escape

I’ve been trying to figure out how I can afford to do this. If I can find a job that pays a sign-on or relocation bonus, then I’ll be set. Otherwise, it is down to paying off debts and saving up money. I hope that I’m able to find a way to do this in 10 months, when my lease is up.

Anywhere but here

I’m going to employ a more specific goal and list this as ‘done’ as plans will, without doubt, be put into motion pretty soon.

I’ve had no mail for ages but, after ordering and then forgetting about, what lands on the kitchen table on the very same day?

NONSTOP’s snowboard instructor training brochure and Camp America’s super shiny brochure!

Words can’t express how big the grin on my face was, flicking through those bad boys this afternoon. This prompted me immediately to go to the library where I took out ‘The Gap Year Book’ by Lonely Planet (along with a book about yoga/meditation/stretching/tai chi and snowboarding). I have itchy feet to the maxxx!

I just want to get out of England. I hate being 18 and broke. As much as I whine that the idea of being 20 next year is horrifying, I still feel too young to do most of the stuff I want. I know I’m not a kid anymore, but I don’t feel like an adult either. I think this year will have a lot to do with me gaining my independence. Also, I have all these grand plans for travelling and backpacking, but I’m worried that being a woman won’t particularly work in my favour. Incidents in the past have made me (irrationally?) wary, so how am I suppose to cope on another contient when I’m constantly looking over my shoulder in my home town?!

Think of the freedom and peace of mind if I were a 200lb, 6’4’’ powerhouse of a man…

excited!!!

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Mark Twain

Talk about beautiful…

After years of fantasising about this, I’m struggling to find a reason as to why this has to remain just a fantasy. I have no university tie, career commitment, mass of family, long term relationship, friends I couldn’t bare to live without (it really is as awful as it sounds) or property in England. It’s just me living with my parents trying to find any kind of full-time work to afford to have a good time and piece my future together. I want to get more into biking and snowboarding and the scenery really is breath-taking. Maybe I should cling onto this dream for a couple of years until I’ve done my proper research and can afford to travel extensively. I’ve been thinking about going and staying for a while towards the end of next year/beginning of 2010, so I suppose if the right opportunities come along then maybe I could nail this. Who says it’s impossible…

my mum’s a realist, so much so, she seems to think that every idea i come up with is completely impossible, that what you want from life isn’t necessarily what you get, and that the only way to be is just like everybody else. someone should probably tell her that life is what you make it. who says that i can’t move to a place where the weather isn’t miserable 80% of the year? more than anything, i would love to get a mountain bike and cycle wonderful scenic trails and spend time hiking and trying new adventurous sports and generally being outdoors. the only time i’m completely motivated is during the summer when the sun comes out for a bit and everything seems possible and life seems great. i feel healthier and more energised and, come to think of it, a damn sight prettier. i need more of that…