LOVING NZ!!

So I left the touristyness of Pahia just over a week ago to head up to Kaitaia - the so-called stepping off point for 90-mile beach. I did the beach as part of a day tour which took in a Kauri workshop - Kauri being a wood that has been under ground for thousands of years, preserved in bogs that has been dug up and is turned into beautiful trinkets for tourists like me to buy and large pieces of furniture for rich people to buy; Cape Reinga and the lighthouse there, which was built along absolutely stunning coastline; then went sand tobogganing which as the name implies, involves climbing up a very high sand dune and then sitting in a toboggan to slide all the way back down again! Was tremendous fun! Then to get back to the hostel we drove back down 90-mile beach which is actually only 67 kilometres long.
The next day I headed back to Auckland for the night on my way to my next destination as my buses didn't connect to get me there in one day which was fairly uneventful and then headed on up to a very beautiful part of the world called Whitianga (pronounced Fitianga). Stayed in a lovely hostel there which overlooked the bay so had great sunsets. At this point I hooked up with a girl called Sam who had been in my hostel room at Pahia but we'd gone our separate ways for a few days and just happened to meet up again at Whitianga and so together we crossed the bay and then got a shuttle bus driven by Dan, a cute kiwi guy who took us on a little adventure round Whitianga starting with Shakespeare Point which had the most amazing views and then we went to Cathedral cove which had pink sand! After that he picked us up and took us to hot water beach and on the drive there we looked out and saw some surfers who had a pod of dolphins swimming next to them so we stopped off and watched them for a while before going to dig out hot pool on the beach. It is very fun, you basically dig a hole in the sand and because of the thermal activity in the area it fills with hot water that you can sit and depending on how big you dig it submerge as much of your body as you see fit! We stuck to feet! The water got that hot our feet had turned red by the time we took them out about 10 minutes later! We then went onto Purangi vineyard to try some of the wines (yum!) and liqueurs (Feijoa - a local fruit one - yuck!) before heading back to out side of the bay for fish and chips!
After leaving Whitianga, Sam and I headed to Thames for a few hours before getting a connecting bus to Tauranga. We could have got a bus with only a connecting time of 20 minutes but I figured that I wanted to have a look round Thames to so took the bus that went 6 hours later. Big mistake. It was raining and so whilst I'm guessing there's little to do in Thames on a good day there's even less to do on a wet day so we just sat and drank endless cups of coffee!
Fortunately life got better once we got to Tauranga and we went to Mount Maunganui, a sleeping volcano in the area which we walked around because we were too lazy to walk up it! Then we went and lazed around in the natural hot salt water baths they have there which was wonderful!
I left Sam in Tuaranga and headed down to Rotarua where there is lots to do and so I hit the ground running there! The first evening I went to Maori cultural theatre night which involved a display of traditional Maori singing and dancing followed by a meal cooked in the hot water pools as would have been done in bygone years. Whilst it was very interesting and the food was delicious, I experienced what is the bane of a single travellers life where you are used to plug holes in tables and so I filled in the spare seat on a table with 5 non-English speaking Japanese tourists and family of 4 who didn't want to speak to anyone outside the family - but fortunately the NZ wine was good I discovered!!
The next day I went to Te Puia which is a Maori complex where I watched another Maori production, different from the previous day's entertainment so also very interesting and then went to look at the geysers there which were erupting at the time and so fascinating to watch - if a little bit smelly! They also had a weaving and carving workshop on site which you could go and look round which was really interesting. From there I went zorbing!! Which basically involves getting inside a big inflatable plastic ball with a bucketful of water in it and sliding down a hill. It was such good fun! Came home from there and that evening went to a Polynesian spa with Yasmina, another girl from the hostel I was staying in. It was wonderful. There were numerous naturally hot pools all at various temperatures and one which looked out over
Lake Rotarua and it was just wonderful. It was raining slightly and it just added to the ambiance. There we were, lying in these hot pools with the raining gently keeping us from turning into complete lobsters! Can't beat it! And then today I've come to Waitomo where there is nothing to do except for the glow-worm caves which is why I came here in the first place. You enter the caves which are full of stalactites and stalagmites and then head down the river and above you on ceiling of the caves are all these twinkling lights from the worms. It was quite magical!
Tomorrow I head off to Taupo but more about that after I've been there!!

Since Dallas Fort Worth!

Well, this is the 2nd time I'm sending this post - tried yesterday but having typed or at least 30 minutes I then went and lost it all! So hopefully more successful the 2nd time!
So I left you in Dallas Fort Worth Airport and thankfully made it to Vancouver in the end! There I stayed with my friends Sunita and Franck who moved to Canada in March. For those of you who know them, it's true what Sunita says, they are obviously very happy there which was really good to see and it was lovely to spend time with them. Those who know Sunita would also not recognise the woman that you all know and love because the first day I was there she took me on a bike ride and then a couple of days later on a hike! AND, she even owns a hiking stick to help you walk up hill! Anyway, it was all good and the views both from the bike ride to the beach and hike up the mountain were amazing. It is very easy to see why they're so happy there. We also did a BBQ on Wreck beach one evening. On approaching Wreck beach there is a a sign that says clothing is optional and so when the sunset appeared I was faced with 2 dilemmas. Firstly, was photography allowed on a nudist beach, and if it was, would the very tanned not very attractive naked man standing in front of me enhance the photograph or detract from the view?!?! Fortunately he moved on and so I didn't have to worry about the latter! I should probably say, we decided to keep our clothes on for those of you who were wondering!!
After spending a lovely few days with Sunita and Franck I got the bus down to Seattle and a flight into San Francisco which amazing was fairly uneventful giving previous travelling traumas! Even saw the Starbucks HQ on the way! I arrived into San Francisco to be greeted with the infamous SF fog! Fortunately it had cleared by the next day and so I spent a few days walking up - and down - some VERY steep hills (they are so much worse than they look in the movies!), went to Sausalito, Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge and of course, had the obligatory ride in the Cable Car! I met some lovely people in SF as well, including Esra a really funny Turkish girl who I shared a room with and had many laughs with .
From SF I had a connecting flight through Los Angeles to Auckland which should have been easy but the fog was back! So my flight got delayed and instead of having 2 hours in LA I ended up with 55 minutes! With changing airline from AA to Qantas I had to check in for the Qantas flight when I got to LA and with being delayed I was a bit concerned I wouldn't get my aisle seat but all was good and the check-in guy nearly got a kiss when he said there was still one available!
So at the weekend I lost a day from my life (the 8th of September is gone forever!) and arrived in Auckland at 4.45am. Yuck! Fortunately my lovely friends Rachel and Jim had paid for me to have a couple of nights in a hotel as a joint birthday and Christmas present and so the lovely hotel let me in check in that early which is good as it turns out there is virtually nothing to do in Auckland on a Sunday in early spring! Having heard it described as being like a wet Saturday afternoon in Hinckley I can see understand the description! Fortunately as I discovered the next day when I met up with Chris and Kiri, once you leave Auckland things improve considerably! We went to Mission Bay which was lovely. Chris used to service the piece of equipment I worked on in the UK but he managed to escape the evils clutches of Bio-Rad and he and Kiri moved to Auckland the week before I got here. Having only stopped a couple of nights in Auckland I went to Waiheke Island which was so beautiful. Actually I should say now I'm out of Auckland everything I've seen is so beautiful, you could just spend the entire day taking photos! The hostel was a little odd as it felt like I'd stepped into a hippie commune and so wasn't really me but it was very relaxing! (without any chemicals before you ask!) Whilst there I went to do a wine tasting in Stonyridge Vineyard and by some stroke of luck the manager had decided to open a bottle of their $200 a bottle the previous day and so they were offering tastings (normally they don't - you have to just buy one!) so of course had to try it and it was delicious!
I'm now in Pahia which is very touristy but very easy to get to non-touristy places form so today I've been to Waitangi Treaty Grounds where the treaty that marked the "birth" of New Zealand was signed and then later I've been to Russell which has the most amazing views. Was a bit cliched last night as in the hostel we watched LOTR! but with scenery like this you can so see why you'd want to make movies over here!

Dallas Fort Worth Airport

Well, I send this from Dallas Fort Worth Airport where I am experiencing delays but have been able to rent a laptop for $6.95 an hour! Bargain! So, I left you in Chicago saying how nice the weather had turned out. Boy did I speak too soon! That afternoon it started raining and then it stopped for a while and so I decided to go out for a coffee. Oh my, did I time it wrong or what. Got my coffee and then afterwards decided to go for a mooch round the shops as I hadn't been round by the hostel and then the heavens opened! I'm not normally scared of storms but the thunder was so loud that it frightened the life out of me! Waited underneath a shop overhang for half an hour for it to die down but of course it didn't and so I got extremely wet walking back to the hostel!! Never mind. Dried off and then the next day headed off to Minneapolis. I ended up having to get a bus. Disastrous! They told me to get there by noon as they would be sending an express bus to Minneapolis at midday, 1pm etc but although I got on a bus round about midday, it didn't leave until 2.15pm and by the time we got to Minneapolis it was 10.15pm!! Fortunately got chatting to a nice guy called Rick who was sitting behind me so we had a really fun chat and whilst I wouldn't say time flew, it definitely felt a lot faster than it was!
In Minneapolis I stayed with my friend Sue and had a really lovely time. On the Saturday we went to the Minnesota State Fair and ate lots of things that are bad for you such as cheese curds, snow cones and sweet Martha's cookies. Then I became famous! I got interviewed on live TV because I was the person they could find who had travelled the farthest to go to State Fair so I was live on the news!! On the Sunday Sue and I went to Church and then just mooched for the day. On the Monday we went to Sue's parent's farm in Wisconsin and we had a great visit with her parents. Made all the more exciting for my influence on the weather! There was due to be a storm in the region but it should have split and gone north and south of us and so because I was there when Sue's folks severe weather alert system in their house went off in the middle of the night we ended up having to go down to the basement at 2am to avoid the storm!! Fortunately no major damage was done although Sue's car now has lots of little dents in it from the hail! Tuesday we came back to the Twin Cities and then Tuesday went out with my friend Karen to Caribou coffee and then to Famous Dave's BBQ! Delish!!
Today I've had a great flight down to Dallas but unfortunately there is a problem with the flight up to Vancouver and so I should have left at 4.40pm but it's currently 6.40pm and they say we won't be leaving til at least 7.17pm. Something to do with holding patterns and our plane having to land somewhere else. Hey ho! Hopefully get there today at some point!

Boston and Chicago

I send this post whilst doing the wonderful job of laundry! Am having a fairly lazy day today which after being so immersed in the world of discovering new places is quite nice! Today is my last day in Chicago, since I last wrote I've also been to Boston. I found Boston a little disappointing. Don't think it's entirely Boston's fault, just that I'd heard so many fantastic things about the place it couldn't possibly have lived up to its reputation! That said, it was a nice city and described very well as a walking city because everything is fairly close. My trip on Greyhound was an experience. It turns out that it doesn't matter what time your ticket is for, if you rock up when a bus is due then you get let on anyway. Not realising this and even though I had my ticket quite a while in advance as I'd had to check out the hostel, I almost didn't make it onto the bus I had booked for as all the other people who had later tickets than me were already on it! Fortunately I was the last person on the bus!! Whilst in Boston I went to a free night out at a comedy club - organised by the hostel then did lots of the touristy stuff - Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall, walked the Freedom Trial which takes you round all the important historic places, USS Constitution, Cheers Bar (which is of course nothing like the TV bar!) and visited Harvard and MIT (which was actually quite dull!). On my last day there I went to Salem as having studied The Crucible at school I couldn't really not go, so got the ferry up there and it was such a disappointment. It was just like a Disney Witchland. There was one memorial which really gave you a feel for how traumatic the witch hunt era must have been but other than that it was full of touristy witch and wizard shops and you got hassled to do ghost walks all the time. Seriously would not recommend going there. Anyway, last Saturday I flew to Chicago and what a difference. I love this city! It has such a great feel to it. You're definitely in a big city and yet being on the banks of Lake Michigan (which being a great lake really is huge!) you almost feel like you're at the seaside as well. It even has beaches! Didn't do too much when I first got here as I was staying just one night in a hostel on the outskirts of town as I couldn't get into the central hostel the first night but since then have been out and about. The weather was appalling when I first got here. I left a balmy 28-30 degrees Celsius in Boston and got a not quite so balmy rainy 16 degrees in Chicago. So on came the bottoms of the trousers (they're the zip off ones) and out came the fleece and umbrella! Having been told that this weather was due to be with us all week I bought a City Pass which gives you access to multiple places of interest for cheaper than buying separately and I headed off to the Museum of Science and Industry which was good and huge. Went and had my traditional Chicago Pizza that day from the original place and it was delicious (Shalini - I have a picture of it!). The next day the weather changed and we've had bright sunshine since! Typical! Anyway, the next day I went to the Field Museum which is a natural history museum and it was great! What made it even better was that there were virtually no kids there so I got to play on all the interactive stuff which you usually can't get access to!! From there went to the aquarium, which was just full of fish really - until I turned up at the dolphin pool just in time to see a dolphin display which was excellent and showed you how they use the playtimes to keep a check on the dolphin's health as well. Then went to the penguin area where a few days earlier a baby penguin had hatched which was very cute! That night as I was walking back it turned out to be one of the nights for the Chicago 8th Film Festival to have one of its free movie in the parks nights so I hired a chair and sat and watched "Sweet Smell of Success" and old Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis movie. Had I been here a week later it would have been the Sound of Music! But seeing as the last time I spent a long time from home and I watched that I spent the whole movie crying my eyes out (Mum's favourite film!) I figured it was probably best I was here this week! Yesterday I went to the Adler Planetarium and watched a show on the stars at night so in theory I should be able to point some constellations out now. I blame the light pollution in Chicago for stopping me doing that last night!! From there I went to the Hancock observatory - 94 floors up! It has taken over here from the Sears tower as having the best views in Chicago so will leave the Sears tower for another time I think. In the evening I went to a jazz bar on the pier that had great jazz and did great barbeque. Had 24 hour brisket (marinaded with spices for 12 hours, cooked for 12 hours - yum!!) and then there was a free fireworks display over the harbour.
So today, I'm having a lazy day!! Tomorrow I head up to Minneapolis although at the moment I'm not sure how I'm getting there! I have a train ticket booked but there were floods in South Minnesota a few days ago which washed some of the tracks away! I went to ask at the station what was happening and of course forgot that I wasn't in the UK where it would take at least 6 weeks to put this sort of thing right as the guy said they already had one track running again but I might be being bussed up there. I think the bad weather must be following me - floods in England, floods in New York and now floods in Minnesota. I think I should get sent to drought areas!!

Really does deserve naming twice!!

Hi from New York! Have one day left here now and it's been a jam-packed few days since I got here! Arrived on Tuesday afternoon having braved the Chinatown Express and have been staying in the International Student Centre whilst I've been here which really has felt like being back at University. Not surprisingly with and age limit on guests being 35, at 33 I'm probably the oldest one here! At least I look as if I am anyway!
As I said though, it's been a busy few days and I've managed to get to see the places I wanted to but didn't have time to my last visit here. Have been the the Guggenheim, Metropolitan Museum of Art, mooched round Greenwich village, Soho, Lower Manhattan went to Brooklyn, to the botanical gardens there and walked back across the Brooklyn Bridge, spent time in Central Park - watched softball games there and met an old guy called Kevin and chatted to him for a couple of hours yesterday. I have to say I've walked absolutely miles since I've been here! Fortunately the weather got a little bit cooler (even had one day where I had to reattach the bottom of my zip-off trousers and wear a fleece it was actually cold!) and so it's made doing the touristy things far more pleasant than in Philadelphia. My first day here I almost thought I was back in the UK as having had so much rain here the night before the subway system had major delays or "train traffic" because of signal failure! Nice to see it's not just in London they can't cope with a bit of rain! Fortunately though it was all back up and running to get me home from a free concert I went to In Madison Square Park, a couple of guys called the Woods Brothers - a bluegrass group that were excellent.
Tomorrow I'm going to take it easy as having walked all the way from Lower Manhattan to 86th street today I'm feeling a little tired now and then it's off to Boston on Tuesday. Will have my only greyhound experience then and apparently my hostel in Boston is fabulous so hope to have great things to tell you about it in the next post!

First post!

Well, I'm hoping that this works OK because I don't think the computer I'm on has the most up to date drivers as just about every instruction is a series of little boxes on the screen! Anyway, on my last evening in a hotel with free internet access I thought I'd send my first blog from my trip. Have been in Phila (that's how they abbreviate it here) for 2 days now and have to say I really like this city. It has a great feel to it. In some areas it doesn't really feel like I'm in America (although that's not the reason it feels good!!) and the thing that struck me first was that almost all the buildings are brick, which may sound crazy, but when I lived in Minneapolis, my friend Molly lived in the only brick house on her street, and if you knew how long some streets were over here...! As it's the 2nd day as well, I don't have an awful lot to tell you about where I've been and what I've been doing although that is partly to do with the fact that there is a heatwave going on here where temps have been in the mid 90s and there's been the humidity to go with it - almost feel I'm back in Mumbai! As such Starbucks with its wonderful AC and iced drinks is a bit of a fave hangout at the moment! One thing that I love about the city is that you can be ambling along on an area which doesn't have much going on when suddenly you happen upon something unexpected. There was a most amazing Italian market today (which is in the guidebooks but from one street before and one after you wouldn't know it was there) and a lovely organic supermarket which would rival the one that's just opened in Chelsea I should imagine. Yesterday I found a beautiful shop called Spirit of the Artist (www.sotagifts.com) which sold the most beautiful art items. The people here are really friendly too. As for general touristy stuff, I have of course gone to see Liberty Bell and went to the Museum of Liberty yesterday along with Betsy Ross's house and Bejamin Franklin's grave. Unfortunately they don't have the London system of free entry to museums here so on my budget it's a case of picking and choosing. Another thing that almost makes this city feel like London in a way is that there are quite a few small green spaces and it makes it seem like the small squares like Paddington Street Gardens. Anyway, tomorrow I leave my life of relative luxury in this lovely hotel that is the Alexander Inn (Jim and Rachel - it's lovely, you'll like it here) and head for my first hostel. Fortunately I walked past it yesterday and discovered it only opens in the morning for a couple of hours and then from 4.30pm 'til midnight or that could have been a long day walking round with the rucksack! 'Til the next time!

The tickets have arrived!!!!

Tomorrow I'm 33. Not entirely sure how I got to this age this quickly! But anyway I have and so my birthday also marks 3 weeks until I go. Got the tickets this morning and have to say, I was incredibly excited when I saw them and started reading them. Bizarrely I am travelling on paper tickets and so I have a veritable thesis to take with me. I really don't understand it to be perfectly honest, it seems a ridiculous system to me. Why is it that when you only travel on short hop trips you can do it on an e-ticket yet when you travel round the world, don't really want to take too many valuable bits of paper and could do with having as much stuff electronic as possible, they give you a paper ticket? I'm sure someone somewhere can explain that one to me!

Anyway, in honour of the fact that the tickets have now arrived I decided to post my finalised itinerary on my blog! So here goes:

1st August: fly to Philadelphia
From here I plan to go to on to New York and Boston going by bus between cities
18th August: Boston to Chicago
24th August: Train to Minneapolis
29th August: Vancouver
3rd September: Bus to Seattle, fly to San Francisco
7th September: Fly to Auckland
Will be travelling around the North and then South Islands of New Zealand although no firm plan as to where and for how long in each place
16th October: Fly to Sydney
16th October - 13th November travelling round from Sydney through Blue Mountains, Melbourne, Adelaide and then up to Uluru/Alice Springs
13th November: Alice Springs to Cairns
In Cairns I have a 3 day SCUBA diving trip booked on the Great Barrier Reef on a liveaboard boat.
After that I travel down to Brisbane via the Whitsundays
26th November: Brisbane to Singapore
1st December: Hong Kong
5th December: Tokyo
10th/11th Tokyo to Cape Town
from 15th December-24th January: Africa tour
27th December: Fly home

This is the liveaboard in Cairns that I'm doing.

http://www.spiritoffreedom.com.au/3_Day_Monday_Departure_Cod_Hole,_Ribbon_Reefs_Itinerary.htm

This is the Africa tour:

http://www.acacia-africa.com/OVERLAND_CTK41.htm

As many of my friends from work will laugh at me for having such a fixed itinerary, I remind them that I have had to put dates to flights but I can change them if I want to as I go round. I think they and me know that's unlikely to happen but you never know! Hey, I've still not booked any more hostels so I'm doing fairly well on the spontaneity thing so far!!

This weekend I'm planning to go get my entire wardrobe for the trip. Planning on taking 2 pairs of zip off trousers and about 6 tops. Need to buy new underwear for the adventure but am going to Fosse Park with Mum on Thursday so will hit M&S there! Have left buying clothes as was hoping to shed a few pounds before buying them but that's not happened and I can't be naked on my trip so guess I'll have to bite the bullet and buy a bigger size!

Have really enjoyed being at home the last 3 weeks and whilst I'm starting to get just a teensy bit nervous about the trip now I have to say I'm also starting to look forward to going. I've really enjoyed being at home with my parents and whilst I've done that because I really wanted to spend some time with them before I go, it's definitely going to make it harder to leave. Has to be done though. I really need this time for myself.

I also got my new phone today. Think it's going to take a bit of getting used to but not guessing I'll be using it all that often though I may be wrong! Have worked out about setting Mum and Dad up on BT international so they can call me when I'm away and for Christmas when that won't work we'll just load up my mobile and can chat on that, that was the point of getting it after all!

Right, well will post closer to the leaving date when I'm starting to get more than a little bit stressed about it all knowing me!

The end of work is nigh!

Well, this weekend I move out of my flat and go to stay with my lovely friend Dawn. I'm currently surrounded by boxes and can't believe quite how much stuff I have. I've chucked out 8 bags full of rubbish, have a full bin bag of clothes to go to the charity shop, a full bag of recycling and I still seem to have far too much stuff. Fortunately my Dad has a very big van! Only have a week and a day left at work. Finally got to believe that I will be able to teach Shea and Janine (my replacements) what they need to know by next Friday which has left me feeling a little bit more relaxed and had my "end of contract negotiation" meeting earlier in the week and so it's all being finalised for my departure. Found out today though I have to pay £65 for my checkout inventory which is a complete ripoff and leaved me really quite relieved I saved up for this and the cleaning (approx £140) whilst I've been here.
Since my last proper post I've been to India to see Sarah and my, what a mad place that was. For the photos you can see my facebook album on http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8352&l=8a110&id=579325733

Manic Manic Manic!!!

Just wanted to say I've not forgotten you blog, it's just that now I'm in the final few weeks of work life is getting a bit crazy. Posts of India and all the plans to date will appear in a couple of weeks when I finally get time to myself!!

When you start to change your mind...

One thing about me is that I am pretty good at talking myself out of doing things that would actually be good for me. This is why some of you reading this may think that I'm being really organised and control freakish in booking my tickets etc etc so far in advance (which partly I am) but also it's because I knew if I booked stuff then I wouldn't be able to unbook it and so I'd have to go. So, with this in mind, I knew myself well as I'm having a "what am I doing?" phase which I can't pay any attention to really because it's all booked and now I can't talk myself out of it without losing vast sums of cash! When I was doing my PhD, a very nice lady called Alice who was a lecturer in the department told me that she thought you should only do a PhD for one of two reasons. The first is because you really enjoy the subject, the second is because you can go no further in life without doing one. I'm beginning to think travelling is the same. The websites say you shouldn't do it unless you really want to. But in actual fact I think the second reason is a good one too. You should only do it if you can go no further in life as you are. And I think that's my reason for this trip.

The needles are out!!

Firstly, thanks for your comment Mad Dog! Exciting to get comments from people reading my blog!
Well, had my first injection today. Rabies. Went to 1st Contact for it as couldn't get it from my Drs. Was planning to get the Japanese B Encephalitis from 1st Contact as well but the nice lady told me that I didn't really need it for where I was going and so given that it would cost over £100 figured I'd give it a miss! So far feeling fine after the rabies jab so hopefully they'll all be as good!
I did book the harbour bridge climb and the 3 day liveaboard as I put in my last post and I've also booked my Africa tour as well! All coming together now which is exciting. Saved 10% on Africa as well by booking more than 6 months in advance. Sunita is going to check out the flight for me in Canada for between Vancouver and San Francisco. What's the nightmare with that one is the taxes. Basic flight about £46. Total cost with taxes £81.60!! Madness! Hopefully there'll be some budget airline out there I don't know about which means she'll be able to get it cheaper for me.
Have my flight booked for going out to see Sarah in India as well. Go there from 8th-16th May and so have needed to get those injections sorted out for that as well. I am so going to fill my passport up this year!

Flights are booked!!

I am soooooo excited! Yesterday I went to Trailfinders and booked my flights! Managed to book every one bar the Vancouver to San Francisco leg on the One World Explorer ticket. Couldn't do that flight because although it's an American Airlines flight it's actually operated by Alaskan Airlines and as they're not part of the alliance I couldn't book it. Can always sort it out when I get to the US so I'm not too worried. Came to £2317.10 in the end which wasn't bad as I have about 17 flights in total on there. Had a really helpful man at Trailfinders called Dan who I'm going to call tomorrow as well to book a 3 day liveaboard trip to Lizard bay and Cod Hole for when I'm in Cairns and also I'm going to book my Sydney Harbour Bridge climb through him as well. Only £3 more expensive than booking it myself so it's just as easy to book the whole thing in one go. Will also book the Africa tour tomorrow. Planning to go into Acacia tomorrow to go book it in person as it's only a 5 minute walk from work. It's all coming together now. When that's booked have no more to book! Am also planning to pop into the Drs tomorrow to start making appointments for my injections. Am going to need some of them for India anyway and if I'm going there in May need to get them sorted out soon anyway! Trailfinders have recommended I get Diphtheria - Tetanus - Polio, Typhoid, Hepatitis A, Meningitis, Rabies, Hepatitis B, TB, Japanese Encephalitis, Yellow Fever and of course, anti-malarials. Fortunately have had Hep B with work and was BCG vaccinated as a kid although working in the field of TB at the moment I know it's fairly pointless me being vaccinated anyway! I'm so excited!!!!!!!!

4 days 'til booking!

Am hugely excited this week as I'm going to book my flights on Saturday. Finalised my plan and did decide not to do Lima (just found out a 4th person from work who went out there had tummy troubles so just don't want to have to deal with that at the start of my trip!) and so it's going to be Philadephia, New York, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, Vancouver, San Francisco, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya and then back home again. Have the Africa tour on hold at the moment with Acacia Africa as I looked on the Intrepid site who you can book with as well and they only had 2 places left and got a bit worried but it turns out there are a few places left. So anyway, the lovely woman at Acacia sais they'd put one place on hold for me til I can book next week. Been in touch with Sarah in India a bit as well and hearing about all that she's getting up to is making me really keen to go exploring. Probably going out to see her at the beginning of May so will get to try out a few travelling bits and bobs as well so will be a really useful trip. Can't wait. Plus she's only been gone a few days but it feels like a long time already. Yet more experiments failing at the moment so hard not to be too excited about not having to do them for much longer!!

Today's post

REALLY looking forward to my trip today! My best friend Sarah went off to India last night which was very sad, and my close friend Sunita goes to Vancouver on Monday so I want it to be my turn to escape now! I only have another 14 weeks at work which really isn't very much time at all.
I'm getting more and more bits and bobs together for my trip. Bought my day pack and money belt at the weekend. Found an amazing camping shop near my parent's house which stocks just about everything you could ever need! I'm going to book my flights a week on Saturday and then I'm planning to go to Acacia to book the Africa part of my tour after that. Then it's a case of starting to get visas and injections. Pin cushion time! Hopefully I'll be as good as Sarah was and not feel any effects. Well, you can live in hope!
Have been thinking of adding South America to the beginning of my trip but I'm not sure. I know someone who is living in Lima at the moment and it would really good to go and see him but it means adding another continent to my flight which will up the cost somewhat but then it's going to be so much cheaper to live in South America for a week than North America so it could just be swings and roundabouts, but it is just for a week and so not sure if it's worth it. Also, my boss has just been to Peru and ended up with a dodgy stomach (as did another friend of mine when she went) and I'm not sure I want to start my trip getting ill! although obviously I do realise that I might not get ill! Not forgetting it will be winter there in August.

New possibilities for Africa

Having decided that I can't actually do the trip through Zimbabwe I started looking for other possibilities and found a tour that sounds amazing with Intrepid Travel. It's a 41 day tour that starts in Cape Town (which is better for me because it means I can miss out Jo'Burg which I wasn't that keen on going to and also it doesn't start until the 15th December so it gives me extra days to play around with making Australia and New Zealand less of a rush. However, being longer it also means that it costs more but having reworked out my finances last night it's looking just about possible. Might need to make some more money on the side though so I'm currently looking into easy ways to make money. Thinking of doing online paid surveys. May only pay a few pounds a time but it's easy and every penny counts at the moment! Might try selling some stuff through Amazon as well as I have lots of random books at home which I don't really need and could sell. Other than that it's my body!

ya-de ya-de ya-de

My friend's boyfriend went off on his travels for the year yesterday and it seems that it was a while away before he was due to go and yet it's come round so quickly. I'm hoping that my trip is the same. Only 21 weeks and 2 days of work left so it's really not that long. I bought my sleeping bag a couple of weeks ago. Bought a Vango Ultralite 700. Didn't end up being as small as advertised but that may be because I'm not the Incredible Hulk so can't compress it as much as it can be compressed! It's still fairly little though and I'm very pleased with it. Also bought a camera battery from ebay which was a bargain and I'm currently bidding on a memory card! Ebay is quite addictive so I'm having to exert a bit of self-control!
Was reading about San Francisco last night and all sounded very exciting. Think I might miss out LA as I've been there before and I need a few days for Vancouver and then I can spread out SF a bit. Seeing as I've wanted to go there for years might as well make the most of it.
Checked out the Merrell Frond sandals at the weekend but didn't find them that comfortable so will have to find something else. I am not having Epidemics (otherwise known as Tevas but we call them epidemics because when they first came out everyone had them so it was like an epidemic!) or anything like them because I think they are not very attractive and the thought I might have to did actually put me off going away for a while! Have to wait for the sales to finish and all the summer stuff to come out.

Happy New Year!!

Well it's now 2007 - the year of the trip! Had some lovely things for it as Christmas presents. Got a Life Venture towel, a hair turban, a first aid kit, Swiss Army Knife and then went and bought a toiletry roll from Jacksons. Was hoping they'd have a sale on - they didn't - but it was still reasonable. My friends Rachel and Jim (who bought me a great travel journal for Christmas) have given me complimentary tickets to the Travel Show at Earls Court in February so will be good to check out some travel possibilities and Kumuka will be there so can speak to them about the changes to the Africa trip. It's gonna be a good year!

The countdown continues...

Had my last ever PRDP (Personal Review and Development Plan) at work this week and long term goals were put as "traveling round the world and thereafter..." which I'm fairly happy with! I now have less than 6 months to go until I leave here. 25 weeks and 1 day to be precise! Unlikely to have another posting this year so it looks like my next one will be in the year that I actually go traveling round the world! How exciting is that! Also, by then it will have been Christmas and so I'll have (hopefully!) had lots of bits and bobs for when I go away! Tell you all about it in the New Year.
Unfortunately it's looking like I might not be going to India when I'd planned as Sarah's plans have fallen through. Still looks like she might be able to go to India but not working with the charity she had originally planned to so hopefully I'll still get a trip there but maybe later in the year.
One of my other friends has just had her visa application to Canada accepted so she'll be moving there in March and so might see if there's any chance I can include that in the trip as well. Will let you know how I get on!
Hope you all have a great Christmas and I'll be back in the New Year!!

Vaccinations

Been looking at vaccinations today. When you realise how many you need it's quite scary really and makes me very thankful that I live somewhere where these kinds of problems are not something I have to face everyday. I can get some of them done free at the Drs and working in research I have my hep B already. I'm going to be going to India in March as my best friend is moving there for 6 months to work for the Wildlife Trust of India on their anti-poaching campaign so I'll need a few for there anyway so I'll be all up to date for my trip anyway. I got my rucksack the other week which was very exciting. Went for a Berghaus C7 60+10 and got a bargain at Cotswold Outdoor where it was reduced to £60 and the people were extremely helpful so I'd highly recommend them. Also got a Regatta jacket with a zip out fleece from Jackson's of Old Arley (near where my parents live) so I'm definitely getting there with the kit! Want to buy my sleeping bag now!!

Travel in New Zealand

Have been wondering what would be the best way for me to travel round New Zealand and had been thinking for a while I might do Kiwi Experience, but having thought about it I think that it's probably not for me - feel too old to do something like that now. Also, want to have a bit more control over the trip and was chatting to someone who did it and they said that if the tour is full and you've stopped off somewhere most people don't stop at then you can have a bit of trouble getting back on a bus. So I think the best thing for me to do is to get a flexi-pass. This allows you to buy travel hours on the intercity buses and I worked out last night that to do the places I want to go to I'll need about 75 hours of travel which would cost about £260 whereas the kiwi experience trip would be closer to £450. Means I get to do more whilst I'm there as well as I'll have more money to spend on activities.
Am down to the 20s now for weeks left at work! OK I know it's still 29 weeks and 5 days but it's still in the 20s! Hurrah!!