Stop talking, start living

I started 2012 out with a bang - or perhaps with a shake. I spent the New Year in Christchurch, New Zealand; travelling with my parents. The overnight between January 1st and January 2nd was like being on a boat, except I was on dry land. In a 24 hour period, Christchurch experienced 42 earth tremors.

I made the New Years Resolution in early December that 2012 would be the year when I stopped talking about doing things, and actually started doing them. 2011 for me was the year of trying to be normal. I got a 9-5 job (a high pressure, stressful job that is actually more of a 9-9 job) and attempted some sort of 'regular' life. From this experience, I've discovered that regular is boring, and is something I have no desire to continue. I went to a travel expo in Sydney and went to a fifteen minute seminar from the creator of Get Lost travel magazine, and it was the first time that I'd actually taken the concept of travel writing seriously. I knew that travel writing existed, I knew that people did freelance writing in general - but it was never very tangible to me. It suddenly became tangible.

I spent the last few months of 2011 doing a whole lot of talk and not a lot of action. I wanted to go overseas again - I'd been backpacking in Europe in 2008 and travelling throughout the US in 2010 and I was ready for my next adventure. I wanted to explore a new potential career this time around. Lots of talk lots of talk lots of talk. Research. More talk.

The resolution I made was to stop talking, and start living.

I started my travel Twitter first; and then on January 15, 2012, I booked the basic flights for my next trip abroad; and then spent the next few days starting the basic skeleton of this blog.

So so begins a new era.