Exploring Español

Estoy nerviosa. I am nervous. He estado estudiando español por dos años. I have been studying Spanish for two years. En menos de dos semanas, voy a ir a sudamerica. In less than two weeks, I’m going to South America. He ido a sudamerica dos veces antes de este viaje. I have been to South America twice before this visit. Pero en esta ocasión, voy a estar sola. But on this occasion, I will be on my own. Y de mayor importancia, trabajaré mientras estoy allí. And most importantly, I will work whilst I am there.

Why am I doing this? ¿Por qué estoy haciendo esto? I love to travel. Me gusta viajar. I like to step out of my ‘comfort zone’. Me gusta salir de mi ‘zona de confort’. And so I decided to go somewhere where I would have to speak the language. Y así yo decidí  ir a un lugar donde yo tendría que hablar la lengua. It has been a dream for three years. Ha sido un sueño por tres años. And finally, the moment has arrived! ¡Y finalmente, el momento ha llegado! Watch this space! ¡Mira este espacio!

¿Usted ha salido su ‘zona de confort’?  Have you been out of your ‘comfort zone’? ¿Dónde? Where? ¿Cómo? How?

Image Source: theprisma.co.uk

Edit: Gracias to one of my Spanish teachers for correcting a few minor mistakes. I am very grateful to the team at Speak Spanish for helping me these past two years.

Growing Up (aka Hanging Up My Backpack)

There comes a time in everyone’s life when they either choose to, or are forced to, grow up. After 13 years of backpacking around the globe, at the age of 32, I have decided to hang up my backpack for good. The last couple of years it was becoming increasingly obvious that the backpacker life was no longer for me. I resisted this realisation for as long as possible, but a few weeks ago I decided that enough was enough. My trusty backpacks have done me well, and across 6 different continents they have housed my belongings, and survived a multitude of flights including, on a couple of occasions, even heading off solo thanks to transit problems at airports. These two bags are particularly well travelled:

 

 

A quad biking accident 2.5 years ago has left me with weakened wrists and a mountain biking accident 2 years ago has left me with permanent back issues. Thankfully, both have recovered enough that I can get on with life in a near-normal fashion, but lifting heavy objects is now something I try to avoid to reduce my reliance on a chiropractor. The final straw was in Bangkok, when after attending a four day conference, I was laden down with literature and freebies, resulting with me struggling in the heat with a 17kg bulging rucksack on my back. And so, feeling like a ‘proper’ adult now, I bought my first suitcase. With a handle. And 4 wheels. I can’t wait to take it on my next adventure. A backpacker I may no longer be, but a traveller I will remain till the day I die…