The Great Escape

The List
Tickets - check
Back pack containing minimal clothing and essentials - check
Insurance - check
My travel buddy Lynsey - check.... God help me if she's not on the list!!

So this is it.

I'm ready. (Or at least I should be!)

It's been a lifelong dream to go travelling. I just never got round to it before now.

"I’ll go after Uni
Or after a year of working
Definitely before I'm 24"

Those milestones came and went.

In the end it took the breakdown of a five-year relationship and the best part of seven months to gear myself up and just do it.

One big 18 month holiday to look forward to. I love holidays. I never want to come back. Just the thought of sun on my face and the sand in between my toes fills me with joy.

I know that there is more out there than bleak, cold and grey London.

We decided to start in South East Asia, as apparently it's very easy to get around and not such a shock to the system for first time back packers. We also applied for a year working visa in Australia. So that's two flights booked; one to Bangkok and then another from Bangkok to Sydney six months later.

In fact, we have no real plan - we're completely left to our own devises.

I've been through every emotion: anticipation, worry, fear, excitement, relief, elation...

I’ve read the guides and purchased the fibre light towel, the sleeping bag liner and the 55 litre backpack…

I’m definitely ready, surely! So why is there this niggling fear?

Thinking about it makes me jittery. I don't know what to expect. I feel completely clueless.

About a million questions are going through my head - what do we do when we get there? How do we get around without a plan? What if I get bitten to death by mosquitos, or have to sleep in a shack and eat boiled rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner?!

Will I be able to fit everything into my teeny backpack?

I also can't believe I've given up my job. I'm intending to work in Oz but what if all I can get is fruit picking that pays the equivalent of £5 a week? Oh God, will I have given up my career to become a farmer?!! That was never on the cards!

But it's an adventure. An exciting one.

I just don’t know what to expect, or how I’ll cope. The only thing I can do is just see when I get there.

Why don't you join me on this blog and find out how I do?