Have been doing a little time planning and I've decided that instead of starting in New York I'm going to fly into Philadelphia instead. Gives me chance to see another city and also I've been to New York before and though would be nice to spend some time there I think I'd rather see more places and spend slightly less time in NY. There are only really a couple of places I really want to go to in NY such as Greenwich Village that I didn't see the last time I was there and a few sights such as Grand Central Terminal and I think I'll be able to fit all of that into a slightly shorter space of time. Also, I've been recommended to book into a hotel or bed and breakfast for the first couple of nights to get over the jetlag properly to be able to really enjoy the trip from the start and they're far more affordable in Philadelphia than in New York. Have found some fairly reasonable places on the Philadelphia tourist board website and as I've recently acquired a self-inflating mattress from a friend which I was thinking I'd need to buy I can put the money towards the hotel instead. Feeling very excited about it all at the moment although worked out today that I've still got 38 weeks before I finish work. Let's hope that goes quickly - not that I'm wishing my life away mind but I just want to get on with the next stage of my life!!

So, having made the decision to go traveling this is the itinerary that I'm currently working on. The plan is to fly to New York then travel up to Boston maybe via Martha's Vineyard. I'll then head over to Chicago to take in the windy city before going up to Minneapolis (my old stomping ground) for a few days to catch up with friends there (thanks Sue for the offer of a bed!), hopefully coinciding with the Minnesota State Fair where I'll definitely have to have some cheese curds - the state dish! From there it's over to San Francisco before heading down to LA then over to New Zealand. Am hoping to cover most of both of the Islands probably traveling with Kiwi Experience. Then it's over to Australia where I think a lot of my time will be spent on a bus! Planning to take in the usual sights, Uluru, Great Barrier Reef (HAVE to dive it!) Sydney Opera House etc. etc. From Australia I'm going to Singapore (looking forward to that Singapore Sling in Raffles!) then on to Hong Kong, Tokyo and finally over to Africa for the last leg of the tour which will see me travel through SA, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and on up to Kenya where I'll spend the last few days relaxing before heading back to the UK and job hunting!