About Me

I have trouble with being concise, so here is a nutshell of the below for anyone who doesn't care for the details:
* My name is Danielle
* Lover of the written word
* Passionate about exploring the world around us
* Embarking upon my third extensive overseas journey in April 2012, and wanting to share my story with the world

Ever since I was old enough to know the alphabet and how it strung together into words, I've loved writing. I've been writing for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories involve writing: keeping a diary when I was six years old, writing a short story about a boy I had a crush on when I was nine, starting my first 'novel' when I was 11. I've always been verbose when it comes to the written word; exceeding the word limit in high school and university essays, writing epic long letters to my friends.

I grew up in a fairly middle class environment, in which neither of my parents were particularly supportive of any sort of 'creative' path in life. They encouraged me to put my love of language into the form of a law degree, which I pursued temporarily and didn't hate but never loved enough to continue. When I was in my first couple of years at university, I was inspired by an incredible woman who I worked with in a student organisation called AIESEC which facilitated a working exchange program for recent university graduates. My mentor was this spirited, bubbly woman who had deferred her degree for six months to go backpacking in South America. She would recall with pride and glee that she had done the entire trip wearing a skirt and a pair of thongs (read: flip flops) and that if she can manage being a solo female in South America in a skirt and thongs then anyone can go backpacking.

I fell into a human resource management degree, which I deferred for a year in 2008 to head abroad on my first overseas trip: I spent 5 months backpacking abroad, mostly in Europe, but hitting the United States on the way and Singapore on the way back. I spent a little bit of time with a mutual friend from work who, coincidentally, was abroad at the same time as me - but the majority of the time was spent travelling alone. I'd caught the bug, and no, not some foreign bacteria - I'd caught the travel bug. I'm a reasonably demure, vanilla, quiet person and I was afraid that backpacking would be all about young people out drinking and having sex and, sure, that's a part of it - but there's so much more to it.

I was able to make it around the world, staying in 34 cities in a five month period, lugging around my backpack, battling with locals who didn't speak a word of English, coping with mixed up hostel bookings and frantic alterations to the itinerary and I did the whole thing whilst writing fanfiction and carrying around 30 pairs of earrings - and I made it out alive, and wanting more.

I came back home and begrudgingly completed my degree. Despite the societal pressure to get a 'real job' and 'settle down'; I couldn't quash the urge to go abroad again. My next trip was a little shorter, spending two months travelling around the United States (and a tiny bit of Canada) in 2010. After returning home I succumbed to that pressure and commenced my first full time professional job. I learnt pretty quickly that it wasn't the life for me.

I woke up one day in January, 2012 and decided that it was time to take my life into my own hands: that it was up to me to find what I'm truly passionate about and to make something of it. And so, I opened a Travel Twitter, started researching flights and potential itineraries, and when I found some decent flights, booked the skeleton of my next trip abroad, scheduled to commence in April 2012. I love writing and I love the world and if I could just find a way to make my whole life about seeing different places and writing about them, then I'd be deliriously content. This blog is my first step toward making that dream come true.