Where in the world...

Okay, so I have some news for you all (well, all of you who read this, anyway).

After a lot of thought, deliberation and talks with myself (please, don't call the men in white coats, I'm fine) I've decided to give up the rat-race and head off on a Round-The-World trip. It's something I've been mulling over for a while (years, not weeks) but up to now I've always found an excuse. Credit card bills to pay off, car to pay off, not fit enough, I want a career blah blah blah. And while they're all valid excuses in one way or another, that's all they were, excuses. As I sit here and write this, I no longer have any credit card debt, actually, I don't even have the credit cards any more, my car is nearly paid off but even if it isn't, I can sell it and it'll more than pay off what I owe. Okay, so not being fit enough is still a valid reason, but I'm working on it and with the help of my gym and Weight Watchers I'm sure I'll be fit enough come March, and finally my career. Oh my career. Well, at the moment that is stagnating and it's actually been part of the reason I'm taking a break now. While I'm very good at what I do, I've been contracting for a LONG time and I'm now in a place where I'm finding the thought of yet another contract painful but can't bring myself to go into a perm role. Eventually I will have to take a perm role if I want to move up the career ladder, but to be honest, right now I'm hating what I do so much I feel that even if I got a 'proper' job, I'd walk out or end up becoming a drunk or manic depressant. Plus, with the amount of contracting I've done very few firms want to take me on. They worry, rightly or wrongly, that I'll quickly get bored, move on and then they have to start the selection process all over again.

So, where am I going? Well let me tell you....

I plan to leave next March, by train, and head across Europe and into Russia where I'll spend a few days in Moscow. (BTW, if you click on the maps they become a LOT bigger)



Next, I jump back on a train, but this time it's the Trans-Siberian Express and it'll take me to Beijing via Ulaanbaatar. Not sure if I'll stay over in Mongolia, but I'll have to decide before booking tickets and sorting out Visas.



Once I get to China I'm going to spend a few days wandering the Beijing and stretching my legs as I'll have potentially been on a train for 6 days non-stop from Moscow.

The next leg takes me through central China and down to Ha Noi in Vietnam. I'm going to spend a few days here and would ideally like to somehow get to the coast as I've read there are some spectacular coastal views.
My journey through Vietnam will be by rail all the way to Ho Chi Min City, where I'll then transfer to a boat and travel up the river to Phnom Penh. There aren't any railways in Cambodia so I've decided that river travel sounds more fun than squeezing into a bus for several hours.
After taking in the sights and sounds of PP I'm heading up to Angkor Wat. For those of you who haven't heard of this place before, it's where the original Tomb Raider movie was filmed. Some friends of mine went there a few years ago for their honeymoon and said that it was lovely but it was slowly degrading because tourists were climbing all over it. I'd like to see it before they have to start putting restrictions on the site to keep it in tact like they do at Stone Henge.
I'll then head to Thailand and take a train from the border to Bangkok. I've never been to Bangkok before so I'm going to spend three or four days there before jumping on another train and heading for Penang in Malaysia.
Penang isn't a party capital by any stretch of the imagination, but it was the capital of British Malaya and it was, according to my folks, the place I learned to swim so it would be nice to see.
Next stop will be KL and then on to Singapore where I plan to catch up with some old friends and check out some old haunts.



The final country I hit will be Australia. I'll fly into Perth (mainly because taking a boat is WAY too expensive and slow) where I hope to catch up with some friends and then starts my 12,000 km drive around this continent. First stop, Uluru (or Aires Rock, if you're not being PC). From there I'll drive up to Darwin, across to Cairns, down to Brisbane and then on to Adelaide. From there I'll take the Great Ocean Highway down to Melbourne, up to Canberra and then finally into Sydney. There will be lots of overnight stops between all these cities, but I will be staying in each of the big ones for a few days at least. Once I get to Sydney (I expect at least a month or so after I land in Oz) I plan to spend a few weeks being a tourist but then I'm going to live the Aussie lifestyle (yes, that does mean I'll be getting a job) for the rest of my stay. I also plan to try and save some money so I can visit New Zealand, the Cook Islands and Bali while I'm there, but I also want to travel back through South America, up into the USA and then across Canada before I head back to Blighty. In all honesty, I haven't mapped this last bit out at all and thought I'd do it once my time in Oz was coming to an end. Who knows, maybe by then I'll be bored of travelling ;)



If I don’t get bored then I plan to start the second stage of my trip in New Zealand and tour around there for a few weeks



After NZ I’ll fly across to Argentina in South America and work my way up to New York in a 4x4. My route isn’t set in stone, but I’ve put a few maps together to give you an idea of where I want to go.







So yeah, that's my news. Leaving Blighty in March and might not be back for 18-24 months.

Don't worry, while I'm away I'm still going to Tweet, blog and Facebook, although how frequently will really depend on how often I get access to the internet. Anyway, still 5 and half months away yet, so I'm still gonna be around for a while yet :)

Back to normality...

Okay, so it's been a few weeks since my last entry. I forgot to update my holiday blogs so I'll try and summarise below.

The holiday was a mix of successes. I loved my first week travelling around Germany. Saw all the car museums I wanted to see, met up with my friend Matt, and even though the German hotels weren't great, it added to the overall experience rather than detracting from it.
I did find travelling around Germany a lot more painful than I remember, but that was mainly due to all the roadworks they had going on. I realise it's all part of their scheme to revitalise their economy, but it's a pain for us 'speed tourists' who go to Germany to try and max out our cars. Oh, on that note, I got Big Tom up to 158 mph! And before you ask, no, I wasn't going down hill at the time.
On the Friday, driving to Davos was fantastic. Lots of mountain roads with hundreds or hairpin and S bends. I actually drove over a mountain and through a national park where the road got up to 2600m high.
On the Saturday I headed down to Italy and the plan was to go via the Stevlio pass, but it was closed due to bad weather, however Little Tom must have realised what I wanted to do as he took me on some back mountain roads that honestly more than made up for not driving on the Stelvio pass.

My week in Italy wasn't as good as the previous week. I think it was a combination off idiot drivers, being rear-ended in the village and being quite isolated with too much time to think that was bad for me. But hey ho, you live and learn.

Anyway, I've been back now a few weeks and it's all very strange. The first day back felt odd as my place felt VERY empty. And I soon realised that I'm pretty much alone up here, as most of my friends who live in London have told me that they won't visit and I know no one around here. It was never a problem when I was dating Andy as I met him just a week after I moved here and he came round here or I went to his a few nights a week, so the nights I had free were to catch up with washing, cleaning or TV I had recorded. Whereas now, especially as I work so close to home, I have far too many hours spare.
So, this has spurred me into changing my life, for the better (I hope). I've started back at the gym and I'm now swimming most mornings and doing cardio/weights a few times a week in the evening. The plan is to try and get as fit as possible by next Spring.

The reason for the Spring deadline is I'm thinking (and at the moment, it is only thoughts) about going travelling. I've always wanted to do it and now seems as good a time as any. I've opened a savings account and I've started to plan the route. My current thinking is taking the Trans-Siberian railway to Beijing, then a train to Saigon, then a train from Bangkok to Singapore and then fly down to Australia. I then want to spend a month or two travelling the Australian ring road and then maybe settle down for 6 or so months and make some money to live and experience life in another country.
As I say, all in the earlier thoughts stage at the moment, but need to start planning now as I want to do something after the end of my current contract (which ends in March).
I know it means a lot of change and upheavil, but I think it'll be worth it.
Anyway, that's still all a long way off. For now, I'm just enjoying a nice lazy Sunday at home, watching TV, reading papers, and catching up with e-mails from friends.

I hope you're having a good day and I promise I won't leave it as long until the next blog.