A Childfree Life, Travel

The Travel Bug

I have always had the travel bug. Once done with university, I felt it in my blood that I wanted to get out there and see the world. I had been to Thailand on a girls trip but it just didn’t feel like enough. I wanted to wander the streets with no place to be. And more importantly, no one to negotiate with about the plan for the day. Off I went once my degree was done, backpacking around South East Asia for three months. It holds a special place in my heart and I have returned several times. I would love to live there one day and while it’s on my list of ‘things’ to do in my life time, I have reconciled with myself that it doesn’t have to be right now.  Soon after that I scooted off to London, where a working holiday kept me there for four years.

A certain love affair brought me back to the sunny shores of Australia.

But as this quote reminds us, we are never quite the same after seeing the world.

“I am not the same, having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.” – Mary Anne Radmacher

With every trip, my hunger for travel grows. Fortunately (and unfortunately, which ever way you look at it)  I have married someone who is just as much a dreamer as I. With every trip I suggest, he thinks they all sound awesome. It is kind of nice, but a little bit worrying with both our heads in the clouds. As he said to me over dinner the other night “some people want a house, kids and a wine cellar to make them happy, that is just not us.”

(No judging from me here if that’s what makes you happy by the way.)

Traditionally, we take a long holiday every year in February or March (out of school holidays – another childfree perk). We have been to Thailand three times, snowboarding in New Zealand. We travelled to Europe and Mexico for our honeymoon. This year it is the Philippines and Bali; next stop in 2015 is India for a paragliding festival.

How can we afford to travel so much?

Firstly, we pick cheap countries that are serviced by budget airlines. We book far in advance, (usually twelve months for the big trips). Skyscanner and TripAdvisor are my best friends. We don’t stay in posh hotels or do so as a treat at the end of a trip. Secondly, we don’t have a house and a huge mortgage. We don’t have any kids. We don’t party anymore or spend up on food and booze. I take some annual leave at half pay.

It’s not just me who has caught the travel bug; Oxford Economics predicts that the travel industry will have sustained growth over the next ten years of 5.4 per cent per year. The world is becoming smaller. People are opting for family holidays overseas for better value for money and to seek new experiences.

Experiences I would like to have in my lifetime include; 

– volunteer work in Asia with my Dad

– live in Thailand for a while

– do a whole ski season, somewhere, someday (and learn to snowboard properly)

– learn to teach yoga (or just go somewhere to do yoga for a month, because let’s face it, I suck.)

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– travel South America, ALL OF IT

– drive from Darwin to Broome in a campervan

– see the big cats in Africa

– dance at Burning Man

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* Image credit A Taste for Art

– run the wine tasting marathon in France; Marathon du medoc (a marathon with wine and superheroes!)

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– visit all the cat cafe’s in japan. (Meow.)

 

What about you? 

Travel bug or homebody? 

Anywhere on your bucket list? Anywhere awesome I must go?

Stay with me as I blog from the Philippines this month…..

Happy Sunday!  

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