What are we getting ourselves into?

Hi! Charlotte here.

We decided that our first blog posts should be along the lines of  – what are our goals and expectations of this trip? So here are mine.

Well first off, I imagine that this adventure will completely change my life (I know, I don’t expect much!) I am stepping so far out of my comfort zone that it’s hard to imagine coming back and slipping back into my regular life after 12 months away. I know that I am very lucky to have an employer who has a career break policy which (fingers crossed, I haven’t *cough* actually applied yet) will allow me to take the year off and return to my job again after. But what if when I come back I’m a square peg trying to slot into a round hole? I guess I’ll have to cross that bridge when I come to it – and I’m sure you’ll hear me talk about it more over the year we’re away.

What do I want from this trip? Essentially, I want adventure!

I want to see new places, meet new people, soak up cultures and sunlight and monsoons. I want to try incredible food and learn about other people and how they live their lives. I want freedom, I want to explore, to discover. I also want the time and the inspiration to write more.

Yeah, there’s a lot of ‘I want’ in that statement. But I also know that as an independent traveller I have a responsibility to travel right, to see it as more than just a selfish adventure. I’m really looking forward to meeting people in the countries we visit, learning about their culture, and with any luck finding some way to give back. We’re hoping to do some WWOOFing or other type of volunteering along the way – so any suggestions of meaningful ways to do this would be welcome! We also both have TEFL qualifications and I’ve done some EFL teaching in the past and really enjoyed it.

So I suppose you could say that it’s both a goal and an expectation that this trip will broaden my horizons, give me confidence and freedom and, just maybe, make me a better person.