A Letter From the Past – Insight into the Mind Before the Big Move to Australia

I wrote, at 18 years old in the summer of 2009…

I want this more than anything else in this world. This extreme idea has not left by head for a year now, I think about it every day, I dream about it every night. It’s so close I can feel it. I can’t think of a better way to spend my life, to challenge myself and learn more about myself and the world. I know I deserve this and I have worked so hard just to get here. My dreams of this happening gives me hope every day. The change in myself from this idea has showed me I CAN do this. Common world give me a chance.

As I mentioned in my, About Me page, I ventured to Australia as a young girl at 18 years old to achieve my dream living overseas to obtain my Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing. Recently, I found this letter I wrote to myself in 2009 while I was in the waiting stage to hear back from the University of Wollongong about whether or not I got accepted. I was obsessed with the idea to move overseas and it consumed my every thought. The waiting game was killing me, not knowing was driving me crazy. I checked my email 8 times a day and I endlessly day-dreamed of the potential adventure ahead. I am sharing this letter I wrote to myself to somehow give you fellow travelers insight and inspiration into the mindset I was in before I made the big move overseas. If you are thinking about making a move, here is a sign… Do it!

If the idea consumes your every minute like it did mine, if you can relate to my past self, then itsofficial, you’re obsessed and your mind and body is hinting at the need to travel, to explore, and to live. If you have caught the travel bug like I did at a young age, or cringe at the thought of living the rest of your life in a predictable world like your hometown, then its time you did what you’re heart and mind longs for. I was told every day I would not succeed, I would come home in a month and that I was crazy. I nodded politely to the negativity, but inside I was screaming “Watch me (insert rude word here)”. Not everyone will understand, but that’s okay, that is what makes you different and in my option you are different in an amazing way. People live and die never able to experience the world, do you ever think they think to themselves in there last days, “Damn I should not have gone travelling for a year around the world that was a waste of time.” Never. Regret will haunt you forever if you don’t do what your heart desires. If you’re looking for a sign well this is it…..trust me… book that ticket!

Off To The Beautiful Florida Keys!

Travel Tuesday Quote of The Week

6 Unusual and Funny Places Missbeachykeen has Fallen Asleep While Abroad

I have always been notorious for falling asleep in random places! Since day one actually, in my childhood photo albums you will see endless pictures of me asleep in various positions in different places. No I don’t have narcolepsy, I just can fall asleep very easily. My sleeping ability has made for some funny stories of places I find myself asleep, mostly in abnormal areas. Here are 6 stories from when I’ve woken from some interesting cat naps.

1. While Pretending to Pray…

I know, random… right? I was in my first year of university, one of my good friends convinced me to come to a Christian lunchtime bible study session in the main lecture hall. I am not very religious, to say the least, but I was bored at lunch in-between classes and my friend didn’t want to go by herself so I accepted her invitation to be a good friend. The bible study session was beginning to go a bit longer than expected and then it was prayer time. In a large and full lecture hall everyone began to close their eyes, bow their heads, and listen; then it happen, I was out like a light, eyes closed, head down, arms crossed… gone. In an unknown amount of time, I got a nudge from my friend, “Dana, you’re asleep.” “Oh, sorry” I said while giggling to myself. She told me that people were noticing. When everyone was done praying and lifted their head, I was visibly asleep. I apologized and came up with some excuse as to why I was so tired. She wasn’t very impressed at the time and I think I actually really embarrassed her, but we still have a good laugh about it when we see each other.

2. In the movie theater on a date watching The Hobbit.

If you have seen the, The Hobbit, you may or may not remember a scene where the Hobbit people start singing. Yup, a very long hobbit song of hobbits running around singing hobbit songs. In my option, this should put anyone to sleep. It was in the first half an hour of the movie and I was gone. I was supposed to be on a romantic date with my then boyfriend and here I was passed out in a movie theater. The movie theater being a dark room, plus the singing hobbits was a perfect recipe for an inconvenient snooze. Just like the last story I got a, “Dana, You’re asleep” I answered with an, “Oh sorry, the hobbit singing must have put me to sleep”. I now know I cannot watch musicals at the theater. Every time someone mentions this movie I always have a laugh about the little lullaby of the Hobbit song.

3. In the dentist chair.

Yes, you read that right, I fell asleep while in the dentist chair. I am not talking about the waiting room.  It was mouth open, tools in my mouth cavity and everything. I got a little tap and the hygienist said with a laugh, “Um hello Dana, you were asleep.” Like I haven’t heard those words before right? “Oh sorry” I replied. We both laughed. Supposedly falling asleep in the dentist chair is more common than you would think.

4. My infamous bar bathroom snooze.

This started when a friend and I would take what we called a, “drunk 10”. We would each get into a stall, obviously and both set our phone alarms for 10 minute and take a wee snooze while sitting on the toilet.  Sometimes when the spins come on all you need is a little cat nap to sober up. It actually doesn’t work very well and I wouldn’t recommend doing it. It makes you feel worse to be honest. In Australia with my friend it was totally a normal thing we did together, but when I got back home to Canada and did it there, my group of friends thought I was absolutely crazy. They make fun of me still to this day.

5. While at the Hair dressers getting my hair done.

I am really close with my hair dresser in Canada and she’s more like a good friend to me. I had just come back from a massive trip through South East Asia and I was jet legged so much so that I could hardly keep my eyes open during the day. While my foils were in and my hair dresser was in the bathroom, I fell into a peaceful slumber. My head was fully in the downward position and I was passed out and I even remember dreaming. I got a, “DANA you fell asleep.” I woke up and apologized. My hair dresser still picks on me for my little snooze I had in her chair and I am now known as, ‘Dana the blonde girl that fell asleep with her foils on’.

6. 2 hours from my desired train stop.

I’m sure we have all heard of this one before and probably happens all the time. While I was working in Sydney I had to take the train an hour to get to and from work. On my commute home one day, I woke up 2 hours from my stop after the conductor announced that the train was at its last stop for the night and everyone had to get off. I got off half asleep with squinty eyes and then realized I was 2 hours from home. I shook my head with disbelief and laughed out loud to myself. “Good one Dana,” I thought to myself. After that day, I had to set an alarm 10 minutes before my stop because I did not trust myself.

Safe Snoozes!

Do you have a similar story? Lets hear it!

Travel Quote of the Week

Travel Tuesday – Quote of the Week

Helpful Hints – How to Make New Friends When You are Traveling Solo (Written By True Traveller – Ikran Ahmed)

My best friend Ikran has been a true inspiration to me and has the same craving for travel as I do. She has lived and travelled to Banff & Edmonton- Alberta, Kelowna – British Columbia. She has travelled all around South East Asia and is currently living in Melbourne Australia.She is beautiful inside and out and while she is travelling she seem to make new friends in a heat beat. She has friends all over the world and always has the best stories to tell of her travels. 

How to Make New Friends When Traveling Solo

Travelling alone can be a scary thing and sometimes trying to make new friends can be even scarier. However, I want you to remember that the people you meet on your travels are the reason why you will have so many amazing stories to tell.

Some of you are wondering, how do you make friends?

Easy… The number one tip is simply to …. Put yourself out there.

Make sure you are comfortable with meeting some of the most random people you can imagine and it is also important that you aren’t judging toward new people you meet because those people will surprise you.

Hostels are always a great way to make friends. Simply ask a group of people or even just one person if you can sit with them (I know it sounds a bit daunting, right?) However, to your surprise most likely everyone says yes.  Start the conversation and find common ground, which would obviously be travelling.

You’ll realize that when you’re travelling the same conversations will come up like “Where are you from? How long have you been backpacking for? Where did you start off? Where are you off to next?” Use these commonly asked ice breaker questions to get the ball rolling.

These commonly asked questions are great to build a bond with a new group or individual and will also give you a good vibe regarding the type of person they are.

A bar is still a great place to meet people if you feel a drink will loosen you up. Sit at the bar if you see one other person. That’s how I made friends with a guy named “Vernon” from Texas in Siem Reap, Cambodia on Pub Street (which is party central in Cambodia). He was sitting alone and I just asked if I can sit with him. He was such a nice guy and I met some of his friends later on that night that he knew from Vietnam. Later that night I also met two Norwegian girls named Linda and Silija. I ended up traveling with these two girls for two and a half weeks. That night was a night to remember as we all danced on the streets all night long.

In Picture (Linda, Vernon, (Linda the 12 year old Cambodian girl known in the South East Asia backpacking world) Silija, Me, and a weird guy)

And guys you will meet some weird people so just embrace it.

Remember the key way to making friends is putting yourself out there and ask them if you can join them. It is as simple as that… Don’t be afraid to ask the question and know that all backpackers are in the same boat as you and also want to meet friends just like you.

 Written By – Ikran Ahmed

Side note – Always be safe when travelling alone especially when drinking. 1. Keep an eye on your drink – drink only what you see prepared yourself 2. Set a drink limit and stick to it – it’s okay to loosen up with a couple drinks but don’t go overboard and end up making a fool of yourself and or getting yourself into something dangerous. 3. Have water in between drinks.

Happy Easter

Stay Tuned for…

Missbeachykeen’s True Travel Confession

So I have a confession…

Okay.. I was naughty I admit it.. Want to know why? Whenever I tell this story to anyone, I always receive a wide-eyed, open mouth expression! Most people are stunned with disbelief on how I managed to hook up with a boy I had never met before, on a plane… That’s right I said it! When I was 19, I met this guy who was on my flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong. Pretty much, I got a smooch from this cutie!

How did this happen?

I had about 30 minutes before my flight boarded, so I decided to sit down at the gate and pull out my laptop and see if I could get some Wi-Fi signals… Around 5 minutes later, I notice a young boy around my age, sitting on the opposite side of me. I looked up and spontaneously made awkward eye contact with him. With embarrassment of being caught staring at him, I quickly looked back down at my laptop screen. For a while, I then realized after failed attempts, that I could not connect to any Wi-Fi signals and became frustrated…. “ I needed to look busy on my laptop. Hello…. Wi-Fi?” After multiple tries, I decided to be bold and ask the beautiful stranger, if his Wi-Fi was working. I looked up, swallowed, took a deep breath and asked, “Hey, is your Wi-Fi working?”

When did the sparks ignite?

He replied with confidence “Hey, no I can’t connect, I was just about to you ask you actually”. He smiled flirtatiously. He closed his laptop immediately and asked me, “What flight are you on?” I thought to myself, “holy shit he’s talking to you, don’t say anything stupid!” I pulled out my boarding pass and stated my flight number and destination. He widened his eyes and replied with a big energetic, “ME TOO, that’s awesome!” I smiled and replied with an “oh cool!” (as in I’m trying to act cool). He started asking me million questions at once like, “Where are you from?”, “Why are you going to Sydney?” and so on. I started to answer his questions simultaneously and bounce those questions back to him. I could feel my palms sweating and my face blushing.  I pause the awkwardly happy question-and-answer session and told him my name, “Oh, by the way, my name is Dana.” He chuckled and replied, “Nice to meet you Dana, my name is Michael.” It turns out that we have the same age. He was going to Sydney for a year of backpacking around Australia. I could tell that he was very interested and super excited about his adventure. He was humble and down to earth enough, and seemed to have the same craving for travel as I did. We started talking, more comfortably, and I told him about my first year at University and gave him a little rundown on what Australia is like, where to visit and what to do in Sydney.

Then we boarded the plane…

While waiting in line, “together”, we constantly are talking each other’s ears off. One of us stopped and asked “Hey, what’s your seat number?” It turns out we were four rows apart from each other as we mentally calculated. He gave me a sad puppy face, displaying his sadness for the fact that we were seated so far from each other. We still had so much to talk about! Once we got on the plane, I sat at my seat, and I waved goodbye saying, “I’ll see you in Hong Kong.” I sat smiling to myself like a little schoolgirl with a crush. Three minutes later the beautiful boy appeared in the aisle with a random middle-aged woman beside him. He looked happily at me and said, “Hey, this nice lady is happy to switch seats with you, so we can sit together”… I looked at the lady and she replied, “Yea, not a problem, I’m happy to make the switch”. My heart melted….

Then the 14 hours in a cramped plane began…

I switched to my new seat, beside him, and our conversation started again! We talked about everything from high school, to our friends, and even to our past relationships. We watched movies together on one TV screen, and we laughed a lot. After about 6 hours of talking and laughing, it was time to have a little snooze as they dimmed the light and everyone around us was sleeping. Obviously it would have been rude to keep talking while everyone was in his or her sleep mode. As we position ourselves to sleep, we leaned against each other and shared the given blanket. After the awkward leaning position, for little a while, he reached out for my hand under the blanket. We fell asleep together, hand in hand. After around three hours of solid sleep and I repositioned my body… he woke up, from my movement and smiled at me. I asked him “Are you comfortable?” he replied… “Very much, thanks” … Then he .. leaned in for a kiss… My 19-year-old self was on cloud 9!!!!! I remembered that the kiss was just perfect. There may or may not have been a little groping under the blanket too… 😉

Arriving in Hong Kong.

We assumed that if we started on the same flight, we would also be on the same flight for our flight to Sydney too. However, his flight was different than mine. I was leaving in 2 hours and his flight to Sydney was another 6 hours after mine. He said he wanted to hang out with me while I waited for my flight so he convinced the airline employee to check in early so he could hang with me before I boarded the flight. We had dinner together and laughed some more. As we waited for my flight to board, we shared one more passionate kiss as we sat in a room with 100s of other strangers. He lined up with me until he could not anymore; we kissed goodbye, and I walked away onto the plane. That was it…

I never saw him again; we spoke on Facebook, but we never got a chance to see each other in Australia.

I am a lot older now but I remember everything about that flight like it was just yesterday. I still remember how awesome he was and how nervous I felt to just be around him. It was such a good experience and had shown me that a simple hello can go a long way..

Do you have your own version of travel confession or a similar story?

Have you met someone awesome at an airport or on a flight?

Let’s hear it! Share it!

Missbeachykeen

Travel Quote of The Week