Sorting my life out

Its now 2 weeks until I step onto a plane, and Sometimes I wonder if im just making a big deal out of all of this traveling.  I mean its a big deal for me, and for my family, but for everyone else, does it really matter?  People seem to have life changing experiences every day and for most people a gap year is now du jour.

But traveling for me, and telling my story does mean alot.  Its something I have always wanted to do, growing listening to my Dads stories of living in Australia for 6 months, and my Mum living in New York when she was a teenager.  These are the things that coloured my childhood and left a strong imprint.  The fact I have no family (apart from immediate family) around where I live has meant I have no strong attachments to where I live, not improved by the fact that nearly all my friends have moved away.  I feel as though I am being kept here by a thread, which is my family bond, and although I will miss my Mum, Dad and Brother, I need to fly free.

I am hoping that this trip will change me, for the better.  There are alot of traits I do not like about myself, which I feel are learnt behaviors, and hopefully a complete change will help me break the habits of a lifetime.  I also hope to become less introverted, and more able to start conversations freely with new people.  I feel staying in hostels will be a baptism of fire, which I badly need!

I feel I am half way there, having thrown and sold a lot of my old life, its quite exciting, to know I will have very little apart from what is in my backpack.  It really isn't material possessions that matter after all, but the experiences we create and have and the people we meet along the way.

How time flies

When I started this blog, this adventure was all just magical dreams.  It was so far in the future, it felt like I would never manage to get there.

But time has moved forward, the days kept disappearing.  To begin with slowly, but last month went at a phenomenal speed.  Were now at the last leg of our journey before flight from the UK.  It feels so good to be at this place now.  We have done most of our planning (and have completely booked all our trains, buses and hostels in India), the rest we will plan along the way.

I feel very fortunate to be partaking in this traveling with an amazing friend and companion.  I really don't feel like I could have done this with anyone else, and sure we annoy the hell out of each other, but I think our personalities and strengths meld well together, especially on a long trip like this.

So thank you to everyone who has helped us take this massive leap into our dreams, and I hope you follow us on our trip, because as well as being magical it will be downright dirty, messy and funny, and its going to be one hell of an adventure.

Injections

Well the good news is I have started getting all my injections today for traveling, I had my first shot of Hep A and B.  Need 2 more before I go, and 1 a year later, so will have to do that in Australia!

Going to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine  next week as they have a walk in clinic in the mornings, so will hopefully get all the other jabs I need, need to visit the Dr first to check what I have had already, and then hopefully it wont be too expensive, although I know Malaria tablets are expensive, and as you can see from the malaria hotspot map above, pretty much everywhere we are going are malaria hotspots!

The injections I think I will need are Cholera, Japanese encephalitis, Rabies, TB, and Typhoid but
Im pretty sure im protected against Polio and Tetanus/Diphtheria.

Its all getting very close now!

100 days left until traveling or 3 months until I finish work :D

Today is the best day so far, as we now only have 3 months left of work, and 100 days until traveling!  I thought I would make the occasion by showing you this piece of youtube amazingness!  I would really like to visit this elephant sanctuary as the elephants paint!  Yes Paint!

Please watch the video, I find it amazing, especially as the elephant can paint better than myself!

Camera to a good home

So there is 153 days left before I go or  less than 5 months if you prefer, my original draft of this says 186 days to go, which says 1) I am lazy about posting on my blog and 2) shows how much faster time is going now.

There is still so much to do and decide although the plans are looking much better now, much more concrete its much more about finalizing how much time we shall spend in each place after Hong Kong, and also how we shall get around etc.

I am much more aware and worried more than ever about the fiances of this trip now, as Andy made me do what I have (will most likely continue to try and do) been trying desperately to avoid, which is look over my savings.  I am very good with the whole picture but I am horribly rubbish about little details, such as where is all this money coming from....  As I already knew Andy has alot more money than me, although I have been trying hard to save, I have been overspending on "FUN" which now seems to be a swearword until we depart Britain. I now have the grand sum of £5 to spend on "fun" a month.

The problem for me is I still have my student overdraft, which needs to be paid off, and It looks like I will have to sell my beloved Canon camera to pay for it.  I had been worried about taking it with me as it is worth abit, and its also incredible big and heavy for carrying around with me.  But it does make me sad to sell it, as I want someone to love it as much as I do, which is stupid and sentimental, but its how I feel! Saying that though I'm now starting to think about what camera I will buy to replace it as I will need something fairly good but light, and if anyone has any ideas please comment!  I like the look of the Olympus Pen, but I haven't really been looking all that much.

We should be booking the rest of our trip around the 25th which is amazing!  I really can't wait now, although there is still so much to sort out!

Changes

Its been busy since I last posted!  Went to Leeds to see Andy for his housewarming party at his new (very swish) Leeds city centre apartment.  We had a lovely time both out on a night out and the next day, where we went to a Damien Hirst exhibition, curry festival and Tea out.  Was very exciting.  Really enjoyed Hirst's Superstition and Buttery Painting's.  

This past week I've also started a new job as a support worker and also got a new HTC phone joining the 21st century at last in technology standards, although Andy does find it amusing that I am so paranoid that google wants to track my position at all times, but at the same time, why should I let some company decide what it does with my personal information.  Same with Facebook really, as I have been giving some thought to deleting my account....

But back to the business of travel.  We are no further along with the planning, apart from the date for buying out plane tickets has been put back to late January due to money constraints, but I feel we still should plan trip before Christmas even if we do not book until afterwards.  And on the plus side, we now have 1 year to go.... How truly exciting.