travel update

it's now less than six months until i leave for the uk. it consumes me. i would say that i'm thinking about something trip related about 80% of my waking time. and then i dream about it.

i haven't booked my tickets yet, but my team leader's housemate is a travel agent, and she is going to hook me up with a good deal. i've decided to fly with singapore. it's relatively cheap, and the new airbus has the most leg room out of any one. the deciding factor over singapore vs malaysian was that the boeings that malaysia fly to heathrow don't have any kind of power to the economy seats. whereas every seat on the airbus has a laptop jack.

once i land, i'll spend 5 days in london and see some sites, then it's on to cardiff where i plan to stay at least til summer. i want to go travelling on the continent during june and july. then if cardiff is awesome, i'll come back, otherwise i might head to edinburgh for the fringe festival, or whatever else takes my fancy. the uk is my oyster for the duration of my two year visa.

i'm not sure what to do about luggage. my initial plan was to take a suit case over with me initially, then buy a back pack for my trips around. then on the way home i could ship the suitcase along with work clothes and other stuff i won't need back to australia, and just have my backpack for my last travels. but maybe i should just get a backpack to begin with? i don't know. it's having to take work clothes with me that is making things so hard. but i am going on a working holiday so it is a necessary evil.

any input that former/current travellers reading this have in regards to luggage is greatly appreciated.

in other travel news, my mum and i have planned an epic drive around south eastern australia. we'll spend two weeks driving down the coast to adelaide, then back to sydney inland. mum's got a conference on in melbourne, so we're spending three nights in m-town. the 10th to the 12th of november. mark it in your calendars, bitches! we're staying in st kilda. looking forward to epic cake purchases and lots of riding the 96 tram.

i did my tax return over the weekend, and got about 1k less back than i thought. the fact that i have earned 10 grand more than i did last year is besides the point. i was relying on this imaginary money to get my saving back on track after hardly puting anything away during july. so i will have to tighten the purse strings until i go. my plan is to save at least $1500 a month. so you won't be seeing me out and about much before i leave. and i need to bring lunch from home every day. it will be hard, but it will be worth it when i have $20 000 to spend on going places.

the last thing i should mention in regards to travelling is my fitness. i did the city to surf a couple of weeks ago. so a walk of 14kms. fuck it hurt, but i did it all. i've lost around 15kg, which i guess isn't as much as if i had gone on a crash diet. but you know what, that doesn't even matter. what matters is that i will be able to walk around site seeing.

this is all a bit self motivating, which i normally consider to be masturbation. but right now i needed to write this all down to refocus. i've been doing this wellness course at my gym, and last week my homework was to say to myself, every time i looked at myself in the mirror, "i am a work in progress." and it's so true for this year. 2008 is my progress year so i can have an awesome 2009.