Day 56 – London

6th October 2015

I went to the doctors today!
I wasn’t getting any better from my chest infection and I got another cold on top of what I already had when I was coming back from Amsterdam. I felt it was time to go and get some anti biotics so I wasn’t sick for my sail Croatia trip.
I called up a walk – in clinic in London and booked an appointment for 12.30pm.

To pass the time, I did another little look around the shops and tried to find some Summer – type clothes for Croatia.
I had no luck on the streets so ended up going to my appointment a little earlier.

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£80 later/$182 NZD, I had a script for some anti biotics from the doctor. She had a listen to my chest etc… and said since I’ve been sick for so long she was putting me on 2 weeks of anti biotics 3x a day.

I decided to head off to the Westfield shopping centre in Shepards bush after the doctors as I was getting desperate for sandals or some new shoes!
My nikes just wernt doing it for me anymore.

The Westfield mall I went to was pretty big. There were like 10 different shoe stores and absolutely none of them sold sandals. I couldn’t believe it!!
The store assistants said it was coming into winter so they only had Winter stock at the time. Do they not realise that people go on holiday!

I grabbed some a falafel wrap while I was there though. I had been craving falafel for so long!

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I then went and got a cheeky Ben and Jerry’s ice cream 🙂
Triple Caramel chunk is my absolute favouriteeee.
Why do they not have this amazingness in New Zealand!!

I may have spent a little bit too much at the mall, but it was actually stuff that I needed! I got a duffle bag from Victoria Secrets and bought some new white converse shoes. (Which now I think may be half a size too small 😣)

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I also got some black jeans from River Road and some make up from Kiko Milan (as they don’t have that in NZ either)

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Kelly and Kara were going out for dinner and invited me to join them but I was still out shopping until like 7pm so I missed it.
I went to the supermarket instead and tried to find something to make for dinner at the hostel.
As I was only there for a few more days it didn’t seem worth it to get lots of ingredients so just settled on some cadbury caramel chocolate mousse puddings for dessert and some rice bubble crackers and peanut butter for dinner. #travellife haha

By the time I got back to the hostel I was knackered. I have a degenerative disc in my neck so my neck was in so much pain from walking around all day and my leg kept getting these sharp spasm pains up it. (Most likely from my flat Nike shoes I was wearing all day)
I had my dinner and drunk a cider in the bar to end my night but didn’t have a big one.  😴
Very exciting day I know! 😅

Xx

Travel Itinerary

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Air NZ

I’m not going to go into my exact dates of when i’ll be flying, for safety reasons but i’ll write my destination plans! I’ll be flying up to Auckland to spend the night with my best-friend before I leave on my trip. She’s currently pregnant with her first child so by then i’d have had lots of cuddles with her new baby boy!! image First stop is San Francisco – I’ll be staying there for about 5 days and i’m really hoping to go to Alcatraz while i’m there! And maybe even do a little bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge 🙂 image

Next stop is Los Angeles 🙂 I’ve heard mixed reviews of this glamour town but I feel it’s a must see! I’m worried i’ll overspend here!
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I’m then heading off for a Contiki Tour across the United States! If you’re un-sure what Contiki is – it’s a Travel Operated Coach Tour which operates in Europe, Egypt, Australia, New zealand, North & South America and Asia.

They do three types of tours –

-Camping Tours (which are the least expensive as you rough it a bit but are really popular with gap year students)
-Budget/concept tours (you stay in backpacker style accommodation or specialized contiki villages and get to meet lots of people, great if you’re going solo like me!)
Superior Tours (most expensive of the tours but you stay in tourist hotels with nicer accommodation)

Thanks Wikipedia!

I’m doing a budget high-energy tour! So my days are spent discovering the sights and thrills of America and partying it up at night. The tour promises twin-share accommodation, breakfast each day plus some dinners at hotels and local restaurants, sight-seeing tours of the major cities and some included activities such as a limo ride down the Las Vegas strip.

As this is my own honest opinion blog, i’ll be writing an honest post about the whole experience when i’ve finished it!

I’ll be starting in Los Angeles and visiting Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey and finishing up in New York 🙂 I’m very excited! As i’m going solo I hope to meet lots of other travellers in the same kind of boat as me. I have a tendency to get really run down when I party too much so I hope that doesn’t happen while i’m on the trip. (It has a bit of a reputation for being a party tour) Then I spend around a week in New York City at the end of my tour! image

I’m most excited to see New York. As far back as I can remember I’ve been dreaming of the day i’ll see NY. When I was little I was obsessed. (I probably watched too many TV shows that featured it haha) I still haven’t booked my accommodation for here so any recommendations for a solo traveller would be great 🙂 Then I’m off to London for a few days before I start another tour!

I’m going to be doing a Top Deck tour for a few weeks around Europe.
It’s very similar to a Contiki (With the ages being 18 to 30-somethings)
But from what I’ve read/heard, Contiki is very party orientated and quite rushed and Top Deck is more about the sights and they have better food apparently!

I’ll have to write another Blog at some point about Contiki vs. Topdeck because when you research online – there’s half the world saying “CONTIKI CONTIKI!!” And the other half is “NOOO Top Deck is the BEST!”

On the Top Deck I’ll be visiting Paris, Switzerland, Venice, Germany & Amsterdam 🙂 then I’m back in London for a few days before I head over to Croatia for a one week sailing trip!

It was very hard choosing whether to do the Greek Island or Croatia for a sailing trip. I’m really gutted I’m not doing the Greek Islands but I couldn’t do everything on my budget 😦
I had to keep reminding myself, ‘The Greek Island will still be there for another day…’
Plus I heard Croatia Sailing is very ‘In’ right now.

When I’m finished up in Croatia I’m off to Rome as It wasn’t included on my Top Deck tour and I really want to see Italy!

Roma is amor

Then It’s off to Dubai for a few nights!
Since I’ll mostly be staying in Hostels & Backpackers, or be with other people on my tours – Dubai’s one of the places I’m slightly nervous about so I won’t be staying in a hostel over there. I’m trying to find some good accommodation that doesn’t cost the earth 😦 I’m really excited to go to The Mall Of Dubai though! I feel I’ll spend a good 2 days there.
I read alot of Flight Attendant Blogs about girls working over in Dubai for Emirates etc… and I get so envious of their lives that it makes me really want to be a flight attendant!

Then It’s on my way home with a stop off in Singapore on the way back. 🙂

singapore - Google
Credit – @juliiianneh Weheartit

Phew. That’s alot of travelling.

I have a long stop over in Australia on the way back home as well. It’s at an odd hour though so I won’t be able to leave the airport and go for a browse or anything. Not that I’d want to I don’t think! I’ll be absolutely knackered.
I can’t sleep on planes.
Me + Flying nowadays isn’t the best thing for my nerves. And can you believe I want to be a flight attendant!
I think with all this stuff happening to planes lately it’s just put me on edge so the slightest bit of turbulence on a flight, my eyes are open and I’m alert.

I’m going to book in with a Hypnotherapist before I go so hopefully that will help 🙂

I hope you’ve enjoyed my itinerary!

As I’ve only just started up my blog, feel free to follow me!!! And ‘like’ any of my posts so I know at least someone’s reading them but my friends 🙂

x

Hello, Bonjour, G’day, مرحبا, Hola, Bok, Hei, Ciao, Kia Ora!

Welcome to my Travel Blog!

My name is Sarah, I currently live in the little country of New Zealand and I’m 23 years old.
I’m very much a girlie girl. I love animals, food, going to the gym and being social.
I once worked in the Beauty Therapy industry, worked as a Nanny in my hometown and my most recent job – working at a Radio Station doing Reception work/dealing with prizes/having after work drinks 😉

I started up this blog specifically for my Round The World Trip adventure! (RTW)
In November of 2014, I won an amazing trip through a Travel Company for all my flights to be paid for around the world. I swear I never win anything so I was super excited about winning this prize.

Straight away I began to plan where I wanted to go, what I wanted to see, how long I wanted to go for.
On my list there was South East Asia, Europe, America, Spain! Until eventually I had to be realistic and plan out exactly what I could afford. Even though my flights were paid for, it’s everything else that starts to add up. I’ve already spend over NZD$10,000 on this trip and I haven’t even left New Zealand yet!

Travelling has always been a dream of mine. It’s funny, because before I even entered the competition I was planning an OE but had nothing set in stone. I thought it’d take me years to save so I’d sit at home and write down information about places around the world, cities I wanted to visit and where I could possibly work if I decided to live overseas. And then I won this prize!
I think it was a meant-to-be thing. Maybe the stars above knew how much I wanted to do something like this. It really pushed me along to go ahead and do it without pondering and dreaming about it.

Finally I’ve decided on my destinations – which I’ll write in the next post.
I just thought I’d introduce myself and explain what my blog is about! (I currently have a personal blog but thought it’d be nice to have JUST a travel one for anyone else planning an overseas adventure)

x