ITV2 has recently announced a new TV show in which Tom Daley goes backpacking around the world. Now, don't get me wrong, I do love Tom and it is likely I will end up watching the TV show, but I am a bit peeved about this concept.
What bugs me about it mainly is that these celebrities already have a significant amount of money behind them from previous things they have done, yet they are being paid by TV stations, in this case ITV2, to do something that many people have to save years for. This is something that has really ruffled my feathers recently because travelling is something that I really want to do after I graduate next year, but after a massive reality check I realised that there is pretty much no way in hell that I will be able to afford to do this until a few years after graduation. Some of you may think that I should be patient and stop complaining, but as someone who will come out of university with debt exceeding £50,000 and a degree that I probably won't be able to start a profession in for many years due to budget cuts in the Ministry of Justice, I want to get as much life experiences under my belt as possible before I have the opportunity to settle in to a full-time job. Travelling is something that many people tend to do on a gap year, or normally when they are a little older further on in life. However, due to the shit nature of the industry I want to work in, there is a possibility I can get a job straight from university or I could go back to working in a cafe and have a grueling few years job hunting. Travelling offers life experience and the opportunity to see the world that is otherwise almost impossible to get - and travelling is something of a bit of a passion for me, and I love nothing more than seeing new places. Don't get me wrong, the program will probably be a good watch and I will watch it to see the places they visit. The trailer for the program shows Tom and his friend experiencing many adrenaline-fueled activities including bungee jumping, skydiving, off-roading, camel riding and many more activities that the average person would have to pay hundreds of pounds for to be able to enjoy. They also get the cultural side of travelling, with something different in each country. The ITV2 website states that it isn't all "VIP packages and hotels" and that they "rough it backpacker style" - what is wrong with that?! I would absolutely love to do that, and definitely wouldn't call it 'roughing it', it's all part of the experience and would be incredible! The show sees them go to 6 countries over six weeks including Japan, Australia, Thailand, Morocco and New Zealand - which happen to be some of the most expensive places to visit. It costs on average approximately anything around £10,000 to travel similarly to what they have done in this program. It will take me around 5 years to save up to be able to achieve that sort of level of travelling, and I would also like to travel Europe on top of this. What I don't understand is why ITV2, or any other television company, doesn't pay a normal bunch of friends to go travelling and experience these activities and opportunities. It would be an authentic reaction and probably pretty good viewing on television, and would provide that group with an experience they could probably only dream of. Or even allocate a budget to the group and follow them as they plan, book, and embark on their own journey, without the interference of anyone else. This would definitely be something I would watch, and could turn in to something that inspires many people to go travelling! I am definitely volunteering myself and my friends for this if anyone wants to take up my proposition! I am expecting a significant amount of backlash from this where people are saying I am ungrateful, or that I should have done a different degree, or not gone to university at all if I want to do all these things. I went to university to better myself as a person - it has significantly changed me for the better, and I went to hopefully get myself a better career in a few years time than just being stuck in waitressing all my life. Travelling is something that has always been on the agenda for me, and I didn't take a gap year because of the sheer fact I knew I wouldn't then go to university and I would regret it for the rest of my life. The opportunity to travel will probably be very small, or I won't get to do it at all, but it is my goal whether it takes me 5 months or 5 years to save for. So this is my rant over, for any of you wishing to watch Tom Daley Goes Global it starts Thursday April 10 at 9pm on ITV2. As always thank you for reading, don't forget to follow me on all my social media over on the right, and I will see you next time!
As some of you may know, Olympic team GB bronze medalist diver Tom Daley came out today as bisexual in a video on his YouTube channel. If none of you have seen this then I shall post it below:
I completely take my hat off to the man because this is such a hard thing to do, especially as someone who is always in the public eye as much as he is. Tom is currently in a relationship with a man, as he said in this video, and states that he is really happy with someone who makes him feel safe - which is something we all look for in a relationship, so good for you, Tom! This really got me thinking about why people get so uptight about sexuality. It is such a widely discussed topic in society, however I think that it is usually discussed in such a bad light because it is one of those topics people feel awkward talking about, or feel strongly about. I for one cannot understand why so many people instantly judge a person because of their sexuality. I have so many friends who have had their sexuality speculated for a substantial period of time yet when they came out were subject to a barrel full of abuse and hatred. Now that is the sort of thing that I think is just not on. Why should someone get abused and discriminated just because of who they are? I think this is the lowest form of abuse in modern society. A person cannot help who they are; whether they are attracted to males, females, or both, they should be accepted. Who cares whether someone is gay, bisexual or straight? I find that people who warrant this sort of abuse to someone because of their sexuality are rather insecure about themselves and find security in the abuse of another - it's a form of bullying. One of my friends recently confided in me about his sexuality after previously coming out as bisexual. He admitted to me that his feelings and attraction were mainly towards males, but he was having trouble both coming to terms with it and accepting it himself. I think this is a good example of how society brainwashes people in to this sort of mentality. Just because he felt like it was a "bad" thing to feel, he was starting to resent the person he was becoming. We had a nice little chat and I gave him what I thought was some good advice (turned out it was). I told him that you cannot change who you are, and no matter what happened after that conversation that we would love him no less, and that we respected and supported whatever decision he made. If people don't like it then that is their loss - sexuality does not define a person. I then got a message from him this morning which did make me get all emotional! He had seen Tom's video which, along with my advice, has inspired him to both accept and enjoy the person that he is. He's since told people who had not previously been aware, who have been on the whole very accepting. I am just glad that I could be there to offer advice, and I have to say that it is a major privilege to know him because he is absolutely lovely and I wouldn't change him for the world. I am actually lucky enough to have my friend make a few comments on sexuality, so I have conducted a mini interview:
In general, what was the final thing that gave you inspiration to come out?
To be honest it wasn't a choice, but rather an event which has lived in my memory as one of the most terrifying events of my life. My housemates and I were on a night out in the SU a couple of months before Christmas in 2012. Following a night of anger at myself and being drunk - which only made it worse - I finally let my emotions get the hold of me towards my housemates I succumbed to a panic attack which then lead to my slow courage to come out to firstly my sister, brother and closest friends over a period of time.
What has the reaction been like overall from the people you have recently told?
To put it bluntly: supportive and proud. The support from individuals who already knew and have since found out has been immense, with the certain special few who I feel like I can tell anything to. The fact people have portrayed they're proud of me either by text, in person, or over Facebook has been amazing. One which really hit me came from my dad's girlfriend that I received this afternoon. It said "do you know that if you were my son I'd be very proud of you, and you are very brave" - a small text, but one that did mean a lot.
How were you feeling before you came out?
I felt like I was a liar. At the time I was in a relationship with a girl; a time I don't regret, but I knew something wasn't right. When I told her following the panic attack that I was "bisexual" and that I didn't know who I was, or what I wanted, it was really harming. I have known that I liked guys for 5 or so years and I only wish I came out sooner.
Has coming out changed this?
Um, it has. I know I have been a liar, and even yesterday I was. I would tell people that I was "bi", but not anymore. I have has experiences of both sexes and I know what is me and where my natural attraction is. I want to be with that special guy, and when people asked, and when I tell others, I won't be "bi" but I will proudly say I am "gay". So I suppose that yes, coming out has changed this. I know I still have some way to go, and when I'm out in public the initial anxieties will affect me, but I am nearly there; I am nearly the person I am and want to be.
Do you think that society's perception of sexuality prevents people from accepting who they are?
Yes, definitely. I always remember during my panic attack and the following months, I refused to accept myself because "society doesn't accept it". But I know that 90% do, and for those who don't...well then so be it. There is too much pressure on sexuality, but it is crucially advancing towards acceptance. I can't help who I am. I was watching a YouTube clip recently about coming out, and one example made clear to me how fickle some people can be. It was a clip about a mother who was struggling to accept her son for who he was, and was asked to choose between chocolate or vanilla ice cream - I know this is random, but it's a summary - and she chose chocolate. She was asked why to which she answered; "because I like chocolate". Well I like guys, and as with the ice cream it's a choice I make. Society is changing, but the problems of bullying at school, work, and public places needs to stop; it's petty and childish - what do they achieve from it? Nothing. It's hurtful and degrading, and in the 21st century it has no place.
What advice would you give to people who are too scared to come out?
You have to wait until you are ready in my opinion, but you also can't lock it up as I did because it will only make thing 100 times worse - shoving stuff inside a cupboard only gets harder and harder until it eventually topples on top of you. Start with those closest, and at your own pace, then find that one person who you can talk to about anything. I had a couple, but one in particular who was there for me no matter what after my panic attack. The best bit is that I have since found more. It is you, no matter how much you want to deny it, you can't. And boy, you will feel the relief and it is amazing! Maybe even read stories of how people have come out, celebrities and role models etc. It makes you realise what you are missing and gives you the motivation. This was something I did to give me the confidence to tell my dad.
Although that I was there for my friend, some people are not so lucky to have support and often have no one they can turn to. On top of this, a lot of people who come out to their families and friends don't get the reaction that they deserve. Someone should not have to deal with the people they love telling them that they're not a good person because of their sexuality. That is just wrong. Just because a person doesn't conform to what the majority of society see as "normal", doesn't mean that they shouldn't be accepted and then in turn become alienated. Sexuality is not a defining trait of a person. Just because they are attracted to the same sex, does not make them a bad person. Society on the whole is too quick to jump on the bandwagon of the majority and judge a person based on tiny minute details. This has to stop. How would you feel if you were in their shoes? Would you feel OK that someone was judging you to the extent that people get bullied on a day to day basis? I think not. I genuinely wish that there could be something that I could do to help people who are suffering from this because it's such a horrible thing to go through. Obviously I have never been through this myself, but I can imagine how people can feel because of something like this. Feeling like you aren't being accepted by people you love is the worst thing in the world. If any of you are going through this then my email/social media links have private mail if any of you would like support. My Tumblr inbox has an "anonymous" option, and none of them will be published on my profile. I just ask you that you do not discriminate against someone who confides in you, or if someone you know is gay. It doesn't make you cool, and it isn't clever. It makes you less of a human being for being like that. Respect the privacy of people, and think how you would feel if it was you in that situation.
Treat others how you wish to be treated yourself.
A big thank you to my amazing friend who gave this interview. For the purposes of this post, he shall remain anonymous.
Once again I have become annoyingly and unbelievably philosophical because of a post that I have seen on Tumblr. I will post the original below just to give the owner some credit as this was an image rather than a direct quote.
This post, as you can probably guess has sent my mind whirring away. I mean, what would I try if I had no fear? What would you try? First of all I want to discuss the concept of "fear". I mean technically what is fear? Surely the fear of something is only as big as you allow it to be? So technically you could have no fear or something in general without this idea? I think I am thinking way too much in to this. So what would I do if I had no fear? Initially I thought about an absolute ton of things that I would want to try, and then I began to think a lot more in to it. So I think I am going to split this in to several sections. Not quite sure how yet, so lets see how this plans out. Career/education If I had no fearI think the first set of choices I would make and things that I would do would relate around my career choices. As you might know if you have read some of my previous posts about having a crisis (which you can read here) then you will know that I am absolutely terrified of the next few years of my life. So that is why I would be tackling this first. First of all I think I would actually go for the career of my dreams - which would probably be a writer. For some reason I have a crippling fear of even considering this at the moment and I don't know why. I think it's because it has nothing to do with my degree and I just feel that it would be such a difficult career to pursue because of the major setbacks regarding freelance writing etc. Having said that, there are like almost no jobs in the criminal justice system at the moment so I guess that either way I am not going to lose anything. As much as I love studying criminology, I think if I could try something without being scared of it I would choose to do another degree. I'd love to do a degree in journalism or creative writing or something similar. I think that this is just where my main interest is and I would enjoy it all the time. I do love studying criminology, don't get me wrong, but I am not passionate about it whatsoever. Then again I have said that I don't have a passion in a previous post (which you can read here). I know criminology has opened up some pretty good opportunities for me, including my current work placement with Storybook Dads which I will be writing about soon, but I don't think I want to work in that sector anymore. So definitely doing another degree, or even a postgrad course - money would have to be no object of course! On a similar note, I would do something about my blog. I am quite scared of altering it in any major way in case it messes up and I couldn't get it back. So I would definitely get over my fear and purchase my domain name and become a proper blogging website. I know a while back I said I would do this if I got over 10, 000 viewers, and I am now nearing 11, 000...but I am terrified of doing it! I literally do not know why. I am just shitting myself about changing it. I also think I would need to employ the help of a web designer to make it all funky and whatnot, but I don't have the money to do that unfortunately. Relationships This would be another area I would definitely do something about if I had no fear. For example, I would tell a certain someone exactly how I feel about them. Which sounds stupid because as a rule I would generally just go up to someone if I like them and let them know. I'd also get the balls to ask Tom Daley on a date! The majority of you are probably now sitting there looking at the screen with a "what the fuck" look on your face because he's all famous and whatnot. He does live near me as I live in Plymouth, and I see him out and about all the time, so he's not a stranger to my life. I speak to him on nights out etc, and I even got a kiss off him (see picture below) so you know...totally in there.
Moving slightly on from that, I think I am quite scared of trying a different type of guy. I have a tendency to go for the same sort of looking guy which usually ends badly, as the recent one has. So I think for once in my life I need to go for a nice guy.
I am currently at a crossroads in my life where I have just spent the last few months feeling like crap after being treated like complete and utter shit. I did write a massive post about this which ended up being about 2, 500 words but I don't know whether to edit it and publish it or just to leave it sitting on my laptop. Thoughts? So in relation to this, I think I need to stop being so scared of people and scared of putting myself first. It's safe to say I was in complete denial about how someone felt about me which lead to me basically spending the last couple of months in and out of something that has made me feel both worthless and humiliated. So yeah. So I would stop being so scared about putting myself first.
Life choices
Well I have a feeling that this is going to be a very long section. There are so many life choices that I am far too scared to even think about let alone completely contemplate to the point of a major decision. Having said that, I made a few decisions in the last few days (finally) after about a year of wanting to do them.
I will tell you about the decisions I have made recently after bloody ages of thinking about them. The first regards my plans straight after university. As you may or may not know, I am a major Disney fan, and it has always been my dream to work in Walt Disney World and I finally got the balls to properly look in to it a few weeks ago. I found out that they offer graduate places for a year long placement with them working in different areas of the park. So do you know what? I said fuck it to everything and decided to apply. Obviously I can't apply until next year but I am going to either way! So hopefully I will get accepted in to that. I have also decided to finally start saving to make the big move over to Australia! I know this will take me a long bloody time but it is definitely something that I would love to do and have thought about for a few years now so it's like fuck it, lets do it.
Now, if I had no fear what life choices would I make? Hmmmm, this is a difficult one I think. As a rule I tend to make my life decisions with or without fear. Although I think I would be a bit more bold in my choices.
I think I would try to take on more things. Not in the form of work or anything, but I wouldn't say "no" to certain things. An example of this was about 10 years ago I got the chance to go to Australia and I turned it down because I was scared to go without my parents. Basically I am an idiot.
Adrenaline
This is a bit of a difficult one because I am such an adrenaline junkie and I will do anything to try and scare myself, whether that be watching a scary film or jumping out a plane. So instead I think I will just tell you about the things I want to, and plan to, do!
First of all I want to go skydiving! I don't know why, and I don't know when, but I am going to do it! I have always been curious about what it feels like to jump out a plane just strapped to someone else...the mind boggles.
I also want to go cage diving with great white sharks - something that has been offered to me in Australia when I go! My mind literally went "dksjfklsdgknd" when I found out that I could do this. I mean how awesome would that be? I am soooo excited. My mum won't like it though...
In slight relation to skydiving, I also want to do bungee jumping. Ideally off the Grand Canyon - how freaking awesome would that be?!
On a slightly less adrenaline filled activity is diving/scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. I'm glad that I can say that i am going to tick this off my list in a few years. I have seen so many pictures of friends who have done it and I am so excited!
General
In a more general turn of events, I would definitely do something slightly more adventurous with myself I think. Maybe actually follow fashion?! If you ever see me, you will know that I have absolutely zero fashion sense and my mentality is that if it fits then it's fine. Maybe I should conquer this anyway? I think if I had no fear I would also try to write a full on novel. It's something I have always wanted to do, and have actually begun planning one several times just to get frustrated with its lack of direction and throw it in the bin. At the moment I am considering doing some fictional writing on top of my blog just to see what direction it takes. Maybe publish it chapter by chapter. But mainly if I had no fear I would pack everything up, chuck it in a backpack and set off to explore the world and just see where I am going. I take major inspiration from several YouTubers (FunForLouis, JacksGap, and Watchbbbtv) who turn these dreams in to actions. I would love the opportunity to do even half the things they do. JacksGap and Watchbbbtv actually did a collaboration (which you can view here and the JacksGap video here) with some amazing footage from Dubai. So as you can imagine I am extremely jealous of this. If anyone wants to take me around the world and let me blog about it that would be fantastic. Maybe that's what I should do? I should travel the world and blog about all the things I do. Take a leaf from the Big Bad Bucketlist and do some of these things myself? Tempting....I could start off in Plymouth and just go from there...Thoughts? To finish on a slightly logical note, I don't think life could exist without fear. As much as it may seem nice for someone to think that having no fear would mean that they could do anything, fear tends to motivate people and define people's limits on things. So without fear how would we know our limits? How would we get the motivation to tackle certain tasks? Surely life would be very slightly boring without fear. Fear provides adrenaline and although we could take part in adrenaline fueled tasks, we would not get that natural sense of it. So I ask you guys: what would you do if you had no fear? Comment below with your answers. As always thank you for reading. If you liked this post then be sure to become a member by clicking "Join This Site" to be told when I write more! Toodle-oo!
Hello there, buddies. Well I was unsure at first as to whether I was actually going to post anything today for a start because my mind has been completely blank for the last few days apart from my "inappropriate life rant part two" post (which you can read by clicking back there). So I thought I would just ramble on about general things that come in to my mind as I type....This will probably turn in to a rambly rant....Yup, new word. *adds to laptop dictionary* I don't think I have a good sense of humour at the moment (sorry) so I am unsure what turn this might take. For all we know I could be going on about something I saw on Tumblr....Now I have written the word "Tumblr" I think I am going to kick this off with talking about fanfiction. For all of you who are avid Tumblr users like myself, you will probably have stumbled across fanfic at some point. For all of your who have never stumbled across it, keep your sanity! I have read so much shit that is just so....disturbing is the only word I can think of...yet I can never seem to stop reading...Fanfic, why you do this to me?! There are various different types of fanfic on Tumblr, and you may have read them about the central person in your fandom (mine being Danisnotonfire and Amazingphil). Yet no matter which fanfic you read, the main subject seems to involve sex. No lie, 90% of Tumblr is sex or porn. Now I am slightly worried as I know various people on my Facebook read my blog and are probably like "holy shit, what kind of fucked up person do I know?!". I assure you, my Tumblr is used mainly for stalking YouTubers, and not for stalking porn. Anyways, I have read some fucked up shit about Dan and Phil (aka "Phan") like OMG you would not believe. The best bit is that I think the majority of Dan and Phil's fanbase are like 13 year old girls. I am not sure whether to be disturbed that they are writing about this sort of thing, or admire the fact they have some crazy imaginations and the patience to write a 36 chapter fic....The mind boggles. As a bit of a side note....the government needs to find a way of making the price of petrol considerably cheaper. As I am writing this, I am staring at a wall in my room full of so much random shit it is unreal. I have my You Me At Six posters, a gorgeous post of Tom Daley, my Duke of Edinburgh award, my Welsh flag, a mass of autographs and my world map that I drew a while back...so I am going to talk a little bit about these for a while. Hope you don't mind. So You Me At Six have been a band I like for a few years now, and if you haven't listened to their music you best go do it now. Listen to the album "Sinners Never Sleep" which is their most recent one. Track one is the best, along with "Bite My Tongue" (such a good song). Josh Franceschi should marry me for that shit. I have been lucky enough to see them twice so far. I saw them once up in Birmingham like 2 years ago where they did an album signing and then a live set which was a bit of a pleasant surprise because we didn't know they were doing that. So I have a signed album stuck up on my wall! Then again at one of the Olympic Torch things in Cardiff where Kids in Glass Houses and Emeli Sande perfomed, too. So I have loooooved that. But go to YouTube and search for them - they are awesome.
You Me At Six - I would post a picture of my album but I can't find the picture I took and my internet is too slow for me to upload a new one.
Not sure I need to say much about Tom Daley. He is just sex on legs. He also lives in Plymouth like me, so I have had the pleasure of bumping in to him on several occasions. I will put a pic below so you can see. I bump in to him quite a bit on nights out, and have met his mum once (totally in there now, you see). He is such a lovely guy, and didn't mind having his picture taken with me despite being out with his friends and being surrounded by screaming girls (I was not one of them!). He also has a nice bum.
The gorgeous Tom and I. This was taken in Oceana in Plymouth back in September last year, so I no longer look this awful!
Erm, not much to say about my DofE award apart from the fact that I did a lot of work for it, and went camping (ergh) and also discovered I am really badly allergic to ant bites. So that was a lot of fun.
Ah, my wall of autographs. Now I bet you are thinking that I have a load of celebrity autographs on my wall. Well I don't. I think I have like 4 well known celebrity autographs. Those are Tom's, Nicola from Girls Aloud, Julian Clary (I know his dad) and I have another one but I can't think who it is....The rest are Disney characters. I shit you not....Well that and characters I spotted around Universal Studios. As you can tell, I am a child at heart. Before you ask, yes I have Mickey Mouse's autograph.
Ermmmmm, ah yes, map. So as you know I am hoping to travel the world after university. Then I got all depressed because it will cost like £10 000 which sucks. But now I have a considerably better and well-paid job that I can come back to during the summer, so travelling has become an option again! So you can imagine I am a happy bunny. Although travelling the world is still off the menu for now, I can afford to travel Australia for about 4 or so months, which is so awesome! So if you live in Australia write in the comments where you think I need to go! Also, maybe I can meet some of you guys? This (sort of) brings me on to YouTube...as you all know, I love YouTube, and I have been saying for ages that I will sort my channel out properly. Well I have good news! I am going to start shooting my videos in September (ish)! So hopefully I will turn some of these posts in to videos, and do some of the typical YouTube challenges, too. So let me know in the comments what sort of things you want me to do! I would do an "Ask Lovely Chubly" but I am not popular enough to do that *sniff sniff*. I have also roped some of my housemates in to do some videos, too, so you will finally get to meet them properly! Also, Vikki is currently like half way through her holiday over in Italy where she is staying with her family, so I am feeling abandoned at the moment. I am sending her (almost) daily updates with all the YouTube links in them so she never misses out! I am such a good friend. I have also managed to get more Pepsi Max in my system, so hopefully I will get myself back to normal soon. I was starting to go a bit funny without it. Stupid addiction. Finally, I am going to be back in Plymouth on September 10 so I will be back to posting daily! You will also get to hear about all the crazy and stupid things I do in Freshers week. Yes, I am making sure I am back in time to go mental with the Freshers again! Prepare for me to be making a fool out of myself on a daily basis considering last Freshers and first term I think I ended up painting myself about 5 different colours....Anything for a good night out, eh? Also, if you want more posts about my university life then do let me know because I am not sure whether it is something you want to read about. Long story short, I am looking forward to being back with my Plym-fam as they are called; I am missing them lots. They keep me sane (ish). So I am counting down seconds now until I am back there! I have even arranged my first night out (September 10) with Louise where I will get my typical dose of Nandos goodness! Stop shaking your head at me, you know how much I love Nandos. (Nandos, if you are reading this - free food?! :D ) I am also trying to think of a name for all of you lovely readers as most bloggers have a name for them. Someone suggested "Chubblies" but I think that sounds a bit harsh....comment below some suggestions if you have any. So that is my post for today...I am not sure what to make of it to be perfectly honest with you. But you already know what my brain is like. If you enjoyed this post don't forget to click "Join This Site" over on the top left for more posts by me! That is all for now, peeps. Toodle-oo!
Hello there, buddies. If you didn't sing that to the song from Aladdin we can no longer be friends....I am kidding....Much love.
I am not sure of the direction that this post is taking....this literally could go anywhere. It could turn in to one of my typical rants, a random post telling you of my failed attempts at doing maths, or we could really go off on a tangent and start talking about purple flying pigs with unicorn horns....I don't know. Well you all know how much I am dying to do some travelling after my 3 years at university. With my little bunch of friends, we planned out an entire list of about 200 places we wanted to visit. We got all excited and whatnot for it when we realised the only way that it would be possible in anything less than 50 years would be if we all won the lottery. Which deeply saddens me as it won't happen. So we brainstormed a few other ideas. Travelling is something the 5 of us are all seriously wanting to do as none of us took a gap year between sixth We then went on to plan a 2 week holiday (vacation) to Florida to stay in Disney World as we thought it would be considerably cheaper and more affordable. So we figured it all out and we would all be able to afford it by July 2015. So we got planning and got our dates settled, a quote for a rough price and we got saving. I even made a chart with over 2000 squares on that I could colour in for every pound I saved. Now, the only way we would afford to go to Florida was with Thomas Cook as they are considerably cheaper than the likes of Virgin. When I fly to Florida with my family we go with Thomas Cook - we used to go with Virgin Atlantic but it is far more expensive now. Thomas Cook have since decided that they are no longer flying out of Gatwick airport to go to Florida and the only places they are now going from is Manchester and Glasgow. This I found really fucking irritating due to the fact that most of us live within a close proximity of London (I can be in London in just over 1 hour 15 minutes) so it would be cheap for us to get there. Since Thomas Cook have decided to stop flying from there, our prices would have sky-rocketed another couple of hundreds of pounds to get to the other airports to fly out. Long story short, we have abandoned those plans. We then re-evaluated and thought that we might be able to do a bit of backpacking and travelling around Australia. Now I can imagine that you are raising your eyebrows at me as Australia is considerably more expensive than Florida. Well shockingly, you are wrong. We did the maths and travelling around Australia for 6 weeks was a bit cheaper than going to Florida for 2 weeks. So we got planning for that also. Now this was a solid plan up until about 5 days ago when we sat down and had a serious chat. We decided that whilst travelling
around Australia was affordable, it was not realistic for a bunch of recent
graduates with 3 years worth of debt behind them. It turns out we would need
about 6 months to do all the stuff we wanted to do. We thought that we could
narrow down our list of places we wanted to visit and cut out some of the
experiences so that we could do it in two months, but it just wasn't happening
as there is so much to do. Basically we have had to completely scrap that idea,
too.
Several different conversations
followed this shitty realisation. We considered buying an old truck/van/camper
van and go on a road trip through America. This turned out too expensive.
Then we thought about literally
slumming-it throughanywhereabroad including Thailand,
Australia and China, but we thought that it might be too dangerous. This is all turning out to be a bit of a bit let down, really. I am still genuinely considering giving up on the idea that I will go travelling until literally I am 50. You may think this is an exaggeration, but believe me, it is not. Especially since I struggled to even get a job this summer, which I am starting like two months late so I will get only four weeks worth of work - and it is casual hours so I might not even get any - despite this, I am extremely grateful for this job as it might have just saved my ass a little bit (a lot). But I am having to start to reign in my exceedingly high expectations of travelling *sob sob*.
So after it all got a bit doom and gloom, we then thought of something a
little closer to home....why don't we look in to travelling around parts of
Europe? So after some extensive research, we came across the fact that we can get a rail pass for some funky train that goes round the whole of Europe - how awesome?! Turns out it is only like £350 ish for a months unlimited pass, which is pretty cheap. So I made a list of all the countries and cities we want to visit and sort of complied them into a route (which is really awful, by the way...). I have since found a website that does it for me...but it keeps fucking up which is irritating me. So now we are doing a bit of maths (gah) to figure out how much money will have to be saved to travel. Hopefully it won't be too much as my loan is just getting smaller and smaller :( So you never know, you could be reading all about my awesome travels in a couple of years. So all keep your fingers crossed for me. Damn you, government, for lying about tuition fees. Fuckers.
On a slight side note, yet still weirdly related to this post, have you heard that Tom Daley and his friend Sophie are travelling the world with ITV for what I am guessing is free......?!!?! So apparently you now have to be a medal holding Olympic diver to travel the world. I am slightly annoyed at this to be perfectly honest. Sorry, Tom, you know I love you really. It takes normal people like me years to save for travelling, but some people get handed it. Seriously, ITV, you could have had an awesome bunch of desperate students travelling where you would get proper stuff from. Gah. Rage. I think ITV should pay me and my friends to travel the world. That would be nice.
Hey, Richard Branson, if we traveled by Virgin planes the whole time would you sponsor us to travel and do a documentary on it? Plus crazy promos on my blog? I wonder if he ever would read this. No. No he would not. Was worth a shot though. I do think that there aren't many options available for students to go travelling after uni. Yes, there are various gap year companies which offer these opportunities, but they seem to be aimed towards people who have had the chance to earn a fair amount of money as I think that they are still slightly expensive...that might just be me, though. I'd like to see more graduate travelling opportunities. I mean, we have spent 3 or so years studying our asses off to get a degree, so I would like a bit of a break to get some experiences under my belt, you know? I have a feeling that I am going to get a lot of negative comments on this about my money situation/people telling me to get a job. So before you post something like that read this: I applied to over 60 places for a job. I had 3 replies from them. One company, which I shall not name, turned me down after an interview as I was a student. This is so unfair!!! I will be spending my first few days back down in Plymouth looking for a job for the next two years, so if you know of any then let me know. Getting a job is hard; there aren't many of them about. So please do not tell me I am not doing enough because that is bullshit and I do not take kindly to those comments. What are your thoughts on the options available for students to go travelling after graduation?
Anyways, I think I should stop writing because no one wants to read my annoying thing about the poor student who has no money.
There are plenty more posts like this in the pipeline, and some awesome original work from yours truly, so click "Join This Site" to see them before anyone else gets to!
I am also starting to take suggestions for things you would like to hear me rant about, so chuck them my way by any way you want and I will rant and rave about them!
Hello there, buddies. For some strange reason I have really struggled with ideas of things to write today. Then I had a bit of a (shit) brainwave to tell you all about the things that I am completely addicted to. These aren't like lighthearted addictions either, these are mostly things that I cannot go a single day without. I do love all these things, but I do apologise if any of you end up getting addicted to them too! Sorry! Also, I sort of slacked a bit yesterday and only did one of the two posts I promised as I got sidetracked with a different project, so I will be doing two today at some point.
Tumblr I am 100% addicted to Tumblr. I mean seriously addicted to it. Most people read the news first thing in the morning, not me, I go directly to my Tumblr dash. I follow so many different accounts that my dash is so beyond varied. I get over 100 new posts every 4 minutes so I can promise you I am never bored. You can check my Tumblr out by clicking the link at the end of the post :) YouTube Again, I check YouTube like five or six times a day...seriously. I don't know if any of you guys are like this, but I absolutely love YouTube. My Tumblr sort of links in with it too, which is cool. I am hoping one day to finally get around to my own YouTube videos of some of these blog posts, so stay tuned!! Blogging I think you guys know how addicted I am to my blog. I basically eat, sleep and breathe blogging. I am constantly thinking of new things to post for you guys, and different sections I could start. I am hoping one day to get my blog published some how, so you never know, I could be famous one day. Ha, that would be awesome, but it is never going to happen. Sad times. Pepsi Max Yeah, I am addicted to Pepsi Max. I go through so much of it, and I used to drink like 5 cans a day at uni - minimum! It is sooooo lush. It also mixes well with vodka....so yeah I drink this like all the time. I am currently drinking the bottled stuff and I have decided it tastes ten times better out of a can. And then I don't drink a whole bottle in one go. I only got some yesterday and I am already having to go and buy some more tomorrow. Taking pictures I am lucky enough to have the iPhone 5 so I don't have to take my camera everywhere with me, but I take pictures of absolutely everything. I even take pictures when I go for a run. I don't know why because I probably will never look at those pictures ever again, but you know. Nandos Most people really like Nandos, but I really like Nandos. I will never turn down a Nandos, and I even have Nandos sauce at home and I put it on almost everything.....I really should get a job at Nandos, shouldn't I? Studio Ghibli I love Studio Ghibli. If you don't know what it is then shame on you! They are a Japanese animation company who make awesome movies like "My Neighbour Totoro", "Spirited Away", "Howl's Moving Castle" and so many more. Please go watch them! If you have seen them, comment in the comments box! Nail polish I have got myself so many new nail polishes recently, I am starting to think I should stop. I think this might be because I worked in a restaurant for 3 years so I have never been able to paint my nails because of that, so I am making up for lost time. Murder mystery/crime fiction books I LOVE this type of book so much, maybe because of the fact that it related to my university course. I got 4 new books today to read whilst I am lonely over the summer. Buzzfeed.com I love Buzzfeed, it keeps me entertained every single day. There are some awesome articles on there! If you haven't seen it, then click here. Jeremy Kyle I am home alone a lot during the day, so I have turned to daytime TV, which means a bit of Jezza! I have come to the conclusion that Jeremy Kyle is proof that being fat and ugly doesn't stop you getting laid. LA Ink I am blaming Kat Von D for the fact I want another tattoo. I love watching it every day at 4pm then sitting there and thinking of all the things I want inked on me. Deary me, I am addicted. Old cartoons If you weren't born in the 90s then you have never experienced proper cartoons. The likes of Dexter's Laboratory, Ah Real Monsters, Hey Arnold, etc. were just fucking awesome. I feel sorry for the likes of this generation who are stuck with the worst kids TV ever. Minion Mayhem I am completely addicted to this game on my phone. I have now also got Vikki addicted to it! It doesn't help that you play as a minion because I just end up giggling the entire way through. It is so cool! If you have an iPhone or operate Android on your phone, then download it and play! It's free! YouTubers This sort of works with the fact I am addicted to YouTube I think, but I love YouTubers. I would give ANYTHING to go to Vid Con and meet them. I am ever so slightly in love with Phil Lester too, which probably doesn't help. Fins We have only just started to get these here in the UK, but they are little fish shaped cheesy crispy things. I can't describe them, but they are so much better over in the USA. You can get them in rainbow colours and everything, but OMG they are so nice. I bring loads back every time I go over there. Well then, peeps, those are my addictions! If you have any of the same addictions, or if you have different ones then comment below! If you enjoyed this post then please do subscribe by hitting "Join This Site" at the top of the page to know when I write new stuff! Thank you for reading, folks. Toodle-oo!
