It’s a little bit inconsistent to the usual travel themed posts that frequent Kaihora, however, seeing as it’s a new year I thought I’d try something a little different for my first post of 2018.

For the past 17 years (perhaps even more if you count childcare?) most, if not all, of my life has revolved around a form of education: nine years of primary school, immediately followed by five years of high school, only to be followed by three years of my undergraduate.

2018 marks the first year in my life where, aside from work obligations of course, I’m essentially free to do as I please with no semester dates to worry about or exam revision.

I could wake up tomorrow, pack my bags and hop in the car or jump on a plane to any where and that would be perfectly fine, because I no longer have to think about how many days of school I would miss if I took a holiday here or there, best of all my holidays and travels can no longer be interrupted with university assignment due dates.

So with that being said, I have many intentions for this upcoming year, however given it’s 2018 I will only share with you my 18 travel related intentions for 2018.

 

intentions: noun

a thing intended; an aim or plan.

 

1. My biggest intention of 2018 – to save – relates more to my intentions for 2019, but without completing this now those 2019 intentions could go flying out the door. I plan to build up my bank account as much as I can by the end of 2018 so that I can fulfil a lifelong dream of travelling with no set return date in 2019.
2. Explore the local area around me more: in September 2017 I moved to Geelong, and while I have done a fair bit of exploring of my new neighbourhood there are still plenty of rocks left unturned, trails I haven’t hiked, beaches I haven’t swam at, and cafes I’m yet to taste test.
3. Something that relates to the above intention is that I’d like to explore outside of my comfort zone, go to places I wouldn’t usually think of going to.
4. Dedicate more time to Kaihora: with university and work commitments it was always hard to put a lot of my focus into Kaihora, even though I still have various work commitments I hope to clear a whole day every week to work purely on content for Kaihora.
5. My bookcase is filled with Lonely Planet books and the Good Food Guide 2018, all bursting with places calling my name, so this year I intend on ticking off at least one restaurant from the Good Food Guide or Lonely Planet destination every month.
6. Be more present: while a big part of having a blog is capturing content to share with you all, whether it’s in a blog post or an Instagram photo, I don’t want to become someone who travels for the sole purpose of going to get a photo. I want to fully embrace myself in each and every experience I undertake, which leads me into my sixth intention,
7. Occasionally travel/explore with no intentions: my brain is always ticking away during my travels on how I could write a blog post about this or that, or how to frame that perfect Insta-worthy shot, this intention aims to wipe that slate clean and just travel/explore for the sake of enjoying the moment and time away with whoever it is I’m with.
8. However, having said that when the time comes to actually needing content for Kaihora I’d love to learn how to use my DSLR camera properly in order to capture moments perfectly.
9. On a similar point, although I’ve done a few videos here and there none have been out of this world so far, therefore I’d also like to learn how to film my travels better.
10. And when the time comes to post content on Kaihora, I’d like to publish a blog post once a week, it may be a little ambitious but if I can tick this one off I’ll be beyond proud of myself.
11. Branch out to other travel bloggers: perhaps for collaborations, perhaps to gain some insight, or perhaps even just to make new friends.
12. Collaborate with at least one company: whether it’s a restaurant for a review or a tour company for an experience, I want to develop my portfolio to show that I do more than just my own travel experiences.
13. Build Kaihora’s social media following: on that note if you’re not already; following me on Instagram go chuck us a follow; liked me on Facebook, give us a like; subscribed to my YouTube channel, go do it.
14. Hopefully if I build up my social media a bit, it will increase the flow of traffic to Kaihora, which of course is one of the biggest goals.
15. I’ve always been told Pinterest is a great way to build traffic to your website, so on that note I’d love to be able to really understand and grasp how to use Pinterest because at this stage I’m rather ignorant in that field.
16. At some stage last year my sister paid for me to do Ashley Diana’s Infinite Influence course, which I haven’t gotten around to completing, so this one is more of an intention for the first half of 2018, finish the Infinite Influence course. 
17. Get out there: I mean this in so many aspects – literally get out there and explore, but also in the sense of getting Kaihora out there, encourage people to read my blog and see what I have to share with the world.
18. Be happy with my progress: even though I may never get picked up by GoPro or Lonely Planet, or make any money from Kaihora like many of the travel bloggers I follow that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be proud or happy of the achievements and accomplishments I’ve made with Kaihora thus far.

 

There you have it, my 18 intentions for 2018. Who knows if I’ll tick them all off, one can only hope!

What are your intentions for this year? Travel related or not I’d love to hear them so leave me a comment below!