Well, hello there, avid travellers / kind of travellers / men, women and children alike.
I’ve decided to resurrect this blog (previously it was used for the purposes of a UniSA assignment). I am studying journalism, currently in my second year, and as blogging has become such a runaway success for many writers, we were tasked with creating a blog on a topic we are passionate about. I am passionate about travelling, hence why I picked solo female travelling. I wondered to myself if I would keep it going, but evidently with school, life and work commitments, it tapered off a little bit.
But I leave for my next trip in approximately 24 days so I have decided to continue this blog for me, and whoever decides to join me in the adventure. I’m a writer, yes? Then logically, this makes sense. One of my favourite things to do in my downtime is to remember the stories, look at my photos and just recapture that feeling of feeling so alive, and to record this trip seems the best way to do this. As any writer knows, it will mean discipline, but it’s about time I get serious about my writing.
SO.
I am a female solo traveller, and my name is Alyssa. Here comes a short description of who I am, where I’ve been and where I’m going.
Some of the places I have been in recent future, in no apparent order: London, (this, upcoming, is my fifth trip.); Paris, Budapest, Vienna, Rome, Bologna, Pisa, Venice, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Dublin, Palma de Majorca, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York City, Boston, Orlando, Miami, Auckland, Christchurch, Queenstown, brief stints in Thailand (mostly Phuket and Kao Samui), most Australian capital cities, and in the South Pacific Islands, cruising.
This trip, I add Canada (can I just say I am supremely excited for Canada. This is bucket list shit right there. I love you guys.) I’m also heading back to LA and New York and Nashville but heading to South Carolina as well. And then, I go to Oxford.
I kid you not. I am studying at Oxford University in July this year – 900 year old university, living on campus, eating in dining halls, the works. The workload looks intense – 24,000 words over 4 weeks – but God, this feels where I’m meant to be.
The last two years has seen me going back to University at 25 years old, which has been a massive challenge. All my classmates were fresh of out high school, which is fine as I get along with most people (one of the advantages of being a people pleaser, I suppose) and when I was first telling people my age, they were all “Whaaaa?”. At first, I didn’t really know what I was doing there. I have a love and passion and (if I may) talent for writing, and journalism felt like the obvious choice, but it really being such a cutthroat industry and also maybe a dying industry too, I struggled to find my place. But over the last couple of years I have found myself really enjoying my study, which, yay. Strangely, I’ve found a newfound love in radio which I never thought I’d see. I’m getting good marks, whereas when I did that year fresh out of high school, university was pretty much my last priority and my grades reflected that lack of commitment. A few years out has taught me a lot about life and where I actually want to be, and here we are.
I am a poor Uni student (and yes, currently I am very poor) but I couldn’t give up the idea of travel, so I scraped together my pennies and here I am. I decided to apply to Oxford fully not thinking I’d get in, but knowing I could see myself there, and I start in just over 9 weeks after a few weeks in America which I am lucky enough to be able to do with my best friend.
The itinerary for this trip looks like the below:
- fly to London. One week hanging around and visiting another bestie who has a 3 month old baby boy. Baby cuddles!
- Fly to NYC. Jump straight onto G Adventures tour, 15 days up to Canada and finishing through Boston. Places of interest: Allegheny National Forest, Niagara Falls, Toronto and Montreal.
- 4th of July in New York. YAS.
- We then head down to South Carolina then jump on a bus to Nashville to spend time in Music City. My last trip to Nashville was magical, so I knew I had to head back.
- Heading to LA and San Fran, where our only plan is to visit Harry Potter World (another YAS).
We really want to be open to adventure and spontaneity this trip so have purposely felt gaps that we can fill in.
Then I fly back to the UK, attend Oxford for a few weeks, then come home to Adelaide, Australia, and (presumably?) fall into a depression until I can work up some cash and do an exchange, or something.
So, yeah. This is the plan. I am looking so forward to it, and will be updating regularly, for solo travellers and regular travellers alike.
Boom. Out.
(that’s a 100 reference. If you haven’t watched the show, do. It’s great.)
Ps, this is me.
Girl, meet road. 