As I write this, people in New Zealand have already celebrated the New Year. I’m still at work (but have been given permission by my boss to go home so don’t feel too bad writing this!) but will be going soon.

I said that this year wasn’t going to be like 2007-2009, where I’ve stayed in the same job all year and not really done anything exciting, and I said I would actually go travelling and learn Spanish, something I always meant to do. And I would get out of full time work and go self-employed.

In that respect I feel like this year was a complete success. I went to Costa Rica, Peru, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, as well as New Zealand twice in one year.

And, after three months travelling, I went back into my old job as a contractor, and then not long after that found a new job. I feel like i should have done this years ago. But I was very lucky because an old colleague got me my new job and so it might not have been so easy for me if I’d done it any sooner.

So, what’s on the cards for 2011? I’ll be staying in my current contract as long as they let me, but after that who knows. I’d like to make the “travelling overseas for months at a time” a yearly thing, but of course that requires lots of saving and a flexible job. Finally though, I feel I’m a bit closer to that than I have been in previous years.

It’s when I think about this sort of thing that I feel very fortunate I have the opportunity to do all this wonderful stuff. But I miss my family and friends in New Zealand immensely! It sounds a bit soppy but I feel those people who spend lots of happy time with their families are the luckiest people of them all.