- No compromising. I get to go wherever I want to go and don't have to worry about whether the person I'm travelling with is having as much fun as I am, or vice versa! I'm an incessant people pleaser so this just wouldn't work.
- No arguments. A 2 week holiday is hard enough, but a year would surely end in someone getting throttled.
- I can control how my time is spent. Sometimes I love nothing more than being social and chatting about silly things and recounting old stories. But there are other times where I'd like to be alone with my thoughts. If I get on with a group of people then great, if not, I can just walk away.
- No scapegoat. Whatever happens is my doing. This will be great when I meet certain people, have certain experiences and achieve even the simplest of tasks (imagine the moment at the top of the steps in the Rocky films. That will be me when I've managed to navigate myself to the nearest toilet or somewhere equally important!).
- I don't have to worry about splitting costs. Travelling is expensive (durr!) and every penny will count. I don’t want to have to split pennies over a can of Sprite!
But planning this trip gave me time to think and really…I think I'd be better off going alone! I don't think I;d have the strength or patience to have someone else with me! That sounds terrible but I like my own space and I've always been quite independent. I'd like to be able to dictate my own time. Of course, I'm not a complete loner and I am looking forward to meeting new people and gauging the cultural stereotypes. But as you can see with my top 5 above, I think I'm going to get a lot more out of this trip if I go alone. Booking this trip is completely out of character for me so I think having someone there holding my hand for the duration (well not literally, I don't think any of my mates would appreciate that kind of attention!) would take the edge off it a bit.
The alternative of going with someone is booking a tour. The very thought of a tour makes me cringe. Out of a handful of people, there is bound to be one drainer. I’m sorry but there’s no polite way of putting it! Don't get me wrong, not everybody is programmed to get on with everyone else so I'm not proclaiming to be some legendary super-being that everyone likes. But…you know what I mean right? Even the guy that I'm booking my trip with couldn’t lie to me and said he’s had his fair share of brilliant and disastrous tours.
Well I've gone against everything I believe in and have booked an 8 day tour in America. I'm also planning on booking a trip to Niagara Falls and the Ultimate Lei in Fiji. I feel that if I do run out of money or have to budget hard in some places, at least there'll be parts of my trip that are paid for so, at those points, I won't be homeless and will be guaranteed food of some description.
I feel like everything's coming together now. I still have two trips to book but the dates haven't been released yet so there's nothing I can do about that. You can only book things 11 months in advance which sounds reasonable but it's a pain in the arse for a year long RTW trip! I wish I could just pay everything off now so I don't have to think about that side of things anymore. I still have my first day's accommodation to book and I need to sort a visa for Thailand and an ESTA for America. More paperwork, greeeat. I do feel a little more relaxed in the sense that, whenever something goes wrong or I'm having an off moment at work I just think "Screw it. In just over six months time I will be away from all this crap." It's a refreshing attitude to have and makes it easier to let things go.
Days left: 207 days left
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