The Travelling Fund; £10,000 in 10 months!!!

NinjaSavingKat

I have booked an appointment with the Australian Embassy for next Thursday. As soon as that is paid and done I will be looking to book a flight to Bangkok. Very Excited!!!

DireEmblem

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

I have booked an appointment with the Australian Embassy for next Thursday. As soon as that is paid and done I will be looking to book a flight to Bangkok. Very Excited!!!

Booking your flights prior to meeting your target I guess could be a really great motivator to reach it - well done!

NinjaSavingKat

So here I am wanting to have a bit of a whinge! Although I had a splendid weekend with only money spent on a near empty petrol tank I had a lovely party with live bands in someones living room which has filled me with ooooomph for wanting to play the guiatar that's sat in my garage crying...

However that is not my whinge.

The bike is leaking oil. All over my back tyre. This means it's too dangerous to ride despite me being out on it last night and Saturday. If it's the gasket that's cracked apparently my overly-dramatic-doomsday-delivering landlord seems to think it will cost me £200 for a replacment! Without the pick-up costs of £50. Or the labour costs.

So I am a little annoyed.

I have just cancelled my credit card as well and order a new one as mine has gone missing in the space of 48 hours.

I have to pay for my Aussie passport on Thursday which was going to go on my CC which now will take 5-7 working days to deliver to my home in NI and then come to me in London for next week.

So the passport has to be paid in cash. I have precisely £120 in my current account until the end of the month so it looks like I will have to dip into my £2000 "holiday fund" which ultimately that's what it's there for and I have the money but I hate breaking the rules.

The rule is - £1000 and leave it alone.

So I am back to the drawing board. I need to find a cheaper way of fixing the bike, paying for the passport (which should be ok) and getting to the end of the month without dying of lack of sleep and weariness.

That means I can't use £25 for the push bike to train station option.
And it rules out getting a refund on my travel card and using the bike to come to work for another week at least.

I also have a night shift at the weekend that I need the bike for.


Grrrr!!! :mad::mad::mad::mad:

apple_muncher

You always tell us to get figures, to know the debt/bill exactly. So, fingers crossed the bike won't cost that much. And I do thimk it's worth breaking into the £1k for the £25 for the push bike as that is for your safety and sanity. All this is only because of the situation with your credit card, which will be resolved once you get the new one.

Hppe you sleep well and daytime brings some answers.

NinjaSavingKat

Morning all - thank you Apple Muncher you are right. I took off from work yesterday not long after speaking to my mechanic. It took 2 hours to get to my mechanic after getting home and washing the back wheel to prevent slipping.

It cost me £80 as the oil filter had rusted and cracked - the wind from riding was pushing the oil back and into the rest of the bike. There was a chance it would have been a LOT more expensive so although it has cut into my savings I can't complain too much. It was bad enough I could have had a serious accident. Again.

My landlord was still there to annoy me when I got in. I really wish I could afford to live on my own right now - ha!

So I am back in work today - up at 0400 so flagging a little - the bike option might be put on hold if motorbiking is the easier option. But I just need to find some down time to really think this through - I seem to be walking to work, walking back from work, prepping food to save money and then showering, cleaning in case the LL comes back and then sleeping - no time for movies, catch up with friends etc and at least if I used the motorbike it means a very easy journey in to work and I can go straight to my friends or the cinema withough having to come home first or consider 2 buses late at night to come back from the closest town....

I also need to get the payment for the passport out of the way as well on Thursday - VERY excited about this!!!

Off to the London Acquarium today - one of the girls from Archery is a marine biologist and has got 4 of us access to feeding the turtles followed by a snorkel with the sharks.... then "maybe" dinner with everyone afterwards if we aren't wrecked by then....

So all in all panic over - I just need to book up the OT now and recoup my losses!!!

NinjaSavingKat

So with all the stress of the move, having to find a new landlord, the walking, the bike break downs and the sheer exhaustion I feel right now I fear I have neglected my own personal thread and the intention for which is was started ; logging my travel plans.

Update; £1900 in the current travel account. It could be worse, but it could be better.

So my main aim within my journeying is literally to step away from the norm and walk Beside The Beaten Track. This will be my blog name and was created way back in the middle of 2013 with my closest friend who is an avid traveller, Mum to a beautiful 2 year old boy, preggars with number 2 due in July and my number one travel-pusher and all round lovely woman. We sat late one Friday night and wanted a name that will step away from the norm of travel writing and focus on the people in the country, how they live, feel about travellors etc..

I will have to slow myself down a bit. I need to remind myself on a regular basis that I am not in a race. I need to branch out from what I can see infront of me and take a few "little" risks to experiance more of what our beautiful planet has to offer.

I go through days of complete fear wondering whether it will be like my other travelling holidays - fear of spending too much restricts what I do, I get bored, tired etc or both and don't enjoy whats on offer. Like when I went to Venice for my birthday last year I perhaps didn't research enough to know what was available in the area to simply travel to but there is always the fear of researching too much. And possibly thinking too much.

So my Vietnam - Japan leg. It's been my intention for many years to go to Japan during the cherry blossom season and shake some cherry trees. 2015 will be that year. But I want to absorb as much of each country as possible hence my aim to do this overland and not fly which I see as cheating.

The route... (all prices are approx and yet to be verififed properly)

1. Ho Chi Mihn (Vietnam) to Hanoi = £50
2. Hanoi to Nanning(China) = £25
3. Nanning to Guangzhou = £30
4. Guangzhou to Shanghai = £55
5. Shanghai to Nagasaki = £100 (Ferry)
6. Nagasaki to Kitakyushu = £17 (This seems very cheap)
7. Kitakyushu to Hiroshama = £40
8. Hiroshama to Osaka(Gion to see Geisha) or Kyoto. = £56 (Osaka) / £66 (Kyoto).
9. Flight to Australia.
10. Total = £383 (including Kyoto as destination and excluding flight to Australia and Chinese/Japanese visa if needed)

This journey is planned with the intention of visiting this which is in Kitakyushu - which is the most epic hanging gardens ever. I will have to make my way overland anyway so why not include something truly spectacular.

Flight to Australia looks like it might be anywhere between £300-£500. I think I would look to book this as soon as I know when I am leaving China at Shanghai. The whole trip would be about a week I think with the longest journey being on the ferry.

I would spend a few days in Japan as it is very very expensive but still aim to land in Oz with some pennies to my name.

We shall see...

apple_muncher

Glad you've got some answers now, Kat. It's not like you (or the 'you' I've got to know via your threads) to panic and stress. You usually seem to launch yourself into unearthing a solution or two.

Phew to Hercules 'only' splitting an oil filter and not a head gasket. And therefore easing your journey to work and enabling you stillto have a bit of a life outside of work.

Your travel plans are, as always, thrilling! The wisteria gardens are an Impressionists dream come true in real life. Simply stunning. And I'll bet the photos are nothing compared with actually being there.

Do make sure you get enough sleep please. Sleep deprivation is a form of torture and you could do without inflicting that on yourself!

Hope the aquarium was fun - that archery group is like a treasure trove of lovely people .

NinjaSavingKat

Apple Muncher I always have a little unsettled-ness after every move. It's the unfamiliarity of the situation and I think this time it was perpetuated more by the one landlord pulling out so close to the move date. And basically leaving me with no choice but to take this place I am in now. Not so much of a panic but definately a stressy time. And I hate taking time off work like I did yesterday.

And like you rightly said lack of sleep on top is adding to the weariness but I feel it's starting to mellow out now and I have a better grip on where I am.

The main flap was the bike. That was just so annoying!

However I have discovered another possible need for a detour...;-)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2561888/When-rabbits-attack-Woman-flees-bunny-stampede-Japans-Rabbit-Island.html

NinjaSavingKat

GOOD MORNING! My goodness I am tired today! I wasn't eaten by the sharks though. It was a splendid day yesterday. I love London's Southbank (minus the tourists) and walking along the waterfront with my new friends was pretty special.

Australian Embassy visit tomorrow nearly slipped my mind. Need to photocopy the identification documents they need. I forgot them all this morning. And my cash card. Fun times yesterday though...

So we fed the massive turtles (pictures filtering through from everyones phones and will be on FB soon) slices of cucumber, celery and broccoli would you believe! They apparently know when the door opens and come splashing to the top to investigate. They were super cool and a bit snappy so we only rubbed their shells and not their weird little heads.... the funny thing was the little sting-ray's darting around like they were playing catch with each other... "Oooh, let's name the zones, the zones, the zones. Let's name the zones of the open sea: mesopolagic, bathyal, abyssalpelagic"....You have all seen Finding Nemo right.

Bruce was next. We were led to the shark tank and kicked in. ..... kidding... We were given rather flattering wetsuits - never thought that would happen. Then it was explained to us how many and what type of sharks were in the tank, not to put our hands through the nets to stroke them (??) and to be aware the big ones push their noses into the netting of the "tank" but they were all very well fed. Phew!

Amazing. Two sleepy sharks under the tank got a stroke ( we were feeling very brave ), Bruce The Shark swam very close but would you believe the tank we were in was built to move a little and I got quite motion sick. Eugh! It was truly an experiance and a half.

Budgetted dinner afterwards (thank goodness) came to £24 each as we paid for the girl who got us the days experiance for free (RRP £200) and we all sat a talked for ages.

Amazing day! But I am pooped now. Back up at 0400 is slowly killing me. I was going to go to the cinema tonight but I think I might go home for a sleep first - then either Lego ( don't ask ) or Robocop.

Incidentally the lovely girly that got us into the Acquarium is leaving next week to go work at Legoland in Windsor and you've guessed it.... we've all invited ourselves along once she is settled! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

liltdiddylilt

A marine biologist who works at legoland. Brilliant! My best friends little sister is an astro-physicist who works part time at a strip/poker club. People are wonderful crazy things!

As always, travel plans are intimidating and awe-inspiring Kat. I wish I (and 99.9% of the male population) had your cahones, seriously. Please take my eyes with you wherever you go. I wish to see all of this!

Just a fly-by, as I am trying to catch up all over the place tonight. Hope you're settling into the new place & glad Hercules isn't too poorly! Tell you what though, that bike eats money doesn't it...

Lots of love from me and Jellytot. xx