I know many of you have been wondering what on earth has happened to Absolutely Lucy, I’ve had so many lovely emails and messages from you all, but there’s no need to worry – I’m back! I took a little blogging break over the last two weeks because I had so much going on that it just became impossible to write anything down, plus the wifi has been so terrible here that I couldn’t rely on it to upload new posts. In a big change from the party girl you all know and love, I’m now a responsible citizen with two jobs – and hopefully a third soon – who is looking for an apartment and getting settled for the next few months of working and saving in my new home of Darwin. After spending 10 days in Cairns celebrating the end of a fantastic East Coast trip – more to come on this soon – we flew to Darwin for the next stage of our trip when I would be settling down to live and save for a while. I actually can’t believe how much I was craving routine, normality and a steady life after seven months of travelling but it’s been lovely to get settled in a more homely hostel and to make a little family with the people here. We’re all looking to stay and save for a few months and are getting settled in, which is lovely after having so many friends who passed through my life so quickly on the East Coast.

As I’m sure many of you know, I was travelling for two months with Mark, after we were reunited following six months apart. I’m not sure how many of you actually know that we broke up when I came travelling, but remain the best of friends, and it was amazing to be reunited and to have two months of travelling, partying and just doing what the hell we want. Sadly, all good things must come to an end and he left to fly to Thailand on Monday where he will spend the next three weeks before heading home to go to university. I always say that the worst part of travelling is saying goodbye, and although me and my best friends always say “it’s not goodbye, it’s just see you later”, it doesn’t make it any easier. It’s hard enough saying goodbye to the friends you make on the road and have the most intense, crazy fun times with for a few weeks or days before parting ways. Having to say goodbye to someone who has been such a huge part of your life for ten years is the hardest thing in the world, and I’ve done it twice in the last eight months. Last time we knew it would be just six months until we would see each other again, but now we have to go even longer – perhaps seven or eight months at the very least – perhaps longer. It sucks, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices if you want to really live your dreams.

On a totally separate note, I was pretty excited to finally catch up on my emails and receive one that said Absolutely Lucy has been named one of the UK’s top 100 Travel Blogs by DiscountMyFlights.co.uk! Read the full post here. I’m so honoured to be counted as one of the final 100 let alone to be listed first – it was such a boost after my blogging break and has really given me the motivation to get back into it. UK online travel website DiscountMyFlights.co.uk released the Top 100 UK Travel Blogs, a list compiled through crowdsourcing on social media sites. Bloggers were nominated from a variety of different sources including travel forums, bookmarking sites, travel communities. Nominees were then validated by the Travel Tips Editor Anna Murray. The company said: “This is a great accomplishment in a competitive and online sector that appears to be growing substantially.” It’s always so amazing to be recognised for something that started out as just a hobby and has gradually turned into a passion – especially when your passion fades for a while and needs reinvigorating. I’m really proud that AbsolutelyLucy.com has grown into something so special and so happy I could share it with all the amazing friends I’ve met travelling, who message me on a regular basis to say how much they love the posts, as well as all the people close to my heart I’ve left back at home. Thanks to all for being a part of this, and I’ll be bringing more posts to you by the end of the week!

Two of my favourite parts of Sydney were Surry Hills and Newtown, both I ended up in time and time again for food, nights out, music, comedy and more and I can’t recommend them enough for those passing through. While I was staying at Wake Up Hostel in Central, Surry Hills was less than a five minute walk through a tunnel under the train station, and Newtown was just a couple of stops away on the bus so as you can imagine, I ended up spending a lot of time in both. Particularly since the drinking laws in the Central Business District (CBD – basically the centre of Sydney) are a bit of a curb for fun nights out when you’re actually capable of behaving yourself after a few drinks. This just pushed us backpackers to look for other venues that weren’t too far away but offered cheap-ish drinks and no restrictions – don’t worry, we found them!

When I first arrived in Sydney, I ended up in Newtown quite a bit, whether it was for food, drinks or just a wander around the vintage shops. I liked it because it seemed a little less mainstream than central Sydney, it had a touch more personality and quirkiness which lured me in. Every time I went there, I seemed to meet really interesting people, eat delicious food and have a fantastic time which always kept me coming back for more. Around this area you’ll find a huge number of Asian restaurants from all corners of the continent from Korean and Japanese, to Thai and Vietnamese cooking. Naturally I wasn’t really in the mood for Asian food after five months of it, so we plumped for Italian or Greek when we visited, which were absolutely delicious. There are so many restaurants down the main street of Newtown which all offer deals and tasty fare, there’s no point me even recommending any because from what I’ve heard many of them are really good. One restaurant I had recommended to me again and again, but haven’t yet made it to, is Mary’s, a burger joint which has a huge reputation for the best burgers in the whole of Sydney! I’m saving that toothy when I return there later in the year.Also lining the street are a range of cocktail bars, pubs and bigger bars that almost double as clubs later in the night. Later in the evening, you’ll find these packed with locals, travellers and all kinds of characters. I’ve often ended up there at the end of the night because you can still get into these bars until much later after the lockouts have occurred in the CBD and Kings Cross. The music is a bit hit and miss at some of these, but that seems to be a running theme in Australia so far, I’m still waiting for a good night out with the perfect soundtrack but they seem very few and far between. Either way, the drinks are average price for Australia, at least for Sydney, and you’re almost guaranteed a good night in my experience. Don’t forget to check out the wealth of charity and vintage shops here that are all worth a look, particularly the charity shops as many of the vintage shops hike up the price of items just for adding the work “vintage”.

Over in Surry Hills, there’s much more to keep you occupied from comedy nights and live music, to film screenings, quality food and cocktails. My favourite part of Sydney, I’m pretty jealous of friends living there, they just have the entirety of Sydney right on their doorstep and quite frankly, Surry Hills has so much within a few streets that you almost don’t need to venture out. One of my favourite places was The Soda Factory, which I returned to several times for various events – they regularly screen movies, hold trivia quizzes, have cheap food nights and more at this vintage American 50’s style venue. The staff are in braces and some in flat caps as a nod to the Grease-style era we all know and love, and the menu includes a range of hot dogs and sides, with other goodies to keep you munching. My particular favourite is the Mac’n’Cheese with Brie – absolute perfection! Plus there’s cocktails galore. I first went on a night when they happened to screening The Breakfast Club and holding a “coming of age” movie trivia quiz which we epically failed but had an awesome time taking part in. I returned for a screening of Zoolander and other cheap food nights which were great and I’ll definitely be checking out what else they have on when I head back to Sydney.Also worth a look is Venue 505, a jazz club which holds events almost every night where talented bands and singers come to perform, and there’s also some free entry nights with a house band on as well. We went along to one of the free nights and with a cheeky glass of wine, it was one of the best evenings I’ve had in Sydney. If you love a laugh, why not check out some of the comedy nights advertised on Time Out website, I found one for just $10 where a bunch of amateurs were putting themselves under the spotlight and it was actually a really fun night – Cafe Lounge hosted the event I went to and regularly holds them on Monday nights. For food, there are endless streets of restaurants, breakfast bars and takeaways offering all kinds of food imaginable, but with plenty of space for the hipsters. A lot of the restaurants are unmistakeable aimed at hipsters, but who cares when the food they serve is that damn tasty? Head to Reuben Hills for breakfast with a friend like I did and enjoy eating soft baked eggs with chorizo and kale while sunshine pours through the windows. Pump yourself full of vitamins and health food at Organic Produce – a fabulous and really busy little restaurant, which is the city’s first organic cafe, and caters for all dietary requirements. I could go on for days about all the amazing things to do, eat and explore in Surry Hills, but instead, why don’t you guys go off and have fun finding your own favourites?

Have you been to Surry Hills or Newtown? What restaurants or bars can you recommend? Have you been to The Soda Factory for a vintage night of fun? 

One of my least planned days in Sydney was one rainy afternoon where I reached the final straw after staring out at the blackened, stormy skies all morning. I’d already been up since first thing, had been to the gym and washed my clothes, caught up on emails. Now I was bored and needed some fresh air, one of the girls was complaining about the rain stopping her from seeing the city, but being a true English girl, I wasn’t about to let a bit of rain dampen my day. I decided to skip the free bus and walk instead for some exercise, down through the CBD to Circular Quay where it was just a short walk to The Rocks and up to Sydney Observatory. The Rocks is a lovely area of the city which is full of food, drink and live music, plus on the weekends the markets are worth a look. I wandered through, following Google Maps on my phone to find the road leading to Observatory Park where an amazing view across the city lay waiting. Even if you have no interest in space or visiting the Observatory, I would really recommend walking up to the park just to check out the view, it’s beautiful and a really special way to see the city. A friend from university was actually lucky enough to have her fiancé propose to her there, it’s such a romantic place to watch the sunset.The actual Observatory is brilliant – free entry so a great money saver for the backpackers – and it’s a really cool building. You are given a little guide to the museum but a lot of it is self-explanatory thanks to signs, but it is also a bit of an interactive experience as you can watch videos, take tours of the telescope and more. Definitely worth a visit, and if you like history, the tours available at The Rocks museum are worth a look – they tell you all about the area’s criminal past. I mean, it’s up to you whether you’re interested in more than just boozing and the obvious sightseeing, but I found these were a great way to spend a rainy day in the city. After a good look round the building, I headed back down towards The Rocks, but followed a different path this time and found myself at the end of Sydney Harbour Bridge. Looking up at the skies which threatened rain at every turn but had yet to actually open, I decided to risk it and finally walk across the bridge.Walking the bridge is a rite of passage for backpackers in Sydney, I can’t believe that anyone would come to the city and not want to tick it off their list. Not only do you get to see the city from a different perspective, but you also get a chance to visit Luna Park, a vintage fairground which lies just across the other side. I had definitely planned to do it at some point but never thought it would be today, it just seemed silly not to when I was in the mood for walking and already at one end of the bridge. It didn’t take long to get across the bridge, but I took my time and stopped to take photos and chat to people along the way. I definitely didn’t wear the right shoes for all the walking I did that day, so if you do decide to do this day of walking, bear in mind it ends up with you covering up to 10k and for that you do need proper shoes. Halfway across the bridge you can get some great photos of the Opera House and city, and when you reach the other side, you can take the steps down, walk under the overpass and find yourself at Milson’s Point near the entrance to Luna Park.Luna Park is a restored 1930’s amusement park that sits on the banks of Sydney Harbour and is filled to the brim with nostalgia for times gone by, from the carnival favourites of hot dogs, candy floss and ice cream, to rides including the Ferris wheel and giant slides. It is one of the most iconic sights of the city, everyone knows the clown’s face and it can be seen from right across the harbour, even at night when it is lit up rather spectacularly. I actually had a bit of a different experience of the park, because when I went over that day it was actually closed to visitors. The gates were still left open however, so I had the very odd experience of walking through what felt like an abandoned 1930’s amusement park just as a storm looked like it was about to hit. It was a bit creepy, I won’t lie, but a cool experience to see the place without any screaming children or bustling crowds. I would definitely say it is worth a visit, whether you go just to check it out or actually fancy a day on the rides.After a walk round the park, I decided to head back before the storms hit and started walking back across the bridge. By this point I figured I’d walked this far and might as well carry on all the way home, so I ended up walking all the way back to Circular Quay and up through the CBD to my hostel – an app on my phone told me the walk had come to just over 10k altogether and my legs were feeling it! But it was a good way to get out and see the city, and a little exercise never hurt anyone. I was pretty amazed I managed to walk for hours and only felt a few drops of rain the whole time considering how dark the skies were – it was definitely worth the risk.

Have you walked Sydney Harbour Bridge? Do you tend to visit museums and galleries when staying in a city – any you can recommend?

Two of the most iconic images we hold of Australia are the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge, the third? Ayers Rock, which I still have yet to see but am making my way towards slowly. Within five hours of my flight arriving in Sydney I had seen both of these and it was a pretty strange sight after a nine hour flight and no sleep. I couldn’t believe I was finally standing there staring at two of these incredible landmarks that I had only ever seen on TV before now, but what a welcome to the city. I was lucky enough to see them on my first day both bathed in glorious sunlight which really made it special. I felt sorry for friends who I later saw had posted photos of the two on an overcast, cloudy day which just didn’t have the same effect. I’m sorry to say that the Opera House just looks like a lump of concrete to me when it’s not sunny, and the bridge is just a load of metal on a miserable day. They just look so much less impressive without sunlight glinting off them.

I was very lucky while I was in Sydney and picked up some good weather despite it being a bit chilly on some days. So a lot of my days there were spent walking miles and miles around the city – at one point I was using an app which told me I was walking an average of 10k a day as I made my way round the city running errands and sightseeing. One of my favourite walks was down through the CBD until I reached the harbour, then walking either towards the bridge and across The Rocks, or heading the opposite way towards the Opera House and Royal Botanical Gardens. Anyone who follows me on Instagram will know that I spent quite a lot of time in the gardens, reading, contemplating my travels and making plans for the next few months in Australia. I have now been to botanical gardens all over the world and I can definitely say that I have never seen any as beautiful, well-maintained and idyllic as those in Sydney. They were a natural haven on the edge of the city – often it caught me by surprise as I lay on the grass facing the water to turn around and see skyscrapers not far from where I lay.The gardens are filled with walks that take you around the lakes and through smaller sections of the beautiful layout. I would recommend to anyone who finds themselves with spare and sunny day to make their way to the gardens with a picnic, a book and time to walk to their hearts content. I found my favourite spot in the gardens pretty early on and it was somewhere I headed back to again and again to enjoy. I was even lucky enough to share it with someone special when Mark came out to join me travelling for two months and we had a sunny day of travel planning ahead of us. Our East Coast trip was actually the result of a day spent at my favourite spot and pouring over books and websites for the best possible trip. I think perhaps this is one of the things that made me love Sydney so much – the fact that it had so much green and natural space as well as the shiny buildings and concrete – it never felt stifling because you were always need open space and water.I’ve noticed since being in Australia that every Australian, and most travellers, seem to have a strict preference for either Sydney or Melbourne. It’s one of the first things they state and one of the first things they question me on when they realise I have been to both, but they are always baffled by my answer. I went to Melbourne for a few days with a friend at the end of May for my birthday and absolutely loved the city – I had already planned to move there in January when the weather improves but going there confirmed for me even more that I would live living there. But Sydney well and truly provided me with an amazing home I still miss even though I’m all the way up the East Coast – it’s such a great city and I completely fell in love with it but for totally different reasons. I can understand why many people seem to prefer one city over the other. But I just can’t see why people don’t seem to I’ve both, like I do, for different reasons. Both cities are fabulous and have so much to offer – I’ve been describing them to people back at home and my only way of comparing them is to say that Sydney is very much the mainstream, international sister of quirky Melbourne which has so much character is reminds me of Camden at home. Both offer a totally different experience but one that every traveller should experience for themselves.

Have you visited the Royal Botanical Gardens? What do you prefer – Melbourne or Sydney – and why?

After a crazy five months in Asia, I was sad to say goodbye but pretty excited for the next part of my travels which would take me straight to the land down under for some Aussie good times. I was pretty excited to be heading back to somewhere more western, I’d loved my time in Asia but I’d had my fill of dodgy toilets and humidity for a while and was ready for something new. I nearly didn’t make it to Australia when I was supposed to fly back at the end of May – I had applied for my work travel visa about three weeks beforehand but for some reason it hadn’t dropped into my emails. Now most people I know have received theirs in a matter of hours or just days, I don’t even know anyone whose application for a work travel visa has taken the full week to come back. So as you can imagine, I started to be a bit concerned when it hadn’t dropped in after a week, but thought I’d give it another week to be safe as my internet was so unreliable in Cambodia.

By the time I reached Thailand, a week before I was due to fly, it still hadn’t arrived and I was starting to worry so I contacted the embassy by email and by phone to check up on it. Cue a week of frustrating, panicked emails and phone calls as I try to establish what the hell has happened to my application. Long story short, I think my application must have slipped through the system because it was finally approved just six hours before I was due to fly – I was actually about to move my flight because I didn’t think I would make it. By this point I think I had already convinced myself I wouldn’t make it to Australia before my birthday, I had accepted I would be staying in Thailand for a bit longer – so you can imagine how ecstatic I was to finally get it through! I was crazy excited to be moving to a new continent to start my new Aussie adventure and breezed through the airport with the biggest smile on my face. I couldn’t even sleep on the nine hour flight, I just stayed up buzzing with excitement and enjoying having three seats to lay across while I watched movies for the first time in six months!After my long flight and arriving in Sydney, I was a dizzy mess of sleep deprivation and felt terrible – I stumbled through the airport and collected my bag then headed on the train to Central where Wake Up Hostel was waiting for me. I chose the hostel after lots of great recommendations from friends who had stayed there when they travelled through and wasn’t disappointed. It’s a great hostel, although very expensive for a night at $37, while you do appreciate paying for a really clean and well-run hostel that is dead centre of Sydney, you can’t help but resent paying so much and having to pay an extra $15 a week for wifi which isn’t always reliable. Despite this, the hostel has a great social life and lots of events on every single day and night to encourage people to make friends and mix with each other – in my time there I took part in a walk around VIVID, a light show that brought the city to life at night, which was great and helped me to meet lots of new friends. The evenings saw pool competitions, wine and cheese nights, beer pong tournaments and much more filling up Side Bar, which lay below the hostel. It was great, but I have to say I did feel the hostel was missing just a nice chill out room with sofas for those who didn’t want to sit in the kitchen or reception. Plus, it had a hell of a lot of rules for someone who had just spent five months in Asia where the only rule is there is no rules!

Despite this, I have to say, I stayed in the hostel for a month when I first arrived in Sydney – I had a great time there and made lots of friends I’m still in contact with now, and really enjoyed myself. Sydney was just what the doctor ordered, walking out of the hostel after some sleep was a pretty strange experience. All these skyscrapers and glossy shops were a far cry from the dusty roads and street markets of Asia, but a welcome change. Sydney really is a beautiful city and despite not being much of a city girl, I loved it there – I loved how much effort had been put into the tiniest details, how clean it was, how calm a city it was. It was just lovely and never felt so big it was going to swallow you up, other cities like London or New York have a habit of being quite overwhelming but Sydney was just right. Staying in central was amazing because everything was right on my doorstep and I found myself flitting between days at the beaches of Bondi and Manly, to nights in Surry Hills and Newtown – but more about that in posts to come. For now, just enjoy some of my first pics captured in the city – and the moment I first laid eyes on the Royal Opera House and Harbour Bridge, less than 24 hours after being convinced I was stuck in Bangkok. Trust me, it was a pretty surreal first day there…

Have you been to Sydney – what were your first impressions of the city? Any other hostel recommendations for me – or what did you think of Wake Up Hostel?

I love to read. I’ve blogged about books I’ve loved before and writers who have fascinated me. I’ve made it more than clear that despite Kindles being so much more efficient in this day and age, that I really can’t bear the thought of losing the suspense of turning the page to find out what happens next. I love the feeling when you reach that final page, the satisfaction of slamming the book closed on the table and that temporary feeling of not knowing how you’ll fill the void now it’s over… Until you pick up the next book in the pile. Perhaps it’s something to do with studying for a degree in English that really makes me a traditionalist when it comes to reading. Whether it’s a crisp new copy from a bookshop, or a battered old classic from the library – they each have their place and are all welcome on my bookshelves. It was a pretty sad thing to say goodbye to a whole box of books before coming travelling – I sold them at car boot sales and online to pay for my trip – a worthy swap to get them a new home – but I do always feel sad to say goodbye to books. I’m a bit of a hoarder and I can’t lie, I’ve always had a dream of having a library of my own one day. A place of peace and tranquility to escape the madness of everyday life in the pages of a good novel.

The only problem is, loving books in paper form just isn’t very practical for travelling when you only have a backpack to hold all your worldly possessions. When packing I had to be realistic about how many books I could justify slipping in my bag when I knew how much I would have to carry it around in Asia – in the end I packed just three books including my Thailand travel guide. It was a heartbreaking decision for a girl who used to pack half a suitcase of books for a two week holiday, but I comforted myself in the knowledge that I would have my iPad and could read online if I became desperate. I made myself read slowly, which wasn’t hard with so much going on around me to distract me from the books, and for a while it didn’t bother me whether I had books with me or not. But once I settled into travelling life and started having all this time to fill, I dived straight back into the pages of my books for entertainment. But when I ran out of books, that was the moment I panicked.

The good thing is that there are so many other travellers out there in the same position, so, if like me you are a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to holding a good novel in your hands – don’t worry! If you’re planning a big trip to Asia you’ll find countless books piled up in hostels that have been left behind by travellers past and you’ll find book shops all over with huge collections of books available for purchase, or even for book swaps. There are lots of options for refreshing your collection and as well as picking up books from these sources, you’ll also meet lots of travellers along the way who will be looking for other travellers to swap books with, or even those who just want to give books to a new home to save from carrying them further. I found that I met several travellers along the way who were about to visit countries I had just spent weeks passing through, while they had just come from my next destination – often we swapped travel guides and provided each other with top tips and hostel recommendations to go with them.When my books came to an end, I was in Thailand and desperate for something new to read so I swapped one of my books and picked up a new one, which I later left at hostel for someone else to read. Another time, when I was in Vietnam, I spotted a book I had wanted to read for ages in a hostel and got so excited about it that the guy who ran the place told me I could have it. My best book swap actually happened when I was in Cambodia and stumbled across a tiny little bookshop attached to a cafe and couldn’t believe my luck. I struck gold and found copies of Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – both books I had been wanting to read for a while and just days after I had been reading an article about the man himself. Then after a bit more digging, I found a perfect copy of Shantaram, which is based on a true story and is one of the most beautifully written books I have read for a while. It’s my book of the moment and one I had been eager to read ever since chatting to a guy in Vietnam who was reading it and hearing his rave reviews. I’m just a few hundred pages into it and I’m gripped by the amazing use of language and imagery, and it even has me curious about what it would be like to visit India, a country which hadn’t really been on my radar before now.

Having these books has been a bit of a lifeline for me on long journeys and lazy days, and I know many other travellers who feel the same. I always feel that the mark of a good traveller comes in the form of the book he or she is reading – often it is easy to misread people at a first glance. But a look at the cover of the book they are reading tells me all I need to know about a person. While travelling it is so easy to get lost in a repetitive lifestyle of laying in the sun all day and drinking all night, but never really stretching yourself, or challenging your mind. Just like it’s important to exercise your body, it’s so important to keep your mind active and how better to do that than by reading and delving into a whole new world in the pages you hold in your hands? Other travellers are a fantastic source of book recommendations – I now have a whole list of books I need to read and will have to pick up a couple soon. I’m intrigued to see how book swaps work in Australia – or if they are even a thing out here!

What are you reading at the moment? Any good travel book recommendations? What do you prefer – a real book or a Kindle?

To Jacob,

Yes, that’s right, I know your name. You might not remember me very well as you were two pills to the wind when we first met properly. Eyes rolling back into your head, slurring your words and generally embarrassing yourself. But I remember you, I remember sitting outside while my friend was having a cigarette and laughing at how ridiculous you looked and how wasted you were at barely 12am. I was laughing at you when you said the bar had been turning you away for an hour, but you refused to give up. I told you you were better off going to bed and riding it out, then laughed some more. I was pleased to see you took my advice and headed to bed, but when I went up to the dorm and went to the bathroom, I definitely wasn’t laughing anymore.

Why is that Jacob? Well it’s because I walked in the toilet to find you had pissed all over the floor! Thank goodness for you that I still had shoes on, because if your warm, smelly piss had touched my naked feet, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t still be living. 23 years old and travelling the world independently – something to be proud of right? But still pissing all over the floor at your age? Not so much. I thought that was it and I could cope until the cleaners came in the morning, but just an hour or two later I was woken up by the sound of you crashing around and staggering around the room to the toilet again, ignoring you and rolling over I closed my eyes. Sleeping peacefully until my ridiculously early wake-up call, I awoke in a rush and hurriedly got dressed. As I walked to the bathroom with my toothbrush in hand, I had the nastiest shock yet to find puddles of piss on the dorm floor outside the bathroom. It seems yet again, you hadn’t quite made it.

Not impressed was an understatement. Perhaps this is acceptable in Denmark, but in my six months of travelling, I have never seen such disgusting and quite frankly, humiliating behaviour. Living in dorms for that long, you’re exposed to some gross sights and smells. From the damp, sweaty dorm smell to unwashed towels, mould and stray pubes in the plug holes… But this was the most disgusting of all. Waking up to a room that smells like piss, having to jump across puddles and try not to gag as you brush your teeth – that’s not what I signed up for. I think you could benefit from reading my post on how not to be a total douche while backpacking.

I was lucky until now, thinking of this as a bit of an urban backpacking legend. I always heard stories of the guy who pissed all over everyone’s suitcases and backpacks in the dorm, or the other one who pissed himself in a top bunk and the poor girl who was sleeping below him. But, I’ll be honest and say I never really thought of this as something that really happened. I mean, I’ve been pretty wasted but I’ve never managed to piss my pants, I just don’t understand how it could happen. Jacob, you and these other guys really need to bear in mind when getting off your faces that you have to share a room with several other people who deserve a basic standard of hygiene and respect. I’m sure no one goes out with the intention of pissing their pants, but when you’re popping multiple cheap pills of some random guy on the street until your eyes roll back in your head… You have to be prepared to lose some basic functions I guess.

Whatever your excuses, whatever your apologies Jacob, just don’t do it again. You’re lucky you checked out before we could come face to face, but next time you might not get away with it so easily. Hopefully next time you think of hitting the pills, you’ll think of the poor cleaner who had to clean up your mess, and the dorm mates who had to put up with your stink.

Hopefully, there won’t be a next time.

Yours,

Have you had to deal with any situations like this? Heard any horror stories? Leave a comment below and tell us all about it…

Today marks six months since I boarded that flight at Heathrow, feeling a bit tiddly from all the wine I had to drink just to calm my nerves and stop me getting emotional when looking at all the lovely messages you guys were sending me. Six months. I can’t believe that’s all it has been – it feels like a lifetime ago that I had my passport and ticket clasped in my hand as I made my way to the departure gate. So much has happened since then, I’ve seen and done so much, met so many amazing people, fallen madly in love with places, moments and incredible characters I’ve met along the way. Life will never be the same again. It’s as simple as that, so much has happened that it is impossible for me to go back to the person I was and the life that I lived before and I’m so glad because I have built a whole new life out of my backpack. It might get annoying at times to live out of a bag and never have my own space, but I wouldn’t give this up for anything. This is freedom and real happiness – even when times were tough. And boy, have they been tough. Travelling has nearly killed me on more than one occasion – there was a point when I wondered if Asia had it in for me, if my travelling luck was up – but I persevered and saw it through, and I’m stronger than ever because of it. And even though it might sound cheesy, I’ve never felt as alive as I have for the last six months.

There’s something about being stranded in the middle of the Cambodian countryside after your minibus has been run off the road that is character building. I’ve always felt that it is only when things all go wrong that your true character shows and is tested, well mine has been forced out time and time again and I’ve dealt with and overcome all sorts now. I’m pretty proud of that because it has shown me just how capable I am and how much I can cope with. Knowing how much I have survived to reach this point, makes it all the more of a meaningful and incredible experience because I have really worked for it. Travelling hasn’t just been handed to me on a plate, I worked five jobs to get here, I nearly didn’t make it to my 25th birthday.. But as Elton would say, I’m still standing. A month ago, I turned 25, a big milestone and the first since I was at university – it really made me think about how much I have achieved since turning 21 and about how much my life has changed. To all those who think they need to have it figured out at 21, guess again. I’m 25 and I still don’t know where my life is going, but the not knowing makes it pretty exciting.I wrote a post months ago about how travelling doesn’t really change you as a person, it actually just brings out the person you were always supposed to be. Throwing off the shackles of society and “normal” life can really free you from fulfilling someone else’s expectations and I still stand by that post. Six months later and I am more myself than ever before, I really am the happiest I’ve ever been and that shines out of me 24 hours a day. I remember a friend I made during my final days in Bangkok – he paid me the nicest compliment I have heard in a long time. He said, “you’ve got that glow, you know when you can just tell someone is having the time of their life?” He caught me totally by surprise with that one, but he was right, I see it in the faces of other travellers, the happiness that pours out of them like sunbeams and makes them beautiful in their own unique way. Getting away from life in the UK has been the best thing I could have done, I’m finally free to be completely myself without the stresses of work taking over my life. Now it’s all about what makes me happy on a day-to-day basis – spending time with people who make me laugh until my tummy aches, doing things that make me shriek with excitement, and making memories that still bring a smile to my face months after.

It’s not just that, the whole way I think has changed. Travelling has opened me up to a world where you can travel and work as a lifestyle, not just as a hobby. Meeting inspiring travellers has made me realise how easy it is to work abroad and to raise enough money to keep going and living this way. I’ve met some amazing individuals who have kept travelling by applying for work travel visas in different countries after each other, others have been teaching or au pairing around the world, and others have found themselves working their way from place to place filling in seasonal jobs, just chasing the sun. I never realised before quite how easy it would be to keep going. I think I may have mentioned it before but I have already extended my trip from January to May, and will now hopefully be visiting Fiji, Indonesia and LA as well as Australia and New Zealand. Every day my plans are developing and growing, and I’m so excited by how they are constantly changing – it’s the prospect of the new adventures awaiting that I simply can’t ignore. So bring on the next 12 months and all the amazing experiences that are just waiting around the corner.

Have you ever had a life changing trip? Where did you go, and how did it affect you? Do you know of other ways to keep travelling around the globe full time?

For some people, birthdays are a horrible reminder of what they don’t want to think about – all those trips they didn’t take, the things they didn’t achieve and how little time they have to make their dreams a reality. Personally I just can’t understand these people, I don’t understand how anyone wouldn’t be excited to celebrate their birthday and all the wonderful things they have accomplished since the last one. I can’t help but love birthdays – a chance to celebrate your awesomeness with the people you love – it sounds pretty amazing to me. So I’ve always been the sort of person who likes to organise a big do with lots of friends and family – I usually end up having about three separate celebrations with different people just because I see it as a good excuse to spend time with my favourites. Yeah it sounds a bit like I’m spoilt, and lucky me I am, spoilt to have so many amazing friends and family that I want to spend time with eating cake every May. So it was a bit of a strange feeling to be approaching my 25th birthday, a pretty big milestone if you ask me, knowing that not only would I be moving to a different continent but I would be having to make all new friends and find something special to celebrate with.My birthday marked a week after my move from Asia to Australia and I was excited to see how I would spend the big day. After spending a hectic week exploring the city, making some amazing friends in my hostel and partying in what felt like every bar in the city, one of my friends was planning to head to Melbourne where she was expecting to live and work for her last month in the country. Another friend booked us flights and before we knew it we were jetting off for a few days in Melbourne for my birthday! This gave me a great chance to visit a friend I met back in Thailand and to explore the city I’m already beyond excited to return to next January to live and work. I love Sydney, but I really love Melbourne and this trip gave me a great taste of what my life will be like there. While there we walked around the city centre listening to the amazingly talented buskers, we explored Brunswick St, went out near Fitzroy St and even squeezed in a visit to St Kilda beach. We did pretty well to see so much in just a day and a half and after we were done in the city, we headed out into the countryside to visit another friend and stay with him for a house party full of really talented musicians who spent the night playing for us.I think this was probably the least planned and organised birthday I have ever had which probably fits really well with my new life and shows how much I’ve changed over the last six months. It’s really interesting to look back on my birthday last year – even though I had an amazing time partying at a festival with an old friend – generally I was much unhappier then. My life was full of stress and worry as I tried to figure out what my next move should be and I couldn’t keep up with the demands I was placing on myself. The moment when I decided what I wanted to do, that I wanted to leave and travel, was the single most freeing moment in my life and it completely changed how I felt about the situation. It was suddenly so much more manageable and I felt like I could deal with it all, one step at a time. Now I can’t imagine ever going back to a life like that, travelling has opened me up to so many new opportunities and has changed the way I think about the future. A year ago my future was confused and uncertain, now it is wide open and pretty bloody exciting. If that’s not a reason to celebrate then I don’t know what is! So here’s to the last 25 years – each more epic than the last – and to being the happiest I have ever been. Bring on the next quarter of a century!

Birthdays – love them or hate them? Do you have a big celebration like me or prefer something a bit more low key? Have you been to Melbourne – what’s your favourite place there? 

You were supposed to be reading a completely different post today from My time in Vietnam, but just a few hours ago I sat in the lobby of my hostel thinking about how amazingly everything had just fallen into place and how I was about to embark on a whole new adventure. It seemed only right to mark this moment with a special post on how far I’ve come and how much further I have left to go! Many of you wonderful people have been following, supporting and cheering me on since January when I set out on the trip of a lifetime, planning to spend a year travelling around Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and I’m so happy you’ve come along for the ride. Others have joined us along the way, either after we met somewhere in Asia or you just stumbled across my blog and happened to like it – but all have been so welcome. Today marks the end of my Asia adventure and I’m finding it really hard to believe my time on this amazing continent has come to a temporary end – I say temporary because quite frankly I can’t bare the thought that I wouldn’t be here again in the future! It’s been an amazing five months and I don’t think I’ve ever been as happy as I have while travelling Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Even when times were tough and I was robbed or nearly died in horrible crashes – it was still an amazing experience that has helped shape me as a person and has taught me something. I’ve come to realise I’m more capable than I ever thought I was and for that I can only be grateful.

I sit here with such mixed feelings – on the one hand I’m so sad to leave behind all the amazing people, places and memories I have collected along the way, but on the other hand, the last few weeks have really helped me realise that I have itchy feet and am eager for a new adventure. I never thought this feeling would hit, but I’m ready to close the book on this chapter of my life and start afresh in Australia from tomorrow morning – I’m ready for all the amazing places I’m going to go, the people I’m going to meet and the experiences we’ll share along the way. Those of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook will know I’ve had a rough couple of weeks in Cambodia and I think that really helped me to look at Asia more objectively and to see the things I won’t miss. I’m talking squat toilets, cockroaches, sleazy tuk tuk drivers, petty thieves, bed bugs and some really rather questionable food in some places. Of course there is so much I will miss – things like watching the sun rise over a deserted temple, the moment when you get lost and discover the real kindness of the locals, the amazing richness and spice of the food, the entertainment of trying – and failing – to speak the local language, the colours, flavours and smells of the countries, and so much more. So today is a strange day, a day of mourning in many respects mixed with feverish excitement over what is yet to come. I fly tonight and will wake up in the land down under for a fresh start.Again, those of you who follow me on social media may have gathered I was a bit stressed out over the last few weeks after my working travel visa took a while to arrive. Two weeks in fact despite it being supposed to take just five days – it definitely made me nervous and I was bombarding the Australian embassy in Bangkok and the Australian Immigration Department with email after email to find out what the hold up was. Well I never found out what the hold up was, but thankfully when I woke up this morning it had arrived! Thank god, but talk about cutting it fine with just 12 hours until my flight! So to be honest, in my head I kind of hadn’t accepted I was flying to Australia today, I was certain I’d have to move my flight, and now it’s really happening I just can’t believe it. I’m so excited to be surrounded by western culture again, although I think it will be a bit of a culture shock, and I have to be honest and say I can’t wait to get working and settle somewhere for a while after a hectic two months blasting through also, Vietnam and Cambodia. At the moment my plans seem to be sticking around in Sydney for a few weeks then heading up to the north and working my way down the east coast with friends but who knows what will happen when I get there! I’m just going to see where the wind takes me and love every second – that’s certainly been working for me over the last five months.

One thing I’m pretty excited about is that it is my 25th birthday in just a week – now I know some people get a bit funny about hitting their quarter of a century, but I’m so ready to celebrate. It’s a huge milestone in my life and one that marks the end of what easily started out as the hardest and worst year of my life, but which has definitely finished as the best. In the space of 12 months my whole life has changed and it has only done so because I have taken control of my future. I took the initiative to cut out the loose ends, the idiots who were holding me back, and now I’m out travelling the world and living the dream. It’s the best decision I ever made and I’m so proud of myself for being one of those people who made it happen instead of just talking about it. If that’s not something to celebrate then I don’t know what is! I’ve never felt more ready or more excited to take on the next five years with as much gusto as I have taken on the last 12 months – bring it on and here’s to making them even more amazing! You guys can help with that by sticking by my side at every stage of the journey – and if you’ve been loving my posts then why not cast a quick vote for me in the travel section of the Simply Hike Blogger Awards? There’s just one week left to vote and it only takes a second!

Any advice on what to see and do in Sydney? Have you been enjoying reading about my journey – what posts have you loved? How did you feel when you hit the big 2-5?

Photo by Mikhail Koninin

Yesterday marked an official milestone ahead of my travels. My resignation was finally officially passed over to the big bosses (I handed it in a month early to help give them time to replace me before Christmas) – so that means there’s really no going back now. Not that there was even a chance of me cancelling. My leaving party is on the horizon, I’m planning in lots of visits to see people before I go and I’m making sure I fill my boots with all those yummy Christmas foods in case I’m not back by next Christmas. It’s all starting to become a bit real now and I can’t quite believe how little time I have left at work – by the time you read this I will have just four Mondays left on the job! Everyone in the office is really excited for me, they’re all counting down for me as well. It’s such an amazing feeling to know how hard I’ve worked and for how long, and to now finally see that light at the end of the tunnel – that tropical sunlight beaming down at me. I’ve got just one more round of jabs left and everything else is finally falling into place, my plans are made and I’ve even started organising my travel wardrobe. So I thought it was about time I gave you guys an update on my plans for travelling:

My trip kicks off on January 6 when I fly out to Bangkok. After a couple of days sightseeing, shopping and eating in the city, I will head to the beaches and islands off south Thailand. Of course I’ll be taking in the standard backpacker route via Ko Pha-Ngan, Ko Samui, Krabi and Ko Phi-Phi. I’m looking forward to a lot of time spent snorkelling, swimming and pretending to be a mermaid. I’m meeting some friends when I arrive, so I’m sure there will be a lot of partying and fun to be had – the perfect way to start the new year if you ask me, and I’m looking forward to starting my trip with a bang. I’ll be spending a month and a half covering this ground, then for a complete change of pace, and to get my visa renewed, I’ll be heading to Vietnam for two weeks where I plan to travel as much of the country as possible – a LOT of food will be consumed here and I’m looking forward to visiting Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Halong Bay looks beautiful and I would love to go on one of the river tours.

Photo by Jessica Morales

When I head back to Thailand, I’m heading straight to Chiang Mai in the North, where the experience of a lifetime awaits me. I have booked to spend a week volunteering at an elephant sanctuary where I will be caring for, feeding and bathing elephants for the week. It is a dream come true to get to do this and I am beyond excited. I’ve not even set out yet and already I know this will be a highlight of the trip for me! My week there will be followed by another week or two in Chiang Mai, followed by a trip further north to Pai. I’m really looking forward to Pai – I know already from everything I have read and seen of the place that it is definitely somewhere I will be wanting to stay for a while. The next leg of my journey will be to visit Laos for a week or two spent relaxing, taking in the scenery, visiting temples and dolphin spotting. After Laos, I’ll be heading to central Thailand, particularly the national parks and Sukhothai Historical Park. And then I might give myself some more time in Bangkok before heading to Cambodia for a few weeks for another huge highlight of my trip. I’m planning on staying at a yoga, meditation and health retreat for 10 days where I will be trying out a vegan diet, will be visiting the Cambodian temples, spending a bit of time just looking after myself and treating myself to a few massages. I’m really looking forward to this part of the trip and I’m pleased that there will be opportunities for me to explore the country further. I’ll have to head back to Thailand to catch my flight to Oz for the next leg of my journey – at the moment I plan for this to be around May but that is open to change.

Australia is very unplanned at the moment, but I know I have a lot of friends to meet and catch up with – plus I have several people coming out to meet me for stages of my trip here so it’s going to be a busy few months! I’m planning to travel around as much of the country as possible, and I’m hoping my friends will be quite scattered so I can use them as a guide for my travels. I’m really looking forward to checking out the surfing – my goal is to learn to stand up on a surfboard without help. I’m also looking forward to spending some time in the cities, particularly Melbourne, and of course the beaches – Bondi looks amazing! And I do have a little dream in the back of my mind of doing a bit of a Golden Coast road trip, but I’ll definitely need some friends to keep me company. I haven’t decided yet if I will need to work while I am in Oz – I will assess my funds along the way and will see if I want to pick up some more cash. I had planned for three months there, but I already know I’ll be extending it to at least four months.

In New Zealand, I will again be visiting a few people, old family friends, but I’m also looking forward to having some time to myself to explore. I haven’t got a plan yet, but I’ve definitely got a few things I really want to do – like visiting the glow-worm caves, whale and dolphin spotting, I would love to see the Southern Lights, I fancy a lot of outdoor activities, so more surfing, walking and climbing would be good. While I’m in NZ, I’ve also decided that I simply have to get a flight and go to Fiji, no matter how much it costs me. It just looks like paradise and I think I need a little taste of heaven. I have an idea in my head that if I can find a job in Oz or NZ to raise some more cash – I would love to raise enough to stay the full year and to fly back to Australia for new year to watch the fireworks at Sydney Harbour before catching my flights back to the UK via Dubai on January 6. Whew. Quite a trip huh?

I’m still researching places and working out my exact route, so if you have any suggestions or advice, please do leave a comment!

PS. I’d love if you would vote for me in the UK Blog Awards by clicking here and here.