Preparation, Preparation, Preparation

“Life passed most people by while they’re busy making grand plans for it” Johnny Depp, Blow

The idea of travelling has laid dormant in my mind for years, crept to the surface slightly after graduating, but was bypassed for, what seemed at the time, more important matters.

Enter my good friend Helen. A lovely young lady who worked in the same office as me for a few months. In that time she mesmerised me with heady tales of her time in far flung countries. I listened in amazement as she described dreamy experiences like they were nothing more than a typical day’s tidbits. While I was sat at home experimenting with a new font on my CV, Helen was playing Maasai tribal dress up before setting off on an African safari trip. While I was channel hopping on a Sunday night, putting off the inevitable final sleep before the working week began, Helen was surrounded by the clear white sands and translucent waters of the hidden Thai islands. You get the picture. The funny thing is, Helen’s the same age as me. While I’ve been sat around fretting about what I should be doing and trying to plan out my life, Helen’s been living hers! Helen was part of my wake up call and I will always be truly thankful to her for that.

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From a young age my Dad repeated the same message to me. “Don’t forget the 5 Ps. Preparation Prevents a Piss Poor Performance." Perhaps not the wisest of words to say to a young child - “Daddy just said piss. Tee hee”.
Nevertheless, this maxim has forever stayed with me and I have always strived to embody this. If the shit hits the fan - an often occurrence in my life so it seems - at least I can rest assured that I tried my best. That’s all you can ask for really.

I’ve spent the past few months stalking the library renting out dozens of travel books swotting up. I thought the hardest part was making the decision to go travelling. Oh ho ho no. For me, the challenge has been deciding on where to go…well more like where not to go this time round. Hence the giant leap from a few months in Australia to a RTW trip. The more I read, the more I fell in love with certain places. I now have a list. A very long list. A wish list of places I’d like to visit and sights I’d like to see before I kick the bucket.

My current itinerary for my first adventure:

Japan - 1 month

Unfortunately it will be autumn when I visit Japan so I will have missed the much talked about cherry blossom (sakura) season. Instead I’ll be looking to trek Mt. Fuji, ride the Shinkansen, immerse myself in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, visit the temples and gardens in Kyoto as well as the bamboo grove…and so on. I have a month to explore this beautiful country so the list of experiences and places to visit is mighty!

Thailand - 6 weeks

I have applied for a four week volunteers placement at a Hill Tribe community project. There is the option to teach children English…those who know me will be laughing out loud at this moment. Not only am I useless with children, I think I’m allergic. I’ve always had a weird phobia of children. They freak me out!

During my free time I hope to learn how to cook Thai food (properly!) and explore the markets. Once my voluntary work has ended I have two weeks to travel down to Singapore for my flight to Australia. I hope to do a bit of island hopping ending with a Full Moon Party on Kho Phangan.

Australia - 6 months

I will land in Melbourne and fly out of Brisbane. As I will be spending a large chunk of my trip here, I hope to find a job to fund my activities. I’m not entirely sure what I will do in Oz. I’m thinking that this will be the most social part of my trip so will inevitably leave a lot to chance. What I do and where I go will depend on who I meet and what the job prospects are like.

New Zealand - 6 weeks

I will land in Auckland and fly out of Christchurch. This is one part of my trip I haven’t read too much about just yet so, for now, I’m not entirely sure what I will be doing!

Fiji - 7 -10 days

This is where I get to relaaaaaax…I will be island hopping and generally doing chuff all. Maybe a bit of snorkelling but it depends if I can be bothered to move from my hammock.

USA - 6 weeks or so

I will land in LA and am thinking about travelling down to San Diego for a few days but it will depend on how much money I’ll have left when I reach America. I will be booking a little tour from LA to San Francisco. I will then spend a week in San Fran. I’m debating whether to fly to Chicago for a few days or go straight to New York. Once I’m in NYC I’d like to visit Boston and Washington DC and hope to book a trip to Niagara Falls. I’d like to spend a week in NYC, a week in Boston and a few days in Washington DC. Again, it depends on the pennies.

London - August 25th 2012

I will arrive back at London Heathrow where - judging on America’s portion sizes - I will be fat, skint and teary as I embrace my parents and wave goodbye to my year of adventure. Back to reality.

The planning and preparation has been an uplifting experience. At first it was slightly overwhelming with how many things I needed to think about and decisions I had to make. Now that everything is starting to fit into place I can finally start to get excited. Until I booked the first element of my trip, this was still a dream. Now it’s going to happen it’s something I can look forward to. I can’t actually remember the last time I was this happy - without the aid of alcohol, chocolate or s….unny weather ahem.

I will be uploading thoughts, anecdotes, quotes and hopefully photos. Firstly, so I have a written account of my time before, during and after my trip to look back on. Secondly, so my Mum knows I’m still alive while I’m away. Finally, and perhaps an ambitious after-thought, it’d be nice if I could be a part of someone else’s wake up call, like Helen was for me.