CONTIKI BEACHES & REEFS / AUSTRALIA DAY 1

As some of you may know (mainly those who follow me on Instagram), I went to Australia from 1st - 19th January after finally taking the plunge and booking my DREAM trip along the East Coast! I've been meaning to post about my experience for a while now so sit back, relax and grab yourself a cuppa - this could take a while! Let's start with the flight...

By a long shot, the flight was the one thing I was dreading the most. I LOVE flying, so it wasn't the length of the flight that was concerning me... it was what could go wrong! I had visions of me missing my flight, missing my connection, having the incorrect paperwork, getting my visa refused at border control - you name it, I was worried about it! Luckily, things couldn't have gone smoother and I sailed through the whole process without a glitch! It's true what they say, it really is so much easier (and less stressful!) flying and travelling by yourself. Making your own decisions and taking everything at your own pace is pure bliss!

The flight itself was pretty standard. I was lucky enough to be flying the first leg of the flight with Emirates and the second with Qantas (on the Airbus A380 which is their double decker plane for those of you who aren't plane nerds like me!) I was prepared to pay a bit extra for a decent airline considering how long the flight was - I really wanted to make sure I felt as comfortable and safe as possible!! Not gonna lie, it felt like I'd made it when the Emirates cabin crew started handing out hot towels to refresh ourselves with. The little things ay... Our flight left at 8:30pm, we had dinner and then I probably should have slept the rest of the way so my body clock wasn't out of sync but yeahhhhh, didn't happen. I got chatting to this lady next to me and 7 hours, 2 meals and several rounds of drinks later, we arrived in Dubai! Let me tell you now, Dubai is the BIGGEST airport I have ever seen in my entire life. I honestly have no idea how I made it from one gate to the other without getting lost! I'm talking lifts, trains, more lifts, walking, escalators... it was actually insane!! I finally made it onto my second flight but boyyyyy did it drag. You know those set of 4 seats and you always feel really sorry for the people sat in the middle? Yep, that was me, for 14 HOURS. I can remember getting excited when we hit the 9 hour mark (YAY SINGLE FIGURES), before reality hit me that I still had ANOTHER BLOODY 9 HOURS TO GO. NOT FUN. Aside from the boredom, it wasn't actually that bad. It's definitely doable and I certainly wouldn't mind doing it again if it meant I got to go to Australia!

I got chatting to one of the girls on my tour on Facebook before we left so we decided to meet at the airport as our flights were getting in at the exact same time (lucky eh?) I met Sarah at arrivals, we jumped in a mini bus and got dropped off right outside our hotel at around 9am on 3rd January. Baring in mind we had left the UK on New Year's Day, we were both feeling pretty grim! All we wanted was a bed and a shower, but we couldn't check into our hotel for another 5 HOURS!!! Rocking the greasy hair/haven't slept in 24 hours look, we had no choice but to ditch our bags, throw on some shorts and head into Sydney for a spot of sightseeing! We caught a cute little local bus into the centre, got up close and personal with the Opera House, gazed in awe at the Harbour Bridge and kept telling ourselves how incredibly lucky we were. When you've waited your whole life to go to Sydney and there you are, experiencing it in person... it's indescribable. In true Brit style we headed straight to the nearest McDonald's, watched a few street performers then headed back to the hotel around 1pm to check in.

By the time we'd had a quick shower and spruced ourselves up, we had to be back downstairs again to meet our tour group in the lobby for the very first time. For those of you who don't know, I travelled the East Coast of Australia with the tour company Contiki (more info here). Only half of the group had booked in to the hotel for an extra night so we were missing quite a few people when we first met everyone. I always find it so fascinating meeting people from other countries and on the first night alone we were greeted with Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis and Danes. After awkwardly introducing ourselves (and realising how bloody posh the English sound when we say "I'm from England"), we agreed to meet some of the guys in their room for pre drinks before we all headed out for a group dinner. We went straight from dinner to a bar (and like an idiot I forgot to bring my ID to Oz so had to take my passport out with me EVERY NIGHT - risky business) and had a few beverages there. At this point I was literally falling asleep at the bar as I still hadn't slept since I set off from the UK almost 2 days ago! We called it a night at around 10pm and headed back to the hotel for some well-needed shut eye.

I realise that this post went on for way longer than I intended it too, so thank you if you've made it this far!! I'll try and keep them a lot shorter from now on but come back tomorrow if you want to hear about day 2! I promise it gets more exciting as the days go on...

xxx

I'M GOING TO AUSTRALIA!

Anyone who knows me will know that I've wanted to go to Australia FOREVER. I always knew that I would end up going one day but I was a bit worried about spending all of my savings on a 2 week holiday without a wage to fall back on when I got home. When I finished uni, I got a job at New Look pretty much straight away so I had to put my plans on hold for a while. I honestly thought there was no way I would ever be allowed 3 weeks off work, but I saw a lot of my friends being allowed time off for various things so I thought I might as well ask. Turns out January (when I wanted to go) is the quietest month of the year so my manager authorised it and within the hour I was in STA Travel booking the trip of a lifetime.

Like a lot of people my age, I have the biggest desire to travel the world and to see and experience as many places as possible. Australia has always been at the very top of my travel bucket list. I'm very much like my dad in the sense that I'm quite adventurous and have no problem stepping out of my comfort zone, even if things are a bit scary at first. This time last year I was absolutely petrified at the thought of travelling to the other side of the world on my own, which is why I couldn't quite bring myself to booking it. Twelve months later, I really feel like I've grown as a person and I finally have the confidence to pursue something I've wanted to do for years. I didn't even realise until a few months ago that my dad travelled when he was younger too (and has been to the Great Barrier Reef!) so it's no wonder I've caught the travelling bug!

As I'm only allowed a limited time off work, I've decided to go to Australia with the tour company Contiki on their 14 day 'Beaches and Reefs' tour. I first heard of Contiki last year when my housemate's sister travelled to Oz with them, and for first time travellers it really is ideal! I will be travelling along the east coast of Australia from Sydney to Cairns with approx 50 other people aged 18-35, the majority of which will be solo travellers just like me! A lot of people I've spoken to can't believe I'm going it alone but now I'm used to the idea, it just seems so normal! Why put your life on hold because other people don't want to/can't go with you? Solo travel is so common these days so I really recommend taking the plunge and just doing it if it's something you've always wanted to do. It's so liberating and at the end of the day, we make our own way in this world so it's up to us to go out there and live life the way we want to live it.

As you can imagine, I'm pretty gutted that I'll be landing in Sydney 3 days after the famous Opera House/Harbour Bridge NYE firework display (something I've ALWAYS wanted to see and I'm sure is on a lot of people's bucket lists). But after weeks of deliberating I just couldn't justify spending an extra £1,000 to see a glorified fireworks display (yep, NYE is such a joke). Instead, I'm actually flying on New Year's Day and will arrive in Sydney on the 3rd January, ready to start the tour on the 4th. It's my 22nd on the 8th January too so I'll be spending my birthday stroking kangaroo's and holding a koala at a wildlife sanctuary before heading out to the Gold Coast's party hot spot, Surfers Paradise. HOW EXCITING!

If anyone wants to check out the itinerary I'm doing, I'll link it here. The whole experience is going to be amazing but I'm most excited about climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef, doing a skydive, eating a kangaroo (soz Roo), learning to surf and hot air ballooning. I'm actually really excited about the flight too... all 21 hours of it eek! I love flying anyway but I'm so excited to be flying with Qantas and Emirates, I can't even imagine how lovely those planes are! Let the journey commence...