Boiling with anticipation to travel again

Today I handed in my notice at the Kaipara Lifestyler. I have bought a round-the-world plane ticket departing late September with my boyfriend - who will be known from here on out as Ryan Gosling, Ry for short, we’re pretty close.

Don’t get me wrong – I have, despite my uncertainties, enjoyed my stay in sleepy Dargaville but it’s time for me to move on. The pull of an adventure overseas and doing something different and new everyday is too strong.

The rough plan is, and I have no doubt that things will go horribly wrong or incredibly right and we will have to change our route, a week in Rarotonga celebrating my Nana’s 80^th birthday, teaching English in Asia, backpacking through India, a brief stopover in Europe and soaking up the language in South America – one of my lifelong dreams is to be fluent in Spanish – not to mention attending the Football World Cup in Brazil!

It’s not my first trip away from the New Zealand nest. When I was 22 I explored USA, Canada, a wee bit of Europe as well as Peru and Argentina and had some excellent experiences, made some lasting friendships and cried when I missed my family and friends. I came back to New Zealand a couple of months before my 24^th birthday, tanned and heartbroken after leaving my Latino travel romance.

Now at 27, I am older. My liver is wiser and it no longer lets copious amounts of alcohol drown it (very often). It’s going to be a very different trip.

The biggest difference is going to be that I have a travel companion this time round. Ry comes from Auckland and with me living in Dargaville we have done the long distance thing. It’s great actually – the time we spend together is awesome – we put life aside and focus on each other. What’s it going to be like when we are together 24/7? How are we going to handle making all the big and small decisions that arise when travelling? Are we going to turn into one of those couples that 22-year-old Rose used to snigger at who never seemed to talk to each other, and you got the feeling that they were totally sick and tired of the other person’s face? 

Then again, who could get sick of staring at Ryan Gosling? Let the adventure begin!