Prologue 2: 4 Naive Students + Cheap Booze = Silly Plan
As the years pass by, taking a gap
year is becoming a more and more popular option, as the very
technical graph below, shows:
However,
the number of gappers are still in the minority compared to
non-gappers. Most of my friends were looking at going straight into
work or Uni.
But, over cheese and brandy one
evening...ok, ok! It was premium Vodka and Pizza...Alright already,
it was cheap rum and cheesy puffs! (We're students, we're poor!) I
discovered that my one of my mates, my girlfriend and her best
friend were all considering the same thing as me! Seeing the wonders
of the world was amazing enough, but being able to share the
experience sounded even better!
Our minds started buzzing (well,
first they buzzed, then they went blurry, then we ran out of cheap
rum, then we passed out, then we woke up, then our minds throbbed,
then we talked, THEN our minds started buzzing again). We had so
many ideas, so many places to visit, so many things to do, the world
was our oyster, and we put pen to paper and meticulously planned our
ideal route. Ahh, ignorance is bliss.
As silly as it looks to use now, this
is roughly what our initial route included a winding route through
Europe, followed by a zig-zag course covering most of northern
Africa, Asia and Japan, then a thorough exploration of Australia and
New Zealand, and finally a zip across America. Yeah right.
Ok the main problem with this route
was money. Imagine the biggest pile of gold you can...now imagine
harder...now double it and that is about a quarter of the money we'd
need...each. The other problem was time, 10 months may sound like a
long time, but there is only so much stuff you can fit in in that
time.
After doing some brief research and
walking into our local branch of
STA,
we realised the error of our ways, and we set about making a
sensible, affordable plan...
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