The ramblings of a shorter than average cockney girl who now lives in the beautiful city of Bristol

Monday 29 July 2013

I Don't Like Staying Still

I like to think i'm a doer. I do things, whether its working in Ayia Napa or volunteering for a mental health awareness campaign or going to the gym regularly. I don't like days where I don't have anything to do. Unfortunately, due to working for 90% of my waking hours from Friday night until last night, today was one of those days.

Not that its been a bad day. Sure, I haven't spoken to any people in person except for the woman in Sainsburys who was struggling carrying cereal boxes when I was buying a massive bar of galaxy (which I shamefully devoured in one sitting). I've spent the day flopping about reading travel blogs and daydreaming of one day writing about travelling myself.

As much as I dislike it, sometimes we do all need these days. And as today was thundery and wet I guess I chose a good one. Its back to work tomorrow, a free day which I will use productively on Wednesday and then possibly volunteering in the evening, and then work work work for the end of the week and the weekend. Not the most exciting lifestyle, but it will all be worth it. With each shift I do, a little more money goes into my adventure fund; and my dreams of travelling the world come a little bit closer each day. As long as you stay productive, each day adds up to something amazing.

Monday 22 July 2013

Adventure May Hurt You But Monotony Will Kill You

I've always been very wary of monotony. And it seems this summer I've gotten very close to it. I desperately crave adventure, but decided this summer to stay in Bristol to keep my part time job. While Bristol is amazing and the love of my life, its a bit on the quiet side out of term time when a lot of people are doing other things. I don't want to have a boring summer.

I have found some other things to do with my time. I've started volunteering at a local homeless shelter and have been training for the Bristol Half Marathon, which I am running for them. So I'm a bit busier, which is what I need. I have terribly itchy feet and find it tricky to find a scratching post big enough for them!

Anyway, this post by Ellen Goodman made me think;

Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for - in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.
Ellen Goodman
American journalist (1941 - )

I don't want to lead this kind of lifestyle where I'm paying for monotony. I want to have a job I love. I want to be in love with every millisecond of my life. I want to live my passion.

And my passion, the thing I spend most days dreaming about is without a doubt, travel. I want to travel. I want to backpack through Asia, I want to see the Taj Mahal, I want to explore every nook and cranny of Costa Rica, I want to experience Rio, I want to scuba dive off the Great Barrier Reef, I want to haggle in souks in Marrakech. So here begins my conquest of making travel my career. There must be some way to do it?

Admittedly, I do need to finish my degree and acquire some money. I've already planned to go to Central America for 6 weeks or so next year, so I'll do that as my first spot of travelling. Then I'll come back to Bristol to complete my degree and by then hopefully I'll have saved and planned enough to jet off. Until then I'm going to practice my travel writing. It might just be my travels around Avon and Somerset, but some people do need to hear what's going on in Avon and Somerset, and besides, its a pretty cool place.

So here's to adventures, new friendships, new cuisines and new cultures. Here's to more spontaneity and less monotony!