Packed...... ?

Everything is now in the rucksack and SOMEHOW.... I'm rather under weight! Though I'm sure I've forgotten something....

[x] Monkey
[x] Rucksack
[x] Daysack/Ramblesack (Thanks Richard)
[x] Penknife
[x] Sleeping Bag
[x] Thermarest
[x] Boots
[x] Shades
[x] Platypus
     Electrical gear:
      [x] Camera + Charger
      [ ] Tripod
      [x] Phone + Charger
      [x] Spare Phone
      [x] iPod
      [x] Earphones
      [x] Laptop + Charger
      [ ] Freeloader
[x] Clothes
[x] Buffs
[ ] Moneybelt
[x] Document holder thingy
[x] Duct tape
     Books:
      [x] Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
      [x] 1984 by George Orwell
      [x] Puckoon by Spike Milligan
      [ ] USA by Lonely Planet
[x] First Aid Kit


I need some sleep!

Packing

Im now at the pre-putting things in the rucksack stage. This basically consists of sitting next to the rucksack and assorted shite scattered around and procrastinating.







It seems to be going well

Checklist

[ ] Monkey
[ ] Rucksack
[ ] Daysack/Ramblesack
[ ] Penknife
[ ] Sleeping Bag
[ ] Thermarest
[ ] Boots
[ ] Shades
[ ] Platypus
     Electrical gear:
      [ ] Camera + Charger
      [ ] Tripod
      [ ] Phone + Charger
      [ ] Spare Phone
      [ ] iPod
      [ ] Earphones
      [ ] Laptop + Charger
      [ ] Freeloader
[ ] Clothes
[ ] Buffs
[ ] Moneybelt
[ ] Document holder thingy
[ ] Duct tape
     Books:
      [ ] Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
      [ ] 1984 by George Orwell
      [ ] Puckoon by Spike Milligan
      [ ] USA by Lonely Planet
[ ] First Aid Kit

Please note that packing has not started yet. This is a bad thing

Leaving Again Soon

Hello! Been a while since my last trip (an agonising year and a bit). I returned from Africa in October 2009, and returned to work for Blacks temporarily - that temporary return turned into a year. Never, ever, ever under any circumstances work in a clearance store!

So anyway - from January I will be in the USA. I've signed up to volunteer in the Grand Canyon - trail maintenance, fencing and re-vegetation among the projects. I'm told there's a lot more to it than that, but it will be a lot of hard work, and I'm really looking forward to it. For every 4 days on project you get 3 days off - sometimes it may be 8 days working then 6 days off in return. In my free time I hope to do a bit of travelling - from the base in Flagstaff, Arizona, you can get to Los Angeles, Vegas or a number of other places quite easily. I can't wait to get on that open road.

The project ends two days before my birthday - then I have 3 full weeks before my visa ends in which to travel the US - the plan for that will very much be formed on a whim!

So I come back to the UK in April - the plan from then is to start planning for New Zealand. I have tickets to see John Cleese in June (which will be AWESOME), so I am free after that. You can get a working holiday visa for a year until you're 30, and with various film projects (i.e The Hobbit!) and a rugby world cup going on it shouldn't be too hard to scrounge some sort of job while out there.

After that, who knows? I may go to Australia, or there might be a chance to extend my stay in New Zealand. Something that will always be on the to-do list is my return to Africa. I feel that my time in the beautiful place will never be over. My car took nearly a year to be fixed and is now sold - I now no longer own a Mitsubishi Pajero Jr called Colin ;-( Though this is quite sad and depressing to me, I really, really hope to get back out there soon. The BIG PLAN has always be to go from Cape Town to Cairo then back to the UK. This will be a long and expensive trip, but will be as relaxed as I want. ONE DAY - definitely!

So there it is - updated blog, new design! I've not booked my flights yet - work buggered up my pay AGAIN, so it will have to wait until they sort themselves out until I can afford them. (Twats).

Ian....



The countdown begins.....