Sorting my life out

Its now 2 weeks until I step onto a plane, and Sometimes I wonder if im just making a big deal out of all of this traveling.  I mean its a big deal for me, and for my family, but for everyone else, does it really matter?  People seem to have life changing experiences every day and for most people a gap year is now du jour.

But traveling for me, and telling my story does mean alot.  Its something I have always wanted to do, growing listening to my Dads stories of living in Australia for 6 months, and my Mum living in New York when she was a teenager.  These are the things that coloured my childhood and left a strong imprint.  The fact I have no family (apart from immediate family) around where I live has meant I have no strong attachments to where I live, not improved by the fact that nearly all my friends have moved away.  I feel as though I am being kept here by a thread, which is my family bond, and although I will miss my Mum, Dad and Brother, I need to fly free.

I am hoping that this trip will change me, for the better.  There are alot of traits I do not like about myself, which I feel are learnt behaviors, and hopefully a complete change will help me break the habits of a lifetime.  I also hope to become less introverted, and more able to start conversations freely with new people.  I feel staying in hostels will be a baptism of fire, which I badly need!

I feel I am half way there, having thrown and sold a lot of my old life, its quite exciting, to know I will have very little apart from what is in my backpack.  It really isn't material possessions that matter after all, but the experiences we create and have and the people we meet along the way.

Backpacking Vs Partying...

It's almost an inevitable part of traveling, although in some backpacking circles it is considered almost a  dirty word... Partying.

The photo above is from Me and Andy's first stint of traveling, which lasted 2.5 weeks, around Europe.    We did alot of drinking in that trip, but much less partying, more hanging out with other travelers, and even if you do party in Europe, you dont feel bad as it is such an ingrained part of our culture in  the West (although the big groups of hen/stag nights in Prague did feel abit wrong).  However when travelling in developing countries you feel like rich Westerners taking advantage of their home and cultures.

There does seem to be a distinct difference in backpackers minds between Backpacking, and ahem "holidaying", which is looked down upon by "seasoned" travelers  And part of the difference seems to be to do with how much partying you do.

Now I do get the gist of concept as I will, when I leave the UK, consider myself a traveller, and a backpacker, and not a holiday maker.  My way of defining the 2 is that a holiday maker will visit one main location, stay for a short time, and not wish to give up some of the creature comforts of home eg hygiene and toilet facilities etc, whilst a traveller will go to a new place to soak up the local culture, will probably stay away from home longer and will visit several places, and not mind so much about the creature comforts.

Now even as the fairly eco conscious, cultured person I am, I still would like to indulge my hedonistic side (all be it fairly inoften, as most of the time I think we will be "hanging out" rather than partying), and the 3 main places  I am excited about going to for this reason are -



1) Thailand - Koh Phangan or The Full Moon Party
Doubtlessly most people will have heard of Thailand's famous full moon parties.  They are held in a crescent shaped bay in Koh Phangan, once a month under the full moon.  Its sounds romantic and hippyish (which it was when it started), but nowadays it is really much a rave full of Western drunk tourists.  Alot of people try to score drugs there which is inadvisable as Thailand has very strict drug laws (and hefty prison sentences).  Im pretty sure the party could be horrific but it is somewhere I have wanted to go for awhile, and plan to do so.  There is some good advice here about "surviving" the full moon party.

2) Laos - Vang Vieng or Tubing along the Nam Song River
A slightly less well known party spot, but pretty big on the Banana pancake trail.   Basically you get in a rubber tube at the start of the bars/clubs and then tube along the river until you get to the next bar and a barman throws a line out to you and then pulls you in, so you can drink.  I was pretty captivated by the idea of this until I found out how many people DIED, yes died there last year, and how if you dont die or get injured from tubing/diving/sliding you can pick up a pretty nasty bacterial infection from the water.  So although I want to go I think i'll stick to walking around the town.

3) Indonesia - The Gili Isles
This is the place I am at the moment most looking forward to.  It is beautiful and tiny, with no cars or motorbikes allowed, so peaceful!  It does look like paradise!

So there you have my top 3 party destinations!  Im sure many more will crop up on my way round the world!

To Asia and beyond....

View Traveling in a larger map

I though in this entry I would give you guys some info on where we are going, and what we are seeing.

Here is the google map of our travels with the main places we are seeing, and the general route we are taking.

I thought I would list some of the things I really want to do/see while we are there that aren't just the ordinary ones you hear about

India - Chittorgarh Fort - Just looks really epic, and exciting

Vietnam - Ha Long Bay - Andy's sister went and said it was incredible

Cambodia -Angkor Wat - Largest Hindu Temple complex in the world, I have a feeling this is going to be amazing to photograph somehow...

Thailand - Wat-rong-khun - The white temple is just absolutely stunning, I saw a photo a while back, and it is something that I have to see.  Take a look at the link as it is gorgeous, in white stone, and the sculptures are amazingly detailed.

Singapore - Singapore Botanic gardens - Its free what more do you want?

New Zealand - Black Water Rafting - Going through caves in complete darkness in a rubber ring, while glow worms light the caves like stars around you... YES PLEASE!

There are plenty more!  If you have any exciting suggestions please leave me a comment!

Camera to a good home

So there is 153 days left before I go or  less than 5 months if you prefer, my original draft of this says 186 days to go, which says 1) I am lazy about posting on my blog and 2) shows how much faster time is going now.

There is still so much to do and decide although the plans are looking much better now, much more concrete its much more about finalizing how much time we shall spend in each place after Hong Kong, and also how we shall get around etc.

I am much more aware and worried more than ever about the fiances of this trip now, as Andy made me do what I have (will most likely continue to try and do) been trying desperately to avoid, which is look over my savings.  I am very good with the whole picture but I am horribly rubbish about little details, such as where is all this money coming from....  As I already knew Andy has alot more money than me, although I have been trying hard to save, I have been overspending on "FUN" which now seems to be a swearword until we depart Britain. I now have the grand sum of £5 to spend on "fun" a month.

The problem for me is I still have my student overdraft, which needs to be paid off, and It looks like I will have to sell my beloved Canon camera to pay for it.  I had been worried about taking it with me as it is worth abit, and its also incredible big and heavy for carrying around with me.  But it does make me sad to sell it, as I want someone to love it as much as I do, which is stupid and sentimental, but its how I feel! Saying that though I'm now starting to think about what camera I will buy to replace it as I will need something fairly good but light, and if anyone has any ideas please comment!  I like the look of the Olympus Pen, but I haven't really been looking all that much.

We should be booking the rest of our trip around the 25th which is amazing!  I really can't wait now, although there is still so much to sort out!

The 1st October...

Hello!  Sorry about lack of posting, it's been a full few months with the new job, my friends wedding, and all of Christmas to contend with, but I'm back, focusing on traveling now!

We now have a confirmed date for booking at STA on 10th February, which is very exciting, and the day before we are taking Andy's Sister, Lisa, and her partner out for lunch as they will just be back from doing their round the world trip, so we can get all the gossip from them about where to go, and how to spend our time, which is very important (not to mention where to go on the cheap!)  If your interested to see Lisa's trip check out her blog.

We have also set out a date to leave which is *Drum roll* 1st October, which is a Monday, so kind of perfect!  So 269 days left!

We more or less have a route now too, and we have solved our dilemma, of Japan or India, and we are going to India (thank you Andy).  I think in the end it was the money situation that won out as Japan will be a vast amount more expensive than India!  Either way I'm ecstatic!

I will be writing again soon
Ciao

So It begins

Me and Andy have made our first trip to STA (in Leeds), I think its really helped just to clarify to us that our trip is possible with the unfortunate exception of India Vs. Japan, which I knew might be a problem.  The problem is I have wanted to go to India since I was a little girl.  My Dad gave me a Indian Barbie doll when I was little, and ever since then I have been entranced by the culture.  Andy however isn't so bothered about India, as he wants to visit the technology mecca that is Japan, and sadly I don't think either of us will budge and unless we can find a suitable solution (which unfortunately won't be traveling to Japan from Australia to have a mini holiday, as the flights just back from Japan to Australia are £1000 each, I think I actually squealed when we found that out) we might have to flip a coin to decide our beginning city! But either way im still so excited.  We still have one long year to go. but its an amazing start!