Oh my goodness, what has happened to the time, the weeks have just flown by and it is down to the last few days. I can honestly say I never thought we would ever get to the point where we counted in days!
Our time in southern England is organised, I think! Our trip from Paris to Ashford International Station via Eurostar is still to be booked but I have the hire car organised and have arranged some couches to surf, there are so many truely lovely people in the world and we are looking forward to meeting some of them.
One of things I don't think we had really considered in the early days of the planning, is the cutting of ties with the life we have in Australia, our family, our friends, our home, our possessions - the things we have worked our whole life to achieve, this trip is a very big step and I expect there will be times of great homesickness over the year. Missing the birth of our first grandchild will be heart-wrenching, thank goodness for Skype, at least we will be able to see her and watch her develop in those first months, just want to be home when she starts to walk, that would be nice.
Back to planning...with family members now choosing to live in our house while we are away, we no longer have such a massive packing up task ahead of us these last few weeks. Toni will be home for Easter and she will help with the backpack packing decisions, having done almost 9 years on the road herself I am sure she will say 'get rid of half this junk Mum, you won't need it & you won't want to lug it round the world with you'.
Unbelievable, but it is my last day at work tomorrow and although I am sad to be leaving the lovely people I have shared the last two years with, I am excited by the prospects of what the year holds for us!
yup, gotta say, I'm an expert on packing light these days.. but it's taken a long time, and it's the worst part about travelling for me, having to narrow down to all your favourite, most used items, then narrow again, and again, then finally, exclude every little piece of extra weight and leave behind some instrumental items which you KNOW you will need, but just cant fit! Though, it is nice to be free of all junk. Good luck Mum!
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