Where I've been

The About Me column needs updating. Currently it lists all the places and dates of my travels from June 2011- December 2011. As it is now a year and a half later, it's about time I turn the About Me column into a post.

My Trip:

13.06.11 Melbourne
14.06.11 Manchester, UK
16.06.11 Belfast, UK
18.06.11 Buncranna, Rep. Ireland
23.06.11 Derry, UK
28.06.11 Manchester, UK
29.06.11 Coventry, UK
01.07.11 Edinburgh, UK
03.07.11 Manchester, UK
08.07.11 Llundudno, UK
10.07.11 Manchester, UK
16.07.11 London, UK
20.07.11 Dublin, Rep. Ireland
22.07.11 Kilarney, Rep. Ireland
23.07.11 Ennis, Rep. Ireland
24.07.11 Dublin, Rep. Ireland
25.07.11 Derry, UK
29.07.11 London, UK
01.08.11 Bruges, Bel
03.08.11 The Haag, Neth
04.08.11 Cologne, Deu
06.08.11 Bern, Swi
08.08.11 Clermont-Fernand, Fr
10.08.11 Toulouse, Fr
12.08.11 Nice, Fr
17.08.11 Strassbourg, Fr
18.08.11 Nabburg, Deu
23.08.11 Berlin, Deu
24.08.11 Lisbon, Por
29.08.11 Lagos, Por
02.09.11 Budapest, Hun
07.09.11 Innsbruck, Aus
11.09.11 Nuremberg, Deu
13.09.11 Berlin, Deu
15.09.11 GroβPankow, Deu - Workaway
29.09.11 Bröllin, Deu - Workaway
28.10.11 Dresden, Deu - Girls weekend with Nele
31.10.11 Bröllin, Deu
25.11.11 Warsaw, Pol
29.11.11 Bröllin, Deu
02.12.11 Berlin, Deu
03.12.11 Bröllin, Deu
13.12.11 Berlin, Deu
14.12.11 Bayreuth, Deu - with Christiane
17.12.11 Nuremburg, Deu - with Rita
19.12.11 Madrid, Sp
Exact dates unknown:
from the 22nd December 2011 - 7th January 2012, mum, James and I traveled around Spain and Portugal. From Madrid, Toledo, Seville, Cordoba, Gibraltar, Evora, Lisbon, Porto and back to Madrid.
James and I spent about 10 days in Madrid planning our trip from Madrid to Accra.
January 17- January 24 we traveled by bus from Madrid to Malaga, then by ferry to Tangier, then a 3 hour train to Casablanca. We got a cab from the train station to "for me for me" hotel.
From Casablanca we took a 30 HOUR bus ride to Dakhla, where we found out we couldn't get across the boarder without a visa (in previous years you could get a visa at the boarder to Mauritania). We spent 4 days in a hotel in Dakhla, with the receptionist smiling and saying "no, no, no" to any idea we had.
On the 24th of January James took a flight to Nice, France to work in a hostel. And I flew to Accra, Ghana.
From 26th January 2011 - 23rd May 2011 I lived in Ghana, in Ghana I went to Takoradi, Kumasi, Cape Coast, Busua, and so on.
23rd May- 28th May - Istanbul
28th - 30th May - Amsterdam,
30th- 2nd June - Nice, France (the last time I saw James -its been more than a year now, and where I met Adam)
2nd - 11th June - Derry +Belfast, Northern Ireland
11th - 18th June - Dalmunzie Hotel, Scotland
18th-21st June - Aberdeen, Inverness, Edinburgh, Glasgow with Adam
21st June- 20th July- Dalmunzie Hotel, Scotland
20th July- 23rd July - Glasgow with Adam
24th July- 27th July - London UK
27th July - 18th August - Nice, France with Adam
18th August - 26th August - travelling from Nice to Pribram, Czech
We traveled from Nice via, Ventimiligia (no where to stay) to San Remo, no where to stay either so we slept the first night in the train station, to Milan, to Venice, to Graz- tried to hire a car, unsuccessfully, so we continued on the train to Linz, then to Prague and on to Pribram.
26th August - 1st October Pribram, Czech
In this time I went to Berlin for 5 days, and to Munich to the Oktoberfest for 3 days.
2nd October China,
3rd October - 30th December 2012 Melbourne / Daylesford/ Grampians/ Great Ocean Rd
31st December- Current- New Zealand
Christchurch, Mt Cook, Queenstown, Dunedin, Milford Sound, Hikitika, Picton, Palmeston North, Rotorua, Auckland, Rotorua.

Saving for Peru and South East Asia now.

High Time

Sitting in the same place I sat more than 3 months ago, am I still in the same place I was then? I've only ever felt indifference about this room. For a while it was a necessity to sit in here, there was no other place to connect with the outside world. And even then the sulphur in the air ate away the internet cables so badly, communication was often lost. I used to sit here, searching for jobs, searching for somewhere to go. Sniff, here he comes. I hate that noise, but at least I know, when I hear it, he's not far away. He hasn't always been a sniffer. We'd look for jobs all over New Zealand, struggling to find something that would suit. We hate living where we work, and this was our third experience of it together, I think it made my 6^th in total. We hate walking across the road to work/ to sleep. It feels mundane, it is mundane. Living like that really gets you down. We got to a point where we had no motivation, didn't go anywhere, do anything, and the owners, the people who paid us, they decide to take whatever they want for rent. We were on $14 an hour, before tax and paying $360 a week together to live in an old run down hostel. After working a 100 hour week, we ended up with about $700. Seems like a lot, and even though we weren't doing anything we seemed to piss it all away. The room we had was nice, but cramped with unused beds. The kitchen was horrible, so much wasted food from past employees, one knife and hundreds of forks. The bathrooms aren't even worth mentioning, I'm glad I had thongs for the showers. Poor Adam in the male bathrooms. We worked here together for just on 2 months. We lived here for only two weeks. We found most of our wage went to the owners, what a perfect scheme for them. They charge 12 hours a week to live here. I just walked into the kitchen here, seems they only have spoons now. We were able to live in one of the nicest units in town, fully furnished, for cheaper than here. We lived in that apartment for 3 months.

I often think I'd like to go back to a certain day, and make the opposite decision, or think it through properly, make an informed decision, not an impulse one. Go back and start again from the other side. See where I'd be now, I always make the safe/ boring decision. Sitting here, 5 months ago, looking online at different courses I could do, not sure what to pick, there are so many options, and choosing the wrong one could mean a complete waste of money, for nothing. Last night I chose the course I was looking at 5 months ago. I enrolled. It's done. There are no what if's now. It's a lot of money, it will be useful. I've looked into business management, hospitality and tourism, human rights, immigration. I either know a fair amount on the topic, and the course would just help me get a job I'm already qualified for, or the course would make me into the opposite person I would like to be, or the course just scares the bee-jesus out of me, and it's high time to start something small. So I'm starting with something small, and I'm taking a leap of faith at the same time. I chose a writing course, there was about 25 to choose from; editing and proof reading, journalism, youth fiction, children's books, auto-biographies, biographies and family histories, travel writing, and a few more that didn't really catch my attention. 

The course I chose is 100 hours, whatever that means. I don't even know what the qualification I will get will be. A certificate maybe, but that doesn't matter, it's the experience, the knowledge I gain that will help. Sitting here, for the first time in 3 months, thinking about the same things I was thinking about 5 months ago, a little hindsight back then and I would be almost finished with the course now. However, starting the course now, I have completely different perspective. I chose the auto-biographies, biographies and family histories course. Mum has enough information on our family to write a million books, or maybe just one really good one. I like the idea of telling peoples stories. Especially the ones that would never have been told otherwise.

This course will help me with the bigger picture, the end game that scares the bee-jesus out of me. Australian Immigration, refugees and asylum seekers and detentions, and politics and all that is horrible about turning a blind eye in Australia at the moment, well for the last decade at least. On a number of occasions, I have read that if you meet someone, and hear their story, someone who has been through what we so casually label as a boat person, or queue jumper, your perspective changes. If I can write about some of these people, some of their incredible journeys, maybe I will change a few perspectives along the way.