istanbul: across two continents

My primary reason for going to Turkey was to experience Anzac Day at Gallipoli. Because this is easiest done through an organised tour I decided to do the 8 day ANZAC Traveltalk tour recommended by a friend, with a few days tacked on in Istanbul to start with.

Hagia Sophia

one year on

- This is the part where you find out who you are -

Goodbye to the GC!

oh the places you'll go

- I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list - Susan Sontag

 

 

Edinburgh sunset out my window

rewind to thailand

where would all the adventures be?

As always comes with a big life change, I have been having a lot of up and down moments.

Most of my entire Asia trip was a huge up. It was full of more than one of those moments when you actually stop to acknowledge that life is pretty awesome. One I distinctly recall was when we were riding in a mini bus through the countryside of Laos, en route to our next destination. I had the window next to me down, music playing and was writing in my travel diary, and I felt as light as the air, nothing could weigh me down in that moment.

I took a photo, so I wouldn't forget

Of course, it cant be like that all the time, or we would never appreciate when that happens. Since I have been in Edinburgh I have had a lot of issues trying to get things sorted, and have had some up and down moments while I'm looking for a job. I'm taking it all as it comes though, because that's the point of it all! Too often we get complacent with where we are, and long for change, but when it happens, we wish everything would go back to how it was before. I try to always be careful not to take things for granted, whether good or bad, and to remember that things are always moving forward, whether we want them to or not.

- If life was easy, where would all the adventures be? - 

twenty twelve into two thousand thirteen

- If you really want to do something, you'll find a way; if you don't, you'll find an excuse - Jim Rohn

Last year I feel like I managed to get a lot of awesome things accomplished even though I didn't have actual goals, other than a vague plan to make it to the UK at some point!

Some of my successful highlights of the year included:

Visiting Tasmania with my Mum, a long term dream of ours

Richmond Bridge, the oldest in Australia

it always starts at the beginning

So I wrote a super serious first blog post the other week to start me off.

I wanted to come out and be all:  Hey, I'm a serious writer and here are my innermost serious thoughts. Then I realised...who I am kidding? This isn't going to be a serious blog and I don't want it to be! I want to be able to be serious, but really, I want this blog to be a celebration of my adventures and the exciting things I do.

So below is my serious first blog post, with the caveat that they wont all be like this. Sometimes I will get a bit stuck on the exclamation mark key and write like and so yea a lot.

But for today. Lets be a bit more grown up.

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I have been writing in my head for as long as I can remember. Sometimes I can write entire soliloquies in my mind before I even realise what I'm doing. I've kept journals at times but they have never been great, so I've decided to finally start the blog I've been thinking about for years.

So here it is.

Part of the reason I am finally setting this up is that I am embarking soon on an adventure that I know will be rated amongest my top best decisions in life. A couple of the decisions that I now consider to be among the best, I didn't realise were so at the time. I know this one will be already.

Maybe the difference is that I am less of a thinker now, and more of a dreamer. I dont know if I'm the only one who sees the distinction in the way that I do. A thinker, to me, is more serious, analytical and not necessarily prepared to see the best in every situation. They see the risks, and often act accordingly. In comparsion, a dreamer knows the risks or limits but refuses to accept they are crucial, and is more willing to accept that everything will happen how it is supposed to, and not always how you expect.

I like to think I'm more the dreamer now, and I'd like to keep a record of this time where I am acting on those dreams I have been thinking about for years, as well as reflect on the ones that have been and gone.

So here goes.

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You only live once, right? (Yes I did just pull out YOLO in my first blog post, and you know what? I'm not sorry!)