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Gap year:
Finishing Atlantic College was difficult. Two years being free to be whoever you wanted without the world yelling from every corner that it's weird or odd to be free, but to me that's exactly what AC felt like, a secluded area to be myself. So leaving was terrifying but I was ready.
I started my gap year working at a pub and dancing. Living in London is amazing, so many things to do at all hours of the night and day. The pub was a lively place to be most day's although the I've got to say by the 4th month there I was very happy to be leaving, not in a negative one just simply that I was itching to travel and see the world. Dance kept me busy and I become so much more confident in myself through doing burlesque, that I think without it my travels would have been very different.
The journey begins. I flew to Ushuaia (very bottom of Argentina) to begin my journey and saw the most incredibly landscapes, mountains and glaciers adorned my ever view. My path varied from mountains, to jungle to beaches to desert. To explain every story, hiccup in the road and grand adventure would take many hours and I can't simply begin to explain how amazing travelling around South America has been. From the bottom of Argentina I went north to Buenos Aires, across to Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and then looped back to Bolivia and now I am in Buenos Aires.
When I think back on my last 6 months I think of the people. My memories are absolutely filled with amazing people, fellow travellers and South Americans alike. For me that's what travel is, the people.
The areas, landscapes and cultures are so important and I feel so privileged to have seen Machu Pichu, Patagonia and the Salt Flats in Bolivia, but it's the people who have made a lasting mark on my being. People who will hopefully be part of my life for a very long time and people who I know I can count on and for me that is so incredibly special.
So to finish off, the best combination is to see incredible things with people who mean a lot to you, which happens often as you connect quickly to people on the road.
Travellers are a different breed of people, to go so long without being home, living out of backpack for months and bouncing around hostels takes a lot of courage and strength.
Travelling has changed me but it has also welcomed me, because I know wherever I go in the world if I'm travelling there will be travellers also.
The world and the people in it are a lot kinder than one thinks. We are a lot more similar than we are different. Travelling to me is freedom.
