The plan

So what is my plan?

All I have at the moment is a one way ticket to Mumbai and a lot of dreams and ideas!!!

Marrocco

Marrakech, 2011

 

So far my plan is to leave London and everything behind and go on a Round The World TRIP and be as flexible as possible. I am trying hard not to plan too much. I want to follow my heart and let my adventurous spirit guide me. I might end up in Cambodia doing volunteering for a couple of years or end up buying a little house in Chile or just return to London in the next 6 months. I don’t know what is going to happen next and that’s the beauty of it all.

 

However, I do have some guide lines of what I want to achieve and would like to share with you.

 

1.            Seeing and traveling as much as I can.  

I do want to see most of Planet Earth, however I am not interested in ticking boxes, but to live and absorb as many cultures as possible. Have a big list of countries which I would love to visit and mingle with the cultures and people.

Even though I have been calling this a Round the World trip, in fact, it will probably be more of an Australasian & Americas trip. Sadly I don’t think I will add Africa, even though I have done enough to get me curious and hungry for more; Europe is pretty much done, the rest I will save for when I am a bit older. As for the Glaciers, I am afraid I am not interested at this stage. Give me sun and good weather is all I ask (Yeah, I am a summer person).

 

2.         To meet my beautiful friends I have spread all around the world

It is incredible how lucky I am and how many amazing people I know all around the world. Being connected to the Hospitality Club and CouchSurfer world where I literally host thousands of people from every corner of the globe, and then later on after becoming a Londoner for 7 years, made it possible for me to meet so many special people. But as most of the Londoners, they are in town for a phase only and end up returning to their countries. So there’s so many amazing people I know all around that I would love to hug again, so I definitely want to take advantage of this trip to see you all again.

 

3.         To make new friends

A few days ago I was watching one of my favourite documentaries about backpacking/traveling (‘A map for Saturday’). And you know what I love the most about that documentary? Is the fact that everyone sounds just like me. Their answers, their attitudes, their perspectives… it is like I have found my clan!! Every time I travel, I make good friends on the road (one of the best benefits of solo travel) and we pretty much share our vision, so I am very excited to broaden my circle of traveller friends and also meet new people.

That can be extended to making friends with locals, not just the other travellers. I am sill friends with my Cambodian tuk tuk driver and all his family 😀

 

4.         To be challenged

Well, I am not leaving my “perfect” cosmopolitan life to exchange it for a similar one. No, I want to be challenged, to get to know a whole new world, to open my horizons, and to open my mind. To respect and accept different cultures and to understand why things work in such a different way. Living with a small budget will be very different from a life where I was used to going to Michelin star restaurants, attend musicals and plays, and go to live concerts with the biggest music stars in the world pretty much every month (or week)! Instead I will be negotiating places to sleep for $10 instead of the $12 and will be trying to be understood when I will have to ask for that train ticket in China when they do not speak any English. And yes, I know it can be a bit dangerous and there will be scams all over those travelling trails, but I will use good sense and maybe some mistakes so I don’t get into much trouble. But this is what I want, I want to break free and leave my comfort zone and comfortable life and discover the world.

 

5.         To leave a stamp

I think we all came on Earth with a purpose. Life is so momentary and I think we should do the best to enjoy our time while we are here but be conscious and leave the world a better place.

I am a bit of an activist and love “fighting” for several rights: from women, to children, to gays, animals, minorities or any rights really. I am also an environmental person and I am perfectly aware of the global situations we are currently going through.

So one of the main goals of this trip is to find a way to make a difference and leave a stamp. Probably will do a mix of small things, from doing volunteer work, to writing this blog or even writing a book later on, who knows?!

 

6.         To inspire and be inspired

“Emma you have inspired me to do this….Emma you have inspired me to do that… ” etc… Not many things give me the pleasure this small sentence gives me! Every time I hear this phrase, it feels like music to my ears. Such a great feeling to have people looking up to what you do and use it as inspiration to follow their dreams. Obviously there’s the other side of the coin, all I want is to be inspired, is to feel that passion burning steady, its feeling like I need to hold myself back from starting right now, its feeling it in my bones… its such a great feeling and I love to be inspired by completely new situations and new people.

It doesn’t matter if we are just inspiring people to be better people and to do bigger things, is one of the main reasons I am doing this.

 

7.         To tick my bucket list items

Yes, I am a bucket list sort of person and I do have a LOT of goals and dreams on there that I want to do. To be able to have the freedom and the time to dedicate my time to those things I really love and want to achieve, is one of the best things this trip can give me, and I will keep you updated on the bucket list session on how well I’m doing!

 

8.         Photography, Music, Singing and Art

I have always been completely passionate about art. Mainly music and everyone that knows me know about my love for singing and photography (yeah, I am the one with over 7500 photos on Facebook :p ). Something that will be important for me during this trip is to explore other forms or art from different cultures. Will obviously want to photograph my adventures and the stunning places I will visit so I can collect this memories forever.

Also, I have noticed that wherever I travel there’s always someone playing guitar and I always join in for a rendition of Stand by me and alikes… so this time I will try to record some of my singing adventures around the world too.

 

9.         Follow my routes

Well, it might not be a surprise to many of you but Portuguese were the original explorers. Since 1400 the Portuguese sailors started to explore the oceans and they were in fact the first ones finding most regions of Africa, Asia, Oceania and Americas.

My people were always very adventurous and brave and I feel very much connected with this part of my routes. I have been in places such Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, etc which the Portuguese colonized, but also been to places like Indonesia, where I could see the strong Portuguese influence. Places such Goa, Macau, Timor, etc are included in my route and hopefully I will manage to visit.

On top of that, I must say its in my blood too. So my great great great great granpa lol (5 grandads ago), Manuel Goncalves, was a rich Jew that have traveled the world in the 1800s – with a piercing (maybe he was a pirate????) ahaha how exciting? I just know he returned from America full of gold hidden on his walking stick – how clever and cool is that? 🙂

 

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