Five weeks to go!
Trip Start
Oct 18, 2006
1
27
Trip End
Apr 04, 2007
Oxford, UK,
United Kingdom
Monday, September 11, 2006
I am starting this weblog just over five weeks before we are due to start our (almost) six-month trip around the world.
Having come this close (holds up thumb and forefinger millimeters apart) to getting a permanent job in one of the Oxford hospitals three times over the last fourteen months, I finally gave up and decided to do something constructive with my new-found freedom.
Losing my sister in the London Bombings on 7th July 2005 changed my view of life, the universe and everything in many ways. When I found myself without a permanent job I decided to grab the opportunity to travel around the world, something I have always wanted to do
Esther and AD in July 2006
.In the months following Mim's death my family set up the Miriam Hyman Memorial Fund and since November 2005 we have raised around £50,000 enabling us to support a "fellowship" annually through the charity ORBIS UK whose aim is to eliminate avoidable blindness globally. A fellow has already been supported in 2006 (see www.miriam-hyman.com).
Once AD and I had decided to make a trip around the world, it occurred to us that we can raise funds for the MHMF by undertaking sponsored activities in the locations we are visiting. I am going to set up a sponsorship page on the ORBIS website ( ORBIS UK ) which we will keep open the whole time we are travelling. You can catch up on our progress through this weblog and if you decide to sponsor us, you can either give us a small amount for each activity we complete or you might prefer to sponsor us for a total amount for the whole trip.
In this way we hope to boost the MHMF whilst making the most of a trip which would never have taken place if it hadn't been for losing Miriam.
Our itinerary is: South Africa, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, USA. In Thailand we are hoping to train for the PADI Open Water Diving Certificate. Other activities will be planned as we make our way around and will depend on what is available locally. That's why you need to keep track of our progress through this weblog!
I'll write more before we leave!
Special thanks to:
Our travel agent, Rosie, for helping us to turn the dream into a reality.
Becca Greenhalgh who told me about TravelPod.
Everyone who sponsors us and helps to boost the MHMF.
