World Adventure
Interview with Harriet Roberts (Harry)
This last year a few
of my friends have stepped out to do some pretty adventurous and impressive
things. I can’t help but be amazed and in awe of some of the outstanding steps
of courage I have seen. I have watched their journeys with great interest, and
have asked my friend Harriet to tell us a little about some crazy life-changes
that she went through last year.
First let me briefly
introduce her… I met Harriet 2 years ago when she came with my sister Sarah to
Serbia for EXIT festival (she is my sister’s best friend). Since then I saw her
a few times when I came to England and she was back in Serbia last year also.
She was working as a manager at a restaurant in Leicester called Las Iguanas,
sometimes I am amazed that coming from there she took off like a rocket.. as
Leicester is one of the least adventurous places in the world, and I don’t meet
many Harriets in that neck of the woods. After leaving all her family, friends
and possessions in the UK, she took off to Asia for a 2 month trip, and then
landed in Australia to start a new life.
She is a very strong
character, a very good manager, hilarious with a great sense of humour,
determined, stubborn and very compassionate and lovable. I hope you enjoy the interview.
A-Can you just
briefly explain what changes have happened in your life in the last few months?
H- I left my job and my flat and moved my things home, travelled around South East Asia and then moved to Australia.
What made you decide to make such a drastic life change?
H- I have wanted to travel ever since I can remember so I made it my ultimate goal to go after I finished university. It’s always been in the pipe line and I’ve always had it to work towards but I always let things get in the way (mostly boys). I guess I wasn’t truly ready though otherwise I still would have gone. After finishing university, I moved away to Leicester to be with someone and that didn’t work out and I always said I’d make sure I went by the time I was 25. Well, I ended up being 26 but I was finally ready in myself.
A-What did you do to prepare and how much time did it take?
H- All throughout college and university I had 2 jobs. (I stayed at home and commuted to uni). This allowed me to save all my tips over the course of around 8 years and this gave me the money to travel! Over the years I have written down which countries I wanted to explore but when planning this trip, I’d decided on 2 and a half months as I’d planned to go to Australia straight after. (my original plan was to go travelling for a year plus). With this 2 and a half months I initially wanted to mainly hit Vietnam but when looking at flights to Vietnam, they were double the cost of flying to Thailand. With this I thought I’d fly to Thailand (where I’d been 5 years before and loved) and see some more of it. Then I did more research and found out about the ‘classic’ backpackers route of going into Laos and then into Vietnam. (People also always hit Cambodia but I decided not to this time as I want to leave some places to come back to!).
Once I’d made a basic itinerary of the countries I wanted to hit, I could book some flights to get from A to B. That’s all though, just the flights, nothing else. I didn’t want to plan ANYTHING; I only booked flights for practical reasons and to make sure my trip kept moving forward.
Once that was decided, I had to think about vaccinations, malaria tablets, backpack, and all the little travel things that come in handy. (See my packing list @ www.harryexplores.com )
A-What were the reactions of your friends and people around you when you told them your plans?
H-The one thing everyone knew about me was how much I wanted to travel and so everyone was so happy that I was finally fulfilling my dream.
A-How would you describe your life now?
H-It is actually amazing how much I’ve changed…for the better. I know I’ve always had the potential to be this person but with my previous job, it really bogged me down and I lost all the fire in my belly. It’s not until I’d left to travel and been away that I realised how unsatisfied I was! I then had time to focus on me and wow was that refreshing! I found out so much about myself that I didn’t know and I also surprised myself, did things I thought I’d never do! I had certain personality traits that I was known for and honestly, they aren’t my personality, they were just induced by me being in a stressful job I wasn’t happy in. Despite me realising all this, that period of my life is where I did a lot of my ‘growing up’ and I don’t regret anything because it got me to my next step.
Now I realise that anything is possible if you want it to happen…I don’t plan on ‘settling’ and getting a ‘real job’ for a long time because I now have such a HUGE to do list! And right now, I’m living in Australia and I have no plans other than to travel as much as possible and work inbetween!
A-What was your favourite part of the journey so far?
H-I have to say, riding a motorbike down Vietnam was one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life.
A-What was the hardest part of it?
H-Haha getting lost on some horrendous dirt roads or getting caught in a huge rainstorm and freezing and then driving in the pitch black and trying to find a place to stay for the night. I guess also, falling off a scooter and having to travel through Thailand injured.
A-What advice would you give to people who want to do something like that, but for some reason don’t push themselves to try?
H-It’s so easy to continue bobbing along in life and just accepting that it’s your life…even if you’re not happy, it becomes the ‘norm’.
I found an amazing quote the other day…’Don’t let the fear of what could happen make nothing happen’. People talk themselves out of anything because they aren’t confident enough in their convictions, there are so many negative ‘what if’s’ that can stop us from changing our lives, also people are scared of change because they don’t like the raw vulnerability that comes with it. The crazy thing is though, we ALWAYS land on our feet, whatever happens, if you want something to work enough, you will find any way you can! (just don’t try heroin cos that’s the only thing I think this doesn’t apply to).
A-What do you plan to do for the future.. if you have plans?
H-Well I’m in Australia until Dec 2015 and I think I will try to get my 2nd year visa just incase I want to come back. I also want to live in Germany or Holland and become fluent in either or both of those languages. I also want to go and visit some girls I met in Vietnam from Tel Aviv and also do a long bicycle trip across the States with my friend from L.A.
A-Any last thoughts on life for the readers?
H-If you have read this whole interview, then ask yourself this question:
Are you truly happy in what you’re doing right now? Is it getting you where you need to be?
I understand not everyone has big goals in life and they are happy to just do what they want to do to survive, but is that because they’ve never even entertained the idea of pushing the boundaries? Some people have fire in their bellies naturally, but others need to be inspired. If you have any kind of inkling of something you want to do, then go out and DO IT. There will always be things that will get in the way, but it’s possible to push past them. If you set a goal and you want to achieve it, you will make it happen.
Write down your goals now and then you will already have taken the first step to making them happen.
H- I left my job and my flat and moved my things home, travelled around South East Asia and then moved to Australia.
What made you decide to make such a drastic life change?
H- I have wanted to travel ever since I can remember so I made it my ultimate goal to go after I finished university. It’s always been in the pipe line and I’ve always had it to work towards but I always let things get in the way (mostly boys). I guess I wasn’t truly ready though otherwise I still would have gone. After finishing university, I moved away to Leicester to be with someone and that didn’t work out and I always said I’d make sure I went by the time I was 25. Well, I ended up being 26 but I was finally ready in myself.
A-What did you do to prepare and how much time did it take?
H- All throughout college and university I had 2 jobs. (I stayed at home and commuted to uni). This allowed me to save all my tips over the course of around 8 years and this gave me the money to travel! Over the years I have written down which countries I wanted to explore but when planning this trip, I’d decided on 2 and a half months as I’d planned to go to Australia straight after. (my original plan was to go travelling for a year plus). With this 2 and a half months I initially wanted to mainly hit Vietnam but when looking at flights to Vietnam, they were double the cost of flying to Thailand. With this I thought I’d fly to Thailand (where I’d been 5 years before and loved) and see some more of it. Then I did more research and found out about the ‘classic’ backpackers route of going into Laos and then into Vietnam. (People also always hit Cambodia but I decided not to this time as I want to leave some places to come back to!).
Once I’d made a basic itinerary of the countries I wanted to hit, I could book some flights to get from A to B. That’s all though, just the flights, nothing else. I didn’t want to plan ANYTHING; I only booked flights for practical reasons and to make sure my trip kept moving forward.
Once that was decided, I had to think about vaccinations, malaria tablets, backpack, and all the little travel things that come in handy. (See my packing list @ www.harryexplores.com )
A-What were the reactions of your friends and people around you when you told them your plans?
H-The one thing everyone knew about me was how much I wanted to travel and so everyone was so happy that I was finally fulfilling my dream.
A-How would you describe your life now?
H-It is actually amazing how much I’ve changed…for the better. I know I’ve always had the potential to be this person but with my previous job, it really bogged me down and I lost all the fire in my belly. It’s not until I’d left to travel and been away that I realised how unsatisfied I was! I then had time to focus on me and wow was that refreshing! I found out so much about myself that I didn’t know and I also surprised myself, did things I thought I’d never do! I had certain personality traits that I was known for and honestly, they aren’t my personality, they were just induced by me being in a stressful job I wasn’t happy in. Despite me realising all this, that period of my life is where I did a lot of my ‘growing up’ and I don’t regret anything because it got me to my next step.
Now I realise that anything is possible if you want it to happen…I don’t plan on ‘settling’ and getting a ‘real job’ for a long time because I now have such a HUGE to do list! And right now, I’m living in Australia and I have no plans other than to travel as much as possible and work inbetween!
A-What was your favourite part of the journey so far?
H-I have to say, riding a motorbike down Vietnam was one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life.
A-What was the hardest part of it?
H-Haha getting lost on some horrendous dirt roads or getting caught in a huge rainstorm and freezing and then driving in the pitch black and trying to find a place to stay for the night. I guess also, falling off a scooter and having to travel through Thailand injured.
A-What advice would you give to people who want to do something like that, but for some reason don’t push themselves to try?
H-It’s so easy to continue bobbing along in life and just accepting that it’s your life…even if you’re not happy, it becomes the ‘norm’.
I found an amazing quote the other day…’Don’t let the fear of what could happen make nothing happen’. People talk themselves out of anything because they aren’t confident enough in their convictions, there are so many negative ‘what if’s’ that can stop us from changing our lives, also people are scared of change because they don’t like the raw vulnerability that comes with it. The crazy thing is though, we ALWAYS land on our feet, whatever happens, if you want something to work enough, you will find any way you can! (just don’t try heroin cos that’s the only thing I think this doesn’t apply to).
A-What do you plan to do for the future.. if you have plans?
H-Well I’m in Australia until Dec 2015 and I think I will try to get my 2nd year visa just incase I want to come back. I also want to live in Germany or Holland and become fluent in either or both of those languages. I also want to go and visit some girls I met in Vietnam from Tel Aviv and also do a long bicycle trip across the States with my friend from L.A.
A-Any last thoughts on life for the readers?
H-If you have read this whole interview, then ask yourself this question:
Are you truly happy in what you’re doing right now? Is it getting you where you need to be?
I understand not everyone has big goals in life and they are happy to just do what they want to do to survive, but is that because they’ve never even entertained the idea of pushing the boundaries? Some people have fire in their bellies naturally, but others need to be inspired. If you have any kind of inkling of something you want to do, then go out and DO IT. There will always be things that will get in the way, but it’s possible to push past them. If you set a goal and you want to achieve it, you will make it happen.
Write down your goals now and then you will already have taken the first step to making them happen.
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