10 years too late…
Hello!
I’m Jodie (Jo) and I bloody love to travel.
I was born and bred in Basingstoke, Hampshire now living the London life since 2002 with my husband and 5-year old son. I’ve done the backpacking/gap year thing, met my Scottish husband in Australia, travelled extensively as much as work holidays would allow (skiing/safari/beach/island-hopping/short haul/long haul/cultural/not so cultural), got engaged and married in Greece, honeymooned in South America, baby-mooned in Croatia and now drag our son to as many places as we can fit in whilst both working full-time.
I always feel like it’s a bragging game when it comes to places visited but let’s just say I know a lot of beers from around the world – bloody love a Quilmes (South America show off!), but I was speaking to someone last year about my passion for travel and the experiences gained from it and ended up crying, yes CRYING!! Now if that’s not a sign that I should share this passion then I don’t know what is…
Now, I know I’m about 10 years too late to start writing a blog, which is weird as I suffer from FOMO… But what the heck, I’m here now and it’s fun to join the blog party! My first ever Hotmail account username was roundtheworld_jo so it seemed entirely apt to name my blog after this…
Maybe it’s because of the new year and I’m feeling reflective/nostalgic but after stepping foot on my first “real” travel adventure 15 years ago (I don’t think an 18-30s girls holiday to Kavos counts…?) it seemed a good time (!) to share my/our journey in hope of inspiring more people to travel this bloody awesome world we find ourselves in. To share how you can explore this world in the ‘real world’ – on your own, with friends, with a husband, with a family, with work, on the weekends, on holidays, on a budget or in style…
I’m like a hairdresser, I constantly ask people where they’re going on their next holiday – not just to be nosy, but to either be inspired by peoples holiday choices (an overused question to my husband is ‘where next…?’) or to pass on any fun facts if I’ve already been there (warning – there will always be a slight focus on where to have a beer!!).
The main reason behind this is to remind myself of all the amazing places/experiences I and my husband have been on and how travelling became (and still is) a massive part of my/our life and the affect its had on me/us. But the other reason is to inspire our 5 year old son who is like a little sponge wanting to absorb every inch of the world around him and if we can pass on our love for travel (and capture it on here) then this kid rearing job is done, right?!
But, in putting this amount of effort in (I mean, I’ve invested my time here!) I also hope that I manage to inspire at least a few other people into getting themselves out there, push those comfort zones because it really is worth it! The memories you create (for want of a less cheesier phrase) are priceless! And even by starting this I’ve lol’d remembering all the weird and wonderful experiences…and I want to share this ‘journey’ (it’s like being on X-Factor) with you – so come in to my world and enjoy it with me. Wow, I really just wrote that. And please JUST DO IT – it’s amazing! You can thank me later.
If you fancy reading more of what I have to share (and boy are you in for a treat! Damn Sales background…), please check out my Instagram for latest posts, have a read on ‘where next…?’ for places we’ve been and recommend or feel free to contact me and ask any questions using the contact me page.