I love the salt beef bagels with the sinus-singeing mustard from the yellow shop on Brick Street (which you’ll taste again if you sneeze), and I also love the clock rooms in the British Museum, and the poet Thomas Chatterton whose portraits are scattered around the capital.
I think people live their lives too quickly. Dinner can be delivered to your door in thirty minutes. Our trains are getting faster. We go to university and then into a career without any opportunity to exhale. Sometimes it’s nice to walk the long way home.
So I leave my job in July with £6,500 in my pocket and all of planet earth to explore.
UPDATE JUNE 2015: I am living and working on Koh Tao as a divemaster. I can’t decide whether I like this island or not. It’s kinda like the time I put strawberry syrup in a cup of tea, except with dirty beaches and rude tourists. Either way, I’m earning enough to support myself AND save for more travelling, while enjoying cheap iced tea, so I suppose life is pretty great.
Godspeed To A Mighty Balloon 
Hello! That sounds fascinating! Will stop by to read more soon! Enjoy your walk! Regards.
Thanks for liking a post on my blog. I am loving yours. Glad I found it!!
That’s sounds like a amazing (and courageous!) experience! I’m excited about reading more of it…
Lana – Thanks for stopping by my blog, and liking my last post. Are you Turkish, or was that just a visit you made there? I ask because my gf has an uncle from Turkey, and she herself visited there about 4-5 years ago. I also have an actor colleague of mine who just returned from almost a year in Turkey, teaching English in Istanbul.
Ah, it was a short visit to try out the ‘travelling’ thing. I’m from The UK/Japan originally. Turkey is a beautiful country though, and the people are lovely!
Hi Lana!
Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier today.
I must say, I’m loving yours too and most importantly your humorous writing style. Can almost taste that Canjica pudding haha.
Will definitely be back to read your posts!
Tariq
OK, that is the most intriguing “about” I have read. I’m waiting to see how you move on… love your perspective.
Good for you. In 2008 my wife and I did the same. We both loved Turkey and trekked along the Lycian Way for 500km. Awesome. Thanks for sharing your travel tales. Ken.
The Lycian Way was my favourite bit of Turkey. We only followed it for a very short way, but I’d love to go back and do more.. maybe a little earlier in the year. The late April weather was great for sea swimming, but not so much for long hikes through fields with very little shade!
Well said.Enjoy the journey and I look forward to following you.
Very nice “about” theme. Your thoughts and beliefs of people live their fast is very true. My wife and I are both teachers on holiday for seven weeks, a welcome break. Two and a half weeks are gone, where? Must slow down and enjoy the moment. Thanks
Wow.. That is great. You know I want to do that too, leave my job for few months or an year , go out and see the world. But the same excuse everytime, responsibilities. You are impressive, I hope I will get the encouragement looking at your blog. I will be a follower now.
All the best, keep sharing. I hope to meet you sometime somewhere in the UK 🙂
Cheers,
Aanchal
Hi! I love your photography style. Best of luck to you on your adventures!
~ Debs
Enjoying your journey through your images. Have fun!
That’s brave! Super photos.
Oh, how fun this is! The photos are great, the second person narrative is engaging. Thank you!
You have an old soul. Bless it, go have some fun.
Thank you for dropping by! I love people like you who go for what soothes your soul…safe travels!
Thanks for your like. Dropped by to take a peek at your world. Looks like an interesting venture (and blog). I’ve done a lot of traveling (and living) now age is slowing me down a bit. Think I’ll hang around and follow your adventures, nothing like discovering “new worlds”. Bon voages!
Hi Lana…
Really enjoying your blog. My favorite line (I think it sums up the whole experience) “Sometimes it’s nice to walk the long way home”.
Happy Trails!!
PC
Hi Lana, loved your writing. Looking forward for more. Wish you a happy life ahead! way to go!
Nice blog! Inspiring adventures and beautiful photography 🙂
Lana, love your blog. Thank you for stopping by and introducing my to your blog.
Hi Lana, loved your writing, beautiful photography and your journey. SO you are in UK now and i am wondering that why dont you head to South East Asia a rich culture and mystery place. Anw: Have fun and enjoy your trip ^^ .
Lana! What a true claim – the world is too fast and it is far too easy to get “stuck” in the hustle.
I wish you only the best on your long walk home; I am sure that your travels will become an amazing part of you.
Take wonderful photos and the best of travels to you!
Tori
Inspiring!
Thank you so much for a) deleting! and b) not judging in the first place! Very kind.
Aha, no problem my friend 😉
Hey, Lana. I’m already creeping on you and have read 4 posts in the past 5 minutes. 😛 Very absorbing reads. I’m a new blogger and I’m still getting the hang of it and I have to say, it’s immensely satisfying when you write down what you have in mind. See you around on the interwebs.
Hi 🙂 just found your blog and really like it! I’m new to blogging and just wondering whether you have any advice as to how to get followers and people reading your blog? 🙂
I’m far from an expert.. but quality over quantity, posting at least once a week and also being active in the general WordPress community is a good start.
Good luck with the blog, and hope results day went well for you!
it needs a lot of courage to follow your heart and do what you always wanted to and feel the magic. I have been in the same process and working on my dream. Enjoy the evening 🙂
Hey! I’ve just been looking through a few of your blog posts, and you’re certainly a great writer and photographer. My sister lived in Turkey for a year and we got to see a few of the places you mentioned, what a country!! Another reason for getting in touch is to ask for your advice. I’ve been lucky enough to travel a lot, and I’ve recently begun writing about it at http://www.travellivedream.com and so I wanted to ask how have you developed such a large following? I have about 30 followers and you have loads, which is amazing! Any words of advice would be much appreciated! I don’t plan on making a career out of writing or anything, I just love having adventures and sharing them with the world! Thanks, Tom
Hey Tom! I really like your stuff, especially the Sri Lanka posts- that YMCA sounds awesome.
In short, I was Freshly Pressed, put on the Recommended Blogs list and had a ton of people reblog/link back to my stuff quite early on.
Also most of my followers are going to be spam/people wanting me to follow them back, so my actual following is a lot smaller. Make sure you look into SEO, tag properly (you can use up to 15 including categories) and don’t give up!
Thanks for the advice! I hope everything continues to go well for you!
Oi you awesome pants – I’ve just joined this new network bloggy thingy and think you may potentially possible like it. If not, throw a cake at me 😀 http://www.internationalbloggersassociation.com/certification/
Hello awesomer pants!
Have you noticed a change or have you only just joined? I don’t remember seeing that badge on your site yesterday!
I just joined. It may be because it looks cool, I feel like part of secret blogger sect. But also, I’m only sitting on about 220 followers and get excited when my views hit, well, anywhere past 100. Should we move our conversations to slightly less public forums perhaps?
And my pants may be awesomer, but that is simply because *looks around*… İm not wearing any.
Well I never wear any so lets carry on this conversation…. And my followers per day are a lot less than that so lets talk! Haha
I do believe it’s healthier to not wear underwear.. encourages circulation of air.
I agree! I have a technical question for you: When I receive an email with you most recent blog post, it just shows me the beginning of the text, and then takes me to your full site to read the rest. How did you set this up? When my followers receive an email with my latest post, it shows the whole text and so they don’t go to my full site to read it. Any ideas? Any advice is always appreciated! Thanks! 🙂
Someone else asked me and in all honesty.. I’m not really sure. Possibly it is because I selected ‘show excerpt’ instead of ‘show full text’ in my reading settings, or it’s something to do with the fact that I put ‘read more’ breaks in my posts. Give that a try perhaps?
Thanks for the quick reply. Sorry if I’m being really dumb, but I can’t find a ‘show excerpt’ option or a ‘show full text’ option on my dashboard, any ideas? And how did you insert ‘read more’ links in your posts? Thanks again for all your help!
Don’t worry, you’re not being dumb. It took me forever to find these things and also what I said was slightly wrong.
(assuming you’re on mobile)
Go to your dashboard, hover over settings and click reading. Then, next to “For each article in a feed, show” select “summary” instead of “full text”. Then save changes at the bottom of the page.
The read more button is top row and third from the right (fourth from the right if you’re using the new editor) on the editing toolbar. It looks like two dark lines with a dotted line between them. Found this one by accident actually.
Hope that made sense 😉
Yep that all made perfect sense! Hopefully my next post it all works out! Thanks! 🙂
Hello Lana, thank you for the like on my most recent post – it was a real hard one to write as I haven’t written in so long! Serious writer’s block… I’m loving your blog, especially the theme, I’m always looking for more travel blogs to follow. 🙂
Wrestling with Wanderlust is such an intriguing name (and I think it sums up your blog perfectly).
Hope things continue to get better for you! Onwards and upwards (or downwards?).
Check out mine if you get the chance! 🙂 I’m just about to leave oz after a few years living there so at the other end of the scale from you! Thought your was really insightful by the way.
Really nice blog, enjoyed reading a few articles. 🙂 I am just wandering how you managed to write that much in just a few month, dude. That’s awesome! I’ve hardly time time to find time and space to write, always on the move: Keep it up, mate! Cheers
Hi Lana, I’ve been checking your blog and its pretty nice!! I can say Im related with your experience and I think its pretty awesome what you are doing. Thank you also for liking my post about Mexican road trips its nice to get some feed back about my writing. Thanks again and hope to read more from you soon!!
Hi! I’ve just started reading your blogs. They’re witty and very descriptive. Thanks for taking that initial leap of faith and for sharing your travel experiences.
Hi, saw your blog on the recommended list by WordPress and I love it. I don’t see that you’ve been to the Philippines though so just sending you a little note in case it comes up in your bucket list for 2015. Here are my blogs for your reference – https://backpackingincebuphilippines.wordpress.com & misunderstood33.blogspot.com.
Thanks and happy travels! 🙂
Hi there! We love your stories and have just nominated you for a “Very Inspiring Blog” Award! To accept, here’s what you’ve got to do: http://rosesontheroad.wordpress.com/2015/01/09/we-won-a-very-inspiring-blogger-award/ 🙂
I am privileged to have connected with you. My wordpress blog Tales of a Migrant https://migrantpen.wordpress.com/ is new so I have to dig and it’s refreshing to know that yours is inspiring. Keep up the good work. Take care.
[…] Godspeed to A Mighty Balloon […]
The lighter side of this site is to not include the ordinary stories about places. It is reflecting the streets and steps. That’s why I enjoy, when I read. Hope to see more posts
Thank you very much!
Gotta say, this blog is definitely worth the follow – great job, loving all the beautiful photography and stories! 🙂
Apart from my blog, I’ve got a project called Showzee (http://www.showzee.com) that might definitely interest you, take a look and if you fancy it, request an invite and I’ll fast track you!
Hi Lana, I just wanted to let you know that I’ve invited you to join the currently circulating ‘blog hop’ for travel bloggers. No pressure, just if you feel like it.
http://alisonanddon.com/2015/02/02/behind-the-scenes-at-adventures-in-wonderland/
Cheers, and happy travels,
Alison
Ooh my, a nomination from a proper blogger.. thanks!
My harddrive is dying and left me unable to edit any of my photographs. I may just get round to posting a ‘behind the scenes’!
But but but . . . . . you’re a proper blogger! You’re on WP’s list of recommended travel blogs, and you’ve been Freshly Pressed, and you have more followers than I do! I think that qualifies you as a proper blogger 🙂
Sorry to hear about your hardware – may new and better come your way soon!
Alison
And thanks for the follow! I hope you enjoy the stories of our journey.
Cheers, and happy hardware hunting 🙂
Alison
I couldn’t agree more, with advances in technology life is moving too fast. People are missing opportunities to connect and experience life the way it was meant to lived. Love the blog, I can’t wait to read more about your adventures in Thailand – I’m dying to visit!
– Brandon
COOL! I did this in 2009 – quit my job and took off traveling!
Agreed!! Kudos to you for taking the time to explore life.
Hey, I love your blog! I’m leaving for Thailand on the 8th May and this has been a great help. Safe travels!
Yay! Where are you now?
Hey great blog. I spent some time in south east asia and the posts brought back some great memories. I made the mistake of going with a tour group though so we were always hustled along and raced through everything. I’m looking forward to a slow and laid back approach to traveling in the new year when my wife and I head through south america. If you’re looking for a nice slow paced and quirky place to visit come to Yellowknife in northern Canada 🙂
I love your blog and your adventures. I love the way you look at travelling. For me there is nothing that travelling can’t cure, even a broken heart. Wish you well in all your journeys.
Travelling to cure a broken heart.. oh yes! Thanks for the comment, and best of luck in your adventures too!