My Childhood Travels
A fun fact about me is that I never went outside of the UK until my teens due to my mum being massively afraid of flying! My childhood consisted of UK based holidays to Cornwall, Scotland and Yorkshire. These holidays were the highlight of my year as a child and I still have crystal clear memories of wanting to stay as long as I could. I remember begging my dad as a child to book extra days onto our holidays as I would be so sad to leave! So, despite never leaving the country until secondary school, I knew from a very young age that I loved travelling and it has always been something that I knew one day I would love to prioritise in my life.
By the time I was a teenager, I really wanted to go abroad, particularly to a beach destination with guaranteed sunshine. At this point, I had been on a few school trips to France, Belgium and two ski trips to Italy but I felt it was time to get my mum over her fear of flying. So, during a family holiday to Cornwall, we convinced my mum to get on this tiny plane to a small island for a day trip. Turns out, flying wasn’t soo bad and we planned to go abroad the following summer.
My first holidays were to Greek islands and eventually I managed to persuade my family to book my dream destination: Thailand. I was 16 at the time, and I took lead with planning the trip. This is where my true addiction to travel was born. The huge difference in environment/culture was like nothing I had ever experienced before and it drew me in, although I think it may have been slightly out of my families comfort zone! I loved the food, the laid back lifestyle, the beautiful temples and culture, the dream like islands and beaches with the warmest water I had ever came across. We spent 3 weeks in Koh Samui and I knew immediately that one day I would come back to travel across the country as a whole.
My First Backpacking Trip
I took my first backpacking trip to Thailand in 2022 for two months and it was the time of my life! I have to admit that when I say ‘backpacking’ I did have a backpack and travelled around but I did stay in a range of fancy hotels and apartments.
I made some of the best memories of my life during this two month trip, including: bathing with elephants at a sanctuary in Chiang Mai, visiting the tallest mountain in Thailand, visiting numerous intricate temples, watching unbelievable vibrant sunsets in Koh Lanta with a huge beach all to ourselves, swimming with sharks in Koh Phi Phi, completing my scuba diving training in Koh Tao, exploring the streets and skylines of Bangkok and soo much more!
This trip highlighted to me that I could actually get by on little money on a day to day and live a life of my dreams, surrounded by nature and rich culture. It became evident to me within a few weeks of this trip that this is something I definitely wanted to experience on a long term basis and I knew that I would dedicate the next year to saving as much as possible before embarking on a one way adventure in 2024.
2023 - Working and Saving
I can’t lie, 2023 has been a tough year for me. I decided at the end of my travels in Bangkok 2022, that I would give myself just one year to save enough to allow me to travel 2024 on a one way ticket. My mind was 100% set on saving 90% of my pay check every month (thanks to my family for helping me out soo much this year I had minimal bills).
I returned home from travelling in late December 2022 and I immediately applied for jobs, as I had returned home back to a part time job which was never going to allow me to save on a big scale. I almost immediately got offered a decent paying office job, working 8 am – 5 pm Monday – Friday. Little did I know how tough I was going to find this! I unfortunately had a year of working somewhere I quite literally couldn’t stand and sometimes it would take ALL my willpower not to get up and leave. I felt soo riddled with negativity on multiple occasions and suffered with a lot of anxiety, health issues and aura migraines from staring at a computer all day. I knew this lifestyle was only temporary and managed to stay focused and push through saving quite literally all my money every month, staying in every weekend, isolating myself from literally anything which would tempt me to spend money.
I know giving yourself just one year to save for a HUGE trip is very daunting but with focus, in the right situation, it is possible. It has took a lot of determination and drive but I now write this just one month before departing on a one way ticket to South East Asia and I can honestly say that it was all worth it.
This year has taught me that the 9-5 life is most definitely not for me and now, I am ready to through myself into the unknown and embark on an adventure starting in South East Asia for most of 2024 before heading to Australia on a working holiday visa.
"Sometimes life is about risking everything for a dream no one can see but you"
Starting My Blog
I have created this website to share my personal experience as I dedicate my life to travel. I hope to be able help those who are planning their own travels through providing up to date content, sharing hidden gems and advice as well as inspiring people to take a risk and to travel more!
Starting a travel blog has always been something I have dreamt of and the timing could not be more perfect. Throwing it back to when I was 15, I actually had a lifestyle blog named ‘Em’s Life’ where I shared lifestyle posts, fitness related content and my holidays! So, this is something that has always been on my mind but I knew that I wanted to wait until the right stage in my life so that I can provide top quality content on a wide range of destinations.
December 2023 - Quitting My Job
After a year of hard work and saving every possible penny, I handed in my notice and booked a one way ticket to South East Asia with my boyfriend. I write this 3 weeks before leaving the UK and trading my office job for a full-time adventure!
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Good luck to you Emily, I’m sure you are having a wonderful time love .