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Blogging Retrospectively: why I am determined to see this to the end and where I am right now

It’s now May 2015 and I’m not in Asia or in Australia. I don’t want any of my readers to feel deceived since I aim for my blog posts to maintain high levels of integrity and purity of emotion. However, the truth is I fell behind with my blogging whilst travelling. I still have thousands of photos to sort through, and Australia brought with it new challenges and triumphs that required me to very much live in the moment. Not that this should eclipse my ability to blog, but it did mean that whilst diary entries were rife, translating such entries into pieces of writing that (hopefully) maintain a good balance between personal (but not too much) and engaging (reporting every aspect of each day would be bland) became somewhat difficult.

So what’s the future for the blog? I want to see it through until the end of Australia- I’ve written up few entries on Melbourne yet have developed a genuine and fond attachment to the place. My Australian family have joked that they expect me to return when I’m 25 (I’m currently 22) and it’s not outside the realms of possibility that I will. I’d like to say that there will be another point in my life where I can take some time out and see more places. I know that, by living in the UK, I am incredibly fortunate since Europe is very accessible to me. And if I’m being totally honest, there are still lots of parts of Europe I’ve yet to see. Even those that have been explored have not been viewed through the eyes of my 22 year old self. So, should the opportunity present itself, I would like to be able to blog about any future travels too (time, money and audience- I don’t know if you guys would be interested- permitting).

Right now I’m working in my home town. This period of time (let’s call it spring 2015) has had a comfortable feel- lots of routine, limited pressure. In June the tide will be changing- I can’t say whether this will be for better or for worse, but I strongly believe that life is about new challenges.

The next entries posted will pertain to Melbourne. I went to see the Great Ocean Road, and have explored places around the city including the Yarra Valley, Rosebud and Safety Beach. Completing this blog- though insubstantial and small- would mean a lot- closing the chapter but providing another source through which I can revisit those experiences. To everyone that has taken the time to read any of my blog posts- thank you 🙂 And I will be keeping a close eye on other WordPress travel blogs to see where I can be inspired to visit next!

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Familiarity: friend or foe? And why is there so much to do and so little time?

*quick note, it says 6 days because I wrote this last night. *

Spoons and forks rattle from within the kitchen downstairs. There is the intermittent sound of a hairdryer whirring and my sister’s voice upstairs. I have 6 days to go until travelling. It should be no big deal- dozens of people choose to see new places at some point (I’m sorry to say that I can’t reference that statistic accurately, but many people seem to know someone who has travelled 🙂 ). And sometimes familiarity feels suffocating, sometimes I can feel the tension in my upper back and the world seems confined to the four walls of my room. Sometimes my eyes are unable to look away from the To-Do list which I know will be sitting in the top left-hand corner of my desktop when I load up my laptop.

6 days.

But sometimes familiarity breeds comfort. Sometimes I want to be in the lounge, doubled over in hysterics over something my mum has said, or having a light-hearted discussion with my dad in the car on the way to the swimming pool. Sometimes I want to exchange that look with my sister whereby we feel like we’re the only two people in the world who at that moment have tuned into each other’s thoughts with perfect synchronicity.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is- I’m starting to feel nervous. Of course, I’ve been away from home before whilst studying, but that sort of felt like leaving one family and re-joining another.

And I think I owe an apology to the people reading this, who might be expecting or wanting more of the food reviews/attraction reviews/city descriptions etc… When I arrive in Hong Kong and travel onwards from there, I’ll move the blog more in this direction. But until I get there, I have lots of time to dwell and/or anticipate yet a minimal amount of time to do everything I need to do. And for this I blame my inherent procrastination trait 🙂

I need to pack. The problem here is my inability to pack light. Rummaging around in my handbag normally provides me with a multitude of surprises (that is once I’ve wrestled open the zip, which tends to be straining anyway due to the excessive contents of my bag). However, when travelling, the term “pack light” would be rather handy. Not to mention when faced with a baggage limit.

I need to figure out how to use my new camera. This is coming from a slight technophobe who has broken at least two of her digital cameras in the past (my dad refuses to let me forget that fact). My bank account also refuses to let me forget that fact. Consequently I anticipate that my cautious approach to handling the camera equipment combined with my desire to read all appropriate instructions at least three times might be somewhat time-consuming. And I need to pick up a good few more items from the shops. Time-consuming. Though part of me wonders whether I should really bother- after all, Hong Kong (alongside places like New York and Paris) seems to be held in great esteem by those who faithfully love shopping. What do you guys think? Better safe than sorry?

My hoarding (which, not bordering on compulsive according to my final year module but which I’d say is still pretty extreme) may make locating what I need in my bedroom to take travelling somewhat challenging.

Time-consuming.

I need to sort my CV. Because as much as I’d love to say I have the funds to enable me to continue to travel without finding a job in Australia, that is simply not true. So there is a bit of pressure there.

Time-consuming.

And even when I arrive in Hong Kong, there is still the small matter of obtaining my China tourist visa. This could have been done in the UK but to cut a long story short, circumstances were not on my side and getting it sorted out over here when I have to be in Hong Kong by the 1st October could be difficult.

So yeah…

Busy, busy, busy!

And during that whole period of time thinking about what I have to do and typing it into this blog post, I briefly forgot about familiarity. Without it, how will I feel? Homesick? Inspired? A combination of these feelings? Perhaps it won’t even be an issue during the Asia leg of my journey because I’m travelling with friends. But if I focus on the many places to go and things to see and try, maybe I will forget about the concept of familiarity entirely. And even in Australia, perhaps all that will really matter will be forming that new memory, experiencing that moment and being able to exist completely within it.

I’ll blog again once I arrive in Hong Kong. Thanks for reading!