Entry 2: 24 days to go!

I should have started this blog a while ago but better late than never I guess! I want to start off by saying that if you are thinking of doing your OE but don't want to leave your friends and family, JUST DO IT! I will be missing out on milestones in my friends lives like seeing them get married, have their babies (all of this seems to happening the one year I decide to leave!) but I realised that if I stick around to watch my friends live their lives then I won't get to live mine. At 25 years old I am single, have no mortgage or children - basically no responsibilities and seeing as I am approaching the big 2-5 in a few days (quarter life crisis anyone??) I thought its now or never.

Initially I was going to take the plunge alone, having travelled around the South Island in 2010 with Stray Travel (highly recommend! Picture above is from that trip) I saw just how quick you make friends for life on the travel bus, I went on shy and quiet and left as probably one of the loudest and craziest (I'm glad my friend Deborah who I went with cannot comment on this!) Anyway, that was until my Mum had dinner with my friend Nikki's Mums that I hadn't seen in quite a while only to discover that Nikki also had the same travel plans as me, like the exact same even down to what months we wanted to leave. So that was that, from then on we emailed everyday talking about our adventure and planning the whole thing over and over - as you do! Then one of Nikki's friends decided to hop on board for the move and my good friend Kate decided to come and travel for a few months also. The months that followed were full of trial packing lists / booking flights and all accommodation / booking the Grand European with Top Deck (13 countries in 28 days), resigning from work which was really daunting but it has to be done... creating a new CV and portfolio, sorting all medications / jabs (this will be in detail in my next entry) applying for bank accounts, working out the best way to use money over there (still figuring this out) getting info on National Insurance numbers - of which I will update how I get on with this and most importantly, travel insurance! I got a great deal with Southern Cross Travel Care - read the fine print and make sure that it covers items such as laptops IN FULL, not just market value etc. I am fortunate to be a British citizen as well as a New Zealand one but the visa process for working overseas is quite daunting so definitely get onto that asap if you are wanting to work abroad. That's all for now :)