Believe me you don't want me to blabber on and on and on and on about my trip and how awesome it was and all the totally cool crazy stuff I did and saw and the times I thought I might die....well here is the link to my Aussie blog, my adventures in Fiji and my family trip to the Dominican Republic... of course it's also filled with some of my favorite pictures :)
Feel free to leave comments and ask as many questions as you want :) I will refer back to this trip on some To Do's and some absolutely not to do's while traveling :)
Enjoy!
http://nicoledownunder-aussiebound10.blogspot.com/
I would love to hear your comments! I want to eventually make this into a book, what do you guys think!?
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Travel Quotes
Here is some inspirational quotes I have come across on on my ENDLESS hours on printrest....
(check me out if you would like http://www.pinterest.com/nikkigee89/)
(check me out if you would like http://www.pinterest.com/nikkigee89/)
Monday, March 3, 2014
When someone tells you not to...
It was hard enough thinking about everything I was going to miss for a whole semester, my friends my work with the seals, and of course my family!
But everyone who knew me knew this was something I HAD to do and supported me and told me to go and that the time would go by fast and that they would all still be here when I got back, all except one person, the guy I was seeing, we had been going through a little bit of a tough time, I was so ready to leave and so set on planning my time and where I would go that I never even asked how he felt, thinking hey if he liked me enough and cared about how I felt he would be supportive, I was wrong, one night probably a week or two before I was supposed to leave he asked me to choose him or Australia without thinking, without needing to think, I said Australia, I mean was there even a question there!?
I couldn't believe he was asking me to choose, knowing how bad I wanted to go!
Here is my advice if any of you are planning a big life change and someone you care about family, friend, or significant other doesn't support you, you have to ask yourself are they jealous that you are leaving and leaving them behind? Are they scared you might change? Or are they being selfish in wanting you stay with them and do the 'normal' or 'right thing'. I have some advice on this:
1. Show your itinerary, how well you have planned and saved, this helps people see you are serious and it is happening (sometimes whether they like it or not...)
2. Reassurance is key, for anyone who worries, like moms :)
3. Know your own limitations, cost, length, distance. Especially distance and location if you are someone who gets home sick or is worried about meeting a language barrier (personally I am the worlds worst at learning new languages, I took Latin in high school)
4. Don't let anyone tell you you can't! Because you can! :)
5. Stand up for yourself, it's your dream after all! There will always be a reason not to go, make sure you don't succumb to those, you will regret it.
There is my little rant about making sure you follow your heart, you are the only one at the end of the day that can make the decision to take the leap, do it for yourself and everyone else will fall into place, if not it's not meant to be after all :) Moral of the story I went and me and the guy parted ways, best decision of my life and I wouldn't have done anything differently.
But everyone who knew me knew this was something I HAD to do and supported me and told me to go and that the time would go by fast and that they would all still be here when I got back, all except one person, the guy I was seeing, we had been going through a little bit of a tough time, I was so ready to leave and so set on planning my time and where I would go that I never even asked how he felt, thinking hey if he liked me enough and cared about how I felt he would be supportive, I was wrong, one night probably a week or two before I was supposed to leave he asked me to choose him or Australia without thinking, without needing to think, I said Australia, I mean was there even a question there!?
I couldn't believe he was asking me to choose, knowing how bad I wanted to go!
Here is my advice if any of you are planning a big life change and someone you care about family, friend, or significant other doesn't support you, you have to ask yourself are they jealous that you are leaving and leaving them behind? Are they scared you might change? Or are they being selfish in wanting you stay with them and do the 'normal' or 'right thing'. I have some advice on this:
1. Show your itinerary, how well you have planned and saved, this helps people see you are serious and it is happening (sometimes whether they like it or not...)
2. Reassurance is key, for anyone who worries, like moms :)
3. Know your own limitations, cost, length, distance. Especially distance and location if you are someone who gets home sick or is worried about meeting a language barrier (personally I am the worlds worst at learning new languages, I took Latin in high school)
4. Don't let anyone tell you you can't! Because you can! :)
5. Stand up for yourself, it's your dream after all! There will always be a reason not to go, make sure you don't succumb to those, you will regret it.
There is my little rant about making sure you follow your heart, you are the only one at the end of the day that can make the decision to take the leap, do it for yourself and everyone else will fall into place, if not it's not meant to be after all :) Moral of the story I went and me and the guy parted ways, best decision of my life and I wouldn't have done anything differently.
Taking a look back
I know a lot of blogs that are advice in the moment and that is awesome, but it does not leave you time to really look back and reflect on what you did the people you met and what you learned from it all. I recently read a pretty awesome book about a 20 year old traveler called "A Year Without Make Up", she helped me get the courage to start a blog made me realize that hey I have done some pretty cool, not so smart stuff maybe people could learn from....soooo here I am in bed reflecting before watching walking dead.
I guess I will start at turning 20, whooo finally not a teenager anymore! It is junior year in college and I am living with all my best girlfriends on the same floor! What could possibly be better all your friends in one place. Finally taking the classes I wanted and working with the seals (yea when I said nerd I wasn't joking I was knee deep in sea life whenever I could...) going out on the weekends and planning for my trip to Australia for the second semester!
Yes AUSTRALIA!! it has only been my dream since I was a five year old! I was planning what school to go to what classes my university would accept and where else I would go while I was there. I was going all by myself and was so excited! Everyone kept asking me why are you going alone won't you be nervous or scared that you won't know anyone and will be so far away? Well truth was I was a little nervous BUT it was my life long dream and something to cross off the bucket list! So I am planning away busy busy busy talking to one of my best friends Michelle who just got back from a summer trip over there about where to go and what to see. As I am blabbering about it at the Marine Animal Rehabilitation center I volunteer I find out that two of the girls I work with are also going and are going to the same school planning to study the same thing, AWESOME, now it's me and the Stephs traveling to Australia and come up with the idea to add a week in Fiji at the end! AWESOME, even though I wanted to be the brave person and meet all new people and rely solely on myself to make it halfway around the world somewhere I knew no one I was relieved and excited that I would get to spend it with some girls from my college that I only knew through working with the seals. So we started to plan all of our adventures together.
Reflecting on this time I was probably overly obnoxious talking about the trip to all my friends, but I mean how could you NOT be crazy excited researching every second of your spare time the places to go and see. Also I probably should of thought about the cost more....budgeted a little bit more...saved a little bit more....because now student loans are a BITCH and I ran out of money once I got to Fiji...thank god for amazing parents who believe in your dream, but more on that later lets get to the leaving part the realization I will be gone for 6 whole months...
I guess I will start at turning 20, whooo finally not a teenager anymore! It is junior year in college and I am living with all my best girlfriends on the same floor! What could possibly be better all your friends in one place. Finally taking the classes I wanted and working with the seals (yea when I said nerd I wasn't joking I was knee deep in sea life whenever I could...) going out on the weekends and planning for my trip to Australia for the second semester!
Yes AUSTRALIA!! it has only been my dream since I was a five year old! I was planning what school to go to what classes my university would accept and where else I would go while I was there. I was going all by myself and was so excited! Everyone kept asking me why are you going alone won't you be nervous or scared that you won't know anyone and will be so far away? Well truth was I was a little nervous BUT it was my life long dream and something to cross off the bucket list! So I am planning away busy busy busy talking to one of my best friends Michelle who just got back from a summer trip over there about where to go and what to see. As I am blabbering about it at the Marine Animal Rehabilitation center I volunteer I find out that two of the girls I work with are also going and are going to the same school planning to study the same thing, AWESOME, now it's me and the Stephs traveling to Australia and come up with the idea to add a week in Fiji at the end! AWESOME, even though I wanted to be the brave person and meet all new people and rely solely on myself to make it halfway around the world somewhere I knew no one I was relieved and excited that I would get to spend it with some girls from my college that I only knew through working with the seals. So we started to plan all of our adventures together.
Reflecting on this time I was probably overly obnoxious talking about the trip to all my friends, but I mean how could you NOT be crazy excited researching every second of your spare time the places to go and see. Also I probably should of thought about the cost more....budgeted a little bit more...saved a little bit more....because now student loans are a BITCH and I ran out of money once I got to Fiji...thank god for amazing parents who believe in your dream, but more on that later lets get to the leaving part the realization I will be gone for 6 whole months...
BEST place in Portland Maine to get fresh lobster! (totally forget what the place is called, but its like a shack on a dock and you get a cool lobster buzzer to tell you when your lobstah' is ready, p.s. its next to the boat restaurant, having a total mind fart on the names)
Proof I really did seal rehab ;) me and a little seal pup summer before Junior year in college
Sunday, March 2, 2014
The idea of Me
Here's a little blurb about me and what I hope to accomplish here... I wrote a blog while I was in Australia for a semester abroad to help me remember everything I did and everywhere I went to share it with my family and friends, 3 years ago now I was thinking I have done quite a bit since then and have learned a lot about myself. Now almost 25 I have been thinking back at my young 20 year old self and thinking oh what I wish I could tell you now! BUT then again if I knew what I knew now I wouldn't have stayed in Maine for another year after graduating working at an animal hospital living in my first apartment I found all by myself with a roommate, making a move across the country all by myself and getting my first apartment all by myself, making new friends, trying to get a job to stay, meeting a boy on a plane and trying to keep making it all work on the West Coast. So here we go! Advice and travel tips from a free spirited, nerdy, travel obsessed girl in her twenties.
Vegas for an awesome 23rd birthday trip!
Bahamas on a cruise senior year in college
Australia, Bondi Beach Junior year in college
Graduating from college in 2011
Leaving Maine the summer of 2012
Internship at the Aquarium of the Pacific
Some spontaneous shark research in Mississippi
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