JO: Right. Whoops. That was a bit loud. Do you want to say a few words? Just introduce yourself. I’m just going to watch and see if it’s picking you up.

S: My name is Scarlett and I’m from Norwich.

JO: Hello Scarlett. Yes, that’s about right.

S: Yeah. Good?

JO: So, we’re sat in … you’ve kindly served me a Bloody Mary. I now have somewhere to stay the night. I was panicking a bit. I don’t know whether you could tell because I’d come in quite late and was ….

S: yes …

JO: now I’m cool. But you’ve also … happily … because you are not run off your feet right now …

S: no, unfortunately not, not on a Tuesday night

JO: you’ve agreed to do a bit of a chat. So, do you want to tell us a bit about yourself? You’re not like your peers, you said, in that …

S: I am not like my peers in the sense that I haven’t gone to university. As soon as I finished my ‘A’ Levels, I went off travelling and worked, and haven’t really settled down as much as other people, I think … and I still have no clue what I want to do.

JO:yes. That’s fine – I think I tried to reassure you when you said it. It’s fine – there’s no right or wrong. You have to just find your way and only you know how to do that.

S: Definitely. And I’m not scared of the fact … well sometimes it does freak me out, but I’m not really too scared that I don’t know yet bceause my Mum didn’t know what she wanted to do until she was like 30 and still doesn’t really know.

JO:Yes, well some people go to the end still not knowing. There’s nothing wrong with it.

S: Yes, it’s just more of an adventure, I think.

JO: So, you said you had travelled a fair bit already, yes? I think you’ve already done road trips, you said?

S: Yes. So, I travelled the east coast of Australia. I actually … I went to Australia. I thought I was only going to be there a month. And that I was just going to travel about. I was like, “yes, I’ll just be there a month, Mum. Don’t worry. I just need a break from Norwich.” And then I got there and I just had the best time ever. I just thought like I didn’t want it to end. So, I flew to New Zealand for two weeks to apply for a working holiday visa because you can’t be in the country when you … one, and then flew back and then stayed there for like a year and then went to New Zealand and lived there for a month, then came back like … I just … yes .. roadtrip though was the best thing .. the best decision I ever made because it really like opened up my mind and like you get to meet so many different types of people and also you realise that you kind of get the same characters, whatever culture you go to, like there’ll always be the mean girl, or someone really popular, and stuff like that ….

JO: that’s interesting. How would you say … did it make you feel, looking back, that ooh, that really has … you know the old cliché about travel broadens your horizons …

S: yes

JO: do you think it did?

S: definitely …

JO: can you give us an example of two?

S: I’m a lot more calmer with everything. I’m just like .. what’s the worst that can happen? You know … whatever happens … I know .. like … you get put in so many weird situations .. like I … when I … actually when I went to New Zealand for two weeks, I flew into Auckland, and I thought I’d booked a hostel for the night, but I’d booked the wrong day.

JO: oops

S: yes, and they were like none of the other hostels were open and I didn’t have enough money to just get a hotel room for a hundred dollars, so I was like, what am I going to do? And I remember I just slept on the sofa of the hostel and it was freezing cold and ….

JO: … but you were still alright …