Finally... We're booked!

Whenever we begin to discuss our trip with worried relatives, they ask "But nothing's booked yet?" to wish we shamefully answered "no", and once more their smiles were restored and their fears banished. 

But the tables have turned!!!! and the excitement grows!

Our flights (and travel insurance) are now booked and paid for.  Thing's were slowed down a little for us, living in Jersey, as companies specialising in travelling and gap years do not have offices over here.  So, after one horrendous phone call in which we began hysterically laughing and throwing the phone to one another, we resorted to communicating only through email.  So, this weekend Megan when to visit her cousin at the University of Brighton.  Where STA travel conveniently have an office.

Two and a half hours of details and decisions later, it was definitely for the best to have visited an agency in person! The staff were brilliant and each had travelled all different parts of the world so knew exactly what kind of flights and insurance we should be looking at. After spinning the globe on the desk around multiple times, I managed to figure out exactly where we were heading...

With our first stop switching from Niarobi to MOMBASSA to take part in Camp Kenya (elephant sanctuaries, hanging out with local tribes, game drives and volunteering in local schools.... more details to follow after the next pay cheque!) we were left with a grand total of EIGHT flights through our five destinations. For under £1,700 for all the flights, booking through STA was definitely a good decision as we could use our under 25's discount saving huge £££££!!!!!!!!

Finally booking is a HUGE relief, leaving us with only visas, transfers and a few essentials to buy before simply earning our much needed spending money for food, accommodation and necessary extras; eg SKY DIVES, BUNGEES JUMPS, ADVANCED DIVING COURSES, and hopefully some other wild adventures!


Brighton itself was wild but great, the perfect british weekend away finished off with fish & chips on the pier in the rain, mmmmm.

Check out the moody brighton sea...


Updates soon!
Megan and Jodie.

The Plan

    Hujambo, Selamat Sore, Hai, Sawatdee, Ayo Bowan.

 

So firsts thing's first on the travel front; the plan - believe me it's changed alot over the course of the last few months. 

First, we were all about Bali, Thailand, Australia, New Zeland and Fiji.  The classic gap year route with countless bagpackers just like us to meet, surf, sun and beautiful auzzie boys.  Saaweet enough, but when we sat down to think about what we wanted from our experience and from each country we planned on visiting, we were unsure.  We don't want to just gain a tan and sit on a beach drinking smoothies (although for a little while it might be nice!). We want exotic locations (not just a hot England), exciting cultures to learn about, cool sites and beautiful, rare species to see!

So, we decided to mix things up a little;

Kenya - Bali - Malaysia - Thailand - Sri Lanka.

(hence the 'hello's at the beginning of this post).

Unfortunately, we had to crop Madagascar out of the equation where we had planned a diving, teaching and conservation project, due to cost reasons.

We plan to stay for roughly a month in each country.

Kenya; the one place in which we plan to stay still, mostly due to it being our first and probably most dangerous stop.  We're in the process of organising a volunteer project; perhaps staying with a tribe, building for the community and a conservation project all in one...

Bali; I suppose it's difficult to give a real plan at this stage of each of the stops, as really our plan is to explore and see something new - the religion and temples as well as the wildlife here,

Malaysia/Thailand; Something very exciting/death-threatening here. Our flight drops as to Kuala Lumpar in Malaysia and picks us up in Bangkok (eeeeek!)  So making our way along the coast, visiting different islands on the way should be interesting!  We are also looking at a short conservation project with Orangutans in Malaysia with real gap if funds permit.

Sri Lanka: Our last stop before home and the most planned yet.  Jodie is lucky enough to have friends from Sri Lanka who have helped us plan our route, places not to miss out on and some volunteering.  After arriving in Colombo, we will hopefully be able to stay with some of the locals who live not far away before heading straight up to the mountains to explore the temples, the national park and visit a friend's family (hopefully digging into a traditional dinner of curry) and to volunteer in the children's orphanage.  Then, as we begin travelling down towards to coast and more touristy side of Sri Lanka, we will stop off at the wildlife orphange, volunteering there for a couple of days.  We will finish our trip with the "beach boys" as our Sri Lankan helper puts it before heading home to Jersey.

Woah, apologies for the waffle but hopefully you find our plan even a quarter as exciting as us! 

Comment and let us know what you think or if you've been to any of these places - tips much appreciated!

We'll keep you posted,

Jodie and Megan

(photos from Nat Geo)