Merry Christmas All!

I can’t believe that the year is nearly over, and thus, my travel adventures must also come to an end: I return to Melbourne on 8-January.

I’ve had an amazing year; seen some incredible places, done some really fun things, and eaten lots of really good food! 

Back in March, I was slightly nervous about heading out on my own; imaging that it could be a very lonely experience.  Instead, over the past 10 months I have been overwhelmed by the friendliness and kindness of the wonderful people I have met (whom I hope will remain life-long friends).  Your generosity has been amazing, and I can’t begin to thank you for making my travels such a fantastic experience.

My travel blog still requires a bit of ‘catch-up’ (I am working on it…!), but to re-cap I have managed a very ‘interesting’ (some may suggest illogical) path around:

Australia (Melbourne) – Hong Kong – Nepal – Hong Kong – Turkey – Greece – Italy – Ireland – London (UK) – Portugal – Seville (Spain) – Morocco – London – Scotland (including Shetland & Orkney) – Lakes District (UK) – London – Thailand – Myanmar – Thailand – Laos – Cambodia – Vietnam –

I now have just two weeks left, and will try to visit my sister Lia in Indonesia (she came to live with our family on an AFS exchange program… and it’s been more than 15 years since we’ve seen each other – a lot to catch up on!)

For the past couple of weeks, I have been travelling around Vietnam with Mum and Dad.  We are now in Saigon, where they appear to have embraced Christmas as a warm-up to their big party at Tet (New Year)…

Christmas Eve was absolutely INSANE:  Mum, Dad and I walked up to the Notre Dame cathedral - the streets were at a stand-still... people and motorbikes everywhere!  There were people out on the streets and filling all the bars until well into the early hours (by which time we were back in our hotel room, being 'serenaded' by Christmas carols from the street below).

This morning, mum got creative; and brought up a Christmas tree image on our in-room computer, we arranged our single gift (from the hotel), and I played ‘Snoopy’s Christmas’ via YouTube - Dad thought this might just be the silliest Christmas ever!!!

(Actually, I was very spoilt, and although we weren’t supposed to be doing Christmas gifts, Mum and Dad have given me a beautiful cook book ‘Taste of Vietnam’ – I can’t wait to get back home to try recreating some of the things I’ve tasted).

I truly know that I am ‘travelling’, as I started the day doing my washing in the hotel bath, rather than going for my usual Christmas Day run (which was vetoed on the basis that running around the streets here would be like playing dodgems with the motorbikes, not my idea of a fun time!)

Each time I have moved on in my travels it has been really hard to say goodbye to the new friends I have had to leave behind.  And so, as I look forward to going home to see all my old friends, I also hope one-day to cross paths with the rest of you (if you are ever heading in the direction of Melbourne you know who to call!).

I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful Christmas wherever you are.

Much love,

Laura xxx