Not to sound dramatic, but… It’s over. Continue reading 30 Before 30 – THE END
Category Archives: Sometimes I Overthink…
Part 11 – Not the Western Way
Lucy was a young, bubbly, tall and sufficiently built Kenyan woman.
She walked tall, with her chest puffed out, shoulders back and her head pulled back even further, somehow oozing a cool nonchalance, even with such a rigid physical stance.
If she had something to say, she said it and she said it loudly, often with a laugh; an infectious laugh, but with a twist of an evil cackle under the surface. Sometimes it was hard to tell whether her laugh was at us or with us. Continue reading Part 11 – Not the Western Way
30 Before 30 – August Update
It’s almost here!
One month, 31 days. Continue reading 30 Before 30 – August Update
30 Before 30 – July Update
Well that month went quickly. A little too quickly. I’ve hardly covered anything since the June update.
I could make all of the excuses, but the biggest excuse is I finally have a job again, which has slowed down progress on my personal goals slightly – but still, yay.
But not to dwell on the bittersweet realities of life, I have at least managed to focus on quality over quantity in my progress this month, so here are my updates since 8th June towards the most important list in my day to day life at present. Continue reading 30 Before 30 – July Update
30 Before 30 – June Update
It’s been a month since the last update – that means I only have 3 more months to the big deadline. Concerning. Continue reading 30 Before 30 – June Update
How To Give Up Your Travels for Home
“How was Australia? I bet you’re disappointed to be home!”
“Your trip in Africa looked amazing, I’d never come home after something like that”
“Don’t come back here, nothing’s changed”
“How can you find a job like this rewarding when you’ve done something like that in Fiji?”
These are just a few of the comments about my return home, some from friends and family, one from an interviewer, but pretty much everybody says the same thing. They’re right. Continue reading How To Give Up Your Travels for Home
Palm Oil – Why DO We Care?
Here in Borneo there is a growing concern for the well-being of local forest dwelling species, due to the rising demand for a substance called Palm Oil. Continue reading Palm Oil – Why DO We Care?
Same But Different – A Volunteer Review
The following post describes the experiences of ten volunteers working on the same project over a twelve day period.
No two people are the same, maybe one of the characters below will be able to inspire you to get involved… Continue reading Same But Different – A Volunteer Review
Travel, Mental Health and You
For some, travel is not just about discovering new places, but escaping old ones that have had a negative impact on our lives.
But what if the negativity in your life isn’t coming from your past? What if it’s following you around, bringing down the day? If you’re carrying it with you, you can’t run away from that. Continue reading Travel, Mental Health and You
30 Before 30
Source: 30 Before 30
Today is four months to go in the countdown for my 30 before 30 list. Time for a quick update! Continue reading 30 Before 30
30 Before 30
I interrupt this slowly progressing upload of travel related posts to bring you an important announcement – news of a new game for The Troublesome Traveller for 2017! Continue reading 30 Before 30
4 Weeks – A Scaredy-Cat Special
It’s a belated post and for that, I’m sorry. You were worried, I can tell…
It seems the appropriate time, with Halloween upon us, to tell you my dark secret:
I am so, so scared.
Don’t say I never give you honesty.
‘He Who Likes to Sit High’ and the Forest People
In Malay orang means “person” and utan is derived from hutan, which means “forest.”
The Malay words for the tree-loving sun bear mean “he who likes to sit high.”
Continue reading ‘He Who Likes to Sit High’ and the Forest People
25 Reasons to Avoid World Travel
Don’t you just hate when somebody lives their life a certain way and wants to make you ‘just like them’. Vegans who feel the need to put you off your food, and city centre preachers who damn you to hell for your sins. Continue reading 25 Reasons to Avoid World Travel
Happy to be S.A.D.
Similarly to diagnosed depression or anxiety, if you have not experienced it yourself, the chances are you will be skeptical that this condition truly exists.
I have heard no end of people who suggest that people who suffer with depression just need to “cheer up” and those with anxiety should just “chill out”, but encase you’ve ever used these phrases towards somebody who’s suffering with an ongoing invisible illness, I will clarify for you right now that although they may have turned the corners of their mouth up at you, or possibly just ignored you and continued with their day, their internal monologue absolutely, definitely, 100% called you a dick. Continue reading Happy to be S.A.D.
Sh!t Janet Says
If you work, or have ever worked in an office environment, you may well have met Janet.
This post pays tribute to the woman who manages to surprise me daily. She crosses boundaries and far exceeds the expectations of those around her from one day to the next. She is, without a doubt, unrivaled, absolutely and stupendously THE most negative human being I have ever met. Continue reading Sh!t Janet Says
The Power of Positive Communication
I have had an epiphany and I’m making some changes. Continue reading The Power of Positive Communication
Confessions of a Lazy Girl
I regularly receive messages from friends and acquaintances who I’ve met along my way, who seem to think that I permanently live the life they see on social media. I won’t lie, I love that life, it looks like heaps of fun. But mostly I’m spending the days in between those posts, just sitting, waiting for another cool thing to happen.
So here are a few confessions to remind people that I am just a human who travels, and frankly, I’m not really all that good at humaning.
I am ridiculously lazy. I’m actually not even sure how I hold down a job…
No Backsies
WARNING
THIS POST CONTAINS AN OPINION ON THE UK’S EU REFERENDUM OUTCOME
PROCEED WITH CAUTION
48% of British voters were today disappointed with a decision from the UK voter majority to leave the EU. Heck, I’m not even mad, that’s amazing… Continue reading No Backsies
*Post Updates* – The Bucket List
In one of my first posts on this site, I told you about my bucket list.
It would seem redundant to have posted that list if I had no intention of ticking items off somewhere along the way, so this is just a quick update, to say that I have marked two items off in the last month:
Number 9 – Bungee jump
and
Number 16 – Get a tattoo
You can check up on my progress at Act Positively, Plan Negatively, And Expect Nothing
I’ve been fairly quiet lately, I’ve been silently brewing a few posts under the surface
New material COMING SOON!
The Facts and Feelings of K Road Crime
Karangahape Road – the unglamorous and drug addled roadside hooker centre of Auckland.
Known fondly among locals simply as “K’ Road”, this is a street in upper central Auckland famous for its bars, clubs, smaller shops and being a former red-light district.
The conversation started half way along this street, at about 11pm, sober, bar one or two experimental cocktails.
“I feel very safe here” Continue reading The Facts and Feelings of K Road Crime
BITCH
A man once told me I was “not girlfriend material”.
I was in a relationship with that man at the time and this was just one comment in a tireless string of other deeply offensive shit he laid on me throughout our brief time together. This was a relationship he chose to be in, a relationship he remained in after informing me of how far beneath him I was… A relationship I chose to end soon after that conversation. He was surprised at this decision.
And they say women are complicated. Continue reading BITCH
Came for the Drugs, Stayed for the Artwork
A Little Journey Through the Wonderful Strangeness of Brains
Last week I saw my brain. It was my first time, I was a brain virgin before that. It was a good looking brain, I think and apparently a healthy one, which is pretty good news. Even has an uncanny similarity to every stereotypical alien encounter image I’ve ever seen – I have an alien face in my brain – I’m pleasantly entertained by that. My only disappointment at this experience is that, although having a picture of my brain is cool as all hell, it hasn’t helped me to understand the science behind brains at all.
The human body is an interesting animal, Continue reading Came for the Drugs, Stayed for the Artwork
Termination of Friendship Notice
Dear Friend, Continue reading Termination of Friendship Notice
Interviewer: How are we going to get rid of racism?
Morgan Freeman: Stop talking about it.
While You Were Tweeting…
Sitting on the bus, watching Melbourne pass me by, I spotted a small alleyway. A side street from the main road. Colourful. Exciting. It was Hosier Lane, famous for street art and elaborate graffiti. I would later visit it and see incredible artworks the size of the buildings. People around me on the bus are on their phones. They didn’t see it. It belongs to me. Continue reading While You Were Tweeting…
Why Do We ‘Lose’ Our Friends?
Where do they go?
Are they hiding?
Or are we just not looking hard enough?
Act Positively, Plan Negatively, And Expect Nothing
Everybody has one.
It probably grows unexpectedly every time you go somewhere new and exciting.
It might only be a short one, but it still counts.
You may not have given it a name, still counts.
It might not have been formally documented in a Microsoft Project plan, with timescales and budget afforded to it, but it definitely counts.
It may not even be all that realistic, but you still might try, yup, counts.
I want to take a minute to share, with anybody who’ll read it, MY BUCKET LIST!
Continue reading Act Positively, Plan Negatively, And Expect Nothing
VIPASSANA – Can You Really Un-think Yourself Happy?
Meditation. It’s not as easy as it looks.
Four months ago, I was messy. The kind of messy that makes people you know stop answering your calls encase you cry, again. But luckily not everybody is as harsh as my mother, and a good friend suggested to me that maybe there was something more productive I could do with my time than sit around complaining and feeling sorry for myself. She wasn’t wrong. My brain works at about 100mph and could probably do with some down time. Ten days of silence, alone with your own thoughts, learning to meditate. That sounds like BLISS! Not everybody’s initial response I’m sure, but at that stage in my life, perfect!
Vipassana is a Buddhist meditation technique, focussing your mind on you, teaching people to accept the reality of the present moment “As it is”, the basic idea being, to lead people towards a simple and happy life. One important thing to understand is that this is NOT a religious preaching seminar. You do not need to be a Buddhist, it doesn’t matter if you’re a Sikh, Muslim, Christian, Atheist, Agnostic, Jedi or even if you still have gils, this is a course and a technique which is available to absolutely anybody at no cost, as long as you’re lucky enough to have a 10 day gap in your working / living schedule which corresponds with a course.
In my prior ignorance, ten days of silence sounded extremely difficult. I talk incessantly to anybody who’ll listen, so most of my friends and family snorted at the idea I could even entertain an hour of zipped lip. But I love a challenge.
Continue reading VIPASSANA – Can You Really Un-think Yourself Happy?
The Troublesome Traveller 