Fighting the fears

One of the things people who are looking to go travelling will likely encounter at some stage or another are negative stories about the places they're about to visit from either friends or the media - no matter where in the world they're headed. As well as this, I've been facing a weekly cycle recently that probably ranges on the bi-polar: Sunday night/Monday morning I'm scared out of my wit and keep saying to myself 'do I really know what I'm getting myself and Claire into?', then come Thursday/Friday all I want to do the second I've finished work is pack my bags and jump on a plane and never look back!

Last night (a Sunday) I was full of excitement after the initial high of seeing the scenery of Vietnam in the program "coffee trail with Simon reeve" on BBC2, it looked beyond beautiful. However after a while, the program descended into a different view of Vietnam that certainly attempted to take some of the shine off my excitement of going. 

It doesn't take much at the moment to activate my apprehension as I'm under no illusions about the size of the life change we're going through and how much of the unknown we are heading into, but it made me think is this just typical scaremongering?

Don't get me wrong, I'm aware of the potential threats about living abroad in any country. But It's not like I'm walking into a hostile region, so as long as I keep myself to myself like I normally would then surely I'll be just as safe as I am back home right? I don't want to sound naive as I know Vietnam is still an emerging country in the shadow of a still relatively recent war, but I've heard way too many good things to put me off. 

Claire rightly pointed out to me that you could make any country look bad through the power of one TV program and it made me think that if you showed a foreigner looking to move to the UK a show on London's gun crime and Brits fighting in the street when drunk problem then they'd probably be scare-mongered too!

So there it is, I can't help that my fear will attack me again and again before my departure, but I know that is a natural process, especially as moving to any new country and culture is one of the scariest things you can ever do. I also remember that any place can be made to look bad, you just need to know where to avoid and like any country in the world - just stay out of trouble (after all, I wouldn't set foot in Boscombe, Bournemouth - so I just need to remember that ANYWHERE in the world could have a Boscombe!)

So be aware of the dangers, but not paralysed by fear because of them, remember all the good things you've heard and remember that if you've heard a lot more good things than bad things then it must be good - after all, bad news always spreads faster and further so the less you hear the better it is. Plus, what's the fun unless there's a little risk?

And above all else, I just need to keep calm and MAN UP!

The things I'll miss the most

As the time for us to go and begin our adventure draws ever closer, I've begun to look at everything around me in my life through rose tinted glasses. I'm already using the phrase "this'll be the last time I do this for quite a while!" And naturally it's made me think about the things in my life I'm going to miss the most while we're off on our adventure, so here's what I'll miss the most:

My family and friends

This almost goes without saying, I'm really going to miss them all, my friends who I see often and play football with each week and my family. Without their support I wouldn't have the courage to chase my dreams like we are. Having seen more of them recently thanks to Christmas, the pangs on the heartstrings were stronger than ever but they'll all be here for us when we get back. Above all else I feel terrible that I'll miss seeing my two young niece's who have only just begun to know me - but hey, hopefully I'll be the cool uncle to them and I can show off my tan when I come home!

Watching my beloved Southampton F.C

Although I don't go to see them as much as I want to, I'm really going to miss going to see live matches at my church: St. Marys. There's many reasons, most importantly of which is that I always go with my grandad and watching Southampton together has always been our special bond. Other than that I'll miss the boozy away days with my mates, plus Southampton have actually started to come good again and I'm really worried that the best period in their history will coincide with my absence! That said, you can rest assured I'll either find a bar and watch games at ridiculous hours of the night or I'll find an internet feed and get my fix of the saints by hook or by crook.

My PlayStation

Claire won't like this inclusion, but I can't deny it. I've always been a gamer, I think I always will be, in fact I'll probably be gaming with my great grandkids until mfriends

 can't hold the controller as they're crippled from arthritis. I'll be taking my tablet with me which will be loaded up with games, but nothing beats the experience of a console with superior graphics and gameplay so for this reason I know there'll be times I'll miss my PlayStation.

Cider

You might expect me to put a cup of tea wouldn't you? Well I think there's more chance of me finding a half decent cuppa in south east Asia than there is of finding a pint of cider. Sounds silly, but I know there'll be a lot of hot days and although I'm sure to have supply of cocktails not far away, I'll miss that ever so British, ever so refreshing taste of a cold pint of cider on a hot summers day.

So these are the things I think I'll miss the most, I'll come back to this post on my return and it'll be interesting to see what I really did miss. Anyway, I'm not going forever so I'll experience them all again before I know it, but in the meantime I'm going to surround myself with the above as much as I can while I can!

The 3 biggest influences that made me want to travel the world

As I've broken the news of my impending adventures, I've told some people that its something I've always wanted to do. A couple of people were surprised to hear this as they hadn't heard me mention it before which didn't surprise myself as I haven't revealed it to many before, but I'll let you in on what's influenced this secret, burning desire over the years.

I took some time recently to have a real think about what's been behind this desire to get out and see the world and there's a few things:

One is the fact that growing up, I didn't holiday much so when I did for myself at 20 (during a legendary 2 week lads holiday in Ibiza) it ignited my passion to see more beyond the grey skies of Britain.

But when I thought about it there's been an influence all throughout my life that fueled the desire more than I realised; someone who's set the example by seeing the world. He's an adventurer who can't sit still for a nano-second and someone who's been everywhere, in fact you'd struggle to think of somewhere on any wannabe travelers wishlist that he hasn't been to: be it rolling hills, snowy peaks, deserts, bustling cities, beautiful beaches, tropical jungles and even... a space station?

Sounds a bit odd doesn't it? But the truth is my biggest influence is fictitious, he's not human, he's not even 4 foot tall and..... he's blue.

Anyone who knows me won't be surprised to know that since I was a kid I've actually had a borderline obsession with Sonic the Hedgehog, but as a travelers role model he's actually spot on as he never sits still for a moment, he gets his fair share of excercise and he lives for adventure.

Him aside there's plenty of other things that I realise have influenced me, namely some of my favourite films that tend to center around an exotic location and a hero. James Bond taught me that life is about jetting off to adventures in search of a woman, fine food, fine booze and all of the other finer things in life (sure he often had a mission, but that's not what I paid attention to!), whilst the great Dr Henry Jones Jr (but don't call him Junior) also lead they way for me by instigating an interest in foreign culture and history.

No, these aren't perhaps the most spiritual of guides that could set me on my path, but they were my childhood heroes (who am I kidding, they still are) and they're as good a set of role models as any.

So what are we all waiting for? Pack your running shoes, your Walter PPK and your whip and let's go on an adventure!

Let me introduce myself

Husband, runner, traveller, teacher, football nut - I'm all these things, but I'm also someone who usually likes to figure things out for myself.

I'm currently 27 years old, I've been married 7 months and in just 9 weeks I'm about to embark on the biggest adventure of my life: in March my wife and I are both jetting off to Vietnam to teach English as a foreign language.

In the run-up to our wedding we both took stock of our lives and looked beyond the wedding. We both currently work in marketing and although we're only in our mid twenties, we both felt the need to undergo a change. Neither of us ever had the opportunity to go on a gap year and when we realised that we weren't getting what we wanted out of our careers we decided that as newlyweds we'd never have a better time in our lives to make a fresh start and do what we really want to do.

We thought about just travelling but we soon realised that wouldn't be enough, we wanted to enjoy our jobs, we wanted to earn money and we wanted to extend our travels all in one go - and as we found out more about TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), we learned that there was a way to live out all of our dreams.

I want to see the world, I want to learn new things, I want to learn about myself, I want to really know what I should do with the rest of my life and I want to experience things I could never experience at home. Above all else, I want to one day be a person that I'd look up to myself (especially as I one day want kids and I am determined that they have an example in awesomeness father them).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not someone who's riddled with problems that I need to solve and I certainly don't hate the person I am now, I just know I can be more. In fact, if I was to come back sporting the Hansel from Zoolander look and persona then that wouldn't be a bad thing.

So what things do I need to figure out? Well there's a lot to get your head around in life and a big world out there to see, so read on and you'll see as I try to get my head round things as I head out on an epic journey to see the world alongside my wife.

Who knows? Maybe we'll all learn something along the way....