1 month to goooo!!!

In around a month time, we will be flying out on our adventure across the world... and I'm very excited to say the least. I cannot believe it has come around this quickly and that we have managed to save the money needed to have as much fun as possible. Although saving has been extremely difficult, I'd like to give a few tips that have made saving money this summer a little easier...

— Book flights in advanced as well as keeping an eye on them so that you can get the cheapest option.

— When it comes to shopping (particularly girls), only try to buy items which may be in use when you go away and think will they be used when you come back.

— Cancel any memberships such as leisure centre ones if they are not being used to there fullest.

— Reduce nights out...or try to pre drink lots and only take a limited amount of cash with you.

— Don't constantly eat out or buy lunch when at work, instead make some from home..this definitely saves you money in the long run.

— And finally... work bloody hard to earn as much as possible, because it is all worth it in the end when you are lying on a beach in Bali :)

Flights booked!!

Next winter, I am going travelling with my brother Jack and his girlfriend Julia. As I am taking a gap year after finishing college, I originally thought of going on a few mini-trips away, but after hearing of Jack and Julia's plans to go abroad, they suggested for me to come along on a bigger trip with them — I thought an opportunity like that could not be missed!

After speaking about different places we wanted to visit, the conclusion came to going to Bali, Australia and New Zealand. These places are all known for great surf, which is perfect for my brother and I — as long as it's not too big — and also a perfect opportunity for Julia to get some awesome footage on her camera and relive her past visits to Bali and Australia. 

A few weeks ago, we took the plunge and booked our first leg of the trip to Bali for November. Hopefully, the rest of my family including my parents and sister will be joining us out there for a few weeks over Christmas. Then once the family have gone back home, we will be flying to Australia in January and then heading to New Zealand in February. 

Let me know if you have any trips planed, or any travel tips for these places would be much appreciated.

Bali beach

Beautiful New Zealand scenery 

Sydney from above 

Morocco

In December, I travelled to Morocco with my family to take a break before the mad rush of Christmas and new year. We travelled up to London the night before catching the flight, the van fully loaded with surfboards, luggage - including half of my sisters wardrobe - and seven of us. After the long drive and restless sleep in the hotel from excitement, it was finally Saturday morning and time to fly to Morocco. Once arriving in Agadir, we faced the challenge of finding the man who was renting a car to us for the week. Whilst doing this, we were hoping that he had not lied on the phone about the car having roof racks, considering we were carrying around six surfboards. Once finding this man, we ventured to the car being approached suddenly by local men, whose jobs consisted of grabbing your luggage to help you to the car - obviously not initially mentioning that this would cost you - but this is a lesson to be learned for future reference if you want to save ten euros. Once seeing that the car did have roof racks, we all relaxed a little more and packed the car up ready to travel to the hotel. The hotel was beautiful and all-inclusive, which was great for our food loving family - and not to mention the open bar. The trip involved surfing at the popular surf spots, which Morocco has to offer such as Anchor Point, Panarama, Devils Rock and Boilers, all names which relate to their appearance. We also explored towns such as Taghazout, as well as visiting souks where we haggled with the stall holders for the best price we could get. The trip went smoothly and here are three highlights and memories of the trip:

• Being caught speeding. Although this may not sound like a highlight, it was a very amusing situation as it involved confusing the police officer as to who was the authorised driver for the rented car. We were told that mum was not allowed to drive as dad's name was on the car papers - this meant that we had to deal with slow and hesitant driving the rest of the holiday - and were sent away with a 300 Dirham (£23) charge. 
• The donuts, which are sold on the beach were a must-have! Some tried to sell them for more than others, but the general price, which we got them down to was ten dirham (76p) and they were the best donuts I ever tasted. 
• Everywhere we went to in Morocco always had animals roaming around. When eating our lunch in a café on the beach one day, there were lots of cats as well as their kittens following them. These kittens were adorable and enjoyed the occasional tip bits from the table. At Anchor Point, when the boys were surfing, three puppies and their mother approached us. These puppies enjoyed a play and a scratch, and their mother seemed to take a liking to us so much that she guarded us for the rest of the morning whilst we were sitting on the rocks. Some may say that these animals shouldn't be touched or trusted, however every one that I came across was friendlier than any animal in the UK.