As a first time traveller I'm still learning all the tricks of efficient packing, spending and getting around. I think packing was the thing that surprised me most. I started by taking everything I wanted to take out of my wardrobe, realising there was no way in hell it would fit in my backpack, cutting it down by a third and then realising I was still being too optimistic. This left me with about a weeks worth of everything for six months travelling*.. Here's to a lot of hand washing!
I looked to my oldest brother Rhys for advice as he has spent a good portion of his 20s travelling from South Africa and Thailand to the Ivory Coast and Costa Rica. He had some great tips but my favoruite comment came when I expressed my doubt over my clothing situation and in his words "you have to learn embrace the hobo-chic".
So grossly underweight bag in tow and hobo-chic clothing acquired, I left home. Leaving my dad is always tough. My family is incredibly close so knowing I wont be around for the next 6 months - missing holidays like Christmas & New Year and important birthday's - was hard to digest. However I decided to ease my way into travelling by making my first stop beautiful Brighton.
I spent a few days being incredibly lazy on Kyle's sofa and being fed copious amounts of cheese, before I caught the train up to London. I have a huge base in London because most of my close girlfriends from back home study there, as well as my brother Gareth. I love visiting because there is nothing better than a huge meal (cooked by my lovely chef brother Gareth) and a catch up with my girlies. And that's exactly what I got! After an emotional goodbye I parted ways with them all and caught the bus to Oxford where I spent the night with my brother Sean and his gorgeous fiancé Georgia. They showed me around their wedding venue the following morning (I think I'm more excited about this wedding then they are) and we waved goodbye before I met up with all my old uni friends for a night on the town. Needless to say I had an amazing night and my hangover was evidence enough (Emily if those videos go viral, you'll pay :P).
In Oxford I met up with my travel buddy Becki and we made our final stop our old housemate and good friend Karolien's, near Heathrow. Her family were very welcoming! I slept terribly that night tossing and turning with anxiety because the reality of what I was about to do finally hit me..
Roll on Monday 19th and our adventure officially began. Karolien waved us off and I anxiously made my way through security. I've had mixed emotions about leaving but I was glad that as I walked into the departures lounge, the anxiety became excitement and I knew we'd have an amazing time.
See you all in Bali!
S x
*I will later discover our scales at home didn't work and only packed 10kg of my allowed 20. Put your order in for presents now!
No comments:
Post a Comment