Neil’s Journey

A traveler’s account of his 35-day Bespoke Journey across southeastern Brazil with GOGO in 2018.

Note: In January 2022, Neil cAme back to do A 14-day Journey with us—this time in the espinhaço, as part of D/WT+LT. In August 2023, He came back for a third, 12-day Journey.

I would say that I’m a fairly well-seasoned traveler. I’ve lived in Switzerland & Costa Rica & Mexico. I’ve been across Latin America a couple of times, and most of Western Europe. There’s just so much out there that most people have no idea about; so many epic places & interesting people. I like the freedom, and also coming back with new stories. I usually do some pretty epic shit. (laughs)

I can honestly say that that first GOGO trip [in 2018] was one of the most epic trips I’ve ever taken. It opened some new doors for me as far as traveling goes. I’d done a lot of cool & interesting stuff, but not necessarily the kind of shit that we did on that trip. [My impression was that] you’d basically taken travel to a whole new level.

There was a 5- or 6-day trek through the mountains thrown in there during the middle of the trip where it was just like what the hell man. (laughs) It was like we took a mini-pilgrimage on foot during the middle of an epic roadtrip. Like holy shit, are you kidding me? Did we really just do that? It was crazy, and also insane how gorgeous it was.

I’ve had a knee injury—or maybe it was a trauma—since my soccer-playing days, so I’ve always avoided doing things that could possibly reinjure it. Some of the things we did on that trip were so mind-blowing, though, that I completely forgot about that limitation.

Minas was definitely the highlight for me—or at least the unexpected highlight. I mean, the whole trip was full of mind-blowing places. But Minas? The food, the architecture, the people. Who knew that place was so epic? What foreigner even knows that exists?

The most challenging day was probably that second day on the trail in Chapada. The first day was technically harder, but there was also this excitement about getting up into the mountains, where the scenery was just amazing. The second day was all closed, though. I was definitely out of shape, and there was a sense of danger, like we were on this never-ending trail into the jungle. It was definitely challenging, both mentally & physically.

I definitely came back thinner. (laughs) I also came back with some new energy, some new perspectives, and honestly just an appreciation for everything: for Brazil, the U.S., just everything. We did some pretty serious things, some pretty amazing things, and we got through it. It was about as epic an adventure as a person could have in 35 days.

Oh yeah, and my Portuguese got pretty good, too.