Feeling ready, and looking forward to what should be a wonderful trip, with many interesting places to see and people to meet.
See you all on the other side ... of the world that is!
Leaving tonight - 8:50pm; so no more sleeps - this is it.
Feeling ready, and looking forward to what should be a wonderful trip, with many interesting places to see and people to meet. See you all on the other side ... of the world that is!
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36 hours to go!
The most frequent question I've been asked in the last couple of days has been "So, are you all packed and ready then?" Of course, the answer is a resounding "No" - on both counts. I'm probably as ready as I'm likely to be - travel plans in place; most necessary things bought (or at least I think they are - I'll soon enough find out if there are other necessaries that I haven't yet thought of); accommodation booked for Portugal, Spain, & Italy; flights booked and paid for from Bristol to Lisbon, and then from Barcelona to Naples; car booked for England; UK accommodation checked for with Craig & Jenny in Marshfield, and Tristan in Saltash (Cornwall). I know that some, like my brother Michael would probably suggest that I could (should?) be more organised than this, while others, like my wife Kim would probably suggest that I am way over-organised. So, hopefully I've reached a happy medium. As for packing - well, I have a pile of clothes on the spare bed, and I have a bag to pack things into - so that's a start. I've even started with a bigger pile of clothes, and then pared that back - now I just have to look at paring back even further. I trust and hope that Michael will continue to comment on my blogs, as I am sure that his will be the most-read part - thanks. Well, of course it's getting closer - because time continues to progress, so no surprises there.
All preparations going well. I now have all of my accommodation booked in Spain, so now all there is to do is actually get to all of the places on the required dates. So, here's Spain's plan:
Thought I should share the "plan" so that anyone reading this has some idea of what's going on.
Self-awarded Long Service Leave Having not had any long service leave, I thought it about time to award some to myself; so, I'm heading off for 4 1/2 months of touring Europe, combined with attending the Universal Medicine retreat in the UK. The Plan Departure: I leave on 21st January, on a fairly late flight out of Brisbane on a Qantas ticket (doing my bit to try to keep them afloat) with Emirates to Dubai, then Emirates to London. Arrival: I arrive at Heathrow at about midday on 23rd January, will pick up a hire-car at the airport and drive to the Bristol/Bath area where I'll have a base with Craig & Jenny in a converted Stables; this will give me the opportunity to explore the south-eastern region, including Cornwall, where I'll catch up with an old school-friend (we haven't seen each other for nearly 30 years). Europe: I have a booking from Bristol to Lisbon (Portugal) on easyJet (look out for me on an episode of Airline) on 30th January, where the real adventure begins. With a 3-month rail-pass, and virtually no language skills other than English and having done German at school (and Latin - not sure how useful that will be), I will take trains on a big anti-clockwise loop around the mainland continent to arrive in Paris on 1st May, where I will meet Kim; we'll then head over to the UK and to Frome for the retreat. Kim & I will then spend 10 days travelling north to Glasgow from where she will fly home, which leaves me with 8 days to make my way back down to Heathrow for the flight home leaving late on 2nd June and arriving home in the early hours of 3rd June. On the way around continental Europe the current plan is to visit:
3 and a bit weeks to go, and a few more things are organised:
Well, it's all systems go, with the big trip only a month away now. First stop UK:
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