Month number two and another amazing travel blogger has agreed to share their stories and travel advice. Jodie is living a pretty cool life right now. As an expat in Dubai her insta stories and posts are epic, I especially love all of her bullet journal pictures!!! Check out Jodie's site for budget travel tips and advice for those looking to live or work abroad.As always I start with the question no traveller wants to answer... Please share with us your favourite/ best/scariest or funniest travel story…My favourite travel memory is one from many years ago when we weren't very experienced at travelling. We were in Bangkok and were suppose to be taking a bus to Ko Samet but my then boyfriend (now husband) left his phone in our Bangkok hostel so while I waited at the station he went back across the city to get it. We consequently missed our bus to Ko Samet and then found out there were no more buses that day. It was set to be a bad travel day but thankfully there were still buses to Ko Chang so we decided to change our plan. Fast forward a few hours and we've got off the main bus and jumped on the back of a pickup truck racing for the last ferry of the day to the island. Sat alongside another couple, adrenaline running through all of us as the wind blew in our hair and we hoped to catch a glimpse of the ferry. Thankfully we did and as we stepped foot onto the ferry the anchor was pulled up and we set sail. We got ourselves a victory beer and sat down to relax only to realise we had no idea where we should stay on the island... With the help of our new friends from the pickup truck, we found out where to go and how to haggle the price of a guest house. It was certainly an introduction to backpacking in Thailand.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever had (travel related or otherwise)?
If you know you don't want to live in your home country forever then that's the hard decision made. Knowing that early on gives you so many more chances and opportunities to make it a reality...
If you could only go back to one place in the world, where would you go and why?
New Zealand. It is a country we travelled too fast through and there is so so much to see, do and experience. We barely even scraped the surface of this insane country so I'd love to go back and travel slowly through everywhere the country has to offer to make sure I take it all in properly.
What has travel taught you?
Travel has taught me so much but mostly that you should never settle for a life you are unhappy with. If you have a desire to see more of the world and change your daily life you are in control of being able to do that. You don't need to be rich to make changes you just need to really want it and be able to work hard to achieve it (mostly by saving money).
What is that one moment from a trip you will never ever forget?
There are so many moments that I will never forget but I think arriving in the Maldives late at night for our honeymoon has to be one of them. We'd just left Sri Lanka after a layover and we were heading to a place that had been on my bucket list for such a long time. We landed at the airport and jumped on a boat, travelling for what felt like hours across the middle of the ocean having no idea where we were going. When we finally arrived at our island it felt so magical. We checked in and were shown to over water bungalow something that we wouldn't truly appreciate until the next morning in daylight hours.And finally... What’s your favourite line from the Stories from a Backpack manifesto and why?
“Surround yourself with people who believe in your limitless potential"
I love this line because I feel it is so important to make sure you are living to your life's full potential and the only way to do that is by the people around you supporting you and helping you to do that.
Thank you Jodie! xxxx