Slowly saying goodbye to my twenties: the final two years and a time to get responsible

I had the time of my life travelling the world and by the time I turned 28 I’d managed to stop in around 50 countries. When I started my job a couple of months before I made sure that in the first few days I booked my part of a family holiday to Japan the coming April. It was something to look forward to – we were living in a flat that wasn’t ideal (but did save us much needed money), Mr Man was at school and I was in a miserable job. But my friend sent me a chocolate pizza to my work so the day itself was great…

April rolled around pretty quickly and I flew into Tokyo to spend 2 weeks travelling around Japan with my parents who met up with me so we could visit my sister who was teaching on the coast that faces Russia. I know I say this about everywhere but I ADORED Japan. That place! It’s so wacky yet beautiful, the people are lovely and super helpful, the food is divine and the tea… brilliant tea…

Two weeks went by too quickly but we managed to cram in a lot including:

Visits to temples

Beautiful Zen temples

Snow monkeys

Famous tea houses in Kyoto (this is Ippodo)

Famous crossings

Hello Kitty

and cute things everywhere...

I can’t wait to drag Mr Man there one day.

I got back from Japan and was in for a tumultuous ride for the rest of the year. I got made redundant in July, got offered another (very poorly paying) role a few weeks later, then lost that job 6 weeks into it… I was jobless for around 2 months then finally offered my current job with its amazing view and friendly colleagues. Needless to say, the middle part of my 28th year wasn’t easy!! It was probably the most difficult time I’ve ever had and left a bit of a mark on me, but not without a few lessons. It definitely made me appreciate stability and the things that are important in life.

Whilst waiting to hear if I had an interview for my current job, Mr Man and I went to Italy for a week. It had actually been booked with my redundancy money from the first job so we decided to go and have a break from stressful life regardless of the fact that I was unemployed. Another magic trip and very much needed. We went by train from London to Paris, then overnight to Venice for 1.5 days and a day train to Naples and the Amalfi Coast. We went to Pompei which was super interesting, spent our days relaxing in the sun, exploring the seaside villages and of course, eating like we’d never eaten Italian food before… nom nom.

 

A random part of Paris

The Amalfi Coast

Pompei

Doing the donkey's work...

and Gelato (Mr Man's hand).

The year ended and I found a good stable job. I realised then that we had to cut down on our expenses and get a bit more serious about life. I can’t complain – my twenties were rockin! I described being 29 only a few weeks ago (found here) and that was another brilliant year (one to top them all I think).

Have I changed much over the past decade? Hard to tell. I’m definitely more open minded, certainly appreciate food (and can actually cook now), am much calmer and more settled yet well travelled, still happy-go-lucky and I still have my sense of adventure. I used to despise domesticity but am suddenly ultra excited about the trips to Ikea that are looming soon and am having a blast populating my wedding list (whoever thought I’d actually want a blender 10 years ago?). I sorted out my hair and have a huge appreciation for good dresses and fabulous shoes. I’m at peace with my curves though still complain about them (I wouldn’t be female if  I didn’t). I am more of a city girl than ever. Tea is entwined in my days almost no matter where I am and I think that I’m a much wiser person than the girl of 10 years ago was. Life was good then, life is great now.

As 30 looms at the end of this week I look forward to it with anticipation. Everyone keeps saying that the best is yet to come so bring it on! I can’t wait.

Thanks for listening. I’ll go back to eating cake and losing a few pounds again soon but first I plan to celebrate.

Kat.

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