About Me, My Trip and My Blog!

It was March 2019, and I was sat in a pool in a local pousada in Paraty, Brazil when ‘Beauty in a Backpack’ sprouted from the depths of my thoughts. Besides being slightly fuzzy-headed from 3 days of rum pouring, sound systems blazing, and eccentric outfits at the colourful Rio carnival. With a few moments to myself, I suddenly had this overwhelming feeling of happiness that reminded me: travel is my life and my priority. At that moment I promised myself the next year would mean 1) guarantee to hit your travel savings goal and 2) to start a travel blog!

Briefly, in this post I’m going to share a low down on me, my plans and my ongoing love affair with solo travelling the world!

To begin, we fast forward a year to now, with just 2 weeks before my solo trip through Asia, Australia and Africa (ahh!)

“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.”- Bill Bryson

10 brief bits about me:

1. My name is Sophia, I’m 26 years old, and I’m currently living in South London.
2. I have worked 7 jobs in the last 5 years, working/learning the ropes as a self employed IT Business Analyst and Project Manager.
3. In 2015 I completed a bachelors degree in Economics and International Development.
4. I live with my Mum-Ma not-so-little sister and little brother at our family home in South London. Like all families we drive each other mad, and equally the love is stronger than words could say.
5. I believe in dream setting, manifesting and achieving your goals as a first priority.
6. I’m one of 9 children in total… 🙂 From a mixed heritage family of Jamaican/English.
7. My dream (eventually) is to have the financial freedom to travel for 9months of every year for the rest of my life, exploring new cultures and scenery beyond my imagination.
8. I am completely in love with the idea of travel for good. Likewise, I intend to travel slow, sustainably and volunteer while working with local people along the way.
9. I hate mustard with a passion, yet love pretty much all other food!
10. I adore music from all walks of life, admit my soul connects mostly with Reggae, Noughties RnB and jazz music.

10 reasons I’m choosing to travel:

1. To experience life without all the conveniences that i’m used to…I want to live minimalist and experience the world with just me and a backpack!
2. To live and learn from local people, and get an insight into the history, culture and environment that make each corner of the earth unique.
3. To enjoy new and exciting foods! I am a massive foodie and want to learn how to cook foods from across the globe.
4. I want to improve my photography, I LOVE taking pictures of sunsets and people going about their day to day lives.
5. To work with grass-root NGOs and get some practical experience alongside my Economics & International Development degree!
6. To spend more time with nature! And avoid spending 50+ hours of my week at a desk, on a tube or in a sweaty gym.
7. To travel solo and long term allows me to really have a life changing experience.
8. To dive! I secured my PADI qualification in 2019 and can’t to do it again! Particularly the Moyo Islands in Indonesia!
9. To slow down, be inspired, and find inner peace with the world. I’ve been working in the rat race of London for 5 years and I’m ready to see more of what life has to offer!
10. I love spontaneity, I could continue working and earning on a high paid salary, get a mortgage and pay it off for the next 30 years… But we literally have one life and what fun would that be?!

Where my slow travel itinerary will take me:

I’ve only booked one flight and one hostel so far as I plan to travel on land and sea for the majority of the trip. Conversely if I need to take flights I aim to make this as infrequent and short haul as possible! And carbon offset these journeys.

The trip begins in March 2020, and should last 18 months-2 years.

I’ll be following a global itinerary i’ve never seen posted anywhere before (so we’ll see how good my logistical planning skills are along the way!) With Asia and Africa being such an integral part of my degree. I wanted to cover a route that saw both those continents mainly, as well as spending Christmas with a relative in Australia. Where I also intend of visiting a few spots in Australasia!

SO, the route will begin in South Asia starting with a revisit to India followed by a trip to Sri Lanka (Shares a top 3 spot with Vietnam and Ghana). I will likely spend 2-3 months in this region before making the journey over to South East Asia for the remaineder of 2020. There, I’ll hit up Thailand, Cambodia, Laos Vietnam and Malaysia before heading to Indonesia and Timor Leste for my birthday in October. To keep my carbon footprint low, I intend on completing the most of that period by train and on land. Hey, I may even practice some boat hitch-hiking along the way!

Following, I will work my way down from North Australia down the west coast till I get to Melbourne to spend Christmas with family in Aus. I have seen some awesome train routes through Australia on Seat 61 that I cannot wait to try!

After Christmas I’ll probably make my way to New Zealand before continuing my trip through Australia and make my way to Perth.

Finally, I plan to take one of my longest flights from Perth to Johannesburg where I face my biggest challenge. Backpacking through Africa is still wildly surprising to many so many people! My interests in black history (combined with my genetics) is the reason Africa has been top of my list for so long. No doubt there will be challenges. But I just can’t wait to start leaning amazing things and get this journey going!

Beauty in a Backpack:

Beauty in a Backpack is where I document each moment that leaves me speechless, inspired and driven to discover more about our wonderful world.

I would love for you to join me on this journey and shortly aim to have a monthly newsletter up and running!!