I have decided that I am going to travel again in 2017. Been planning this for about two years now as I have been “waiting” till my youngest son has left school. Have him settled into the next phase of his life – tertiary education. And settled in a house, so that I can leave home instead of my children.
So during this time, while I am waiting, I have been planning:
-where I am going to go(Netherlands, Scotland and Spain)
– how I am going to get there?( it will have to be flying – too far to swim)
-where am I going to stay?(with a roof and walls).
-How am I going to get around the countries too?
and lastly saving the money to do it all.
Most evenings I will go onto different websites looking at all these things. I read and follow quite a few travel bloggers too that have been helpful with tips and resources. I will thank them later.
- make a decision I keep changing my mind on how long I will travel for. Do I just travel and then come home, back to my job? or do I stay over there and work?(I can get a British passport). One day I think I have made up my mind, then the next day, I will completely change it.
- Save money I am trying to be more disciplined about saving money for all this travel. Just like starting a diet, it doesn’t usually last more then a day. I need to cut down on paying for the car park near work. It costs $4 for the day, but if I park further away and walk, its free…and….bit more exercise!! $4 a day, that $20 a week. I don’t know what that could get me when I am travelling, but its twenty more dollars in my wallet!! And coffees…mocha’s to be precise. I usually have one most days. say 4 days a week at $5.50 each, that’s $22 a week!! Again see previous sentence. That’s $42 a week I could be saving. In 6 months that (hang on while I get the calculator) could be $1,056. Wow…that’s another whole long distance flight, lots of accommodation or more yummy food…and coffee!!!
4. Research I will definitely need to do this, because, that is the main reason I am going…to research more on my family history. So I need to get more in depth knowledge of where the families lived, and what they did. My maternal great-great grandfather came from the Netherlands and apparently the Dutch have very good archives, so hopefully can access them while I am there. I want to visit the area the family lived in – Groningen, Termunten, and Ameland.
4. Language I am worried about the language barrier though, but I am sure that google translate will be used a lot. I might also get in contact with a genealogist that works in the country and ask for advice from her, or just to meet with her!
5. More Research In Scotland, I can do research on my fathers side of the family…and a bit on my mothers mothers side too as they originated from Scotland. For my self, I want to travel to the Western Islands. I would love to take beautiful pictures of the scenery I have only seen in pictures!!! And catch up with family – those ones that I definitely know about.
7. Spain Why? I hear you ask. Why not? An ex colleague from work has a house there so I am going to stay there and explore the area.
Update: I have finally booked my flight to London. Thats it! I have not booked any other flights, including a flight home. Now, I need to work out where I am going to stay, how I’m going to get around (probably train or bus and I may hire a car once or twice), and where I’m going to stay.
I need to work on this website more too. I am not a writer or journalist, so this is hard. I have these ideas in my head, but just getting them out onto the page will take some time, I have to develop my writing, my way, so will probably write how I talk, sort of! You have to express yourself..and sometimes my sense of humour may not come across in written form. So for future reference, my SoH is dry, and a little sarcastic too.
Update: it is now only a few weeks until I go, and I have not done a lot of what I said above. I have managed to make a few more bookings, and also a return ticket. There is going to be a least 3 plane rides, two train trips, and 1 camper van. oh yes, accommodation too.