Laura Clark

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!