route summary

Most of our overland travel was by bus/minibus and it varied from downright uncomfortable to air-conditioned luxury.  Africa deserves a special mention; we took 76 buses during our four and a half months there and not a single one of them was air-conditioned.  Stifling heat, overcrowding and terrible driving were pretty much the norm.  Doors fell off on several occasions, windscreens resembled crazy paving and seatbelts were unheard of.  Of course this made for some memorable experiences and of all the continents we visited we look back on Africa with the most fondness.

We rented a car in New Zealand and South Africa and loved the freedom it gave us.  In Sri Lanka we had what amounted to a chauffeur for 10 days which worked out really well especially as we were able to split the cost with our parents who had flown out there to travel with us for a month.

We used taxis and tuk-tuks for short distances or when we had no other public transport options.

Here is the breakdown of our transport by type: