12th February 2016
It was a normal morning, I woke up, turned on my phone and let it vibrate for a few minutes while all my social media notifications and emails came through. Then began my normal morning routine. I looked through Instagram, then twitter before heading over to my emails. I wasn’t expecting to get an email like this….
You have been shortlisted for Kerala Blog Express 2016!
I had recently signed up for a competition to win a place on the Kerala Blog Express. A friend had told me about it and as i’ve never been to India I was super excited by this opportunity but there was a problem. The competition had been running for a while and I was a late entry. For a while I was doing well, even making it to 19th place at one point. However, in the final week of voting I kept falling until I was out of the top 30. I gave up hope.
Now suddenly I was going… well I was possibly going. I had plans to visit my mum that same day and when she asked what was new I said “I think i’m going to India”. I wasn’t convinced. I was over analysing the email.
You are now one step closer to being a part of Kerala Blog Express 2016
They were asking for my passport details and a copy of an approved visa and flights booked before my place would be confirmed. Makes sense, they need to make sure we can get ourselves there before announcing to the world we are going but I couldn’t shake the doubt out of my mind.
Thankfully it was all in my head and I received that lovely confirmation letter saying I was going on the Kerala Blog Express. It was all happening so quickly. Suddenly I had a lot to do. My visa was being delayed because of issues with the website and my doctors were in no rush to get my vaccinations started.
The last few weeks have gone by so quickly. All of sudden I had my visa sorted, flights booked, vaccinations done. This is such a huge deal, i’ve even been speaking to the London press about covering my exciting news. I am the English blogger on this tour! Now to go through my wardrobe and dig out my summer clothes. There’s not much use for them in England!
I still can’t believe it. Tomorrow I will be flying out of London and heading towards India for the first time on this once in a lifetime trip. I’m about to experience Kerala in a way so few people will. I can’t wait to share these experience with you so don’t forget to keep an eye out on my Twitter and Instagram accounts and of course there will be plenty of blogs for you to read on my return.
To stay up to date with all of our progress keep an eye out for the #Keralablogexpress that we will all be using. And once again, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!
