The Rose in the Lily Pond

A lot of travel blogs will tell you to ‘let go of your fear and go out and travel the world,’ however for me travel seems the norm, and my security. The daily grind of traffic, work, eat, sleep scares the bejesus out of me and I find my sanction in travel. My biggest problem right now is finding a place to do my washing. Sometimes however I feel like traveling is purely selfish and indulgent and that fleeing couldn't be clearer than in the Philippines. We left the island of Palawan to stay in a four star hotel in Bangkok living in the lap of luxury where our toilet had the ability to give an enema. It seems in stark contrast to the sheer poverty we were experiencing in the Philippines. Best toilet ever. We took photos of the pristine white sand beaches, the turquoise coloured water, and the sunsets but what we didn’t take photos of was the starving dogs that roam the streets, the kids begging at the bus station with sores all over their faces, the dirt floored bamboo sha

I experienced the worst type of culture shock in Singapore, our first destination in Asia. Body image shock. It was day three in our four day stop over and I was wearing a loose fitting, flowing dress.  We were traveling by the ever efficient MRT otherwise known as the subway or the metro in other countries and a woman offers me her seat. I see the “reserved” sign on it and a wave of confusion washes over me. Wearing said dress in Little India, Singapore. She gives me a warm hearted smile and gestures for me to sit down. Instead of  questioning why, I say thank you. At first I think it’s a gesture of hospitality - she took a guess that we were visiting this modern and massive city- and she was playing the kind host, but then I see the “reserved seat” sign. I’m not elderly, I’m not disabled, I don’t have a small child to cart around, oh god, she thinks I’m pregnant! The lady next to me goes bright red and starts giggling - she takes it upon herself to voice her stifled laugh

Hopefully in one year's time when we return from our adventure - we will still be holding hands and smiling! Ryan Gosling, my travel buddy, would like to reveal his true identity as Nick. I was going to do some hilarious photo shopping where I cut and paste Ryan’s face over Nick’s - I mean who wouldn’t want to go on a round the world adventure with your ultimate Hollywood crush - but seems that fantasy is over. The adventure however has just begun. Right now, we are three hours away from Singapore, our first destination on our round the world trip. In the lead up to boarding this plane, it felt surreal that we were going to be away from my family, friends and life responsibilities for a year, and now, seeing the white mushroom clouds zooming past me, it’s only starting to feel real. Feeling the excitement and nerves of getting on a plane together  Some people think that it’s a mistake. Before I boarded this aircraft, I was fulfilling a two week contact at a newspaper