Introductions

Hello. My name is Sarah. I'm 18 years old and I have made the brave/stupid decision to defer entry to university and have a year out. I'm sticking two fingers up to the higher tuition fees and going for it anyway, because you can't put a price on experience etc. etc. At the moment I'm at the stage where I've been accepted to Bristol University to study Archeology and Anthropology, I have a very exciting job which is about to start, my friends are all about to disappear to different ends of the country and the rest of my planning and fun stuff is about to begin.

Little did I know, however, the planning and "fun stuff" is actually a little more complex than I at first realised. There's far more to think about than the basic, "where to go? who to go with? what to do there?" questions. My Gap Year Advice Book, promising to give me everything I'll need for my "adventure of a lifetime" reminded me of all the other things that I must keep in mind when planning my travels. Things like insurance, small print, risk assessments, vaccinations, health precautions, pickpockets, visas, passports, documents, padlocks, hostels, home-stays, currency, exchange rate, scarlet fever, dental floss - I am definitely going to stop listing for fear of having a panic attack.

However, although at present the thought of tackling all of those tasks seems a little daunting, the thought that things are being set into motion is pretty encouraging.. and extremely exciting. My new job abroad (that I will write more about later) starts in less than three weeks, and I have already starting saving like a kind of modern day Scrooge. My Dad has given me a "Make The Most Of Your Time On Earth" book, which, despite the kind of morbid title ("do the things on this list and fast, because your days are numbered") is jam packed with fantastic ideas. Even writing about it here and browsing travel photos on tumblr is filling me with the most inspiring kind of wanderlust and I really feel like things are getting started. Now that the ball has started rolling, I am so sure that 2011-2012 will be the most exciting year of my life!

Talk about adventures!