Traveling- it comes in all forms, vacations, backpacking, long weekends, road trips, business trips to name but few. Sometimes I get a realisation, an epiphany and I feel the need to write about it. It's my therapy, it's something that helps me get closer to realising who I am. Yes some of us probably have 'found ourselves' but personally I feel I am constantly learning something new about myself.

Since I caught the very contagious 'travel bug' all those years ago, I knew that travelling would instantly be a part of my life and even when I thought for s minute I would 'settle' down, whatever that means, it didn't last long. The more I am on the road the more I learn something new about travelling. Today I sat back and listened to my favourite road trip tunes, rested my head back and gazed out the rainy window as we got cruised through Washington State. It was in this moment this present moment that we sometimes forget to acknowledge like we should, I realised, I concluded, that my heart felt full, full to the brim like I couldn't possibly be happier. Even if something changes from that moment to the next moment, I can still safely acknowledge that I felt this way and that I have the capacity to feel this happy. 

It's the motion of travelling, it's the motion of 'living', of moving place to place and beginning a new adventure content with the fact that I am making new memories whether it's a long trip or a short trip. It's happening. The pure act of being in the present moment, looking out that window and feeling the familiar butterflies in my tummy at the thought of experience and adventure, and the pure beauty of nature. At this moment, my life is complete, my heart is as full as it can possibly be and I am at my true happiest self. This is why I love to travel so much, and it's not for everyone, but to discover this detail about my life's journey is fulfilling. My life is and always will be dedicated to 'living' and inspiring others to do the same. Travelling, near or far, in any shape or form is a means of personal growth, adventurous spirit, life experience and natural discovery. This is something I've learned today and I will be forever grateful to know that these feelings exist inside of me and that I am capable of feeling them any time I want. 

Today I am grateful. 

Hey guys, have had a lot of messages lately about the process of getting a work and travel visa for Canada so I thought I'd write this for you all who want to know.

Before 2013 the visa was different, it was a regular Working Holiday visa (which I had) and since then it has changed to the IEC Work and Travel visa (basically the same but a different name). The confusion for me was eligibility and by chance of enquiry I realised i was eligible because I had taken part before 2013 (on the old visa). Hallelujah if this was you, too then YOU MAY BE ELIGIBLE! Have a look on the website because it depends on your country.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/iec/

The process is pretty quick if you spend a day doing it and getting forms together such as copies of documents, police clearance forms and medical forms.

Step1- Open a Kompass Account and apply for a place on the program (each country has a different quota so check the dates it is open etc)

Step 2- once application is sent you should receive a letter of invitation (valid for a week or so, so hurry up because your visa will be refused if you send an invalid letter)

Step 3- Use this letter to apply for the visa on the CIC website along with the application, your documents, fees etc

Step 4- wait about 6-8 weeks for approval and you will receive a port of entry letter to invite you to work in canada!

Bare in mind this is an open work permit and you can work for anyone here. Jobs are easy to come by (at least in Vancouver), and budget house shares are possible! Get two year insurance with a company like USIT or Go4less (both Irish) before you go as you will only get a visa valid for the length of your insurance and will have to extend your visa (like me grr). For other countries check for 2 year long stay travel insurance.

Good luck and if you have any questions please comment below!

Ever asked yourself what is the best thing about travelling and where would you be now if you hadn't taken that first trip? Yes we all know the cliche that travelling changes you, makes you wiser and you're constantly 'finding yourself'. Well I don't know about you but cliches are cliches for a reason- they're more often than not, true!

The thought crossed my mind today as I was chatting to a client at work who was Interested in my travels. It suddenly came to me like an epiphany, that my whole journey was indeed a beautiful spiral of events that led me to where I am now. I even had the thought that should I randomly decide to up and leave to some far away land, I would more than likely know someone there who I could stay with, hang out with or just get advice from. Heck, even if I didn't, I sure as hell would know a friend who had a friend there. I bring to you- the joys of travelling. We are indeed a social network in this way.

You see, my travels turned into travels back and forth across the world spiralled by chance meetings with future forever friends. You know that feeling when you meet someone and you instantly click, like you've known each other for eternity? Well that's what it was like for me and I'm sure a lot of us. We meet like minded people, people we were destined to learn from and be inspired by, and the joys of one day getting to meet them in their own country is a true gift! This happened to me on my first solo trip 8 years ago and to think that I am still living abroad, is absurd. This was purely down to the amazing network of nomads I met along the way and who inspired me to carry on to more and more places. I constantly try and combine friends I know from separate times, should they end up being in the same place at the same time or if they have the same interests.

This is a social network, this is more than Facebook or Twitter, this is REAL. Expanding your circle of friends happens on a day to day basis when travelling and who knows where those friends, their ideas or your experiences together may lead you next. We can all look back and remember at least one memorable person from our travels and how they impacted us. I can safely say I have met and kept forever friendships with lots of inspiring and unforgettable people who I seem to return to visit time and time again. You know who you are :) :)

For the rest of you I have met along my journey and haven't had the chance to reunite, I'm on my way ;) xx

Keep the social network of travellers ever expanding. Share stories. Inspire others. Build long lasting friendships. Laugh until your stomach hurts. Chat about ridiculous things. Go on random adventures with free spirits. Travel to the end of the earth (and back).

X

Mine is a story of courage, responsibility, independence and a young girls dream of seeing the world, one small step at a time. The young girls motive for traveling began with an urge to transform herself from a naive, codependent teenager with low self esteem into a young woman out in the world being responsible for her own life and learning things as she goes. That young girl was me. I was 19 years old when i decided to make this huge move from a small town in Ireland to a country so far away it seemed almost dreamlike. This would be the biggest challenge of my life and would pave the way for miraculous things, but i didn't know that yet. Australia was my destination but it was the journey that i was excited for, maybe even a little apprehensive, as any normal human should be. I set off with no friends to meet me in Australia, no travel plan nor any idea what i would work at, in fact all i was sure of was that I had enough clothes to last me the entire year. Some may say this was a huge challenge for an inexperienced girl and some did say this, many times. I cant explain how much a year away traveling changed me but what I do know is that one trip, that one step to independence, led me to visit almost 50 countries around the world.

I set out with no qualifications and no idea about my future or my plans to study, but this is what the universe had planned for me and I was lucky to know that from a young age. Many like me, struggled to decide their destiny and instead, studied for years to be in careers they hated. Others envied me for taking this leap and quizzed me on how they could follow in my footsteps, but at the end of it all, were too scared to be the change. From Australia, I continued home to that small town in Ireland I had once left, only to discover that time stood still and everyone stood with it. I had a feeling inside of me that If i fell back into this reality, everything I had worked for would be erased and I would rediscover the old version of myself. The one i tried so very hard to change. It was final, I had taken a job in Bahrain would spend four months adapting to middle eastern life while working as a barmaid in an Irish pub. How cliche? From one culture to the next, I was slowly expanding my cultural knowledge along with my circle of friends and life skills. My world was changing, and how could I ever want this to stop. Change and growth is good right? Why didn't everybody understand my plea, why didn't everyone want this too. It took me a while to realize this, but one step at a time.

Soon after Bahrain, I set off on a short nine week adventure with some friends around South East Asia before moving to Brighton, England for a few months. The nomadic life was catching on and I was slowly becoming addicted. It wasn't long before I set off to Canada for a year of working, traveling  and reuniting with old friends, and to top it all off, I had a job on a friends families potato farm - again, How cliche? That year would pave the way for my study life, and once I had returned to Ireland, plans were in place to study a Beauty/Holistic Therapies diploma. The course was two years but it didn't take away from my love of travel because students have free summers right? I spent the entire summer traveling through 9 countries in South America, brushing up on my spanish, so well in fact that by the end of the trip, I almost resembled an ad for 'Rosetta Stone', at the local veggie market. Having finished the trip off in Californai, t was then time to return home to Beauty School.

It was during the South America/USA trip that I traveled with the 'Eat, Pray, Love' book that I had brought with me on many of my trips and had reread more times than in could remember. From the first time i read this incredible story, Liz Gilbert became an instant role model and inspiration to me, so much so that I could almost imagine us as friends from a past life. So much was similar to my life and my reasons for traveling, so much so that I began planning a trip of a lifetime. After college, I would start my trip in India and then travel to Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Japan before finally settling down in New Zealand for a year. As if I couldn't possibly become more different to the young girl who left Ireland for a life of adventure in Australia, this trip would turn my life upside down. In the best way possible.

I spent the 6 months leading up to my India trip, studying for my college exams, finishing my first novel and setting up my very own travel advice website from scratch. It was a busy few months for me, with no help but It was something i needed to do. My dream was to have my first travel novel published purely to inspire others through my story, much like Liz's was. I also aimed to blog throughout my journey to get people involved and share my tips and tricks with fellow aspiring travelers. It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get everything going at once and even with my website not making a cent, i figured this Karma yoga of helping others would be priceless for me. I set off on my first trip to India where I traveled far and wide for four weeks and settled in a great yoga school in Rishikesh for six weeks,  training hard to be a yoga teacher. I came out of that school having learned things i never knew I could learn, philosophies that blew my mind and had me thinking a totally different way about life and everything I would encounter. My body was in the best shape, my skin was glowing and I was fully detoxed with new loving friends around me and a future so bright that I needed sunglasses. It was in Malaysia that I met a man, that would change my life even further and show me happiness that I had only seen in movies. We spent time traveling various parts of Indonesia in what resembled a very honeymoon style scenario. We had accumulated a group of mutual friends who we spent weeks with and it seemed as if this love story would never end. As they say, all good things come to an end, and It did, inevitably. His journey was opposite to mine and there was no way I could tear him away from his destiny nor could he do it to me. We reunited a few months later having tried the long distance thing, and spent a beautiful Christmas and New Years down under before the time came for us to part ways, one more heart wrenching time. As any break up goes, It took me a while to realize my life without him and actually move on to a life of happiness. I went on to find a passion i didn't know I had, nor did I think I could make a career out of, but here I was working for the NGO Greenpeace and learning so much more about this part of life. Learning about sustainability and environmental issues made me all of a sudden aware of everything around me and I instantly became the best version of myself. Would anyone at home recognize me? Would they brand me as 'one of them hippies' now? Would people think that all of these changes was me trying to be better than them or me being a fake version of myself? I didn't care. My life was currently about helping others, helping the planet and becoming a loveable version of myself which I was truly happy with. I instantly noticed good things happening to me, I noticed my eyes glowing in photos, I noticed myself enjoying life so much more and I was now attracting great people to me. I saved and saved until finally one day, I had enough money to continue my travels and continue to challenge myself. I cruised around the Pacific Islands, I hiked over three weeks in Nepal to reach a 5416m summit, I graduated one again from that same yoga school with an advanced certificate and I created an epic overland trip from Tanzania to South Africa on the tightest budget possible. My life had changed dramatically because of 'Eat, Pray, Love and Liz Gilbert's inspiring words, and its only going to continue.

To think that we hiked over a 3 week period for over 200kms in the Himalayas in the middle of winter, in deep snow, with no guides, no proper equipment or even hiking poles, seems pretty crazy. So crazy in fact that when I tell people this, the look on their faces says it all. The tragic accident that happened on that exact route just two months prior should have tipped is off as to not go ahead and hike during the winter. The mountains have their own energy and you never know, whatever time of year, what could happen. And this was proved when this tragic accident happened in the peak of the high season in Nepal, a time very unusual and unpredictable. 

Nevertheless I chose to head off on this 3 week circuit of the Annapurna Himalayan range by myself but was hoping to find some people to join me just to out my mind at ease. Luckily last minute I met Dave and we spend the only day we had before the hike to  get prepared. We both bought/rented knock off North Face/ North Fake as it's known around Thamel, clothing and sleeping bags and with just a tiny 15l day pack full to the brim, I was ready to leave. 

We were due to meet Om, a Nepalese friend of ours who had been around the circuit more than 30 times now and he was heading off again the same time as us. Unfortunately when the time came, with lack of wifi and communication methods we missed him by a day. 

The trek was a mix of sceneries and was a trek described as being one of the best if not THE best long distance hike in the world and it definitely was! We walked on average about 6-8hrs a day on a good day and maybe 4hrs on a bad day. We also had some rest days once we got close to the summit of the Thorong La Pass on the Tibetan plateau at 5416m up, to acclimatise and prepare for the near 12hr power day to the summit and down again to the mustang region. That was the day everyone dreaded.. The weather had to be perfect, you had to be well prepared and be well rested but none of that is guaranteed and at the end of the day, it's all a risk. The first few days was rainforest, waterfalls and rocky trails up and down until finally one day we hit the snow line and began to get more and more immersed in it as the days passed. 

We would meet people from different groups, with many stories, some struggling and some powering through and we all had that same goal to get over the pass safely. The pass was the scene of the past accident, when the cyclone hit the broad flat area during the groups crossing and we were very anxious about passing that spot. 

Every day hiking the Himalayas is an incredible rush but at the same time you know that one slip on the narrow trail can throw you off the edge and the weather is constantly unpredictable. So unpredictable that we were lucky we had been delayed a day for the crossing because Xmas Day was a very windy day and a lot of our friends came across some difficulties. Boxing Day on the other hand couldn't have been perfect with not a breeze of wind to be felt. 

This wasn't the case just the day before though for us making our way towards the pass. We ran in to the wind that day and lagging behind Dave and Rik our Belgian buddy, I was struck so hard by a gust of wind that it knocked me onto the ground into the snow right on the edge of the mountain. I couldn't prayed more that day if I'd tried, and I was relieved when I made it to our tea house for the night. 

I can't say that taking me on such a big challenge with such an easy going attitude was responsible and I don't believe it was but luck was on our side and we made it over and down the pass with minimal difficulty apart from a few slips down the ice. We took on the challenge using my Annapurna Circuit Guide book as a personal guide and it was such a great help. Even though the trail is marked, in the winter the snow buries the signs so it's easy to be misled as we were many times. It's not fun to be lost coming close to sunset in the middle of the vast open spaces of the worlds biggest mountains. 

Guides and porters are available everywhere and they are very cheap but from the way we saw some of the guides hurry on their people, i was glad we could take our own time to do things. Both Dave and I suffered slightly with altitude symptoms at the exact point the say - above 3000m and we took acclimatisation pills until we came off the pass. Even Rik who had hiked to Everest base camp not long before, had an altitude problem during the pass which frightened us all. You just never know! All the medication is available in Thamel, Kathmandu before the hike so be prepared for everything... Even blisters like I had! 

Towards the end I suffered with tendinitis badly in both feet that last few days of the trek, once we were out of the snow and back on dusty trails, I wore my hiking sandals. Thank god for them! The end of the trek for us was New Year's Day spent in a natural hit spring in the mountains, well deserved after days of walking if you ask me. We then room dodgy public transport the last few kms back to Pokhara and there we celebrated our achievement. What a challenge and what memories were made!

One thing people always ask me is what's the best way to make money when travelling and how much money do I need to start in the first place. The truth is if you save enough for a one way flight to... Anywhere... then the rest is easy. During my travels I have done so many random jobs from picking eggplants in Australia to potato farms in Canada to bartending in the Middle East but since my travels started, more and more websites and ideas have come about to make it een easier for you to land yourself a job.

If you are in the right ages category generally between 18-35 you can even pay a company such as USIT to do it all for you. For first time travellers this is great but personally you can save a fortune by organising things yourself which I slowly learned. There are a few handy websites to keep on hand if you are in the midst of planning a trip and you can land yourself a job or even just good connections before your flight. Some of these include:

www.workaway.info

Helpx or Woofing which are both very easy to use to connect with contacts around the world and it costs as little as $20 a year. www.helpx.net www.wwoofinternational.org

Other options are too go online to various classified websites such as Gumtree, Craigslist or Kijiji to scope or the job opportunities in the countries you desire and contact job offers directly that way. www.gumtree.com

Another option that I would regularly check up on was www.jobs.goabroad.com

It is also an option to travel abroad without a job and as in hostels along the way if they are taking volunteers (I occasionally did this to save money along my travels). If you have a specific skill or trade you can by all means use this during your travels to earn a wage or to just trade for full board/food & accomodation. I have met so many people around the world who have been travelling long term like me and they use the same such websites to make their journey last longer. It is always easy to keep travelling once you know these options and you can even study as you travel like I did. I started my recent two year trip around the world, training to be a yoga teacher in India and finished that same trip with my advanced training in the same school back in India. It is always good to have trades like this to keep you travelling and gaining new experiences and no doubt I'll be using most of my qualifications in Vancouver this year.

Please feel free to post feedback below or on the Facebook page if you have any questions do the same.

Happy Travels!! And don't work too hard 😉

This blog post idea came to me randomly like a lot of the topics I write about and I wanted to write an inspirational travel piece for potential world travellers. As most of you may know I started travelling almost 8 years ago which seems totally crazy. I was 19 and basically wanted to get a grip with adult life and see the world in the process. With most of my friends in college, it helped me to push myself to travel alone- the best decision of my life. Since then I have met too many best friends to name, had so much work and life experience and have been given opportunities people can only dream about. Today I am a fully qualified beauty therapist, advanced 500hr yoga teacher and environmentalist, all of which would never have happened if I hadn't of taken that first step.

It's a lot of people's dream to get out there and see the world but it seems a lot of people are nervous and afraid of the unknown exactly as I was. The website was set up by me to encourage those people to go forth and conquer the world through first hand travel Information and my own personal experiences. If I had a cent for every time someone asks me how I afford it, do I work, tells me how lucky I am or even calls me a dreamer- I would be a rich lady... And that I am not! Yes just like everyone else, I work and I work hard. Like most Virgos when I have a goal to focus on then there is no stopping me and for the past few years every cent I have saved has been put straight into the travel fund.

Still, with the questions being asked on a regular basis I try to reply to each and every travel advice query and provide links to my info blogs, my recent experiences and my own research to help others live their dream. This blog has followed me around the world for the past two years and the previous 5 years of travel we're written down and turned into my first ever novel which I hope to have published at a later stage. My journey is nowhere near complete and this 'travelling' life I portray is literally just my life now and I don't want anything other than this for the time being. I am the happiest I have ever been thanks to yoga, healthy living, outdoor activities, incredible friends and the chance to see the lives of people in other countries far and wide. This is a life I have chosen, a life I have made for myself, and no I am not lucky because at in life you make your own luck and you would be surprised how far optimism, positivity and manifestation can take you.

Trust the universe to know what's right for you.

X

Tonight, I thought it was about time I wrote a blog post on my experiences with homesickness. The most common question I get when travelling for long periods of time, (after- how do you pay for it all?) is 'Don't you miss yor family?' And 'Don't your family worry about you?'. There are so many other questions I'm asked constantly like, 'Don't you want to settle down some day' and 'Do you work?' But these are topics to be discussed another time!

Many off you know that I left home over 7 years ago for the first time to travel to Australia by myself. I knew nobody in Oz and had no plans nor a job under my belt. I truly threw myself in at the deep end, and that was the point. Little did I know that with the first few days I would spend my evenings crying down the phone to my mam back home in Ireland wondering what I was thinking coming all this way. This was a new thing to me and I had chosen to be as far away from home as possible. I had made heaps of friends and after the first week I had forgotten home even existed or that I had even felt this way days before.

As the years have gone on, I have been home on and off to visit family and friends and spent a period of time studying at home in between travels so it's not like I haven't been home in 7 and a half years. Whenever I returned home I always felt like time stood still (as many other travellers I've spoken to have admitted) and that I no longer belonged in this world. Personally I initially set out to challenge myself and change myself from the shy, small town girl with very little responsibility at the time and that is how it all started. I felt like when I returned home, I returned to that 'old me' and that was the person my loved ones knew, so gradually I felt the routine coming back.

The more I travelled, the more I found myself- as cliche as that sounds but I realised that travelling (no matter where I was) was my home, even if it was temporary, it made me happy. The more I travel, I see things and places that I could never have dreamed of and that I know my family are happy for me to experience. I very rarely get homesick these days because I have met many people that are now my best friends around the world and how can I feel homesick when they are spread out all over the world not just in my home town. Of course I miss my family and friends but staying there to fulfill these relationships at the risk of being unhappy, isn't good for either party and so I know that in their heart they are happy and proud of how I'm living my life.

I have set down roots in places from Australia to Bahrain to Canada and even New Zealand and after a few months of being settled, I feel the wanderlust coming back and before I know it, I'm up and gone. Travelling isn't easy, it's stressful at times and one of the hardest things to experience is bonding with someone and having to seperate from them on the road. As the saying goes 'home is where the heart is', but to me home is just where I'm from, where I have made a lot of amazing memories and where my loved ones are, but my heart is where ever I am and whatever I am experiencing in that present moment. The essence of life, right? Your heart should always be with you.

When life throws you lemons, you have to do what you can to cultivate those lemons and make something useful with them, it doesn't have to be lemonade- be creative. I am living my dream and if that means being away from 'home' then that's what I have to do. On that note, I am returning to Ireland after almost 2 years (the longest I've been away in one go) which will be great. I am excited to see everyone but I know that I will be very excited for the next chapter of my life to start in canada, where I left a piece of my heart a few years ago. My mam has come and visit me many times over the years as I've been travelling which has been amazing and I feel like it is encouraging her to travel more and live her life too. Love u mam!

So for now these are my thoughts on homesickness and my experiences so far everyone is different and some people experience it often and some people don't at all, but that makes us who we are.. Being from a very small family (only child and grandchild) it's easier to be away but if I I had a huge family I can imagine It would be quite a different experience.

Feel free to share your experiences with being away from home, in the comments below or on the Facebook page!

Namaste (the divine light in me honours the divine light in you)

shanti shanti shanti (peace for me, peace for you and peace for everybody in the world)

This blog topic came to me as I was sitting in a cross leg meditative pose during the end of my yoga practice this evening. Listening to the song 'Remember' by Omkara, I did in fact start to reminisce in deep thought about the last time I had listened to this song and from there I continued to reminisce about all the emotions I had during that time. I had last listened to it in a yogic sense, during my final teaching practice at Rishikesh Yog Peeth while my students were in Shivasana. In that very moment I felt so full of new knowledge, so free and so full of love and happiness.

As I sat in position, wrists resting on my knees, palms facing up and with thumb touching finger, It occurred to me that a lot of people in this world have misconceptions about yoga and the true meaning of it. Since travelling after India, and with my new found yogic mindset and knowledge, I have been approached with many questions. Such as -how great it is to do yoga to lose weight or how yoga isn't as hard core as other exercises or even people asking me what the hardest pose is that I can do. Truth be told, I'm not an expert and never claim to be, but yoga is and always will be a personal journey. The basis of yoga comes down to your lifestyle and maintaining balance in your life by incorporating pranayama (breathing), asana (physical poses) and meditation (to still your mind).

Yoga is you and you are yoga. As my philosophy teacher in Rishikesh used to start off with 'Yoga for me is......' And I would say that yoga for me is in fact, a lifestyle. I don't do yoga to lose weight or to show off as a fitness freak, I do yoga because It makes me feel calm, it helps me see clearer in my life, it helps me every day to better myself both at my practice and in my life and yes of course feeling somewhat good about your body is icing on the cake right?

These days there are variations of yoga such as Bikram, which is a form of yoga performed in a heated sauna type room. The aim is to circulate the blood faster, help you attain postures faster and to promote a healthier body which are all great, but it seems that in the western world yoga is sometimes just used as a form of exercise. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't too aware of the meaning of yoga before going to India but having learned so much about the spirituality and energetic levels of the whole lifestyle, I wanted to write this blog to share what I have learned and hopefully encourage people to go straight to the source of yoga and judge for themselves.

Yoga is a beautiful way of life and everybody should try all aspects of it sometime in their life to gain the true reality of it. In a perfect world I would say that everybody should go to Rishikesh- the birthplace of yoga and the place with the best energy I have ever been-, but that's easier said than done. Search yourself and take it step by step.. As Roshan said to us at the beginning of our yoga course 'Yoga will find you'.

Om Shanti x

1- Wear your comfiest clothes

You never know what kind of journey you will have and so it's better to be prepared for every situation. In doing this, I always wear baggy pants/leggings, a comfy top and always have a scarf in my daypack just incase the air con is unstoppable.

2- Wear hiking boots/comfy shoes

Wearing your hiking boots (if you have some) is best as it makes your backpack a lot lighter and they are comfy for that potentially long walk to the hostel.

3- Keep valuables close

I've learned from experience but having your valuable close to you during a trip is always a must do. For many reasons eg. you can keep them safe and also if your bag manages to go missing or the bus leaves without you (it happens) then at least you have all of your pride possessions with you.

5- Pack snacks

In the rare case that a bus won't stop for food breaks or a plane charges ridiculous prices for food or you don't trust whatever theyr selling covered in flies on a train in India, then have peace of mind in knowing you have back up. The best options are fruit, sandwiches, samosas, pastries or just plain old crisps/cookies. Don't forget water.

4- Tell somebody your plan

It may sound a bit ridiculous to tell someone your every move, no wait, that's kind of normal in today's society right? Nevertheless put a post on Facebook or write a msg to a friend or family member about where you are going and staying. That way if anything happens, people know where you are.

6- IPod/IPad

You may be going on a long journey or a short journey but no matter what, it's always better to be prepared for those potential delays. I invested in an IPad last year which is amazing because -the battery lasts ages, theyr portable, watch movies, listen to music. An IPod or mp3 is also ideal for occupying time.

7- Pack eye mask and ear plugs

For obvious reasons, if you're a light sleeper like myself who finds it hard to sleep in awkward places then these two items can help. Eye masks block out light providing a better chance to fall asleep and ear plugs will keep the noise out. Invest in these :)

8- Book/Journal

For anybody documenting their travels take a journal on your trip as you will have tonnes of free time to think back on your experiences and scribble them down. Also a book for people who like to read, you will have plenty of time to get through a few chapters of your favourite book before you arrive to your destination... You may even need two!

9- Toiletries

For both men and woman toiletries are useful to have on a trip. Keep hand sanitiser, tissues, mouth wash and face wipes in your day pack for those moments when you may need to make use of the dodgy public bathrooms. Face wipes and mouth wash can keep you refreshed during a long transit.

10- Mobile power bank

These are one of the best inventions yet and you can purchase them in any electrical shop for different price ranges. Pre charge it before a transit because you never know when you may need to make an emergency call and there are no power outlets. The more expensive ones last longer but the cheap ones are still good for at least one charge.

This was purchased at Big W for $8 and once fully charged it will charge my phone once or twice before needing to be pre charged again.