The European countdown is wrapping up with 1 more day before I hop on a plane to London and begin my travels for the next 5 weeks abroad.
I will be visiting 13 countries in total, starting in London and pass through the chocolate land of Belgium towards the winding canals of the Netherlands, kicking back with my new found friends at a beer garden in Germany, exploring the picturesque city of Prague, white water rafting in Austria, toss 2 coins into the Trevi fountain in Italy, explore the holy Vatican City, yodelling in the Swiss alps, fall in love in Paris, enjoy endless cups of mint tea in Morocco, find the best tapas bar in Spain, experience the wealth of Qatar and hide amongst the steaming hot dumpling baskets at Yum Cha in Hong Kong.
At first it was a daunting feeling deciding to explore the unknown but after several conversations with my friends who have travelled Europe before me, it got me thinking that the fear was just all in my mind and why should I hold myself back from travelling and experiencing new cultures?
If you asked me a year ago, I would've told you that I was ready to buy my first apartment in Sydney and sign my life into an endless mortgage but that all changed after a dodgy real estate agent (who I thought was trustworthy) sold the apartment I was ready to purchase to another buyer and advised me buy the apartment upstairs for an extra $5000 - no thank you and good bye!
I think that moment was a blessing in disguise, I kept on convincing myself that I was ready to buy and it was now or never but after the real estate episode I decided to take a step back and think the pro's and con's of making myself miserable and once I signed the contract it was a never ending mortgage for the next century of my life.
That made me put things into perspective, I still wanted to see the world and now was the chance, I have nothing to lose so the decision was made even though I was second guessing myself that it may just be a crazy idea because I was in an angry and defeated phase.
Many of my friends have done the 'solo female traveller' route around Europe and for extended periods might I add (e.g. my close friend left a year ago on a 2 year working visa to England to work and explore Europe whilst another friend quit her job and travelled Europe solo for 6 months).
Now I thought to myself, if they can do it whats stopping me and why should I wait for other people to travel with.
Sometimes you have to be selfish, people have different ideas of being happy.
Why should I wait on others to follow my dreams of seeing the world?
For the past 4 months I dramatically changed my 12 month plan from settling down in life to taking a chunk of my pay to travel the world.
I got into contact with my friend living abroad and we decided to meet up in London and explore Morocco and then make our way to Spain purely because we were in the same continent and every country was in arms reach either by train or a quick 90 minute flight.
I also discussed my plans with a work mate who spends 50% of her day on travel sites. We made a pact and decided to meet up in Europe whilst on our travels this year.
I decided to go for the Topdeck European Odyssey tour and booked it with the early bird special but unfortunately, they cancelled the trip as it was not a guaranteed departure and only 15 people had signed up for the trip.
Plan B kicked in pretty quickly and I decided to join a Contiki trip. I was slightly disappointed that I had to change tour groups and pay extra money but at the end of the day its what you make of it and as Contiki's 2015 hashtag states #noregrets I should not have any.
Planning accommodation was pretty fun (sad, I know). I looked at the cheap option of hostels but at this age, I am past the phase of sharing my space the size of a shoebox with 10 other randoms - don't get me wrong, I've stayed at several guesthouses and hostels during my previous travels but this time I wanted to have more 'me' time and space to myself.
A hotel was obviously too expensive for my budget but I came across AirBnB which was great. I love the idea of hosts opening up their homes to travellers and living amongst the locals at a great daily rate. There were some really cool homes/ apartments posted on AirBnB which appealed to me as I love architecture and interior design.
All in all, booking and finalising this trip with my travel agent was a liberating feeling and I walked out excited for a new experience. This was my year, my year of travel to learn about new cultures, experiencing new ways of living and meeting new personalities along the way.
This is just the beginning...
Jen xox
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