For those of you who don’t know, it was my last day at work yesterday and less than 12 hours later I am now on my flight to my first destination Panama! After a whirwind of emotions, saying goodbye to family, friends, my students, colleagues and of course my gorgeous Mum. Added to this was the stress of packing and fitting everything into my super small backpack. Oh and almost being denied to board the plane as I didn’t have a return flight (do your research!!). I finally feel excited and ready for an exciting time in my life. As I am on the first leg of my flight to Madrid (holding back the tears of happiness at this point) I remind myself of the main reasons I have decided to make this life changing journey, hopefully I can inspire some of you to make the same decision as I have!
The first reason that I decided to quit my job is because the time felt right, I have no ties and have managed to save a good amount of money- I had a tutoring job on Saturdays and in the school holidays- big shout out to August and Lili- so grateful to be part of such an amazing family for a year. The second reason is that I felt stuck in the daily grind and routine of London, I wasn’t growing as a person and I hated my work self. Thirdly, is that I feel I am born to travel, everytime I have gone away as a solo traveller I have this wave of happiness and kindness, I become confident, generous, kind and positive. I have never wanted to come home and feel so envious of people who have extended joruneys. Fourthly, there were so many signs telling me to make this decision and I am a big believer in signs- songs I listened to for example had lyrics such as ‘go’, ‘spread your wings’ ‘do what makes you happy’. Finally, and most importantly, when I think about the decision I have made I feel so proud of myself, my mind is like ‘yes girl!!’. But having said that there have been wobbles (especially in the build up to today), moments of ‘what the hell have I done’, ‘what if I hate it’, ‘what if people don’t like me’, ‘what if I miss my Mum so much’. I assure myself that these thoughts are normal and strongly believe that this is the right decision to make. There is always the comfort of knowing that I can come back at any time to such amazing family and friends- I am so blessed to have that.
There are so many goals I have written down in the build up to this trip which I will share with you (they will probably all change by week 1 but I hope to achieve at least 1!)
1. Learn Spanish and become fluent
2. To write a blog to keep my friends and family updated with my travels and to show my appreciation for the number of awesome people I have in my life- I love you all
3. Volunteer with vulnerable children
4. Embark on an environmental programme to help protect and learn more about the beautiful Amazon
5. Volunteer in a party hostel!!
6. Immerse myself with like minded people to perhaps confirm a new direction in my life- this could be a new career or place to live (I promise its not Australia Mum)
7. Practice poi and become ace at it (thank you to my beautiful friend Alice who introduced me to this in Asia)
8. Teach English somewhere- I am a teacher after all and I would love to experience children of a completely different background and culture
9. Draw!!
Adios for now amigos, lots of love xxxx
Romy's Roamings 