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Author: Sean Keener

Laura Clark – Around-the-World Traveler

  1. When do you leave?
    January 2005

  2. How long do you plan to be away?
    6-12 Months

  3. How much have you saved?
    So far £4000. Will have around £8-9000 by the time I go

  4. How old are you?
    21

  5. Nationality
    England

  6. Where do you live now?
    London, England

  7. Occupation
    Work in a sales office, and I have a part time bar job

  8. Is this job one that you actually like, or
    are you only doing it to pay for the trip?

    One more paycheck and I’m gone

  9. Have you traveled around the world
    before?

    No

  10. What is the route you plan to take/places
    you plan to visit?

    From London to Bangkok, travelling around Thailand for around a month.
    Then down to Perth for a little while, flying to Melbourne, and then
    overland from there to Cairns for about 6 months, stopping at
    Sydney (working there for a month or so), Canberra, Brisbane and other
    places on the way up. Flying over to Auckland, travelling around NZ for
    6wks to 2months, then from there to America to see the family on the way
    home in San Fransisco, Denver and Boston (to get completely spoilt on the
    way back home when I’m broke!). Then back to rainy old Blighty. Boooooooo!

  11. Why did you decide to take this trip? What
    got you into this type of travel, and/or influenced you to go?

    I’ve been to a fair few different places, but I’ve never travelled
    extensively. When I was at uni I met so many people who had taken time
    out to travel – they’d been to the most amazing places, and it really
    inspired me to do the same. I went to Australia for 3 weeks in 2000 and
    loved it, and I’m desperate to explore further!

  12. What is your biggest fear about this
    trip?

    Probably the security of my possessions, and not getting stranded in some
    god awful guesthouse in the middle of Bangkok!

  13. Are your family, friends, co-workers, etc.,
    supportive of you? What is their opinion of your going around the
    world?

    Everyone I know is really supportive, and quite envious. My Mum keeps
    asking if she can come too! Some of my friends who are less open minded
    don’t understand why I want to do this, but on the whole everyone gets it!

  14. How much planning and preparing have you
    done?

    Control Freak

  15. What are you packing? What do you consider
    your most indispensable item(s)?

    I’m still at the stage where I’m looking at what to take and leave behind
    – BootsnAll’s advice pages and boards are very useful for this! My most
    indispensible items will prob be my (cheap!) camera, so I can make
    everyone at home jealous with all my snaps, my mosquito repellent, and my
    combination padlocks!!

  16. How do you think your round-the-world trip
    will change your life? How do you think it will affect and change you as
    a person?

    I’m anticipating that this trip will greatly effect the way I want to
    live my life and what I want to do with it. I hope that it will give me
    some clue as to what I want to do (other than travel!), as at the moment
    I’m pretty lost on that front.

    I think that as a person I’ll hopefully become more open minded (not that
    I’m closed-minded now!), and more willing to be spontaneous. It’ll
    hopefully make me a little less materialistic too, as I’m forcing myself
    to realize that I can’t take my ghd’s and complete wardrobe with me!!

  17. If you had to sum up your thoughts/feelings
    about your round-the-world trip in one sentence, what would it
    be?

    Annoyingly overexcited! (Tho I hope in a cute way, not
    ‘Oh-my-god-someone- kill-her-now-just-to-shut-her-up’ way.)

  18. Why do you think people should go on
    round-the-world trips? Why not just take a regular old one- or two-week
    vacation instead?

    Trips like this open you up to new cultures, people, places, and
    ultimately, new possiblities. They make you realise that your little
    set-up in small-town suburbia is a miniscule part of a big wide world,
    and its more than likely that the world has far more interesting and
    amazing things to offer than you’d ever get at home.

  19. What is the biggest myth that people have
    about round-the-world traveling?

    That, if travelling alone, you’ll be lonely, or if with someone else,
    you’ll get sick of one another. You will always, always meet people of a
    like mind.

  20. Why do you like to travel?
    Because I want to see the world, and the world is bigger than Enlgand!

  21. What is your advice for people planning
    their own RTW trip?

    Take every oppoutunity that arises!