One year on...

Hello peeps!

Long time no see! How have you been my friends? Have things changed in your life? Did you decide to pack a bag and go on an adventure? So many questions! But I am happy to see you again my lovely peeps :)

Still kicking :)

I thought today would be the perfect opportunity to reconnect with you all, as this is a bit of a special day for me - one year ago I was bidding farewell to Sri Lanka with a last meal from Mister Biryani and a last look around my room to make sure everything was packed and ready for the 4 am taxi taking me to the long flight back to London.

This was the end of trip and I was heading back home. Back to London. The city I had come to call mine when talking to my fellow backpackers and the locals I met over the previous 18 months. The place I was looking forward to embrace like a long lost friend and settle back in for the foreseeable future. MY HOME.

London... in August... yes...

One year on and I am still convinced I made the right choice. I love London, I hate London and I love it back all over again every single day! I will moan about the traffic, the trains being late, how expensive everything is, the bloody weather and the intricacies of the current political landscape but I'll be damned if I let anyone not from here call me out on the same things!
One year on and I have skipped the "reverse culture shock" to meshed right back in. Not back to my old life - no, no, no, that I was happy to leave behind! - but I got back to the things I had come to appreciate about the city while I was away.

So, what I have been up to since I came back?

To start, I got myself a job. Actually, I got myself more than just another job - I set my own business and I am now a freelance project manager, oh yeah baby! I figured out working on my own terms would be killing two birds with one stone:
1. I would cross off one item from my bucket list - setting up my own business
2. I would be able to take time off in between contracts to feed the wanderlust bug I picked up. My aim is to work for 9 months of the year and backpack for the remaining 3. That way I still get to travel to my heart's content without having to come back to an empty bank account.

2hrs10min - not bad for a first sprint triathlon

I have well and truly started on the path that will take me to an Ironman race by the time I am 40 - I did a sprint Triathlon last September and am also a proud member of the Thames Turbo Triathlon club. Go Turbos!

I have been on a few dates. Well yes my lovelies, that is a sexy girl you are looking at :)
Not that anything conclusive has come out of these, but one can still enjoy meeting up new people... I am still looking for my special someone so any pointers as to where special someones are hiding will be very much appreciated - please use comment box below!

I tried hardcore vegetarianism, been full on carnivorous and finally settled for being a flexaterian. I am still avoiding dairy though - not good for me ol' tummy, not good at all!

Garlic and herbs...

I have been experimenting with my baking skills - a lot! Banana chocolate cakes, ginger cakes, bread, the whole lot. I was even toying with the idea of going pro but the working hours are horrendous!





I have now settled down in a pretty little corner of London and I am planning to get my own place within the next 2 years - better start saving now!

All in all, yours truly has been a busy little bee. But I would not be myself if I did not think things could be somehow improved from where they are now...

You see today, I got a bit scared. Looking back on the past 12 months I realised how easy it would be to slip into a routine of work-train-sleep and let time go by. Do not get me wrong, I am proud of everything I have achieved since I came back - but I feel there is room for improvement and I want to make sure that one year from now, I can still wholeheartedly say that YES, coming back to London was the right choice.

Things are still bubbling in that old head of mine and I am close to come to a plan to achieve this goal. Bear with me for another couple of weeks and all will be unveiled. I promise it will be worth the wait ;)

That's it for now. It was lovely seeing you, do come again!

A view I can never get tired of...

In da funk?

Hello peeps!

I made it round and came back in one piece!  I am home now, and it feels good - catching up with friends and having a taster of the English summer for a few days. I even brought back with me that fresh perspective I was hoping to find during my travels. All is well, now time to pull my sleeves up and get stuck in - I need a job...

The eagle has landed
Image courtesy of artur84 / Freedigitalphotos.net

If you are like me, freshly arrived and full of bordering-on-maniac energy, you start experiencing a little funk right about... now!

Worry not, peeps, you are not alone. In this post I will share a few tips to help keep da funk away and keep moral up while job hunting when returning home after your travels.

Before going any further though, stop a moment and take stock of what you have just done.

Hopefully you did not get mugged, assaulted, impossibly lost or taken hostage - or any of the other things you were worried about when you sat in the plane that would take you to yonder way so many months ago.

My worst fear was getting ill. I did and I was on my own but I managed. I might never go back to Vietnam because of this unfortunate memory, but I survived. Very close second was bed bugs. I was absolutely paranoid about getting bitten. I got eaten alive, twice, but again I survived.

Whatever your horror stories, you survived. You are a hell of a lot more resilient than you give yourself credit for!

So now you are back, and things are bound to be very busy for the first few days.

My to do list seemed endless - pick up the car from the garage, deal with the flat battery, sort out car insurance, MOT and servicing, fight off the cold nibbling at my little feet, update LinkedIn, register for the job seeker  allowance - and get told I cannot get anything for the next 3 months, arrange to sleep at friends, comb through the job boards... I have indeed been busy enough to run away from da funk.

Chances are though, once you are a bit more settled, da funk will somehow manage to catch up. The weather is a bit miserable and definitely colder, the meager remains of your saving are melting away, you are still trying to figure out what kind of jobs to apply for and the turn over of new vacancies advertised is unfortunately quite low.

You are stuck, and moral is noticeably taking a plunge. But, remember, you are more resilient than you give yourself credit for!

There is not much you can do about the job market, once you have done all the network activation, contact reaching out and applications you can do. You just have to sit tight and wait for answers and new ads to come up, no other choice.

The choice is somewhere else though - leave da funk take over and curl up on the sofa, or start moving again and run away from it. Here are my top 5 tips to start moving again:


1. Looking for a job is a full time job

Obviously, you will have to spend a lot of time on this - specially if you need to start working soon-ish! Job hunting should be your main daily activity, almost like a 9-to-5 kind of schedule.
Online job boards are a great tool, but networking with recruiters/friends/old colleagues is also very helpful. After all, two, three or more pairs of eyes are better than one when looking for something. I would advise to spread your time 2/3 online and 1/3 networking, adjusting the ratio as needed.

2. Make a plan - everybody loves a good plan!

Mapping out an action plan usually helps with calming the little panic troll in your brain as you feel more in control of events, so plan for different scenarios:

- Plan A, deadline highlighted in the calendar: focus is entirely on the 'perfect job', what is is, how you plan on finding it and how long you allow. How long you spend on plan A will entirely depend on how urgently you need to start earning again.

- Plan B, with deadline: still includes a part of looking for that perfect job, but the focus will have to shift to widen the scope of your search. That could be looking for part time jobs, contracts or more junior positions.

- Plan C, with deadline: now you need to do some lateral thinking to widen further the scope of your search - other industry, further afield, re-training... This is crunch time! By now, you should be qualifying for job seeker help from your local Job Centre so make full use of it.

Job search action plan
Image courtesy of Luigi Diamanti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

3. Get some exercise

As much as curling up on that sofa and watching movies all day sounds appealing, go out of the house and do some exercise. On top of helping with letting some steam off, exercise gets you tired so you sleep better at nigh, rather than tossing and turning in bed worrying about things beyond your control.
Having challenged a friend to a half Ironman next year, I decided to join the local Triathlon club and start training for the event. Hello, endorphin rush!

4. Have some 'me time'

Go on, curl up, watch movies, go shopping, have your hair done, do the crazy dance listening to the radio, bake, catch up with friends, go to the museum...

Add a little of TLC
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There should be something to look forward to, if not everyday at least twice times a week.

5. Keep things in perspective

Unless your parents own a business and take you on straight away, it WILL take more than a couple of weeks to find a job. Also, getting your applications rejected time after time is stressful and disheartening, but again, try keep in mind that you will eventually get into employment. It might take longer than you would want, and it might not be your dream job, but it is money in the bank. Which brings me to...


(Cheeky) 6. Get ready to go again


If things really do not work out for you, how about packing your bags again and head back out travelling? Life is too short to be spent in a job you hate any longer than is necessary to save up a few quids and go again.
I am giving myself 6 months to get my perfect job. If not, I will just get whatever cash I can from a part time job and go travelling again. Better to sleep in a dorm and eat street food in Indonesia than spend winter in London :)

All packed, including the Milo :)

Last word...

Unless you are coming back to a job you already sorted out, it will not be a walk in the park. Any long term return back home will require a job hunt and it will take time to feel comfortable again - you are looking for a job, a flat, new habits, a social circle. But then again, you have done just that many times over, and on top of it, you had to learn new currency exchange rates and snippets of a new language!
So do not let the funk get you down though. Most of us have been through the same and have come out of it better off.

It was all worth it!

I am now going to follow my own advice. Wish me luck :)