The Longest Travel Day in the History of the World Race

Last week, I was in Bolivia. Now, I’m in Cambodia. And it took SEVEN DAYS to get here.

Monday morning, New Year’s Day, began at 5AM when my team and I woke up to finish packing, clean our house, and get to the bus station in La Paz, Bolivia. We were picked up by a van just after 6AM, and crammed 9 people and our 14 giant backpacks (basically, our entire lives) into it, and my other 5 teammates took the Teleferico (otherwise known as a ski lift) into the city. Our entire squad met up at the bus station. 

Our buses left at 8:30AM. My team, our squad leaders, and one other squadmate were on a separate bus than the rest of the squad because we didn’t all fit on that bus. There was no bathroom, and the first leg of the trip was about 3 hours. So with no other option, one of my teammates used a Pringles can as a latrine and then threw it out the window.

Eventually we arrived at our next stop: Lake Titicaca. We got off the bus and the bus was driven onto a ferry and floated across the lake. We got onto a separate boat and inched across. Then we loaded back onto the bus, and continued our journey.

We stopped at the town of Copacabana, near the border of Peru. We had to take vans the rest of the way to the border because the bus wouldn’t go any farther. We went through customs on the Bolivian side, walked all our things about 10 minutes over the border, then went through Peruvian customs.

Then we climbed into yet another large van for a two-hour ride to Puno, Peru. The van dropped us at the bus station, so we loaded our big packs and a few people into two taxis and walked the rest of the way to our hostel. End Day 1.

Begin Day 2. Our next leg of travel didn’t begin until Wednesday, so we had all of Day 2 to explore Peru. Some teammates went for a boat tour on the lake, but I stayed in the city of Puno. I went to a park and read a book, went window shopping for souvenirs, and relaxed in coffee shops. It was lovely. End Day 2.

Begin Day 3. We were to meet at the hostel with all our things in the lobby at 3PM, which left us the morning to do as we pleased. I went to a cafe and drank tea and ate salad. Then at 3:30PM, we boarded a bus headed for the airport in Juliaca. We waited there for about 3 hours for the check-in counter to open, then checked in, went through security, waited some more, and boarded the plane to Lima. We arrived there around 12:30AM, and then searched for a place to sleep. We had set up our sleeping pads in a hallway, but were directed to move to another area, where we were able to sleep for about 4 hours. End Day 3.

Begin Day 4. We checked in again early in the morning and went through security again, and boarded our flight to Miami. We had a long layover there, so I went to Fedex and mailed some things home to my parents, and some teammates and I went to Texas Roadhouse. That was great! Then we went back to the airport for night 2 of sleeping in an airport, and got about 5 hours of sleep. End Day 4.

Begin Day 5. We checked in and went through security, yet again, and then boarded our flight to Atlanta. It was a short flight followed by a short layover there. 8 of us were put on a separate flight than the rest of the squad because again there weren’t enough seats for all of us, so it was there that we split up. We would reunite in South Korea.

The fifteen-and-a-half hour flight went by surprisingly quickly. I slept only 2 hours to help with the adjustment to the time change (this is 11 hours ahead of where we were in Bolivia). End Day 5.

Begin Day 6. We landed in Seoul with just enough time to make our way to our next flight to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This last flight was about 5 hours. Upon arrival, we were informed that the luggage of those 8 people that had been on the separate flight had not made it to Cambodia. We filled out the lost luggage info and headed to our hostel for the night. End Day 6.

Begin Day 7. We boarded a bus bound for Siem Reap at 12:30PM, and with a few bathroom and restaurant breaks along the way, arrived in the city at 6:30. We waited at the bus station for our transportation to our ministry site for the month. Before long, our tuk tuks arrived (a tuk tuk is a motorcycle pulling a cart that can seat up to 4 people). At last, we made it to our site, Overflow Guest House, which was just outside the city. 

We’ll be here for about 3 more weeks– 2 weeks of ministry, then an event called Awaken (where all World Race squads will meet up, here at Overflow), then our squad Month 4 Debrief.

I know this is a long blog, but trust me, I still left out a ton of details and whatnot. 

Look out for my next blog to see what our ministry is this month, and what life is like in Cambodia!

I still need a lot of funding, so please pray about donating and share with your friends and family!