2O2O🎉

2020 pewpewpew

I’m so stinkingly ill, I’m trying to use writing this blog to exert some brain power and sit up for more than 25 mins, since the last few days I’ve had none and have been living horizontally. Here we are, 7 days into the new year, T minus 8 days until our grand departure to Oz. 

I AM FREAKING OUTTTTTTT!!!

First and foremost, and the last I’ll mention being ill, but this is the main reason currently freaking out because I’m pretty much bed bound. I think I have the flu, and fully know I will live but I’m so drained and have a list of things I need to get done which thus far have not happened. I spoke to one of my travel pals today though who reminded me it’s ok to rest, I probably will recover better if I also mentally chill for a few days and also we are all QUEENs of running late and realistically, if it came to it, I could cram all the jobs into 1/1.5 days with a little help from mon amigos. 

Thankfully, and thanks to my babe of a friend and housemate, my suitcase is packed. It’s the neatest it’s ever been and shut without anyone sitting on it which sadly doesn’t happen when I pack – trying v hard to resist opening and cramming a few extra things in there. This trip I’m going for a different hand luggage style bag. The initial aim was if I carried the overspill from my usual tonne weight case, then maybe my friends would want to punch me less hahah. Previously I’ve had a backpack just for the basic stuff for the plane really but the idea was to get a bigger backpack to allow my case to be less full. 

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Cut to about a week later, here we are continuing on. Above is all I managed to write when I was ill and I had tasks to get caught up with. Thank the morning blue sky that flu is over. I don’t remember being that ill for a long time. Still have a cough but back up and on the move. 

Tasks and baggage update:

I have also since, smashed my tasks. Went to get my gammy tooth x-rayed at the dentist and she said it looks like it’s healed a little bit around the gum inside. For anyone who doesn’t know, about 8 months ago, in Thailand, I fell face first into a table and knocked my front tooth into my mouth and somehow managed to keep it in there. It’s now splinted up to my other teeth and looks like it might be healing slowly. Which would be ideal.

We are now just 2 days away from taking off, obv there is a storm on the way but what would a trip for us be without a little threat of not making it there. 

The luggage situation hasn’t worked out as planned. I’ve jammed my case full and now can barely carry the bloody backpack but it’s just going to have to do. I feel like I don’t have enough with me as it is. 

All that’s left for me to do is pick up my wheelchair from my mates shed and sell my car. In hindsight I probably should have tried to do a private sale but that would have been way too organised and just not me at all. Fingers crossed all goes smoothly tomorrow.

Itinerary so far:

So Tuesday morning, early doors, we set off for Edinburgh Airport and fly to Athens, heading to Piraeus for a night then going over to Mykonos. Greece hasn’t been a place at the top of my go-to list but mostly because I don’t really know much about what’s there. I am super excited to go to Mykonos and pretend I’m boujee and get some pics in my new bikini hahah. We are then heading back to stay in Athens for a few nights and prepare for departure to Oz. 

We have a 6 hour stop over in Singapore Airport so we can see the waterfall and we’ve heard about the spa and pool and cinema but anyone know if that’s available for transfers? 

Then when we get to Melbs we have an air bnb booked to give us some time to sus the area and then it will be full steam ahead. Flats, job hunts and all the monkey business along the way. We don’t have anything set up or planned yet. 

Fires:

Obv we are aware that a lot of the country is on fire. I’ve struggled mentally about going for a few reasons. Mostly that there isn’t really anything I can bring to improve the situation or help out the country. I’m definitely keen to get involved wherever I can when the opportunity arises. Probably not going to be putting out flames but I’ve been following XR – Extinction Rebellion closely and would join in with their work. There are other projects too which I can hopefully contribute to in some way. 

Vegan:

January marks my one year anniversary of being vegetarian. Last year my bestie came over to NZ and we went on a road trip. I don’t even think I knew if I would stick to it but I did and haven’t had any meat since. Shortly after, my main cook and travel bae made the switch to being vegan and since she cooked, so did I haha. I did vegan for a while, except chocolate – I wasn’t able to give up chocolate, but of late I have slipped back to vegetarian mode and been having cheese here and there and I had my Granny’s famous french toast but this time all my travel pals are top cooks and all fully vegan so I actually excited to be pulled back on track. 

Emotions:

Going away this time I feel a lot more emotional. I think because last time we originally planned to be away for 6 months, then we extended, saying goodbyes was a bit easier and I didn’t really know what to expect. I was also so worried about coming home and it’s actually been fine. I duno, it’s making me feel a certain type of way, and I’m an emotional Emily at the best of times. Bet the gals can’t wait for that. 

Meeting an influx of new people can be stressful for me too. A lot of people usually have questions about my disability, and even silly things like asking about my Mum and Dad then having to share about them. Obv I know I don’t have to tell anyone anything I don’t want to but sometimes it catches me off guard. 

Every time we move I always get super anxious too, until I settle in wherever we are. This is usually due to the accessibility of the place and how I’ll manage with the bed to bathroom set up, the shower, the stairs and even things like if there are carpets or all wood floors. No matter how many times we move, or places we stay, or how prepared I feel, it always boils it’s way out in some form. Anxiety is exhausting. 

Round Up, Coming Up & Thank You.

I know I did a little insta post to say thank you for all the support for the blog but I wanted to just drop a line in here to repeat that. It truly blows my mind that people are reading what I have to say and it’s a pretty nice feeling. I said in my first post that I never want this to become about chasing numbers, they are there and it just makes me more grateful. I do want to spread the word a little louder this year though so feel free to share with your friends and family. This year let’s promote positivity where possible, understanding and patience when times are hard and kindness to every human as we’d treat our own. 

This year for me I really just want to keep giving less of a societal f*** when it comes to labels and judgement. I want to be more body positive than ever and give out the best vibes I can, and take what comes in my stride. I don’t have any resolutions per say but I want to continue learning and sharing that journey with others, breaking the stigma of what disability should be and smashing my chronic illness in the chops for as long as I have the ability to do so. 

If you have ideas of anything you’d like me to do, say or try, then HMU. Send a message and let’s chat. Travelling last year inspired so many of my blog posts so hopefully I will get right back on that horse and have loads of ideas too. 

I hope this year has been kind to you thus far and we all can smash 2020. Stay tuned on my Instagram page for real time updates and hopefully I will have another post ready before too long.

Lots of love,

L x