Gisborne sisters Maika Akroyd (left) and Liana Pearless went on a trip of a lifetime through Dubai and across Europe as Kathmandu's Overseas Enthusiasts.
Gisborne sisters Maika Akroyd (left) and Liana Pearless went on a trip of a lifetime through Dubai and across Europe as Kathmandu's Overseas Enthusiasts.
Gisborne sisters Maika Akroyd and Liana Pearless are back in New Zealand after experiencing the trip of a lifetime.
The keen travellers landed dream roles as Kathmandu’s new Overseas Enthusiasts – a campaign that became the most-viewed job listing on Trade Me, attracting nearly 100,000views.
The sisters were selected out of 1182 applicants.
Their international journey began in late May and ended when they returned home in early September.
Their first port of call was Dubai. They then headed to Europe to do 12 more countries in 12 weeks.
“Our four-time great-grandfather [Manuel Jose] on our dad’s side was born in Spain,” Akroyd said.
“It was great to see where he was born, where he came from [the town of Valverde del Majano in the Segovia province near Madrid].”
The pair also did 120 kilometres of the Camino de Santiago trail with Intrepid. They initially thought they had signed up for 100km, only to discover it was 120.
“The Kathmandu gear that they gave us before we left was absolutely phenomenal for this walk because I didn’t have sweat patches on my back,” Akroyd said.
“We used the same backpacks every single day and we were also kind of freaking out about blisters, but we didn’t get a single blister with our hiking boots.”
The heat was challenging ... up to 30C.
From Spain, they headed to Portugal (Porto and capital city Lisbon), the Netherlands, France, Italy, Vatican City, Switzerland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Croatia, Austria and Germany.
In France they did a Normandy beaches tour, visiting spots from the 1944 D-Day Normandy landings.
The stunning Blue Grotto cave at Italy’s island of Capri was a highlight, as were wine-tasting tours.
Akroyd said ”one really cool thing” – which was not planned – was experiencing national holidays in three of the countries, including St Stephen’s Day in Hungary’s capital city Budapest and Swiss National Day.
