Hey! What's up, guys.
So... I'm about to embark on something really special.
Now I've put this off for way too long, ever since I was 21 to be exact,
and I finally found the guts to do it.
That is to quit my career and travel the world.
Well, at least to places that I've never been to before and I feel like the time now is right because
I'm gonna hit 40 in one and a half years.
It's quite scary.
And I want to still be able to like, you know, climb mountains, explore faraway lands
without having my body give up on me.
So for the rest of 2018, I am gonna be traveling solo!
I am gonna be vlogging throughout the trip, and I want you to come along with me on my journey.
I get mixed reactions.
My close friends would be like, woah, you're so brave!
I'm like nah. People who fight wars are brave.
People who travel alone, they just make the choice to do it because they want to.
This is not a show-off trip.
I live in a HDB flat,
I still have to pay my mortgage
and honestly taking the step to not work for 2018 is quite scary for me.
Before I arrived at this decision, of course there were many factors that I have to consider.
If I come back broke in 2019, will I be okay waiting on tables, for instance.
I've done that before.
It took me a while to... to be okay with that and the minute I was?
Everything just became so simple.
So I'm gonna use whatever I've saved so far on travel.
At 38, I just feel it's so much more important to live life to the fullest.
I've no one to answer to so... why not build a life,
instead of slogging to build a career?
So some of the places that I've never been to before,
a largely unexplored continent in my life is South America.
So I'm gonna be kicking off my trip there.
I'm gonna be starting off in Peru.
I'm gonna go to Lima, eat in some good restaurants there
and then go down to Cusco, acclimatize,
and then check out the Machu Picchu, which is the Inca civilization or what's left of it.
Then I'd be going down to Bolivia,
to check out the Uyuni salt flats and apparently this time of the year
it's gorgeous because it's rainy,
so it kind of creates this mirror on the ground that reflects the sky.
Then I'll be spending a couple of weeks in Cuba
so I'm gonna be staying with the locals,
probably bring them... a few jars of Kaya.
Because I don't think they've had Kaya.
And then... head on to Mexico to see the Chichén Itzá
and explore some cenotes.
Once I'm down with South America, I am gonna explore the Arctic region.
I kind of booked myself into an expedition to the North Pole.
I'm just literally gonna fly in there and then explore the area.
I'll probably go to Svalbard,
check out the Global Seed Vault.
That's where all the world's agricultural crop seeds are kept
and also, this ghost town of Pyramiden.
It's like a Russian abandoned ghost town.
Then I want to go to Lapland, stay in one of those glass igloos
and then go explore Helsinki.
I'm going to Copenhagen, go meet my friends in Norway and Sweden
and then after that, the plan is to do the Trans-Siberian Railway,
and that is to go from... Russia to Beijing.
So I'll start in Russia because I've never been to Russia
and then hop onto the Trans-Siberian Railway,
and then hop on and off along the way and maybe stop in Mongolia,
spend a week or two with the Mongolian tribes,
and then make my way to Beijing.
I've never been to Beijing - can you believe that?
I don't know. China has never been really at the top of my list
but I think... this year will be the year for China.
Then I'm gonna take a break for a while and...
End my year with a trip to the Middle East.
I've been monitoring the news,
not looking so good in Iran right now.
But Iran is definitely on my list.
I've got a few friends who've been there before, they said it's so beautiful,
I shouldn't really like pay too much attention to news reports,
it's actually quite safe.
I do want to go to Iran because I'm just so sick of people throwing shade at the Middle East
So I'm also going to Jordan,
another Seven Wonders of the World is there.
It's called the Petra and also while in Jordan I'm gonna explore the Dead Sea.
And then I hope to go to Oman and also to Turkey,
to this place called Cappadocia.
So that pretty much wraps up my adventures for 2018.
Okay, so I'm leaving tonight. Uh...
And I am barely done packing because I like to leave it to the last minute.
The firs thing I usually check in is all my electronics.
I really, really like this charging donut,
lets you charge many devices at one time.
There's two USB ports, and then you can charge like a two-pin plug here
and this main thing charges to the main outlet.
So I've got my GoPro... with the waterproof casing,
and also my tripod so I can take photos of myself
because I got no Instagram boyfriend to follow me around the world.
My Canon camera,
I was going to shoot with this camera as well,
so I've all these batteries that clicknetwork has so kindly charged for me.
They've even given me this really feminine pouch to put camera in.
Is this a joke guys?
Did you do this on purpose?
Can you not see everything is all like, dark and black?
You gave me this like huffy auntie pouch
and want to see what they did to the camera as well?
They give it a troll hairstyle.
This is a windblocker so...
when I go to windy places and I need to film,
this pretty much keeps the wind out of my... audio.
Once this part is sorted, I breathe easy.
Okay next up - medicine. So important.
Mosquito patches, very important.
This is not a sponsored post.
All these brands are not my preferred brand.
I just bought it because it was just there.
Imodium, in case you have diarrhea.
And these two things... I swear by.
The sore throat spray and cold defence nasal spray.
Pretty much gets rid of all the germs in your throat,
which is pretty much the starting and breeding ground for... all your illnesses.
Because I'm gonna be in high altitude right, I've actually got altitude sickness pills.
This is like a all-in-one ointment.
You know there's a brand called Papaw right, from Australia?
This is like a most souped-up version that I bought from New Zealand,
it's got Mānuka honey in it.
It moisturizes your lips and it heals... all wounds.
It's like a miracle ointment.
Finally of course, sunscreen.
I'll be trekking a lot, doing a lot of outdoor activities.
This is an SPF50+,
PA++++, which means like super, super, super good coverage.
So I'm not really too bothered about my day-to-day wear
because I can always like reuse or like wear black or something.
But what I'm most worried are stuff that protect you from the elements.
This is a quick dry towel, and I feel like this is the best ever.
Microfiber for places where I don't have like a bath towel.
You can buy this from any travel shop
and this is like... my... favourite discovery.
So I'll be staying in like people's houses right?
And I'm a bit of a clean freak when it comes to pillows,
so I don't know who's been there.
Like even if the pillow cases are washed,
you don't know what's lurking in the pillow.
I found this traveller sheet with pillow insert.
This is pretty much like a sleeping bag, but it's thin.
So it kind of lines the bed that I'm sleeping on and
it also lines the pillow that I put my head on
and it also kind of lines the blanket that I use.
And also this really cute thing that I bought from New Zealand in some hiking shop -
it's like a solar-powered lantern.
You kinda blow in this bit, so it blows up like that.
And then it just illuminates if, you know, I need to go out walking at night.
We take it for granted in Singapore that all the streets in the world are lit up.
It's not.
This is my waterproof Gore-Tex raincoat.
It covers all the way up to my thighs, which is great.
That's where most rain hits on.
I don't like waterproof pants because they're like super bulky and ugly.
So I bought rain gaiters instead.
So these are stuff that you fix on your pants, so you wear it like that,
like this.
For instance, so it covers like that.
And then this part you can tighten it,
and then this part hooks down to your boots.
I've got my hiking stick as well.
I used to think that people who hike with sticks are losers
and then I just realized why they do it.
It really takes the impact off your knees.
And there'll be some places that I go to that will be slightly posh
like especially when I eat at restaurants but that's like few and far between.
So I'm not gonna pack like a nice dress each time I go to a fancy restaurant
so I thought, if I was gonna be away for one and a half months,
I'm gonna wear the same outfit...
to all the fancy places that I need to be to.
This will be my fancy place outfit - a gold top.
It's great because I can eat a lot... and it won't show.
And bell-bottom pants.
And I thought just for fun, I don't know if it's like weird,
but I bought like a Nacho Libre type t-shirt
I'm gonna wear in Mexico.
Hahaha!
Just one themed outfit, okay?
So allow me one themed outfit.
So this is my one swimwear for every occasion.
Oh yeah, I'll be diving as well,
going to the Underwater Museum, so...
I like to bring my own dive mask.
Oh! Oh oh oh...
The all-important thing...
So I got this as a Christmas present, it's a karaoke mic.
This brings so much joy.
So I think in very awkward situations like when I stay in like people's houses,
and you know, we speak different languages,
I'm gonna sing.
I've only got three kinds of footwear on this trip.
I'll mostly be existing in this one,
which is... my hiking boots.
This is the nicest one I can find online
because hiking boots are damn ugly.
This is the all-black Timberland Euro Hiker.
It's got a really good grip, and it's totally waterproof as well.
So just for regular moving around I've got my flip-flops
and then for those very rare occasions where I will be enjoying fine food and drink,
I have... my shoes.
Which are actually wedges.
Because it's just... much easier to walk around in wedges,
like I've never been a stilettos kind of girl.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, and I highly suggest bringing this as well -
this makes a world of a difference.
Candles. These are smells that are familiar to me,
especially this one's called Invigorates.
Oh... it smells like a spa.
Regardless of where I am, I would still have a little bit of home with me.
I highly suggest saving space by rolling up everything.
You know, I've tried both ways.
Folding neatly,
vacuum packing it
and rolling it and I find that rolling up your stuff saves the most space.
About money, I think the trickiest... location for me would be Cuba.
because it's a communist country
and their currencies are not traded outside.
The only currencies they would trade with are American dollars, pounds and euros.
I heard a tip from a friend that says, please change using pounds and euros
because they charge a really big tax on American dollars.
They really hate them there.
Travel insurance is very important because I'm gonna be doing some extreme sports as well,
and I want to make sure that the countries I'm going to are covered in the insurance,
especially countries like Cuba and Iran.
So I decided to kinda...
Shop around for a travel insurance and I found FWD.
I've read through so many travel insurances,
a lot of them have promised like coverage all around the world
but there's always a fine print that says they don't cover Cuba
and they don't cover Middle Eastern countries with Iran being one of them.
So I had to make sure to read all the fine print,
and I finally found FWD that legit covers worldwide
and they also cover all extreme sports.
So if you're going like, glacier hiking or scuba diving or skydiving,
they cover all those in the travel insurance
so super, super, super like comprehensive.
So this whole trip to Latin America will take about one and a half months
and then I'll come back, see my nephew and repack again and leave...
for another month...
to the Arctic and the North Pole.
Here I am, my life for the next one and a half months in one and a half suitcases.
It still hasn't sunk in yet that I am going on a solo journey to Latin America.
I think it might just sink in when I'm on the plane later.
Right now I'm just like super tired.
Okay, so I'm all checked in.
I'm about to go through that gate...
and board my plane.
I cannot believe that it's finally coming true after months of planning and stuff.
Um... I really don't know what to expect
but because everything is packed so tightly...
I really hope nothing goes wrong.
And if it does...
I just hope for a big sense of humour to look past the failings or the screw-ups.
So... yeah. Wish me luck!
That's all I have for you for this episode.
Don't forget to subscribe or if you want to watch all the episodes before it hits YouTube,
please download the clicknetwork app.
So yeah, I'll see you guys in Peru.
I'm gonna be vlogging,
but I'm also gonna be uploading pictures on Instagram
so if you want to follow me, it's @heyrozz,
see you there! Bye!
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