CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | Contact
26-year-old Verita Shmugg has spent six months saving up for her dream holiday across Europe. She says that after two weeks travelling, all the sacrifices were worthwhile.
“I don’t even miss home,”
“The last six months were pretty quiet because I wasn’t doing too much socialising, I was trying to save every dollar and it’s all worth it. Europe is just so, European!”
Remarkably, Verita’s “belated gap year” has been done without any solid itinerary, opting to just “go with the flow”.
She says she would much rather ask for travel advice from her vast network of Facebook friends – as opposed to researching locations online, or having to talk to locals.
“I didn’t want to have to depend on TripAdvisor or the Lonely Planet. I thought it would be more authentic if I just went my own way about it”
Verita says she is not fussed about getting lost, because “that’s how most adventures start” – and if worst comes to worst – she can just post a Facebook status to ask for help.
In the thirteen days since Verita left her hometown of Newcastle, she has posted roughly 32 Facebook status updates. She says this is an easy way of keeping her family and friends informed of her travels, and also a cool way to learn more about her location.
“Not many of my close friends have done much travelling, so I don’t expect them to have too many decent suggestions. But it’s worth putting out there sometimes, you never know”
Asked if whether she worries that it might look like she is bragging about her overseas endeavours, Verita says absolutely not.
“No way! Sometimes I do wonder if my friends have even heard of places like Prague [laughter] … but I do think it is very important to keep them all updated, non-stop, via social media,”
“It’s just who I am. It’s not my fault I am the only one from my small-town that has the travel bug,”
“This way, when all my friends finally get their stuff together and head out on a big adventure, it can be me offering them advice to them over social media,”
