Jackie's World Tour 2009 – Let the mayhem begin!

I am in love with New Zealand!!! I never want to leave. The landscape is so beautiful here. I took a hike the other day to a place called Cathedral Cove. It was absolutely beautiful! It took about 2 hours to go there and back and it was so worth it. It was somewhat hilly but it ran along the edge of the ocean and the views were just breathtaking! Certain parts were through the woods and it was like walking through a prehistoric jungle. Very cool! The actual Cathedral Cove was amazing. I can’t even explain it but I will be posting pictures (I found a way to get some free internet for the next 2 days so I am going to upload pics tonight!) Oh yeah, for everyone that has been asking for pics, they are forthcoming! J </fon

Well my trip has officially begun! I am now sitting in a Starbucks half way across the world drinking a creme frapp and a muffin. Yes, I know, so lame. My first breakfast in New Zealand is at Starbucks. I actually came here cause I I was told that the wifi access was free but it is Starbucks so I should have known better. Nothing owned by a big corporation, even in other countries, gives you something for free. sigh….oh well. So I really can’t believe that I am actually here starting my trip. I have been planning this for such a long time and for it now to finally be here is a bit surreal. It hits me every couple of hours that I am not coming home for a year. Wow, freaks me out when I actually think about it for any period of time. It is a good freak out though! What an adventure I have set myself up for! 🙂 The flight here was uneventful and LONG!!!! I was soooo tired on the plane from San Fran to Auckland and I desperately wanted to sleep and my body was just not cooperating. The seats are bigger than normal US flights but for a 13 hour plane ride they are still really small.  I wanted so badly to strech my legs out and I couldn’t. I finally did fall asleep for a little bit so at least I am not totally dead to the world right now. So far Auckland is an interesting city. I have only really seen it from the bus ride over to the hostel and my short walk from the hostel to Starbucks. I looks like any typical small city. It has these little alleyways with these hidden malls and stores that reminds me alot of Chinatown and Bangkok.I am going to explore more today. My room at the hostel is not going to be ready until 1pm (it is now 6am btw) so I have some major time to kill. Oh yeah, let me report on the hostel. So far, not a big fan. Of course I have only seen the check-in area (nothing to write home about), one community bath/shower and the 1st floor main hang out room. My lovely shower was freezing cold and the toilet was clogged which was pretty awesome! Love freezing cold showers in the morning. 🙂 The common room was pretty dirty and the room where I am storing my backpack for the time being smells like piss. Not sure why, don’t really want to know why but it smells nasty. Now with all that being said, it still has not dampened my spirits! I am so psyched to be here that I can’t keep the shit eating grin off my face! I am sure by the end of tonight I will have met some people at the hostel so I am looking foward to that. Well that is all for now. I am going to pack this up and hit the road. Think I will head down to the waterfront and see what is kickin down there. Oh yeah, one more thing, we went through the outskirts of Auckland coming from the airport and people think that Long Islander’s have their houses built close together?!?! Man, Auckland takes the cake. I mean you can literally pass your neighbor a cup of sugar just by handing it to them through the window!   Later for now. I will update more a bit later. Hugs and I miss you all!   

Ok, I am leaving in 3 weeks….3 WEEKS!!!! Can we say that I am slightly freaking out about this. The closer it gets the more fears, irrational and rational, keep bubbling to the surface. The most common one is the rational fear that I am going to run out of money followed closely by the irrational fear that I won’t make any friends (I know, VERY stupid, I can make friends with a potted plant if I tried hard enough!) and lastly that I will hate long term travel and miss my friends and family so much that I just want to come home. Now, realistically I know the last two won’t happen but I am nervous about the money thing. I have a feeling that I will have to try to get some work as I am traveling to try to offset some of the costs. But there is one plus to the whole money thing and that is that it will force me to go on the no money, no food diet which will help me lose weight! 🙂 Don’t ever let anyone tell you that I am not an optimist. 🙂

 Anyway, as I prepare to embark on the this journey I am often hit by overwhelming waves of sadness due to the fact that I am going to be away from my amazing friends and family for so long. As my departure date looms ever closer it really makes me appreciate what I have in my life and it makes me miss it (yes even before I have even left the country!) I have been running around like crazy trying to spend quality time with all the people that are important to me and I have come to the realization that I am blessed with alot of really amazing people in my life. So to all my friends and family, I love you guys and you seriously mean the world to me! I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you have ALL supported me in this decision. From the encouringing words, the concern for my safety to the people who even mapped out my itinerary and checked hostel prices to make sure I would have enough money (you know who you are!) everyone has been amazing.  Ok, enough of the sappy stuff….for now!

 Anyway, wish me luck. I will update more as I travel. Actually my next update will probably be when I am on the plane for 24 hours heading to New Zealand. Damn, that is a long ass flight.

Till then….HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!  

Oh yeah…I have Skype. If anyone has Skype and wants to stay in touch send me your username. Mine is kittarina1

A bunch of people have asked me my itinerary so I figured I would post it.

January 6th – leave JFK to go to New Zealand (1 mth)

Feb 4th – Fiji (2 weeks)

Feb 19th – Australia (2 mths)

April 22nd – Indonesia (1 mth)

May 22nd – Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Loas, Cambodia, maybe India or China (3+ months)

Sept 1st – Istanbul, Turkey (1 month) – may change date and move it further back

Oct 6th – Rome, Italy (1 month)

Nov 10th – Home Sweet Home (maybe 😉 )

Well got my first round of vaccinations yesterday and although the shots didn’t hurt (except for 1 of them) the pain afterwards really sucks! Both arms feel like they have been punched for hours straight. It hurts to lift them up past my shoulder. Oh well, I would rather have a day or two of dead arm then catch some crazy disease while I am away. So next week I get to go back to be poked again a couple more times. Need to get a vaccination for Japanese encephilitis. It is a good thing I went to the doc earlier than later cause the one manufacturer that produces this vaccination is discontinuing the vaccination and it is becoming harder to get. Now I find that a bit weird that the only manufacturer of a vaccination would stop making it. I mean the disease is not going to go away and people will still be traveling to areas where they need the vaccination, right? So how can you discontinue it? Makes no sense to me but at least I know I am getting it and will be covered.

Things are moving along very nicely with the rest of things I need to do for the trip. I am in the process of packing my apartment so I can move out at the end of September. I am lucky enough to have some great friends that are letting me crash at their house until I leave so I can save some extra money. And one comment on packing…I never realized how much stuff you can accumulate in a year. I have been in my current apartment for only a year and packing it all up seems like a monumental task. I mean it has only been a year! I really need to stop being such a pack rat.

 Lastly, I just want to say thanks to everyone once again. Every person I have spoken to about this has been amazingly supportive. It is great to hear such positive feedback from everyone and it is making it so much easier for me as I prepare for this trip. Sometimes I stop and think to myself that I am crazy for doing this but everyone’s positive reactions makes me forget about those fears. Thanks so much!!! 🙂 

I am now 4,444.82 poorer! And I am wearing a big grin as I am writing this. I am really doing this. Holy shit, I am really doing this! It was so easy to say to people that I am doing this but now that I have paid for and bought my tickets it is official. WHOO-HOO!!!!!!!

 So my departure date is January 6th and my first stop is New Zealand. Suzanne is talking about meeting me in NZ for a time so that will be very cool. My friend Audrey is also talking about meeting me in Indonesia! I will be so psyched if both these people actually meet up with me. (Come on guys let’s do it!)

So I am going to throw this out to my friends and family. If you see a place I am going to and you say to yourself that you have always wanted to go there, well now you have the perfect excuse. I will be there and you won’t have to go alone. Come and meet me somewhere on the road. My philosophy is more the merrier! If anyone is interested let me know.

 So now it is time to move onto travel insurance, backpack, laptop and vaccinations and visas! Lions and tigers and bears OH MY! hee-hee

Till next time~

Jax

Ok, so the planning for my trip has begun. I figured one good way to start is by creating a travel blog where I can track my progress during the planning stages and where people can read about my adventures once I depart.

So first and foremost, the question I get the most…WHY AM I DOING THIS??  A bunch of people think I am crazy for leaving a great job when most people my age are married with kids, in a career and own property. Well I have none of those things at the moment, except maybe the good job. So why pick up and leave you ask??? Well, very simply,  I have a yearning to go and see the world and experience other cultures. I realized after my visit to Thailand in February that I have lead a pretty sheltered life (and a good one at that!) and I really want to EXPERIENCE the rest of the world and what it has to offer. So, despite the major chaos this is going to cause in my life, I am packing up and taking off! I am so excited to take this adventure that I can’t adequately put it into words.  Although I get a bunch of the you are crazy comments I have also gotten alot of great, positive feedback and for that I am really grateful.  Most of the people I have talked to about this trip have been unbelievably supportive, including my family, friends and surprisingly, work. I think I am most surprised that my parents are right on board with me. My Mom, dad and stepmom have been my biggest supporters thus far. Not only are my Dad and Susan letting me store my life in their house when I am gone, my Mom has been awesome! Most Moms would be freaking out that their daughter is planning on traveling the world alone but my Mom has been totally supportive not freaking out about the fact that I am going to be half way around the world by myself for a year.  Mom, I know you reading this, so thank you for not moming out on me! 🙂

 So obviously I am doing this trip solo. That is the second question I get the most; who am I going with? This is the point in the conversation where most people stop in their tracks and say that I am crazy! LOL. When people find out I am going alone their jaws drop. Yes it is a little bit scary going by myself but it is also very liberating. I have never done something like this totally on my own. It is going to be a great learning experience for me and I am going to know myself inside and out by the end of this trip. Don’t ask me where the inner strength to drop my life and throw myself into the unknown armed with a backpack and a general idea of where I am going comes from, but somehow it is there. People have always told me I have set on me, guess they are right. 😉

 The other question I get just as frequently as the ones mentioned above is where and when I am going. Well according to my plans I am going to be leaving on January 7th. My current itinerary looks like this: New Zealand (1 month), Fiji (2 weeks), Australia (close to 2 months), Indonesia (1 month – Mom I looked into this and YES IT IS SAFE!!), South east Asia (close to 4 months), Turkey (1 month) and finally Italy (1 month). This brings me home sometime around mid-November. This is all still tentative since I have not booked my ticket yet. I will probably be doing that this week. Once that is done it is onto vaccinations, visas, medical insurance, world phone, laptop and travel gear. Whoo-hoo…..I am going to be so broke even before I step foot off of American soil!

Well that is all for now. I will update this puppy periodically as I get more things done for my trip.

Hugs from your soon to be world traveling freak,

Jax