‘Everywhere I went the world was on my side’

Hi my little mince pies, 

Today’s going to be a bit of a random blog/update. I’m pretty chuffed to be honest because I realised I’ve inadvertently been updating this blog every 7 days exactly. I’m usually terrible at stuff like this. 

So if you have read my previous posts you’ll know that I’ve booked all my flights and paid for my tours in Malaysia and New Zealand (goodbye £3,200!) which is awesome and now I don’t have to stress about either of those parts of the trip. However, the main part of my trip will be Australia a) because its where I want to visit the most and b) because its where I’ll spending the longest. Now Australia is a huuuge place and I’m planning on seeing about half of it which is a massive area. I’ll have about 6/7 weeks in Oz in April next year. Obviously I can’t hire a car as I don’t drive so my massimo conundrum is … WHAT DO I DO IN AUSTRALIA?! 

Basically the options I’m looking at at the moment are either to buy the Greyhound KM pass which allows you to buy a certain amount of km and travel around by coach – if you have any km left at the end you can trade them in for tours, accommodations etc. But this option means it will probably be harder to meet people. The second option is to do 2 tours – the Oz Experience East Coast cruiser tour and a tour through the outback – but these are pretty expensive and you only get some accommodation and no meals included. However, obviously it is really easy to meet people this way as you’re all on a tour bus together.

The tricky thing is that I land in Sydney on April 3rd which is the day before my birthday. When I booked my Malaysia tour I was still with my (now Ex) boyfriend so the plan was to meet him in Sydney on April 3rd then obviously I’d be with him for my birthday and the next 2 months. So now I’m left feeling a little bit worried that I’m going to be sat in some internet cafe, cupcake and pathetic lonely candle in one hand, on Skype to my mum bawling my eyes out because I’m alone on the other side of the world on my birthday.  

So I’m a bit stuck because on the one hand, if I got the Greyhound pass and did Oz myself I’d no doubt meet people in hostels along the way and It’d be a lot cheaper/I’d have more freedom to do what I wanted and on the other hand, if I did the tours I’d have a ready made plan, it’d be easy to make friends and I wouldn’t be alone on my birthday.The other issues with the tours is that I want to have a week in Sydney first anyway to see the city so I’d actually probably still risk being alone on my day of birth (birthday is just starting to sound weird). AHH what to do?! 

The great thing is that I’ve been checking out websites that help you to find travel buddies. Its so easy, all you do is type in where you’re going and when and then other ‘solo’ travellers can contact you and be like ‘hey I’m going there then too, lets hang out’! So I’ve actually been talking to a few people that I could potentially meet up with in Australia. However their plans don’t exactly match mine and, as with everything that you have to spend months planning, we aren’t all at the same stage with our planning. One girl hasn’t even decided for definite where she’s going yet and the guy I’ve been talking to is leaving in less than a month – so its all a bit of a mess at the moment! But I’m sure I won’t be alone at least 🙂 Everyone keeps reassuring me that its so easy to meet people out there and I know it will be but people who know me know that I worry and nothing anyone can say will stop me from worrying until I go out there and realise it for myself! 

So, meine Freunde, as you can probably tell – I’m in a bit of a stuck in the mud situation with my travelling plans at the moment. But its Christmas so all stressing can wait until January 1st! And THEN i’ll start pulling my hair out. 😀

Have a beautiful Christmas you guys and a VERY happy new year! 

Catch you on the flipside 🙂 

x

‘Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life’ – Michael Palin