A true french meal: a baguette, a jar of mustard mayonaise, a pack of emmental cheese.
Cost: around 5 euro, with the mayo and cheese doing the next day’s lunch too

Laura and I went to find some lunch to enjoy in the sun on the side of the canal. We stopped at a boulangerie first, and I picked up a black baguette. After doing some research, it’s black because of the addition of charcoal. It just tasted like a normal baguette. We nipped into a Carrefour where I got the mustard mayonaise and the emmental, and also an Orangina and a packet of Prince sandwich biscuits. We found our way back to the canal and sat to enjoy our feast. The baguette was wonderfully soft inside, the mustard mayo had so much flavour of both good eggy mayo and dijon mustard, the emmental was plasticy and plain. A true french meal. And, honestly, my favourite meal in Paris.

It was so good, I had the same thing the next day sat in the sun in the Jardin du Luxembourg.

How do you prepare for a trip like this?

I knew I wanted a gap year very early on, in sixth form, but decided to do a post-uni one instead of the usual pre-uni. Any travel I did during uni cemented the idea that I absolutely wanted to have a year to travel before starting life. I got my training contract and asked for it to be delayed a year, they agreed and here we are! This trip was originally planned for straight after uni, so 2020. For obvious reasons it’s now happening this year, in 2022! I’m very lucky to have been able to postpone it 2 years without any major issues, being able to do my law conversion studying in the meantime. But now it’s finally time to go!

The idea for this trip came from watching the BBC show Race Across the World (I’d highly recommend). The first season saw the teams racing from London to Bangkok without flying. The actual travelling looked amazing and I thought the idea was a cool one - on both an environmental and slow travel level. So the location of my gap year was decided pretty easily.

Actual preparations have been sparse. I worked out a very rough route with some even rougher timings to check seasons were okay (no monsoons thank you) and that it was actually possible to cross certain borders. I looked into the countries and found some things I’d definitely like to see/do, but I’ve left most of that sort of thing to later. I’ll have plenty of time to look into stuff whilst travelling, and can get recommendations from people I meet on the way. I sorted my vaccinations and travel insurance. I brought a new bag (see below for more packing insights). I contacted my first workaway host for when I’m in Switzerland. About a month before I left I booked transport to Paris and a hostel for two nights. And that’s it!

I love packing

Said no one literally ever. And definitely not me. But I have actually loved packing for this trip. Something about carefully choosing the only items you’re going to have with you for the next year is oddly satisfying. I thought it might be interesting to share my packing list. A little amuse bouche before the travel posts begin.

What’s in my bag?

The final bag…

My bag is the Osprey Fairview 55 litres. It includes a day pack that attaches to the main bag.
I’m also taking a small cross-body bag.

So there we are, packed and ready to go!
I’ll have to buy some warmer clothes when I move into colder climates, and perhaps some hiking boots, but hopefully this will have me sorted for the first 6 months.

My name is Meg. I’m travelling for the next 12 months, from England to Thailand across land. I wanted a place to properly record this trip - no highlight reel and no restraints. Complete freedom on what I write about, and a chance to actually write. Who knows what this blog will include, but definitely don’t expect consistency or beautiful prose.

You’re very welcome to join me on the evolution of this page and, more importantly, my trip.

Route plan:

Disclaimer: You might note that my route goes through a few war zones, but don’t worry I’m not completely insane! If they are still not great places to travel through (I’m not holding my breath), I will fly over them. Currently it’s looking like I’ll be flying from Uzbekistan to Nepal, and from Nepal to Thailand.

Leaning into the travelling hippy vibe

When I notice a full moon I make a mental note of where I am, I think back to where I was on the last one, and I think forward to where I might be on the next one. It takes all of 1 minute to do but it’s a nice moment of reflection. The world moves in cycles, and so do we. Noticing the little cycles specific to you are a personal, private affair, but observing the huge cycle of the moon seems like one that should be shared. So I plan on doing my personal piece of reflection on noticing a full moon in this space!

Expect a short:

1. this is where I am now;
2. this is where I was on the last one;
3. and this is where I think I might be on the next one.

It might lead to some interesting reflections, or just show how little forward planning I’m doing on this trip when my future prediction is completely wrong!

Is this a food blog too?

This is a travel blog sure, but what’s travelling without eating a lot of amazing food? So this is the space for all things food related. I’m imaginging descriptions of certain meals so vivid you can taste them; recipes for said meals; and descriptions of my own creations and other strange foods I’ve turned to for sustenance as I remember I’m travelling on a budget.

If you have any food recommendations, of delicacies I absolutely have to try in certain countries, please DM me: meg.co7 (instagram)!

Won’t you get lonely travelling alone?

The great misunderstanding of what travelling alone means! As I’ve happily explained to several people recently, travelling alone doesn’t mean I’m going to be alone. In fact, I’ll probably be with people most of the time. The people I meet will form as important part of my memories of this trip as the sights I see. I truly love meeting new people, hearing about their lives and getting to know them. I’d like to record these experiences, sharing people’s lives along with my other travel experiences (with permission of course!).

Expect some Humans of New York style pieces here.

Did you know I studied biology?

Although I graduated from my biology degree in 2020 and have been studying law since, I still have an interest in biology. So I’m of course going to include some biology posts in this blog. Expect a deep dive into common plants I’ve noticed in certain areas, or beautiful birds I’ve seen, or just some general observational ramblings.