Hello World!

So……. Dad asked me to write a relatively small blog post explaining everything about us going overseas. Can you believe that we will be boarding a plane in just over a month?

This trip has been on our calendar for six years ever since Nanny and Pa decided that they wanted to do something for their consecutive years turning 70.  Nanny has always wanted to spend two weeks in France and once she found Vence that was it. I’m sure you know the story, how our family and my aunt, uncle and cousins built a massive holiday around our time spent in France. It is nearly here and I don’t think that I have ever been more excited about something like this. Even though this our family travel blog, I hope to be able to do something great, to reveal my excitement, apprehension and so much more into this blog. After all, this is kind of a practice run. I would like to have my own blog one day.
I think I should start by telling you a little about myself. As you already know I’m Amelia Ingram, I’m thirteen-years-old and in Year Seven. (Soon to be Year Eight though!) I’m passionate about many things, one of the main things being photography. I love how you can explore hidden things that are almost naked to the human eye through the lens of a camera (like the minuscule cracks woven into a leaf or the tiny delicate wings of a dragonfly). I hope to be taking some amazing photos while in Europe and America and further benefiting my skills. I also love English. Writing or reading imaginative stories has for a long time been my emotional outlet and a great time-passer. I have already downloaded many iBook’s on my iPad and phone for Europe. Another thing I’m passionate about is Harry Potter. Ever since I started reading the books when I was six, I have been hooked.

Fun Fact – I have read the whole Harry Potter series three times and watched the movies several times each.

I’m also passionate about animals. I always have been, it is one of the reasons that I have wanted to be a vet since I was only four-years-old. Crazy, right?
In the last six years, a lot of thinking has taken place. Not only about where we are going, but what we are going to go and who we are going to see. Our family has held many full-day family meetings, planning everything. I honestly can’t believe it is nearly here. The things that I’m most looking forward to seeing are war memorials, iconic landmarks and the varying cultures in each country. I have learnt French for the last three years and I’m really looking forward to being able to speak French in France. I believe being able to speak French in France will help with my conversational French, which will help next year in my French studies.

Packing. How do I fit nine weeks worth of clothes into one suitcase and still somehow be able to keep clean? Many hours spent in Kathmandu and Macpac is how. I think over the course of the last year I have spent a million hours in those two stores. I’m obviously not exaggerating at all. Well, maybe not millions of hours in Kathmandu and Macpac but it certainly feels like it sometimes. Constantly trying on thermals, merino and hiking boots, us as a family have experienced it all. We have bought little travel-sized bottles of shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, you name it we probably have it. We have even done a full pack of everything we would be taking. It was a bit stressful trying to find everything but we have packed everything and collected the things we use on an everyday basis. Shopping for Europe has given Hamish and me a hindsight into the traveller’s life as well as other lessons we probably will never forget.

Along with the excitement of going to Europe, I have also had to deal with the more negative connotations of going away like the recent terrorist attacks or what happens when you are accidentally being separated from your family. Thanks to YouTube channels like Wolter’s World and others, Hamish and I understand what to do if we are accidentally separated from mum and dad. Get off at the next stop (if we are on a train) and most importantly stay in the same spot. There are things I’m apprehensive about but so much more that I’m excited about.

Thank you for reading. I hope to further share my experience in Europe with you.