Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
We did not plan to leave Central America yet, but we've had an emergency and have to urgently return home. The trouble is that home is 7000 kilometres away from Granada, Nicaragua, which is where we are when we get the bad news. In the end, it took us 20 days to drive from Nicaragua to Canada, and this is the story of what happened along the way.
We got the bad news that Mico's sister has stage 4 cancer when we were in Granada, Nicaragua. We'd known for a couple of weeks that she may be dealing with a health issue, but to get the news that it was a stage 4 sarcoma was terrifying. We immediately wanted to be home, so we turned the car north and started driving.
Leaving Nicaragua, we made amazing progress by traveling through Honduras and into El Salvador all on the first day of this journey. We had a mishap at the border that set us back a little bit, but overall the start of this drive went well. We quickly traveled through El Salvador and into Guatemala to get as close to Canada as possible in the least amount of time. It was so strange to travel through all of these countries in a matter of days when we had spent over 7 months exploring them on the way south. It really helped us to appreciate how much these incredible countries have to offer in such small spaces.
After Guatemala, we arrived into Mexico. In the year and a half that we've been traveling in Mexico and Central America we've never been in a car accident, but our luck finally ran out. Our first morning in Mexico we woke up to our car having been hit from behind while being parked on the street, which just seemed to add insult to injury. We were grateful to not be hurt at all, and we were able to drive the car still, so we did our best to stay positive. It seemed a bit ironic that as we try to hurriedly get home to be with a sick family member, a car accident would happen for the first time on this trip.
With Central America behind us, we started the very long journey through Mexico. This is a seriously big country, and trying to get through it quickly really reminds you of just how large it is. Over the course of a few days we made our way to Puerto Vallarta, which was the end of the road trip for me (Nicole) and Evie. Evie and I had to fly home from here, which we explain in the video. Saying goodbye to each other in Puerto Vallarta was hard. Mico was having to do the rest of the road trip by himself, and it wasn't how we imagined ending this part of our travels, but life rarely goes as we planned.
Evie and I successfully made the flight back to Canada with only a few tears while Mico continued driving the Rav-4 North. It took him two more days of driving to reach the Mexico/USA border, but he did it! And then began the USA part of his journey. Another 5 or 6 days of driving, a few popped tires, a terrible winter storm, and the first double double in 1.5 years, and he was home with us.
It took us 1.5 years to drive from Canada to Nicaragua, and just 20 days to drive back. We are so grateful to have been able to share this journey with you and to have had the opportunity to explore such a beautiful part of the world in such depth. For now, we are eager to be home with family to spend as much time as possible with the people we love. Give your loved ones a hug today :)
SafetyWing is our go-to for travel insurance while full-time traveling in Nicaragua (and beyond): tinyurl.com/ycxud5ch
== Connect with us! ==
♥ Instagram: @nicoleandmico_
♥ Website: nicoleandmico.com
♥ Email: hello@nicoleandmico.com
== OUR FAVOURITE TRAVEL GEAR ==
+ Matador soap bar case: amzn.to/3S9JheW
+ Travel Adapter (Universal): amzn.to/3HEwqL3
+ Makeup Remover Cloth (Erase-Your-Face): amzn.to/47lUP3a
+ Solid shampoo and conditioner: amzn.to/3T
+ HeroClip Carabiner: amzn.to/3itXX5Z
+ Ex-Officio Underwear: amzn.to/47rT7NF
+ Toiletry kit: shoptripped.com/nicoleandmico-holiday24-toiletry
+ OmniCharge (all-in-one battery bank): tinyurl.com/36hssspu
+ Vessi Everyday Classic sneakers: https://crrnt.app/VESSI/pgldkja7
Our FULL Packing List: nicoleandmico.com/our-packing-list
*Some of the links above are affiliate links and we may get a commission at no cost to you if you choose to use a link to purchase a product!
== Chapters ==
0:00 The reason we're going home
15:30 It finally happened
31:50 Parting ways
40:00 The USA
52:00 Almost home
#centralamerica #travel #roadtrip
We did not plan to leave Central America yet, but we've had an emergency and have to urgently return home. The trouble is that home is 7000 kilometres away from Granada, Nicaragua, which is where we are when we get the bad news. In the end, it took us 20 days to drive from Nicaragua to Canada, and this is the story of what happened along the way.
We got the bad news that Mico's sister has stage 4 cancer when we were in Granada, Nicaragua. We'd known for a couple of weeks that she may be dealing with a health issue, but to get the news that it was a stage 4 sarcoma was terrifying. We immediately wanted to be home, so we turned the car north and started driving.
Leaving Nicaragua, we made amazing progress by traveling through Honduras and into El Salvador all on the first day of this journey. We had a mishap at the border that set us back a little bit, but overall the start of this drive went well. We quickly traveled through El Salvador and into Guatemala to get as close to Canada as possible in the least amount of time. It was so strange to travel through all of these countries in a matter of days when we had spent over 7 months exploring them on the way south. It really helped us to appreciate how much these incredible countries have to offer in such small spaces.
After Guatemala, we arrived into Mexico. In the year and a half that we've been traveling in Mexico and Central America we've never been in a car accident, but our luck finally ran out. Our first morning in Mexico we woke up to our car having been hit from behind while being parked on the street, which just seemed to add insult to injury. We were grateful to not be hurt at all, and we were able to drive the car still, so we did our best to stay positive. It seemed a bit ironic that as we try to hurriedly get home to be with a sick family member, a car accident would happen for the first time on this trip.
With Central America behind us, we started the very long journey through Mexico. This is a seriously big country, and trying to get through it quickly really reminds you of just how large it is. Over the course of a few days we made our way to Puerto Vallarta, which was the end of the road trip for me (Nicole) and Evie. Evie and I had to fly home from here, which we explain in the video. Saying goodbye to each other in Puerto Vallarta was hard. Mico was having to do the rest of the road trip by himself, and it wasn't how we imagined ending this part of our travels, but life rarely goes as we planned.
Evie and I successfully made the flight back to Canada with only a few tears while Mico continued driving the Rav-4 North. It took him two more days of driving to reach the Mexico/USA border, but he did it! And then began the USA part of his journey. Another 5 or 6 days of driving, a few popped tires, a terrible winter storm, and the first double double in 1.5 years, and he was home with us.
It took us 1.5 years to drive from Canada to Nicaragua, and just 20 days to drive back. We are so grateful to have been able to share this journey with you and to have had the opportunity to explore such a beautiful part of the world in such depth. For now, we are eager to be home with family to spend as much time as possible with the people we love. Give your loved ones a hug today :)
SafetyWing is our go-to for travel insurance while full-time traveling in Nicaragua (and beyond): tinyurl.com/ycxud5ch
== Connect with us! ==
♥ Instagram: @nicoleandmico_
♥ Website: nicoleandmico.com
♥ Email: hello@nicoleandmico.com
== OUR FAVOURITE TRAVEL GEAR ==
+ Matador soap bar case: amzn.to/3S9JheW
+ Travel Adapter (Universal): amzn.to/3HEwqL3
+ Makeup Remover Cloth (Erase-Your-Face): amzn.to/47lUP3a
+ Solid shampoo and conditioner: amzn.to/3T
+ HeroClip Carabiner: amzn.to/3itXX5Z
+ Ex-Officio Underwear: amzn.to/47rT7NF
+ Toiletry kit: shoptripped.com/nicoleandmico-holiday24-toiletry
+ OmniCharge (all-in-one battery bank): tinyurl.com/36hssspu
+ Vessi Everyday Classic sneakers: https://crrnt.app/VESSI/pgldkja7
Our FULL Packing List: nicoleandmico.com/our-packing-list
*Some of the links above are affiliate links and we may get a commission at no cost to you if you choose to use a link to purchase a product!
== Chapters ==
0:00 The reason we're going home
15:30 It finally happened
31:50 Parting ways
40:00 The USA
52:00 Almost home
#centralamerica #travel #roadtrip
