Hey Everyone!

My name is Jess and I am, like you a naive and sometimes clueless traveller.
Being a student for the last 2 years has allowed me with the luxury of getting 3 whole months off during the summer in which I have taken full advantage and have decided to take the time to go to all the places that you hear about on TV and wonder if Rough Guide and Lonely Planet were really telling the truth.

The world is our playground and it is there so that we can enjoy it.
I learned this through a series of volunteer projects and assisting with English Foreign Language classes.
The best way to see a country is through the eyes of a person who lives there.
In today's society we have to be careful not to fall into the commercialisation that the western society has brought upon us and fall into the trap of getting the same thing everywhere that we go.
Every has it's own personal identity and what makes a country unique are the people that live there and it's history.

I have started this blog due to some many of the same conversations with friends coming up which usually go a little like this:

1:"Hey Jess, so what are you doing this summer?"
J:"I'm off to Nepal (2009)/ Romania (2010) to volunteer"
1:"Whoa! I wish I could go out to places like that"
J:"Why don't you?"
1:"I'm skint!"
2:"I'm too scared to do that sort of thing!"

Now, I am a student.  Which means that I am no millionaire. I am however, careful with my money and book things in advance and the more out of the way and obscure places you choose, the less money you will spend. For example, 7 1/2 weeks in Nepal is cheaper than 3 weeks interailing in Western Europe and that's staying in hostels and living off bread and cheese most of the time!


In the last 2 years I have learned three major things (excluding money and the clothes on your back) you cannot leave home without:

1.A soap bag which has all the medications under the sun in it(especially if you are going out to one of the tropical regions)
2. Baby wipes.
3. An open mind.*

When I say an open mind, I mean, don't be surprised if you are driving along and see cattle walking along the side of the road in the middle of the city and don't be traumatised if you are shown to a hole in the ground when you ask for the toilet.

Anyways, I better head here although most of my travels for this summer are over I will see if there is a way of putting up my posts which I wrote in my journal during my time in  different  places of the last 2 years.

Peace out!

Jessxo

(*Note: this list is only from my experience, others opinions may differ. Which is why I would like people to leave me comments and tell me the top 3 things that they would unable to travel without excluding their passport, money and the clothes that they are wearing at the time.)