Packing for a year away

So a lot of people have asked me what I'm bringing with me and wonder how I'm going to fill it all into one bag on my back. I didn't know a few months ago either. Well I first started doing a lot and a lot and a lot of research. (nerd!) Then being a list person I stared making lists - clothing lists, gear lists, lists about what I'd need in my first aid kit, a list of misc items, a list of expensive bits of equipment I needed to buy, lists of things I might need, lists of things I'd read other travellers couldn't live without... you get the idea.

So I started by buying the backpack, a Berghaus Jalan Womens 55 + 15l and I ended up with...

What I'm packing

Clothing:

• Merrell Siren Sport - my 'sensible' walking shoes
• Merrell Siena - sandals that are kinda cute
• crappy flip flops - for icky showers
• Cons - an extra pair of shoes may seem silly but if I'm heading out for a drink at night in a big city I'd rather not have to wear my lovely Merrells! These are super old so if I'm not using them I'll throw them out.
• 6 tank tops/string tops (ones a dressy one)
• 2 t-shirt
• 1 long-sleeve top
• 3 shorts
• 2 dresses
• 2 bikinis - I plan on buying lots more along the way :)
• sarong
• a pair of jeans - most people/travel forums/blogs say don't pack these but I can't imagine a year without jeans. And after not packing them when I travelled around Europe a few summers ago I regretted not having them. So they are coming, end of!
• light full length pants
• North Face micro fleece
• rain jacket
• crappy shorts and string top for Pjs 
• micro fibre towel
• mini micro fibre towel for hair

Misc stuff

• 1l water bottle
• sunglasses, seeing glasses, 4 month supply of contacts and solution
• Sporkff
• mini LED torch
  
• silk sleeping sheet
• notebook and pens
• tiny 2010 diary
• small atlas of the world
• Lonely Planet 'South America on a shoestring'
• washing line 
• padlock
• first aid kit - painkillers, tiger balm, plasters, motillium, immodium, savlon, rehydration sachets etc.
• mini sewing kit
• toiletry bag - suncream, aftersun, insect repellent, toothbrush, toothpaste, deoderant etc. 
• some make-up - mascara, eyeliner, blush
• hairbrush with bobbles around handle
• pack of playing cards - they have a different picture of Ireland on each card 

Electronic stuff

• iPod
• iPhone - unlocked waiting for Oz
• 10.1" Asus Eee PC 1001HA netbook
• Nikon Coolpix camera
• chargers

It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside!

8 days to go.
3 left in work!

If you said to me this time last year that I only had one week left to go I think I would have exploded with excitment. But right now I really don't know what I'm feeling. Well I know I'm definitely happy. And I know that I'm definitely looking forward to the next year... but I don't know where the excitement is.

I think it's because I've been planning this for so long I might have used up all my excitement. I was excited when Brian and I decided we would start saving and planning for this trip. And I was unbelievably excited the day we booked our flights! As was I the day I bought my backpack. And my shoes. And all the other things we organised and booked and did over the past few months, but now it just feels surreal. Like I've been planning a fake holiday that I'll never be going on!
It's a bit strange alright.
And, yes, it is only 8 days away!
Why doesn't it feel like there's something major about to happen in my life?
I'm guessing this surreal feeling is at least going to last until I don't have to get up next Monday at 6:40 am for work... but it might last till I'm waking up early for my first flight on the 22nd.

Guess it's just not sinking in.

random thought

Every now and then when I'm doing normal stuff during the day I do something or use something or eat something and I go 'Wow, I'm gonna miss that when I'm gone!' So some of these things include - Barrys tea, black pudding, high heels on a night out, ... but the thing I think I'm going to miss the most, and don't mock me, is nail varnish! Ya, ya, shh... let me explain. I'm not a girly girl and I'm not going to miss make-up (90% of the time), a full wardrobe of clothes, etc. but this nail varnish thing is really gonna get to me. I hate looking at my hands when there's no nail varnish on them. They are just crap! They chip, crack, rip, are dull, boring, uuuhhhhhhhhhhh!

I'll get over it - don't worry, but I'll be sad doing it!

oh and I'll miss the sound of my hair dryer, couldn't care less about styling or actually drying my hair, I'm really gonna miss curling up under my blanket while the hairdryer is on!!

yup!

Lets do shots! but not the fun kind

It’s been a while since I updated this and a lot has happened in the last month. Only two months to go now and actually running out of things to organise. Hurray!! Inca trail 4 day trek to Machu Picchu booked (9th June- if anyone wants to join us, hehe), the decision to bring a laptop or to hang in internet cafés every now and again was made and, thanks to a lovely work bonus, I got myself the yummiest little Asus netbook, shoes sorted, most equipment sorted, first aid kit sorted… just a few bits and pieces left to do.

Soooo….. shots! Yeah, they officially suck. For me anyway. Day one was last week and just after I get one injection into the left arm and two into the right the doctor tells me I’m a bleeder! Great! And then my right arm goes dead straight away which is fun cause I have to sign a form and then have to go pay and enter my pin in the laser machine. Tripping over my own foot didn't help, the receptionist asked if I needed to sit! Oops.

Aching all over the next day felt great too. In bed I could feel the backs of my knees and my ears and my toes all hurting at the same time. My right arm was pretty tender for another few days. Now day two is tomorrow and I’m dreading it.

Uh, I’d love a jagermeister!

2010 is finally here

AAAAAHHHHHHH!!

YYYAAAAAYYY!!!

2010 is finally here. Not long now. It’s the third of January now and I haven’t even thought about new years resolutions, new beginings, what to do with my life… the normal things that run through my head at the start of a new year. It’s a weird feeling! All I’m thinking about is travel insurance (still not organised!), visas, vaccinations and all the bits and bobs I’ve left to get. And the best feeling in the world right now is looking forward to not having anything set to do for a long, long time. Just hanging with Brian, choosing what to do for the day, meeting new people, trying some new food, running for probably the wrong bus, not knowing what that dude is saying to me…..

Even the thought of work tomorrow isn’t bothering me like it usually does. Saying this I know I’ve had a few days off but I can finally see that light at the end of the tunnel. Going to step up the savings now. Start ticking off the checklists in the travel books and on the travel forums and blogs I’ve been reading.

Hurray for 2010

Oww!

my head hurts.

Seriously. Trying to decide which travel insurance to pick is a pain in the ass. I really, really don’t want to read 74 pages of the policy’s wording for all the different providers! There’s been so much crap to read through we’d planned to get our insurance straight after we booked our flights but we got fed up with the overload of information so ran away from it for a while! Crap, this sucks. Down to two but still, like, I dunno, I don’t care anymore…

Just over four months to go now and I know that’s still loads of time but I wanna stay working as long as I can, to get paid as much as I can so I don’t have to go home early… so I’m doing all the planning now. Our insurance is the second last expensive thing to get organised, booking our tour trek to Machu Picchu will be the last, so it’s all coming together really. YAY :D Brian, hurry up with that new passport!

oooo….think we’re down to one now. I like the look of www.worldnomads.com and Brian agrees. The headache is nearly over. Fingers crossed.

Drum Roll... the route

Just got myself a lovely picture of my route. Isn’t it beautiful?



So the general plan is… fly to Rio in Brazil on the 22nd of April 2010 and over the next two months head west through Brazil, Bolivia and Peru and then south through Chile. Two months is very short for this huge continent but sadly cause of budget we don’t think we can stay any longer.

Next flying from Santiago, Chile to Auckland, New Zealand. Only decided to stay a short ten days here. We had trouble deciding weither to do a six month stay in New Zealand or Australia but in the end Oz won cause of the weather!! We want to get a working holiday visa here so that we can settle for a few months and live in one of the cities and earn a little extra spending money. So we fly into Brisbane, Australia where I’m going to meet my thousands of relatives and then see where Oz takes us.

Just after New Years 2011, we will hopefully head for Bangkok, Thailand where we’ll spend the next two months travelling around south east Asia. Then a flight to Singapore which we’ll explore for a few days and then onto Mumbai, India where we have about a month or a month and a half to explore. Flying home from New Dehli, India.

So thats the jist of the trip. With our ticket we can change our dates but not our destinations so things can still change a bit.

T-Minus 5 months

Just sitting at home having a lazy Sunday, doing my usual research and reading about the trip and realised it’s exactly 5 months to the day we go. AAAHHHHH :)

So with five months to go I’ve a few things done. Got my backpack, a Berghaus Jalan 55l and got it pretty cheap on the internet. Yay! 55l might be a bit big for me but I’ll have to wait and see. Got a few bits and pieces too… my handy Sporkfff, toiletry bag ( its got cupcakes all over it, haha), silk sleeping sheet and maybe one or two more things I can’t think of…

I keep wanting to go out and buy everything I need but have to remind myself it’s still quite a while away and calm myself down. Seriously like, I’d have everything bought for my first-aid kit and all assembled in a small tuberware container and waiting in the cupboard if I didn’t stop myself!! Loser, ha!

Here at home in Cork we just had a bad couple of days weather-wise. Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain!! Pretty bad floods and everything. Makes me look forward to getting away from the cold and rain and winter and everything a little bit more.

Mmm… only 150 days to 20°C+ and Rio sunshine…

It all just became real!

So just booked our flights a few days ago and remembered I had started this. Better get the hang of blogging before I go or else this won’t happen!

So… Ive always enjoyed travelling and since I started college five years ago I wanted to travel the world. Never really thought of how or when but just that I wanted to do it. So when college finished myself and Brian decided that careers, mortgage etc. were WAY too ‘real world’ for us so we started saving most of our wages and began planning our trip.

And four days ago it all became real. Cork - London - Rio de Janeiro - overland to Santiago - Auckland - Sydney - Brisbane - overland to Sydney - Bangkok - Singapore - Mumbi - overland to Dehli - London - Cork. Leaving 22nd April 2010. Back some time in April 2011. Sounds CLASS. Woo hoo! Haha.

213 days and counting

Getting ready a little early

just threw this blog together this minute, dunno if ill actually use it. not that into blogging but the idea interests me. travelled before around eastern europe in 2006 and a tiny bit of california in 2007 but never kept a diary, only threw a few things into a envelope (bus/train tickets, cards from places we ate, beer mats, etc.) so would have liked a diary to look back on.

heading away on a RTW with Brian but not for at least six months if all goes well but of course im getting excited and organised a little early. very me!

just cant wait to get out of here. :)