Who, why, what, where and when

My name is Helene  I’m 61 and finally, after a lifetime of dreaming I’m starting my travels. My parents were refugees post WWII settling in Australia. I was born here,  brought up amongst many and various cultures hearing story upon story of homelands and cultures, hearing the music and eating the food from all over the world. The seeds of travel were firmly planted and were nurtured over a lifetime. I was supposed to go travelling at age 20, I even had a berth booked on the Achille Lauro a ship in the Italian Flotta Lauro which often visited Sydney Harbour. Unfortunately that trip didn’t happen and I went on a working holiday to Lord Howe Island instead. Lord Howe Island is a wonderful place, full of natural beauty, beaches for everyone, a stunning lagoon, the most southern part of the coral reef  and wildlife you won’t find elsewhere, look it up and go there it is a dream island. One day I will get back there again.

In 2006 I went on my first whirlwind 5 countries in 6 weeks holiday. It was supposed to be 6 countries but I stupidly had my bag stolen in Madrid so the passport and visa to Russia were gone. Beware the little kids in Maccas! I loved that trip, saw all the major touristy things like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Parthenon,Trevi fountain (still gives me goosebumps), the Isle of Capri (best gelato ever!) etc and also discovered some I hadn’t thought of before like the island of Lesvos, Leonardo da Vinci’s horse in Milan, Monet’s garden and oh so much more – well that was only a taste now it’s time to do a senior gap year and see as much as possible. I decided to create this blog to record my experiences so anyone who comes across this and wants to learn a little before they go off overseas might get a little help. I’ve also decided to do this so that the ‘more mature’ traveller has somewhere to look things up or ask questions or even give me some suggestions. There isn’t really a lot of information for the older solo traveller (most of it is cruises or guided tours) and I know there are many out there who want to do their own thing so I’m using the information for younger travellers and going on from there.

The plan is to spend 12 months traveling Europe, a bit of the USA and lots of Central America and possibly South America. There are heaps of things I want to do and see including some volunteering with wildlife in Central America and possibly some teaching of English along the way. So look out 2013, I’m on my way! Come with me as I start this epic journey.

Before I go overseas though there are some places in Australia I need to go, places I haven’t been yet and people I have to see before I leave our fair shores so the first few ‘practice’ blogs will be about Australian places of wonder by the end of which I (hopefully) will have perfected this blogging thing and made it somewhat interesting..

Come join me, come with me and if you have any advice feel free to share it.

Hello world from Helene.