Ok, so this is my first ever blog and Neil said I should write one so here goes:-

In the words of Drew Barrymore in 'Never been kissed' - 'To write well you have to write what you know.'

When I was 15, I decided that I wanted to travel - most people fantasise about it and I'm no different. The only thing that I knew was that I wanted to do a bit of it on my own - to test my mettle and see if I could - the ever feminist in me :) and that I wanted to do it at the latest when I was 27 as this seemed the profound age that my rock gods died - Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Janis Josplin...so on and so forth. I made 3 goals in my life, 1 to go to Uni, 2 to travel and 3 to write a book - a good piece of literature by the time I was 30 - what the hell I would do after 30 is still a work in progress.

I finished Uni and broke the cardinal rule of Uni - don't go to work in a bank and after 4 years of doing just that, my mum and dad sold their house and gave me enough pennies to book a round the world flight and save the rest (which i didn't do and spent easily enough (should mention here that I am a gambler and had barred myself from the Casino in January 07) so that I already knew before I left that I would run out of pennies and when i told my mum to give her a heads up said that 'I know and your dad and I will take care of you' - happy days :)

Only one bad thing really (don't get me wrong it's hard to leave your family but they'd known for years my plans and would have forcibly put me on a plane if I didn't go) - leaving my boyfriend of near 5 years :( but when we got together many moons ago - I never fibbed about my desire to travel by 27 and he had the intention of doing it with me but when he got offered a job that meant he had to be at college for 2 years, the consensus was that I would still travel and he would finish college and be done by the time I got back. I sorted out a career break with work and called STA travel and planned my route with a really nice guy called Alex - starting 3rd November 08 and finishing 24th July 09 - decidinge upon 4 weeks Canada, 4 Weeks the USA, 4 weeks central America and then a flight from Panama to Chile as he said Columbia was too dangerous to do on my own, and then 3 months through south America followed by 4 weeks N.Z and 7 weeks OZ.

I got the lonely planet gudes and half heartedly planned a route and got all the gear I thought I would need - including all the country flags that I would visit to sew onto my rucksack - foolishly putting the UK next to Argentina until my cousin pointed out the Falklands War and then made me paranoid about which country may not like another but figured - balls to it and put them on randomnly - just making sure the USA was a little away from the others. Each day came a bit closer and then out of the blue a pal from Uni called and said she wanted to come with me but wouldn't be able to do so until the January in Mexico - which I was happy with as it meant I got to do 9 weeks through Canada and the USA on my own as I had wanted to and she would be with me through the scarier countries I was getting more and more nervy about.

The days ticked by and I had my leaving do from work which I didn't really want as I didn't want to hear the safe tips and horror stories of rape, kidnap and murder and worry that comes from people who care most about you...but I did and was glad I did - the yard of ale was definitely worth it. I had the goodbye meal with my boyfriend and family and then came the night before and the packing.

Monday 3rd November dawned after about 4 hours sleep - if that - and the drive to the airport pretty much in silence with my boyfriend and flatmate and I could just feel the worry growing between them. Mum and dad drove down as well, just a quick hug from them and I only welled up when it came to say goodbye to my man but the tears didn't really flow as my dream day had arrived and as soon as I went through security the smile on my face was HUGE.

Ok, from here on out is what is in my journal:-

Day 1) Monday 3rd of November - got flight to Heathrow and the transfer to Gatwick and listening to my new IPOD for the first time was the song from Judy Garland 'Get Happy' - a true favourite of my big sister and I couldn't help but smile as it seemed right and stopped the nerves for a little while. The flight to Toronto was my first long haul flight and looking out at the clouds as far as the eye could see - cotton wool clouds with perceived faces peeping out at me at 5k feet in the air. The aircrafts white noise was weird but the clouds seemed homely, calming and just impressive. I watched the new X-Files movie which was pants and towards the end of the flight there was the most immaculately dressed Indian girl toddler who started to cry for about 30 minutes as the crew wouldn't let her sit on her mum's knee as she had to be strapped in. She made a continuous husky (sllghtly demonic) not even a cry really - just noise blending with the white noise and everyone looking at the cabin crew as if they were b******s and as kids annoy me at the best of times - I just wanted out asap. The touchdown brought about an immense sense of satisfaction - I'd done it - arrived in Canada and if I went home now, I would have been happy and there was a small - almost inaudible round of applause from other people on the flight. The airport was huge and I missed the taking a picture of the 'welcome to Canada' sign as the escalator went down to customs and all along the walls were corporate ads from companies - some of which I recognised, quite a few I didn't.

I got outside and got the bus to the Greyhound bus station in downtown Vancouver. I'd bought a 60 day Discovery pass that would take me 60 days unlimited travel through Canada, the USA and into Mexico. When I got to the station, I went straight to check out the times to Niagara Falls and Ottowa - yes I can be that organised!

I walked through Toronto to Canadiana Backpackers Inn (hostelbookers.com rules) and my first impression was of skyscrapers and homeless people and a true city buzz I hadn't ever experienced before - everything seemed larger than life. I checked in to my first hostel - dorms a new experience as well. I met an Irish girl named Sarah who was there for a couple of days before she headed west to go work at a ski resort. I left my stuff in the dorm and headed out - taking a couple of pics of the first couple of shops I passed that I paid attention to - the first two of a shop called 'friendly stranger - the cannabis culture shop' and 'the condom shack' :)

At this point I had just run out of my tobacco Golden Virginia, kicking myself for not having the good sense to use duty free - yes I can be dim sometimes - and was giving some thought to giving up completely but went in search of tobacco and Canada hides its tobacco and they can't show you what they have on offer so after my 3rd shop the helpful shopkeeper mentioned Drum and I leaped at it and took it :) I stopped of at a chinese shop and got some dirt cheap sushi and then got a little lost before finding my hostel again. Hummed and haahed about whether to go to Niagara the next day and then called my man who had just joined Facebook as he knew that was the best way to keep in touch with me. Spoke to Amir my flatmate as well and then called my mum and dad. I got back to the dorm and just stared into space for a while, not quite believing I was in Toronto, I had done it :) but it still seemed mad. I went to sleep hoping I woud lose some weight on my travels - oh yes the never ending battle of my weight was still raging.