Now that the new year is well and truly underway, it's about time I gave you a little life update. This blog has been a little infrequent the last few months and I know that means many of you actually have no idea where I am right now. Well, after a month of flat-hunting and staying with friends as I job searched, I can now officially say I am all settled in my amazing new flat right in the middle of Melbourne city, I have an awesome job working in a rooftop bar, and life feels pretty damn incredible. Once again, Melbourne feels like the home I've been waiting for and I couldn't be happier to be back surrounded by all my amazing friends, and a whole heap of new ones. I know the blog posts have been few and far between since I left England again, but between Bali, Cairns, road tripping through Tasmania and now Melbourne - it's been pretty hectic. Life just got in the way and I won't apologise for that, because life is exactly what this blog is about - living every second to the max. And I can assure you I've been doing just that.
Yesterday was officially my two year travel anniversary, just two months ago I hit my 30th country, and I'm already making plans for the next exciting year of travel. I'm still the same girl who left home two years ago, I still have the same best friends at home, the same family and I'm still happily single and independent. But I'm also an amazing new version of myself - happier, brighter, bolder, crazier and ready to take on the world with every step. I'm capable, I'm knowledgeable and quite frankly, I know exactly what I'm doing, I don't second guess myself. It's the best version of myself I've ever been and I plan to keep taking steps to evolve and grow myself in this direction, I can't see any reason why not to. So for all the people who have asked when I'm coming home, or when I'm going to stop travelling. My answer is who knows, whenever I get bored of growing as a person, learning, changing and being happy - but it won't be anytime soon.
If you haven't seen my post from just before New Years, check it out here to read about my travelling highlights from 2016. It was a year of serious highs, and one serious low, but you can't live the highs without having the lows to compare them with. I use the lows to add fuel to my fire and make plans for the future, it's the one thing that pushes me to make snap decisions and to book the trip, or take the plunge. So for all those girls out there who message me almost daily to ask about their relationship problems, or choosing between love and travel. Two years on, I will still say that choosing travel over love was the best decision of my life, that we remain the best of friends but both say this was the best thing to ever happen to us. That choosing to keep travelling and forget the love that I found on the road was also the best decision I could have made, because I know otherwise I would have regretted it and been let down. It wasn't so much choosing travel over love, but choosing myself over people who would just let me down. That's not a selfish decision, it's a smart one and because I chose well, I have no regrets.
So what are the big travelling plans for 2017?
I'll now be settling in Melbourne for a few months to work and save money for my big West Coast road trip - hopefully happening around March/April - when myself and a friend will drive from Melbourne up to Darwin over a few months. I've been looking forward to this trip since arriving in Australia and I know it's going to be the best yet. Then up in Darwin, we'll be taking in all the National Parks as I work and save for my last few months in Australia - gotta make the most of these $$$.
After my visa runs out, I'll be having a month-long holiday somewhere in Asia - possibly the Philippines as I've been desperate to visit since I arrived in Asia. I'll be craving huge untouched beaches by then and a chance to relax and detox after Darwin. Then I'm hoping to be joined by one of my best travelling friends for a huge trip to South America where I'd love to spend a few months travelling as much as possible.
It's all just a vague plan at the moment and it may all change at the drop of a hat, but it's exciting to have goals for the year. So this year will be less countries ticked off, but I'll be crossing at least three continents and should hopefully get at least another five countries ticked off my list which is far more than many people around the globe. I'd say I'm a lucky girl, but I made all this happen by investing in myself and my trip. You can make it happen too, it's very easy, just make a decision to do it and you'll get there.
My New Year's resolution?
Forget all this "New Year, New Me" bullshit, I've been doing awesome the last two years so if anything, I'm planning to keep up my attitude to life and following my own bliss - the rest all falls into place as a result. Stop worrying about the small negative things and the rest suddenly becomes the everything you've been searching for.
What are your New Year's resolutions? Where do you plan to travel in 2017?
Christmas and New Year are definitely some of those times when people really start to think about their relationship status - a bit like the post-Christmas bloat, it's something that hangs over every festive party and moment under the mistletoe. It can suck a bit to be single at Christmas, to not have someone special to keep you warm and to get you that extra special present. But it can also be great to be single at Christmas - you don't have to feel guilty when you sit there and eat an entire cheeseboard in one sitting then spend the night farting in bed, and no awkward decision about whose family you'll spend the day with. When it comes to New Year, this was my first as a single girl for nine years - which seems crazy to me. Basically as long as I've been old enough to go out drinking I've been in a relationship, more than a third of my life. And it was a good relationship, a great one in fact, but 2015 was all about the start of something new, about taking control of my life and doing something for me. I broke off my relationship and left to travel the world solo, a year later I should be heading home but have decided I'm not ready for my adventures to finish yet. Last December 31st I was surrounded by good friends and spent the night celebrating with my other half. But this year, it felt right to celebrate independently after the year I've had. I've conquered all sorts and I've done it all by myself, so I was more than happy to be a single girl as I took my first steps into 2016.
This time of year it's easy to get caught up in the romance of the season - all those engagement rings popping up on my newsfeed, all those cute couple photos in matching Christmas jumpers, and all those New Year kissing photos. We're blasted in the face with the expectation and the pressure to be in a happy relationship or left to feel like failures, but I have to ask, isn't it more important at this time of year to be looking inwardly and thinking more about the relationship we have with ourselves? New Year is always a great time to look back over the year as it comes to a close - at what we've achieved and suffered, learnt and lost over the last 12 months. We're all planning and making goals for the year ahead, but so many are setting goals, more like ideals for where they see themselves in 12 months. They're thinking about things like relationships statuses, job goals, having their own homes. All of these are great in their own way, but why not take the time to think about how mentally healthy and happy you are. Two Christmases ago I took a two week break from work and from life - I finally had headspace to think and after the two weeks was up I realised I didn't want to go back to that life. That was when I realised that how I was working and living was not making me healthy or happy - it was time to plan an escape and my next moves. That was when I began saving, when I bought a plane ticket. A year later, I hopped on that plane and never looked back.
It's not the answer for everyone and I'm not saying this to tell you to go do the same. Travel might not be your way of healing but starting 2016 on your own could provide you with a good opportunity to really look closely at your life. Are you happy? Are you on your way to achieving what you want out of life? If not, why not? This is your chance to claim 2016 as your year to work on you - do what I did, step back and reassess. Our goals change as we grow as people and sometimes the ones you set a while ago will no longer fit the person you have become - if you no longer want something why work towards it? Evolve your goals and you will find happiness in working towards what you truly want. If a job no longer makes you happy, look elsewhere and find one that does. Feel like work is taking over your life? Take a step back and explore your passions in your free time. Unsure whether a relationship is still giving you what you need - make a change, end it or go in search of something new. It doesn't matter how trapped you feel, even if it feels like there is no way out, there always is. But you have to be willing to make the first move - once you've taken that first step it turns into the easiest and most natural thing in the world, but first you have to take a leap of faith.
It can be a huge change that all your family and friends talk about, or it can be something tiny that just makes a world of difference to you. Either way, having the courage to examine your life and really think about where you want it to go can be simultaneously the scariest and most valuable thing you do this January. Why? Because it will help give you focus and goals for the year ahead - to find the happiness you've been searching for. 2015 was my happiest and freest year yet - it was so amazing that I skipped my flight home and chose to stay and carry on for as long as possible. I'm looking forward to seeing what 2016 brings - I'm just hoping for more happiness, the love of many new friends I have yet to meet and even more opportunities to follow my passions. Most importantly, I'm not sitting around and waiting for life to happen to me, I'm out there making it happen for myself.
Have you made any New Years resolutions? What are your goals for this year? Is travel in your plans for 2016 - where are you heading?
