FOMO. Fear Of Missing Out. Something I struggle with everyday. I can never sit still. I can never sleep in. Sometimes I don't like to even go to bed in case I miss something. And I hate doing NOTHING. In February, I had a period where I had hardly any work, I had no projects on the go, I had no deadlines....I literally had nothing in my diary to do.....that lasted a day. I immediately started investigating new projects and applied for several things. And they all came to fruition almost at the same time, resulting in the last 4 months of being insane busy with sprinklings of intense stress and lack of sleep as I attempt to complete all the tasks I committed myself to!

Why do this to myself, I hear you ask? Because I hate doing nothing . I often feel like I am running out of time and so I try to cram in as much as possible. I feel like I have so much to give in terms of my time and abilities to people around me, to worthy causes (e.g. environmental awareness, youth education, fundraising, etc), to my friends, to every project I commit to, that I don't want to waste a moment of productivity or let anyone down! And that's how I ended up running a fundraising trivia night for the Tangaroa Blue Foundation - a project aiming to eliminate marine debris from our beaches and oceans - something I believe in 1000000%!! And that's how I ended up volunteering for the next big collaborative research/education project out there that will benefit the Great Barrier Reef and all coral reefs world-wide (keep an eye out for GBR Legacy).

And that's how I ended up with this next announcement: I....am......launching a business! I am officially live and ready for action! Island Girl Discovery - inspired by my island origins and my desire to continue seeing the world and pushing myself outside my comfort zone . For my business, I endeavour to create specialised travel itineraries for people, specifically to meet their needs and what they would like to achieve. I will not push anyone towards a product or activity that will make me the most money. I will only choose things I believe are in the best interest of my clients. And I will only promote a select few operators I have researched and believe have good ethics, standards and practices. So people can rest assured they are in good hands. I am also hoping that I will inspire those who are solo travellers, and maybe hesitant to go off on their own, that it's ok - and I am here to help them take that big first step.

What do you think? If you think this idea could succeed, please support me by visiting  www.islandgirldiscovery.com.au and give me any feedback you have of the site. Just email me through the contact form. I put a lot of time, thinking, heart and soul into the site with the help of my amazing friend Anita from Clarity Web Design, who was incredibly patient with helping me fiddle with the finer points of the site creation! And I also put a lot of thought into my logo with the assistance of another good mate Tony from CreativeTones - also brave enough to work with the sometimes (ok, often) indecisive Karlina!  

Another change I would like to announce is that I will be weaning off Travelpod and after today will begin posting all future blogs to the Island Girl Discovery website . I am automatically moving all my readers to the new Blog mailing list for notifications so you should not miss anything (let me know if you prefer not to be notified). You can also help me by visiting the BLOG page and if you like what you read, please please please, click on the like button under the title. This will greatly help me with increasing traffic towards my site and also with my next venture........

........travel writing! Yes, from much encouragement from my Blog Readers, I finally took a leap and stuck my teeth into writing for real. With the awesome (!) mentoring from Mark, an actual successful travel writer, I was able to put together a story on Cape York and it was accepted by Paradise - the inflight magazine for Air Niugini. I feel as though I can finally say I am now an accomplished travel writer as I was PAID for a story! I am hoping it will be the first of many more to come. This article will be published in Paradise's November issue and can't wait to see something I've written in actual magazine print! 

AND, on the note of being magazine printed.....I can now say that I - myself and my business Island Girl Discovery - feature in an article written by the award winning freelance travel writer Mark Stratton, in the magazine Wanderlust. This is a British travel magazine that targets covering adventurous, cultural and special interest travel pieces . And from my persistent nagging, I managed to lure Mark to Australia to write a feature article about Cape York and the Torres Strait. I've written a couple of blogs about our trip but Marks' article encompasses the entire trip into a great read with some interesting facts along the way. 

So, a lot has happened for me in the last few months. I hope that all my efforts will be rewarded with more articles to write and itineraries to create. If you would like to help me with my endeavours, I would really appreciate it. Word of Mouth will be my main marketing tool, so please share and tell others about my site if you think they can benefit. The biggest help would be to increase my likes to each Blog I post and please write comments if my story engages you. All of these might appear to be small actions, but they actually greatly affect all aspects of my predominantly online presence. I need to be able to show prospective editors and potential collaborators that my Blog is engaging readers and reaching far and wide. The only way to capture this is through the likes and comments left behind. I am also on FaceBook and Instagram as Island Girl Discovery and islandgirldiscovery respectively. Please do not forget to like my pages and posts on here too and leave comments when you feel compelled. Look forward to interacting with you on social media!

Thank you all for being such supportive readers and friends. My long term readers will know how much Blogging has helped me over this past year (and thank you TravelPod!). Now my need to write continues, but just with a different underlying reason and purpose. My deepest thanks to everyone who has reached out and helped me to get to this point I am at right now. Moving forward. Moving onwards and upwards to bigger and better things. 

Happy travels from,
Island Girl
aka Karlina XoX