Looking back
Southampton,
England,
United Kingdom
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
ok so it's late and i know most people would probably start their
travel blog at the airport or first landing but i just feel like too
much has happened in my small little head not to take some time to talk
about what an annoying few months it has been preparing for this little
journey of ours. and anyway someone once said they have more fun on
their way than at their final destination. i'm not sure if that will be
the case here but it maybe applies a little.
anyway so it must have been back at the very start of the year when i
was still pretending at being a high flyer tv person that my boyfriend
first turned around and suggested we go travelling. well, me still in
the midst of pretending, i said he must be kidding as i was sure i
still wanted to do at least another year in my current job. anyway as
it happens i was very much kidding myself there and it could have only
be a couple of months later that i'm packing up my desk and heading off
home. anyway with no more high flying prospects to mention and being
back in the family home like a child, and like so many of my friends
are now what with no-one having any money, sean turns round and
mentions travelling again. he says if i say no he may still well go for
a few months himself just to get it out of his system, but he'd really
like me to join him.
anyway after the usual female angst, wondering how could he possibly
dream of putting so much time and space between us when anything could
happen,
when i could never do that to him, and after realising i have a job but
have absolutely no idea of what i want to do career wise anymore, or
even what i want my future to hold ie. the old dream of years of
competing against some of london's bitchiest, all trying to make editor
of cosmo, followed by big house, obnoxious children, too much money etc
etc, vs nice job, nice place to live, near the sea if possible, family
and plenty of really good mates around, maybe a dog, maybe some kids
etc etc, i finally think ah maybe i'll say yes. what can i say, i love
him and he can be very persuasive.
so i've said yes, we've spoken to our travel people and mapped out our
journey, and we have a payment plan to start and finish paying for our
tickets in literally weeks. here i am thinking it's that easy to commit
yourself, pay up and be off travelling for a year. let's just hope i'm
completely sure when i say yes to marriage otherwise i'll get myself in
no end of trouble. anyway so tickets done. what's left to plan however
does not leave me however from the moment i wake up every morning to
the minute i go to bed. everyday i wake up thinking about my 'to do'
list.
we have the obvious jobs - passport, working visas for australia and
new zealand, insurance, making sure there's enough money kicking about.
but just when you think you've got that all covered, you suddenly
realise you've left your jabs too late and you're begging your local
health clinic to book you into as many appointments as possible,
despite them making them for emergencies only. well, preventing the
risk of catching something lovely out there may well just be one such
emergency. and then there's the contraceptive pill. you try your
damndest to get seen by the family planning ladies, along with every
second teenager from your town, hoping they'll understand your
plight that you really don't want to get pregnant while you're
abroad, and yet all they can say is they can't supply more than six
months. so that's another appointment for my doctor to handle. and it
doesn't stop there. i've had to visit the bank to organise bonds i've
never really paid attention to before. we've had to plead the local nhs
dentist to see me before i go, despite having not seen a dentist for
years. i haven't had my hair cut for years too, and yet what with all
this talk from my mother of creepy crawlies getting stuck in my weave,
or strands getting caught in a pipe underwater and pulling me under and
drowning me, i suppose i'd better make a hair appointment too. and
there's the first aid cabinet to pack, repellents, mosquito nets,
special boots and shoes, the list is endless.
and to top it all, just when i think my 'to do' list is looking pretty
organised, and maybe i'll be ready in just a mere few shopping trips,
and after seeing the doctor for just one or two more appointments, i
suddenly get told about malaria tablets. if i take the really, really
expensive tablet, i'll feel no pain and my trip will be a walk in the
park. it's sensitive for children afterall, even though i'm clearly not
one. if i take the really, really cheap one however, and get burnt,
i'll end up looking like i've got a tattooed rash on my skin for the
rest of my life. and these are the options. i feel like there's a
national conspiracy working against me here. maybe mum was right when
she said she thought travelling was a middle class pastime because this
trip of a lifetime is going to wind me up paying for the rest of my
life too, whether it be financial scarring or looking like a wrinkly
prune before my time.
anyway enough of that, it really is late now, and my bed is calling me.
and surely that's where i should be. asleep, not worrying about
catching malaria, or not once i'm dosed up to the eye-balls, and the
rest, and maybe dreaming about what a wonderful time we're going to
have. that's what i should be doing. and trust me, it might sound now
like i wish i could curl up under a rock for ten years to avoid going
but i am looking forward to this trip. i just really, really, really
hate running errands, and yet they have become my entire life. roll on
september!
