don’t be. You will meet so many fascinating, lovely people and I’ve made friends that I know I’ll stay in touch with for a long time after the trip. I did a mix of organised trips and solo travelling, I was sensible and street wise and can honestly say I didn’t have one bad experience on the whole trip. People around the world are generally good and want to help you on your way.
Thanks, Gina, for sharing your amazing travel experiences and your Do It attitude. I wish that everyone could live life to the fullest like you. Readers, if you’d like to learn more about Gina, visit her travel blog, Gina’s World Tour.
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