Phases of the Journey

Let’s talk a bit about my actual trip. It is running for two and a half months in total and it is the longest holiday I’ve been on yet, no surprise there. I am also organising and funding this one myself. It is a very exciting prospect for me because travelling alone, or with people of more my own age, is very different to travelling with my family, which is what I most often do. I think that doing this one myself is a great thing for me at this point and I’ve been waiting to do this for a long time. It all finally coming together is incredibly exciting and I think will be incredibly rewarding when I have completed my journey.

I am travelling to The Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan, in that order. Seven counties in total and four I’ve not visited before. The trip itself, I like to think in three different phases.

Phase one is the Philippines. I am meeting friends from university out there. We have booked flights and hotels so far and whatever happens from that point is up to us when we get there. This phase of the trip will be the most ‘on the fly’ (and maybe the most chaotic) of any of the trip because of this but I think this will be the best way for us to do it. there will be five of us out there and I’m expecting lots of island hopping, water sports, snorkelling and sunshine, other than that I don’t really know what to expect but I am looking forward to travelling with friends again.

Phase two takes me from Bangkok, Thailand, through Malaysia, then to a stop off in Singapore and on through Indonesia. These four countries are grouped together because they are all part of the same group tour that I have booked on to and all preplanned and organised. This will mean I can spend more time enjoying what I’m doing than trying to work out what to do next. It will also be a good way for me to meet some new people and experience some new cultures and, most importantly, have a lot of fun.

The final phase is South Korea and Japan, you could say that this is the most anticipated part of the trip because the desire to go to Japan was the real driving force for starting to plan the trip in the first place. Again, this is also a preorganised tour that I will be joining on to.

This very much feels like my once in a lifetime trip (although I still hope to be able to travel to more exiting places in the future and this is by no means the end of my travelling) and I’m going to be ticking a few more locations off the list of countries visited with it.

I am taking this trip now as an interval between my Bachelor’s degree and my Master’s. I went to university the first time straight after I had finished sixth form at eighteen and once I had finished, I knew I wanted to do this trip. But what do you need to travel? Money. So, I had to get a job first. After working for eighteen months, I am finally finishing up to take my gap year and go on my travels before I go back to university for the second time to continue my education. I made it sound like a chore to be working but in reality, I really like my job and have had a lot of fun working there so far and am hoping to be able to keep working with them further down the line. I hope they’re not too jealous that I get to travel while they’re still working in the office though. I told them in my interview that I would be travelling at some point and it is just too much of a good opportunity to pass up. So, I don’t feel that guilty, sorry everyone, I’ll see you when I get back!

There is a lot to look forward to for me on this trip and I am very fortunate that I am able to do it and if I manage to entertain or inspire anyone with this blog then I will be glad, but I am also looking forward to being able to look back on it in the future and maybe I will continue to add to it when I travel even more.

So, look forward to some exiting experiences from my personal perspective in further posts, and I’ll see everyone on the other side! Wish me luck, expect lots of fun experiences to come!