From the day that Ash and I met, I always told him that I wanted to travel. I had a very fortunate childhood, and experienced a lot of great family holidays from homegrown Haven holidays (Rory - we love you!) to Disneyland Paris to south Italy, and I enjoyed each one. I then met my best friend Vicky at college and we would have weekends away and spend the summers abroad whenever possible. I think that these experiences, my affection for David Attenborough documentaries, mixed with gifts such as Peruvian panpipes from my Gran’s expeditions, and photos from my older brother’s trips all influenced me and made me want to go and explore the world. It’s crazy how much there is out there to discover and experience, and I want in on it!
So earlier this year, Ash and I begun sticking pins into the world map on our kitchen wall, which quickly escalated to it being plastered with post-its the more real it became. It was quitting our jobs and leaving our flat, possessions, friends & family. It was strange to not have a plan, as so far my life had gone School > College > Uni > Proper Job Time (although I only managed that for just over a year!), and so to dip into the unknown was quite a scary, but very exciting prospect. Ash had worked for a few years for Inside Out Timelapse Productions as a photographer, videographer, music composer and editor. He made some amazing Timelapse videos and had really begun to settle into a career, which made for a very difficult decision when choosing to leave and travel, or continue and progress there. I had been working at Cooper Parry as an Administrator in the Wealth team, and found it a really enjoyable place to work with a lovely team of people. In addition to this, I had begun my exams toward my Diploma in Financial Planning, and so handing my notice in was a sad time for me, but we knew that we wanted to go and travel at this point in our lives.
We then also decided that leaving our flat in Nottingham city centre to move in with my Dad would be a wise choice, as we could save a lot of money and also the hassle of moving out just days before leaving the country - looking back I probably would have self-imploded if we had done this; both were so stressful! We started to shed a load of our possessions taking quilts, blankets and odd bits of furniture to The Archers Project, and dragging numerous bin-liners to Oxfam and Cancer Research.I managed to flog some stuff on eBay and also give quite a bit to friends and family. It started off as quite an upsetting task, but became quite cleansing and satisfying as we realised that we didn’t really need these things (You can’t fit much in a backpack!), and we had people that really needed or appreciated being given them. My Mum also really kindly offered to house some of those things that we really didn’t want to part with (*cough* nice dresses and shoes!), and make it so we have some things to come back to. THANKS MUM! X And so that was it! We booked our one way ticket to Chennai via Dubai, and got ready for our adventure around Asia, Australasia and South America.
CHOOSING YOUR LUGGAGE
When it came to choosing our bags, it was a bit of a mission. Ash had done a lot of research and decided to purchase the TORTUGA backpack.
He wanted a bag that was compact, small, well designed and well manufactured. He was insistent on not taking a lot of his possessions; as long as he had his various cameras and equipment, with a couple of shorts and vests he was sorted! He found the Tortuga website after reading a lot of great reviews, and his heart was firmly set on it. He also really wanted to support the independent company which has a strong passion for quality, and ultimately created this bag after many trips themselves. When the bag arrived Ash was over the moon, and teamed with his camera satchel, he was on his merry way! CLICK HERE to see what this crazy mofo ended up packing!
I wasn’t sure what to go for. I had a great time travelling SE Asia for a few months with a group of close friends in 2013, and had used a 45L backpack for this. After a few weeks it was bulging with gifts, Vietnamese lanterns and various other additions, until eventually the left strap gave way (waaaaaa!) and I had to get my handy sewing kit out and make a crap job of attaching it back on to the bag. Any logical person would then use this experience to make a decision this time to get a larger bag (maybe 65L), especially as it’s a much longer duration… but not me! After looking at many rucksack reviews and visiting an outdoors store to try on a few, I settled for the OSPREY FARPOINT 55. It’s a 40L bag, with a 15L day bag zipped onto the front.
They’re around £100 online but I managed to get mine for £85 from Nomad Travel. I was really excited and impressed when it came! It seems a really durable (we’re only on week two so maybe I should come back to this in a few months time!!), fits really well on my bag (I went for the S/M size back, as I tried on the M/L and it didn’t quite feel right) and the hip straps are really comfortable, which help the bag to feel really light. This is the main reason that I went for a comparitably small bag, because I knew I would be carrying the backpack around in the boiling sun, throwing it onto buses and running for trains with it on, and so didn’t want to be weighed down and feel like my back was breaking. Also, as it’s a life change rather than an extended holiday, I wont really be buying a lot of gifts and so wont need room in my bag for these. The size also made me really pick only the essentials (and those nice things that keep me feeling like me!) that I needed for the trip – CLICK HERE to see what I managed to fit in – I think you’ll be surprised! THE BORING BUT IMPORTANT STUFF Insurance – Other than the backpack, insurance was one thing that I found myself spending hours looking into. Only having a departure date and knowing that you’ll be gone roughly two years makes it quite hard to buy from many insurers. The first problem that we encounted was that a lot of places only insure up to 18 months. I ended up calling round a few of them after seeing that they offered extensions whilst away, but they all concluded the same: the extension is capped at 18 months too, ie you can book for a year if you’re not sure when you’ll be returning, but can then only extend this by a further 6 months. After scouring the internet we decided to go with Alpha Travel Insurance which offered two years cover, and included 2 trips home of up to three weeks – a really good bonus! There arent many reviews from people who have had to claim, but I made sure to read the T&Cs and have downloaded the documents (I recommend this/printing), so everything should run smoothly should we have to make a claim! We bought the two years couples package with the most extensive activity pack (including cover for scuba diving, bungee jumping, sky diving.. and all of the craziness inbetween) and paid £700 to have an excess of £50 and cover for Worldwide exc USA, Candada and Caribbean. Ash also bought eletronics cover for his equipment from GLOVER & HOWE LTD for £364/yr, with a sum assured of £5000. This was really important for him to get as he’s carrying various cameras, our iPhones and other equipment such as his tripod and quadcopter! Cancel any subscriptions – Gym memberships/car insurance/monthly SIM payments etc. If you go away, it’s easy to forget these things, so we made quite a lot of lists – it’s crazy how many things you think of once you get going. If you're a graduate, you will also need to let Student Finance know by sending them this form, something that we had completely not thought about until Ash's mum mentioned it during our second week in Dubai. Let’s hope we havent forgotten anything else!
Vaccinations, medication (malaria etc) – FITFORTRAVEL is a really good website to get all of this info, and has recent news and also maps showing malaria zones for each country. For our vaccinations, we went to our usual NHS surgery our Hep A and Typhoid vaccinations, but had the majority done at Regent Street Clinic in Nottingham as these were highly recommended to us. We visited Dr Bobby three times, and in total had 1x Yellow Fever vaccination, 3x Rabies vaccination and 3x Hep B vaccination. The cost of £340 (roughly £50 per jab) was a bit of a stinger, but these really were vital to get, given that more people die of rabies in India than anywhere else in the world. Also, to enter some countries in South America you have to show your Yellow Fever certificate. Visas – Do your research! Websites such as VISACENTAL.CO.UK quickly and easily show where you need a visa for, and also have links to online applications where appropriate. As British people, our passports are like gold. We can get entry to any country in the world relatively easy, and many for free. We managed to get our Indian visas just in the nick of time – Ash literally got his days before we got on the plane to Dubai! It’s a really frustrating system – firstly their website is SO difficult to navigate around, and clicking links often takes you round in circles. They also say “Don’t book your flights until you have your visa”, but then ask for proof of departure from the country?! There’s then the issue of if you apply for your visa too far in advance, it may have actually run out before you arrive. I applied for a 6 month visa in early December, and notes my date of arrival in Chennai as 6 Feb and assumed that the visa would run out 5th August. I then received my passport and found that I had been granted the visa i wanted, but that the 6 months actually began on my day of application, and so ended 8 weeks before I anticipated.
Ash had a much worse experience than me. He applied at the same time, and received his passport back in the post containing no visa. There was a sheet of A4 saying that he needed to provide a written letter on headed paper from his employer to say that he was just visiting for tourist reasons, as his job was a creative producer making timelapse videos and musical pieces. He then sent this letter and in return was granted a 3 month visa which really highlighted the problem about what timeframe the visa covered - he would have only actually be allowed in the country for 6 weeks! After speaking with different people on the phone and spending a day in Birmingham at the application centre, he decided to pay another £110 for a second application. This time he stated that he was unemployed and even got the lady behind the desk to a draw a smiley face on his application – thankfully he was granted his 6 month visa. We’ve joked about a pact since to make sure that we stay pass those 6 weeks initially granted, even just by a day, to make the hassle worthwhile!! SAYING OUR GOODBYES
Of course, if you’re leaving the country for a few years you need to say farewell to everyone! The weekend before we left was fabulous. We had a big night out with the the majority of people that we love, and are really thankful and appreciative of everyone that came and the effort that some of them had to make. It was quite overwhelming to have everyone so close to us in one room, which made for an emotional night but also a wicked video!
Apologies to those missed out – the Gopole didn’t come out until quite a few shots later!