Hello all,

I’m currently writing this on a hot, sunny afternoon in Bryon bay, East Australia. This is my first blog of many (I hope) including travel updates (mostly so my mum knows what I’m up to) travel tips and also a few general blogs from a 24-year-old, ex-student, struggling to pin down the right career for her but loving escaping adulthood with the pure joy of travel.

I first found the love of travelling when I went on a trip to China in 2016. This was for a photography project whilst in my third year at university and I thought what better way to push myself then to aim high, going to a completely different country to photograph. Lucky enough my dad has connections in China so I was able to stay with one of his friends whilst there. I also used to be scared of flying so boarding an A380 on my own heading to China was slightly daunting. But I always say you should do things in life that scare you…

And this trip certainly paid off allowing me to capture some beautiful images of the Chinese family I stayed with as well as learning all about their culture and trying new foods including cows stomach, pigs feet and rabbits head – yes the head!

After this trip, I felt a new lease of excitement, confidence and the need to explore new countries. Again whilst at university we had an email sent round about a camp in America needing a photographer for the summer. Well, I thought this was the perfect opportunity for my next adventure… heading to America to do photography! I applied for this particular job role but unfortunately didn’t get this one but I was then offered a job in a different summer camp in America.

From this, I flew to New York (on my own again) and travelled to Pennsylvania where I would spend over two months teaching tennis to children as well as being a counsellor. Well, this was certainly an amazing experience and it also allowed me to travel afterwards for 3 weeks with friends I had made at camp. Also being lucky enough to meet my best friend from uni (who also did camp America) in New York to travel together!

So after these two trips I really did have the travel bug… so where was I going to go next? After taking up a job at a hotel as a receptionist I later had the itchy feet (as they say) to travel some more. I was incredibly lucky that my work allowed me to travel and said I would be welcome to come back to work once I was back (forever grateful for their support!) Vietnam had always been an interest to me. My cousin had been on an amazing tour around Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, well I thought this would be perfect. An organised tour around some beautiful countries for a month, what more could I wish for. This time I was grateful to have another friend from uni come along on the same tour. So feeling more relaxed with someone to travel with we set off to South East Asia (And finally I had someone’s hand to hold when taking off and landing)!

Once returning after this tour three weeks later, my boyfriend (at the time) and I planned an interrailing trip around Europe for five weeks. Travelling by train to fifteen different cities in Europe really was the icing on top of the cake for the travel adventures of 2017.

So what did I do in 2018… went back to work and earned some more money.

Throughout 2018 I did smaller trips such as a girls holiday, our annual camping trip to Wales, a festival and also Dublin. Small trips to keep me going until I had saved enough for the next, bigger adventure! Since being with someone who was keen to travel we had talked about travelling a lot and after having a great time interrailing together we set about thinking about our next adventure.

A four-month trip. Starting in Melbourne, Australia. Travelling up the east coast all the way up to Cairns in a camper van. Afterwards heading to New Zealand for two weeks. Thirdly flying to Bangkok to spend around two months in Asia, planning to head back to Vietnam and Thailand. As well as island hopping through the Thailand islands, stopping over in Singapore for a few nights and then finishing in Bali.

So the plan was in place so the next thing to do was say goodbye to my wonderful workplace again and catch the 20hr+ flight to Melbourne.

And here I am!

Probably the biggest adventure but just as exciting as the others.

For updates on this current adventure visit my travel Instagram: amycerys_travel where I’ll be posting our journey whenever I can grab some free WiFi!

So that’s the journey so far and the first blog.

I will try and post a blog once a week dependent on WiFi. With a mixture of travel and lifestyle blogs directly from this 24yr old explorer (soon to be 25 but trying not to think about that)!

Amy x