Ultimate Challenge. 457 days / £16600!!!

Indebted2U

Love the plan Kat. I lived and worked abroad for 9 years, travelled a bit as well in that time and can honestly say it was the best time of my life. Although I have the security of a grown up job, mortgage and pension scheme etc now :eek: I still really miss that life. I have however decided that unfortunately I can probably never go back as the brilliant time and place I was in was due to my age at the time. I'd recommed anyone going for it though! I only left for a planned 6 months holiday initially LOL. I do however plan to go for the second adventure, when I retire in many years time and move back abroad. :j I am totally convinced that someone with your drive and determination will make your dream happen sooner rather than later.:j

Siouxsie32

I agree - DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT!!!!!! Anyone wanting to travel will always get my blessing! For me it started with an "I wonder ...." idea then, after a call to a letting agent, a mass viewing of potential tenants, a booking of a plane ticket, handing in my notice and showing up at my parents house with a car packed to the gunnels with everything I owned, asking if I could dump my stuff for a bit while I travelled. Crucially, I had no debts and no commitments at the time so I would say your timing is perfect Kat! Ooh, where are you going to go?

his_missus

I could always take Mog in for you What do you mean "But Hubby said no more"? He said no more at 3 and now I have 5 mwah ha ha!

I've never really had an urge to travel afar. I'd love to own a camper van and tour the UK but far flung exotic places with a backpack on my back don't appeal to me.

Harley this morning ventured up onto the kitchen tops, didn't seem to notice the sink half full of water and tried walking on the water. He got rather wet

£5 spent on crafting stuff at lunchtime to make Hubby a card. I will be able to make other cards from what I've bought, he's not getting a card worth a fiver!:p

Waiting patiently for the July challenge, Kat. I'm hoping for a much less spendy month and a much greater saving month.

Taylor132

Hey Kat

I've been a long time lurker and just wanted to say the travelling idea should be grabbed with both hands.

I recently split with my partner after several years of fantastic travels and am slowly coming round to the idea of solo travel.

Would love to hear about other peoples stories as I am currently lacking the courage... luckily my work are sending me to america for 2 weeks so I just have to get on with it. :T

NinjaSavingKat

HM - you nearly had me in stitches. I am waiting for the day Mog tumbles into the bath! I can't push her cause that's not very nice but I welcome a splosh for the laugh..Lol!

I completely agree with the camper van idea. I would love an old school VW van. We have had them since we were young and I was embarrassed as a child being in one but now I want a proper split screen one - shame they are SO expensive!

You can have 5 Moggies if you are married / in a relationship - me as a single girl having more than one AND the massive puddy-tat climbing frame in my room is a sure fire way of staying single!!!:rotfl:

Siouxsie where did you go? How old does that make you then eh..?

Taylor (let me know if your colour is wrong and WELCOME..:o)a short trip is a great way to get back into it - and like you said you have no choice which helps...:rotfl:...where have you been too! I need inspiration! I did the Tran-Siberian for the exact reason as to see if I could do it. Now at least I know how to plan better..

NinjaSavingKat

liltdiddylilt

Lmao your cat is Santa!!!

Siouxsie32

liltdiddylilt wrote: »

Lmao your cat is Santa!!!

Chameleon Santa :rotfl:

Siouxsie32

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

Siouxsie where did you go? How old does that make you then eh..?

I didn't visit South America, Sri Lanka or India, but I seem to have been a lot of other places! I mostly stayed in major cities though rather than off the beaten track like it sounds as though you want to do. I like the buzz of cities!

I had a super exciting day today - number crunching :j I got a loan from my Credit Union which will see me save a few thousand pounds in interest over the next 18 months....which in turn will make sure the debt is gone by the end of 2014 Under my old plan, I had a £7500 hangover at the end of 2014 and I was planing to just carry on with what I do now, make as much money as I can and spend as little money as I can, knowing that somehow I would do it. This loan means that if I overpay £1000 a month :eek:, my debt free day should be very very achievable (or, as I like to look at it, it will be a few months ahead of plan!!).

I was so inspired that I think I've given myself papercuts with all the writing/re-writing of plans!! I really must learn how to work Excel - a spreadsheet that shows my Debt Free Date moving closer sounds like another achievement I need to get on top of!! My current spreadsheets are nothing more than colour co-ordinated grids that look nice

LoveaDove

Hi NSK and y'all lovely peeps!

Saw you guys were talking about travelling...definitely a weak spot for me! I love listening about/talking about plans for travel and the associated adventures had! So had to drop by to hear plans!

I would love to visit South America- Inca Trail and the Amazon would also be a must (pink dolphins in the Amazon river!), I'd love to head back towards Thailand and visit Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia- as I run out of time for visiting these places when I was in Thailand. My dream though is to go to Alaska and see the Northern Lights. Not even sure where that started as I've wanted to see them (specifically from there) since I was a child!

How long are you looking to travel for? Have you any idea of a budget? I found loads of really useful advice and lots of fellow travellers to talk to on gapyear(dot)com!

I went travelling 4 years ago now (it has flown by- no pun intended). I went away for 10 months- spent most of it in Australia- where I worked as a Jillaroo (Cowgirl- literally a cowgirl), travelled a good portion of Oz (still much to see), flew from there to Singapore, train all the way up to Kuala Lumpur (love that place), flew to Brunei (stayed with my friend who is from there), flew to Kota Kinabalu (Borneo) unfortunately I was ill so was unable to climb Mt Kinabalu, long bus journey to Sandakan (Borneo), stayed in a lovely shack near the Orangutan Sanctuary in the middle of the rainforest for 2 weeks, flew back to KL (plane dropped through the air twice during a thunderstorm- will never forget that flight!), then up to Phuket, visited all of the 'popular' islands (except Koh Toa), lots of travel through the mainland by a number of nice and not so nice buses and tuks tuks,did the sleeper train from Bangkok to Chaing Mai- it was great- your chair unfolds and they put little curtains up and give you bedding, there's also a bunk above as well! In Chaing Mai I befriended a young Thai monk, wasn't allowed anymore than 3-4foot near him (being a female an all), his English was fantastic and we talked for about 5-6 hours. He was fascinating!

Oh crumbs, I shouldn't have got started on this topic...many apologies about my drivel...

Kat, if you can pay the amount of debt you have managed to clear since you started this DF journey since last year- you can raise £10,000 easily!!