Changes to my South Pacific trip?

A lot of people have asked me, is there anything you would do differently if you could do it all again.

My first thoughts and answers were no, but as my time on my trip moved on and since I am home there are only a FEW things that I would do differently.

1.) Re-choose what I would pack for clothing and other items

2.) Keep my regular plan for my trip in Australia

3.) Shorten some time spend in certain areas and extend in others

4.) Purchased a larger cooler

5.) Travel alone for longer

So lets start with #1, re-choose what I would pack. When I first started my packing list, I did tons of research online as to what people brought with them and what they left behind, anything they thought was pretty useless to bring and so forth, and I based a lot of what I brought with me on that.

I purchased the packing cubes which were a totally worth it, so invest in them! It makes trying to find clothing so much easier when you are looking for things, underwear, socks whatever.

• Sports bras, I packed 3, could of done 4 which would have been better but 3 worked just fine.

• SOCKS!!! I used a lot of them and had packed about 7 pairs and it was perfect.

• Underwear, I packed about 10, briefs and thongs depending on what was best for the outfit of course (lol)

• Shirts/Tanks: this is where I really wish I packed differently. I packed 4 "nice tanks" to wear for out to dinner or a bar or what not but I only wore them a hand full of times, i would have been better off with 2, end of story. One semi dressy, one casual.

• As for shirts/tanks I chose to do things a bit differently. I packed a lot of wick wicking clothing since it dries faster when wet and doesn't wrinkle. (that is a major plus). I packed probably 5 of the tanks and 3 shirts. This worked BUT, had i packed less of the other tanks as mentioned above, I could of done more of these which would of been good for longer stretches of not doing laundry.

• Shorts...here is something else I would change! I brought 2 pairs of "jean" shorts, one black and one tan. I would only have brought 1 pair that is it cause I didn't really wear them. I did bring 2 spandex black skorts which I wore everywhere! They probably got the most wear other than the pair of black workout capris I brought. I would have brought 2 pairs of the workout capris, 3 shorts/skorts, 1 nice short and then 1 pair of long pants.

#2

I had originally planned on flying into Melbourne and driving from there to Sydney then up the coast to Brisbane and then up to Cairns. Yes that would have been a lot of driving but I enjoy it and checking out all of the scenery. A lot of the people I met along the way said the gold coast is beautiful and I should have checked out the Whitsundays. So that is one thing I am bummed I didn't get to do.

#3

I spent a week in Fiji, 1 week in Melbourne, Sydney, Darwin (area) and Alice Springs (area) and only a few days in Cairns.

I could easily done more time in Fiji, but that isn't my focus this time.

A week was good in Melbourne and the surrounding area so that was nice.

Sydney.....I am not a huge fan of that area, there is a lot to do but I want to see more than just a city. So I would do less time there, maybe 4 days or so.

Darwin...OK, this is tricky. Darwin had a bunch to see and there was Kakadu National Park, Katherine Gorge and Litchfield National Park. I would skip Kakadu as I was by myself and since there was pretty much no one around at all I didn't dare do too many walks since if anything happened no one would know. Litchfield National Park can be done in 1 maybe 2 days and Katherine is a 1 day unless you are looking to do a ton of hiking. Maybe taking 5 days or so for all of the Darwin area could have been good I think.

Alice Springs....now most people were very surprised I spent a week there. I did it because I wanted to take my time getting out to Uluru and not be rushed. I am glad I took a week, BUT i could have done it in about 4 or 5 days.

Cairns....I would definitely spend more time here!!! I wanted to visit Port Douglas which is north of it, and the Whitsundays are south and there is so much more to the great barrier reef. I had only 3 or 4 days which was way too short maybe 7 to 10 days would have been nice.

#4

It might sound a bit off to say I would change and buy a bigger cooler, but I only purchased a small one and even while I was on my trip I knew I should of had a bigger one but figured it was going to be a pain in the ass. It might of been for some flights but it would have been worth it for some liquids I had, yogurts and some fruit. Just thoughts for the next time I travel, or the next person looking for tips.

#5

I traveled alone for most of my trip ( 7 weeks out of 11) but those were probably some of my best. I got to meet a ton of people and only had to answer to myself. It might sound selfish to think that way but this trip was about me. About me doing something I wanted to / NEEDED to do. I wanted to travel when I first got out of college but I fell into a really good job that I was in for 13 years. I don't regret leaving that job to travel. I needed to do it before I found someone to spend the rest of my life with and start a family with. Yes it might seem far off but if you wait to do things, you may never get the chance to do it.

My next post will be about my changes to New Zealand in general since it will be fairly long.

xo Noodle