The Next Chapter Travel Co begins!

                                                              My Story

 

My yearning to travel first reared its head when I became aware that there were actually other countries in the world. This occurred around the age of 6 or 7, when I heard stories of other people travelling to Greece to visit relatives or America to see Mickey and Minnie at Disneyland. I knew from this moment that travel was in my blood. 

 

My first opportunity to travel overseas came at the age of 13, when mum took my sister and I to Disneyland. It was also my first time on a plane. I struggled on this trip as I wasn’t well and it was extremely hot… but I was still so intrigued by the fact that we were over the other side of the world in an entirely different country.

 

I first began learning Japanese in year 5 at my primary school as part of the enrichment program. Hence, my love affair with the language and culture began. I studied the language right through until my HSC and was determined to travel there one day. I had a cancelled school trip, a cancelled 3 month exchange program and of course there was Covid 19. I just knew though, that once I started, there would be no stopping me. I was right. 

 

It still took many years for me to travel to Japan. As circumstances would have it- I didn’t get there until my forties… but better late than never. Probably a blessing really. Now that my kids are almost grown, I can return to Japan as often as I feel the need (or my bank account allows- eek). 

 

My first trip was 2 years in the making… 11 months exactly from the day I had booked our flights. Approximately 10 months since I owned up to my husband that I had ‘accidentally’ booked flights as they were so cheap, so we were ‘accidentally’ going to Japan for 3 weeks in January. Luckily he loves me and he loves snow skiing almost as much, so that was my bargaining chip. Our trip would include Hakuba and he would finally get to ski the slopes of Japan. Deal was done and after some promises for a few more casual days at work- I was off the hook. 

 

I spent every waking moment from then until we left Sydney, researching, planning and improving my Japanese language skills. The excitement was real. I tried to get my family involved in the planning and ‘excitement’ phase but to no avail. They would be excited- when we got there they said. So it was me. All me. It was fine because I’m a “type A” travel planner. There are excel spread sheets and not an overlooked detail in sight. But it was also lonely. I wanted someone to sit and plan with me, chat with me and get excited. Alas, it wasn’t to be… but our trip was the most magical 3 weeks of my life. 

 

I am not going to go into a blow-by-blow description including every last minute detail of our trip here… there’s another section for that! But what I will say is we made the most of every last minute of our trip. We travelled by Shinkansen 3 times, subway, local trains, taxis, buses, ferries and used many different booking methods for all of these modes of transport. It was a lot- but we got there.

 

When I travelled Europe at the age of 22, I wrote long, detailed emails home about every 3 days or so, as that was the best technology would allow in 2003. I was told by my family and friends, who enjoyed my writing so much, that I should be a travel blogger. I would have absolutely loved to. As a matter of fact, it would have been a dream come true… but I just couldn’t do it. I had just started full time teaching, was building a house and had already met the love of my life. I just couldn’t think of a way to make it work. Basically, I wasn’t brave enough. 

 

On our trip to Japan, I went a step further and kept a digital diary which I  post on Facebook and Instagram. It was mainly for me so that in years to come I would have a detailed reminder of all the things- big and small. Each night when I laid in my bed and thought about all of the amazing things we saw that day, I would always cringe and think “people must hate me… I must be so annoying…” It turned out to be quite the opposite. There were so many people who made reading my daily diary part of their morning routine and one day dreamed of having their own adventure. 

 

When I returned home to Australia, I really began to realise the gravity of my diary. I heard comments such as “your holiday looked like the trip of a lifetime… I wish I had the knowledge to plan a trip like yours… if only I had someone to travel with… I don’t have the confidence to do what you did so I booked a trip-a-deal instead…” That was all I needed. The Next Chapter Travel Co was born.