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I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to blog again, even though there have been so many exciting developments in my life. I think the best way to tell you what’s happened is to go back to the morning I arrived in New Zealand.
Once I’d arrived in in New Zealand after another very long flight, I spent an hour going through the very strict control at the airport having my bag searched and my shoes checked- not for bombs but for seeds, as New Zealand has to be very careful that foreign plants and animals are not introduced as they could damage the eco-structure that hangs in a very delicate balance in New Zealand. After that I muddled my way around the airport and got onto a shuttle bus, that after an hour and a half, would get me to my next bed of the trip.
The hostel looked uncannily like a mental institution, and I crawled into bed at sunrise to get a few hours sleep before exploring. Auckland was bright and sunny and although it was early winter it was surprisingly warm. I first went down into the harbour to overlook the amazing view of some of the smaller islands that make up Auckland’s 625 km2 sprawl. After that I went back into downtown Auckland and decided to go up the SkyTower- The southern hemisphere’s tallest structure. It was scary, but the views were incredible. Auckland is made up of over 50 volcanoes that have risen out of the sea over time, making it incredibly hilly terrain, and from the top of the tower you could almost count all of the extinct volcanoes. While I was in Auckland, I did the usual tourist route around the city, taking in the brilliant aquarium and antarctic museum (complete with an icy penguin sanctuary!), the zoo, walking on some stunning beaches before deciding to crack on with getting a job sorted, as it had been nearly three weeks since I’d earned any money at all and my funds were dwindling. So I started looking on various sites for jobs, which were fairly plentiful, if a bit dull- bar work or shop work mainly. After a few hours of looking online I realised the real extent of the massive size of Auckland, and that the jobs advertised were from every corner of the city. So then I started thinking that really I should decide where I wanted to work, I should find somewhere to live and job hunt in that area. But how can you get a house without a job? But how do you get a job without knowing where abouts in the city you’d be able to live? it was at that point that I started thinking about completely restructuring the rest of my trip and coming home early. After all, if I was going to be working a long day, and living my life as if I was in England, but while missing my family and friends, what was the point in staying away? I went to visit a place to live in “trendy Ponsonby”, which was a good omen, as I’d heard a lot of good things about the area. I took a taxi, as I had no idea where to go, and it took me past all these lovely houses and apartments, and the cab driver turned into the road that the house was situated on and my spirits lifted as it was gorgeous. Then it pulled up outside the house I’d come to visit. It was a run down old bungalow that looked like it had been used as a squat for the last ten years, complete with an old bed outside. I couldn’t find anyone around to let me in, even though I’d made an appointment, and left feeling disappointed. But, the rent was cheap, so when I was back at the hostel, I phoned the landlord and said that I’d take the room. Who then informed me that the rent had gone up to $800 dollars with a four month rent deposit, which was just ridiculous amounts of money. Obviously I had to decline the kind offer.
After meeting someone that was staying in the same hostel as me that was in the same predicament, he posed two simple questions to me. “What do you want to do in New Zealand?” and “Why are you here?”, and I couldn’t think of a single answer to either of those questions, and something clicked in my brain- I wanted to go home. As soon as possible. I missed Rick, I missed my family, I was worried about my family as my mum wasn’t very well at the time and was scheduled in for an operation, and there were strange family dynamics that were affecting my whole family following the death of my aunt just before I left. As soon as I realised, I was instantly so much happier, it felt as though a weight had been lifted. I booked my flight the next day and three days later I was on my way home, via Sydney, Hong Kong and Heathrow, to find Rick and my family waiting for me at the gates.
From that day on, everything has passed in a blur, I’ve never known time pass so quickly. Within two months Rick and I had moved in together, and within two months and a week Rick and I were engaged! There’s been trips to St Helens to meet with Rick’s family, a trip to Marrakech for Rick’s birthday, lots of gigs gone to (some memorable, and some not!), fancy dress festivals, a trip to Paris (and to Disneyland!!) and lots of wedding planning. the family business has also expanded, we opened a new shop in may and has been better than any of our expectations! It has meant a lot of hard work, but it’s great seeing it pay off.
Best of all has just been time spent with Rick planning our life together, which has been incredibly exciting and there’s been a lot to learn about living with a partner! In less than six weeks I’ll be married, and onto our first adventure as a married couple- I’m taking Rick to Guatemala, somewhere that meant to much to me at the start of my trip, and somewhere that I knew from the first time I set foot there, that Rick would love it.
I can’t wait!
I’ve woken up feeling very excited this morning. I had my last day at work yesterday, and my work’s leaving do was great- a takeaway curry and a night in with my Mum (for those of you that don’t know, my Mum is my boss!). Today I’m going to my Grandparent’s house to say goodbye to my extended family on my Mum’s side, who I’m very close to. That means I also have to say goodbye to my Godson, who I love so much, and who always grows up even faster when I’m not around to see it. I also need to get some serious packing done!
Tomorrow I’m just going to concentrate on packing again, making sure that everything goes into boxes ready for when I get back (I actually still haven’t unpacked properly from the last time I arrived home!) and I think I’ll have a night in before the hecticness of next week kicks in.
I feel pretty organised really, and with only four days to go that’s a good thing! I think the next few days are going to be really hard, I miss everyone so much when I go away.
It must have been so much more of an adventure when people went travelling fifteen years ago when there weren’t mobiles phones you could use to text people with, or internet cafes on most city street corners. I’m pleased I’m travelling in the age of technology!
So with a week left, I have hundreds of thoughts popping into my head, and popping out just as fast.
For the first time since I started wandering the planet, I’m nervous about going. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait, but I think I’ve just had too much time to wait for this trip to happen. For the first time I’ll be leaving a lot of possibilities, but also for the first time, I’m looking forward to coming back to see where those possibilities lie.
I’ve brought everything that needs to be brought- insurance, tickets, backpacks, jabs, clothes- even a website. I feel more prepared than ever before, but so much still needs to be done. I need to pack up all my stuff again and put the boxes away for a year. I need to sort out tax rebates. I need to pack my backpack. I need to spend time with friends and family, and I need to say goodbye to them.
I know that as soon as I get onto the plane I’ll be full of optimism for my adventure, but getting there will be the most difficult part.
I wrote this blog entry about a month ago, with the intention of adding more to it, but never got around to it:
I’ve brought the flights, the insurance, the 70litre backpack with detachable daypack, the sleeping bag, the first aid kit, had 2/3 of the jabs I need, got the guide books for the first leg of the journey, read them, got the money together, got the mosquito net, sleeping bag liner, torch, travel adapters, alarm clock, penknife, swimming costume, travel towel, flip flops, padlocks and a new diary.
But I still need to pack everything I don’t need into boxes (I’m getting good at that now, I’ve done it so many times now!), enjoy Christmas and New Year, have as many leaving parties as possible, say goodbye to so many people that I love, clean the car out, buy an external harddrive for all the photos I’ll undoubtedly be taking, buy some special camera insurance, pack the 70litre backpack, have my hair cut and go on a trip to Prague with a friend.
I’ve developed a theory over the last few years, after watching scores of people, including myself, go around the world with their most important belongings on their back. Everything that they decided they couldn’t live without for a year or longer, and maybe a few things they didn’t think they’d need but their mums made them pack anyway. In those bags is everything they’d need to get on with life wherever they go. Some of the bags are huge (e.g. mine 2004!) and some of them are tiny, suitable for strappng to your back and leaping up mountainsides like a mountain goat.
Are backpackers snails?
When I got back from Thailand in the July of this year, I took one look at the weather and decided to plan my next trip. As it happened, a friend of mine (Daisy) was planning a world trip tentatively, so I hijacked her plans and decided to come along for the ride. Over a few Margaritas our world trip had turned turned into epic proportions and we first had to decide on the route, which at first seemed very easy, but after several lengthy conversations with our travel agent, we realised we’d have to scale down our trip a lot to make it financially and physically viable (we are only going to be away for a year!).
We decided to start our travels in Mexico, which tends to be the opposite way round most people tend to do a world tour but both Daisy and I were very keep to discover Central and South America. From Mexico we will travel down to the border with Belize, stopping off at some of the beautiful ruins and beaches along the way. Then we’ll go along the Carribean coast of Belize, into Guatemala and finish the Central American leg of our tour in the Honduras doing some long awaited scuba diving there. That leg will be two (ish!) months.
From the Honduras we fly to Lima in Peru (so as to miss the most dangerous and completely blocked border between Panama and Columbia). There are a few major points of interest within Peru, the most obvious being the Nazca Lines and Machu Picchu. From there we’re going to try and get as far south as we can through the very diverse terrain of Chile. We’re hoping to get to the very tip at Cape Horn, time and weather permitting (we’ll only be spending two months in South America and it will be headed into deep winter in the far south).
We’ll fly from Santiago in Chile to Auckland in New Zealand for a short tour and to find some work for a few months to help boost funds for the rest of the trip. After our time is up in New Zealand we’ll head for a couple of weeks scuba diving along the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and from Cairns we fly onto the Asia leg of our tour, starting in Singapore.
From Singapore we’ll head up through Malaysia, Thailand, spend some time in Vietnam and Cambodia, and then we fly to Delhi in India to travel up north to the Himalayas and into Tibet. From Tibet we catch the highest train in the world (complete with pressurised cabins!) through the Himalayas and onwards to Bejing. Hopefully we’ll be able to see a bit of China normally Inaccessable to most tourists thanks to Daisy’s family who live in Beijing and then it’s back home in January 2008!
People laugh when I tell them a year’s not enough, though I’m sure you can see why I say that now!
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