Introduction
Sophia always wanted to travel. When she wins an opportunity to spend 3 months travelling throughout Europe, writing about her experiences. She leapt at the chance and packed her bags ready to hit the open road. What will the next 3 months bring her, she had for the first time no money thought keeping her back or any responsibilities waiting for her. She was finally free. With her mum set up with her new and for the first time respectful man and her baby sister off to Australia to start her new life. She could finally stop worrying about others and begin to chase her dreams. There was nothing holder her back. And she was ready to face the world, head on.
A Travelling girls mission to finding herself
Sophia always wanted to travel. Ever since meeting a foreign exchange student from Spain when she was 6. Isabelle had been working with her primary school and was there teaching the children some basic Spanish. She remembers the thrill of hearing about someone else’s culture and found listening to a new language fascinating and beautiful. The travel bug had truly set in when she first got the chance to cross the channel and visit France on her summer vacation with her family. That summer was the best time of her life, she never wanted the experience to come to an end. But it did, and those family days spent with her parents and baby sister came to an abrupt end.
Shortly after that summer the family finally fell apart with rumours of her dad’s affair coming to light. An innocence was lost that summer and would not be back. Sophia quickly had to learn what it was to be an adult, but she went into adulthood promising herself at all times that she would one day find the time to travel. One day, some way, she would get there. Or so she thought.
Years flew by and no plane ticket bought. Between taking care of her mum and sister, school, part time jobs, university and then the world of work. There was just never time. So how is it that Sophia is now cramped into a small space staring blankly out of the airplane window awaiting nervously for the sound of the engines to start.
When Sophia sent that rough draft over three months ago. Which she had completely forgot about when she had a phone call, 2 weeks prior. She found out that her submission of a short travel story had caught the attention of the judges and she was now being offered the chance to go off for 3 months travelling and writing for the Travelling times. She couldn’t believe her luck. But as she sat there the over whelming fear of failure crept over her. Will she make it on her own, how will travelling suit her, will she be able to set herself up as a travel writer or will it just be a 3-month thing that’ll come to an end. And to top it all off she’s going to be alone, for the first time in her life. No one to look to her for support or need to lean on her. She was putting herself first for once and it felt pretty..damn...scary!
