1

What ifs mean nothing.

You may end up moving to Aus, meeting someone who's also been thinking of starting a band and start one together then become a superstar. You may get to New Zealand and meet the love of your life. You may get to SEAsia meet someone, tell them about your dream of starting a sewing business and they like the idea and decide to invest in it giving it the boost it needs to succeed....

You may stay home and find yourself a year down the road finding that you're in the same place you are now, nothing has changed and you're wishing like hell you'd gone to see a bit of the world. Yes your friends may move away in a year's time but you may have new friends.

Getting cold feet is normal but just remember - we regret what we don't do more than what we do do.

Oh and I'm pretty sure they have guitars and sewing machines in Australia so if you're planning on being there for a while you can always get one of each.

2

Your right, everything will have changed when you get back. Everyone will barely notice you have gone and life will go on as normal for everyone else. When you get back people will have graduated, got jobs starting buying houses and cars etc. Most people will ask you how your trip was and expect a one sentence answer and then carry on like you had never left. I dont however see how a year away will somehow stop you in your ventures of sewing and guitar though and you will probably end up with an experience that most people will never have and i havent come accross anyone yet that regretted travelling!

3

Stay at home while everone settles down to a 9 to 5, a house, a partner and kids. No way. That option will still be there when you get back, so will your friends. You are young, you have the rest of your life to sit around wishing you were somewhere else.

4

Jim's answer (at least the first part) may be pretty pessimistic but it is also very realistic..........

I agree with the second ,less pessimistic part of his answer too ;-)

5

That's a very good point above. If you are a creative person the best thing you could do to nourish that creativity is go out and travel and see what else is out there to get inspiration.

6

Thanks :) the point that we regret more what we don't do than what we do is great, life will still be here when I get back. I'm getting excited again! I just don't know how easy it is going to be to pack around a guitar everywhere... I was already planning on bring my hula hoop (it's collapsable) so I don't really want to be bogged with to much stuff... or be that loser newb traveller that's packing a bunch of stuff too haha

7

Yeah i would leave it at home

8

Yes, I'd leave your guitar and hoola hoop at home. You can pick up a guitar anywhere, and if you don't have one it has he added benefit that you won't be tempted to play bloody Beatles songs at 4 in the morning whilst pissed. Ha ha. My memories of Cusco are poisoned by some lovely Argentine lads singing Hey Jude whilst wrecked. I'm from Liverpool, you can't move here for buskers playing their songs and what happens when you travel to the other side of the world????? (Sorry, I'm not really moaning, it was quite funny).

9

One of my favourite memories of Peru is someone working through the entire Led Zeppelin back catalogue on a pan flute.

10

One of my favourite memories of Prague was an Umpah band playing Yellow Submarine when they heard we were from Liverpool, not just the Beatles but one of their daftest songs. They didn't know any Carcass, who are nealy from Liverpool.

11

Have to concur with the posts encouraging you to go to give you inspiration and new creative ideas, just imagine all the vibrant colours and different materials you will see out on your travels and all the different musical influences you will be exposed to. I love creative writing and I can't wait to hit the road to give me some new ideas and inspiration and to finally get started on the novel I've been promising myself I would write since I was younger.

It's normal to feel nervous ahead of a big change in your life, but ask around every single person I know of that has gone travelling has never regretted it and it has opened up so many opportunities and ideas they would never have thought about before! the world is your oyster....go out there and catch it! xxx

12

no debate over the hoop, that thing is definitely coming with me. I'm sure I'm not going to be out having crazy adventures and fun all the time, I need SOMETHING to do on the off time. and supposing I stumble upon some random acts of music or bonfires or music festivals or other fun times where I wish I could dance to some music? nope definitely coming. it collapses to about the size of a steering wheel, so it's not really going to take up a whole lot of room :)

and if I did have an instrument there'd be no beatle songs coming from me haha I play more electric than acoustic, which is whyyyy I'm worried because I won't have it with me so I can't keep practicing. you can improve a lot in a year. and you can really suck when you pick it up again too. I used to play violin and then stopped for a year, now I cringe every time I pick it up because I can't stand how much I suck now, I used to be pretty good. I'm the kind of person that devotes myself to my hobbies and practicing and improving, and the idea that I won't be able to practice everything everyday is scary. scarier even than having no friends left when I come back... I sew, I draw, I hula hoop, I play the guitar, bass and the violin, and I'm missing out on valuable practice time not having any of those with me. I know that sounds really lame, that I'm scared to go see the world because I'd rather hang out in my basement and play music but that's just who I am, and just when I started getting good at all of this stuff I've now decided that I'm going to forget everything I learned and go vagabond. I know that given a few months of playing, I'll be back in shape but I won't be any better though.

Music is really, REALLY important to me, and I don't know how I'm going to leave it behind. Ya I could get another smaller instrument like a pan flute or a ukulele or something but that's not going to help me stay in shape for my other instruments, and there's no way I can bring them all with me! I'd really like to start getting a little more serious with the music too, which is why I'm really anxious about all this. I know that it's going to be a great experience and I will really regret not going, but I know that I'm going to get home, pick up my instruments and think "man I could be this much better if I had another year of playing under my belt".

Haha I felt pretty lame typing that all out, I guess to some that probably seems like a lame reason to not do something, but 'tis the truth.

13

Again as said above, the best thing you could do for your creative juices to flow is go see the world - though, granted, you'd probably get more out of it if you went to different culture, China, India, Africa.... that kind of thing. But even Aus and NZ and certainly SEAsia will be good.

14

hahahaha ya I know I know, man I just need to get over there and start this trip so I can quit stressing! 3 more weeks!