Pensar Travel

On my arrival to Mexico it was night time myself and another female volunteer where dropped off at our respective host families. Everything looks worse at night - there were few street lamps, a corner house with a big blue door and no-one at home to collect me - some would say 'a nightmare' others would say 'this is Mexican time'.

My host family had not realised that they would be needed to 'meet & greet' me so they had planned an evening out. A few phonecalls and taxi ride later my host; a lady arrived at the house. My first impressions were not good.
I needed a good night's sleep so that everything would look fresh in the morning.

My host; Mariana was very pretty, petite and polite. She had bags of energy and was looking forward to me meeting her daughter who lived with her father but would be staying the weekend. Mariana's boyfriend would also stay at the house. A lovely couple, friendly and willing to do anything for you - so far, so good.

Without consulting my diary I can tell you, I waited well over an hour for my representative to take me to the volunteer head office in central Guadalajara for an initial meeting. This is Mexican time. Something I became very accostomed too. Eventually, Daniel my rep, who pointed out he had collected me the night before and had slept in (bless him!) took me to Projects Abroad head office to meet the team. Thanks to my brilliant rep I had missed the other female volunteer and so met the team alone.
Normally this would not have bothered me, however it was going to be the weekend, Mariana had already told me she had plans, the office would close and so I would, you guessed it, be totally alone for the first time ever, in a foreign country, not speaking the language for one whole weekend!!!!

The meeting was brief as they had already introduced themselves to the other three volunteers (to my shock, I did not even realise there would be other volunteers!) I was to start my Spanish classes on the Monday evening at 7pm. Each night at 7pm I would have a Spanish class.
I had a brief tour of the square and was told there would be a tour of the city come Monday morning. All I had to do now was get home ....

I could hardly call my trip a 'gap year' as I was only going to be away for nine months but an adventure it certainly would be!

September 1st 2004 - Newcastle Airport - The Beginning

I could hear the crying of my one year old brother as I walked through customs leaving my family waving behind. For some strange reason I was not sad, nor was I nervous - all I felt was a mix of excitement and curiosity for what my trip would bring.

In hind-sight I know that it was my youth and arrogance which made me fearless and less homesick than if I went now.

Sat in the departure lounge I looked around, the room was alive with people laughing and chatting. There was a buzz of anticipation as everyone waited to go on their trips - no matter where they seemed to be going - everyone smiled.

The first leg of my journey was to Heathrow Airport then onto Guadalajara, Mexico.

On arriving at Heathrow Airport, the time to wait before boarding was excrutiating, I was beginning to get impatient to get to my first destination. It did give me time to think, and I began writing in my journal. One tip that I would have for anyone visiting any destination, for any period of time is to not have any expectations. It is nicer to be surprised and form your own opinions of a place rather than using your preconceptions to decide what you do or do not like about a place.

12 hours flying time; 3 planes and 3 airports later I arrived at Guadalajara Airport ready with my luggage to meet the representative from Projects Abroad (the volunteering agency) to take me to my placement - this sounds strange but I do not remember what the atmosphere was like, only that it was night time and very humid.

With the representative and another volunteer in tow we set off into the second largest city in Mexico: 'Guadalajara' to meet our host families and begin what was the start of my Grand Gap Adventure.......

One reason for going travelling or volunteering abroad is to 'find yourself' and the best way to achieve this is to fully understand yourself before you go.
I was going through a rough time after losing my best friend to knife crime in 2003 and did not fully understand myself. All I knew was how angry, confused and upset I was. Going to volunteer abroad was possibly the best thing that could have happened to me at the time.

I knew that I wanted to be successful and use my determined nature to eventually start my own business. Hindsight is great and I can now say with hindsight that it is thanks to my time spent abroad that I am in business so early in life.

Before I left I was at college, I had lots of friends. During my time abroad I learnt who my friends were - the hard way. At the same time I made new friends and became closer to some friends who had not been so close before I went. It is important to be happy with who you are and realise that you may be shocked in who is still your friend when you return home - blogs are a great way of keeping intouch though!

1st September 2004 less than three months to get organised and get ready for what has turned into a six month trip!!!

List after list after list, altered so many times I lost count; what do I need? Clothes? Sun-tan lotion, a new suitcase, a back-pack, sleeping bag, tablets, toiletries, diary, gifts for the family I would stay with, photos of my friends & family to show them....so much to think of, so little time.
Whilst I know you can achieve anything in any time frame if you really want it - ideally for going travelling give yourself a bit longer than three months!!!

One of my absolute worst nightmares - injections! I feel okay talking about them, don't mind seeing them but f that needle has to go into me my body shuts down and next thing I know I am being revived by the nurse. So to be told that I needed not one jab but three before my trip of a lifetime was devasting to say the least!!! (Always check with your doctor what jabs / medication you need for the places you will be visiting).
Yellow Fever is a big one particularly for any jungle areas - such as in Mexico & Peru (but me passing out at both jab appointments is another story!)

With my leaving date coming up quickly all the days seemed to merge into one. We (my mam & I) would feel like we had everything under control and then bang...something woulf crop up...it became a routine, checking the list on a morning, doing all tasks possible for that day and checking them off at the end of the night...each day would be the same. Some things we had to consider were;

- Toiletries - are quite expensive in South America is a good stock of supplies was necessary
- Injections - vaccinations/medication relevant to the countries I would visit
- Sleeping bag & bed sheets - after all you are not sure what conditions you would be staying in
- A plug for the sink/baths - this sounds ridiculous but actually came in very handy!
- A torch - same as above, most of the places I went had no street lights so this was great for walking around in the evening
- Water purification tablets - keep yourself safe at all times, particularly where water is concerned (easier said than done!)
- Hand wash - for your clothes!
- Medication - paracetamol, diarreha tablets, travel sick tablets, anything you take for granted at home because they will most likely not have them abroad or they will cost you the earth
- Visas - some countries require you to have them prior to entry

These were just a few things we had to consider, the organisation I went with were great and provided lots of useful information and contacts - the internet is a fantastic tool!!!

Set a budget - this is very important so that you do not run out of money at any point during your trip! Find out what you would expect to spend per day in the places you will stay then add this up over the total amount of time you will be away for example; £10 per day. This helps you to feel in control and fully understand what your limits are - this is advisable if your parents/guardian or partner is helping you with money whilst you are away.

Discuss with your nearest and dearest about staying intouch - I bet your thinking ' well of course we'll stay intouch ' but this needs to be in a bit more detail. I met a girl, who is now a great friend, whilst I was in Australia, every day at 6pm (UK time) she would make her way to the phone and call her parents - lovely, yes??? Yes and No. The reason being, she went to Tazmania, on her arrival she realised that her phone had no signal and being in the middle of nowhere could not get to a pay phone - what did her parents think??? The worse, that's right.
My parents and I said that I would call once I was settled, once in the first week and then whenever we wanted to talk to each other, the day I flew home (or onto next country) and the same pattern everywhere I went. I kept in touch via text and email most of the time but the idea behind our system is 'No news is good news' - meaning if I was in trouble someone would call them (police etc.).

Now I understand everyone is different and nowadays you can keep intouch via blogs etc. so there may not be a need for phone calls but just make sure that you are all on the same wave length before you leave, because of for some reason you cannot get intouch one day - there will be distress caused on all sides.

Come August, I went and recieved my A-Level results, this was a nerve racking experience, helped by the thought that no matter what I would be jetting off to Mexico on 1st September - my results day came and went, only two weeks before my grand gap year began....Everything was in place or so we thought......

June 2004 and my A-Levels have just ended the dreaded thought of having to wait all summer for my results has just settled in and I cannot stop thinking about going to university in September.
Going to uni after all those years going through primary and secondary school to complete college only to move into further education? I really cannot imagine anything worse!

Lucky for me, my mother knew I that I needed something else to focus on, something interesting, something that would make me stand out from other applicants for the rest of my life....travelling? volunteering? Why not???? Opened minded as my parents are we constantly had various nations staying at our house for international festivals and other occasions and it was partly this which led to my going travelling.

There may be readers considering why am I writing such a story? I believe that my story can inspire people of any age to go travelling, to volunteer and to experience more of the world than just their own doorstep.

It was agreed in June 2004 that I shall go travelling, I was so excited I could bearly speak, think and I definatly could not sleep with the knowledge that I literally had the whole world to choose from! At just 18 years old there were issues which my mother however no nation was out of bounds...just think if you had the whole world to choose from, where would you go???

Got a clear picture? A little unsure? Too many ideas running round your head? You would think the idea would be simple, come naturally or jump off the page at you...well it doesn't, not when you actually have to make the decision. This was a problem I faced, a great problem to face but a problem nonetheless.
Speaking to friends and family names of familiar places kept cropping up; - go to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa or spend time in America - all great ideas but all common as well..... (I must point out absolutely nothing wrong with any of these nations and as you read on you wil realise that I sincerely mean this)

I felt research should be done and no-one better to take up the task than myself, whilst working full-time after college I conducted thorough research into where to go, who to go with, prices and benefits etc... Important to me was to be able to give something back to the country (or countries) I visited, whether this be financial or through physical contribution was what I needed to find out.

(Still with me??? Good I hope so!)

Eventually my mother and I found an excellent volunteering organisation, ordering a brochure and reading up on them as an organisation meant all we needed to do (or I needed to do) was choose where I wanted to go. Initially I was going away for three months to a single destination, on reading through the brochure we learnt that there could be a longer period away mixing several locations...are you wondering which locations?? I am someone who loves to be different and so this may give you a clue as to where I went????

Any guesses??? I can tell you it was such a hard decision, I have a passion for Africa, anything to do with Africa including history and culture how tempting it was to go down the usual route of helping sick children in one of the many African nations and how proud of myself I was for staying true to myself and choosing less popular options.

My first choice; Mexico - live with a local family, undertake a 60 hour intensive course in Spanish and enjoy the culture.
Second choice: Peru - live with a local family, volunteer in a local primary school and enjoy the local culture.
Thirdly; Go to Australia to work.

With my choices firmly in place and a leaving date of 1st September 2005 creeping up on us, I began to make preparations.

Read my next blog entry to find out how my planning got on......