Finding backpackers insurance has been the most difficult travel planning task so far. I left Andrew the task of researching and buying our long term travel insurance while he was on autumn school holidays and I was at work.  He found a great deal, a £253 year-long policy! That’s one more task crossed off the list, or so I thought…
18 December, 2012 /
There are only 12 weeks left to go before we jet off to travel the world and this week I finally told my boss that I’m leaving. On Friday evening as we sped through the city in a cab to our work Christmas party I watched all the historical buildings in London whiz by through the window and felt everything catching up with me. Soon my job and this city that I love will become nothing but a memory.
09 December, 2012 /

It’s a strange feeling to be so close to the very thing I’ve wanted for so long; to be on the verge of doing something that used to feel virtually impossible. I can’t believe that in 15 weeks’ time we’ll be out there travelling the world after years of dreaming, saving up our money and obsessively planning our travel adventure. I should be jumping-for-joy ecstatic, singing-from-the-rooftops excited – and don’t get me wrong, I am – but why do I also feel so incredibly sad?

30 November, 2012 /

One of the most complicated and annoying travel planning tasks has been sorting out our travel visas. For each country we hope to visit there are so many questions that need to be answered:

23 November, 2012 /

When you’re embarking on long-term travel, you accept that at some point you’re going to get sick on the road. However, while suffering a cold or minor injury is one thing, contracting a serious disease is definitely not on our list of things to do, so we’re making sure we get all the travel vaccination advice we can before we go.  

15 November, 2012 /
London has turned golden and crispy, leaves littering all the pavements and parks - autumn is well and truly here. I love this time of year, even though it gets dark at four o'clock in the afternoon and our heating bills go through the roof. One of the things I like best about autumn is firework night, the 5th November, the day we celebrate Guy Fawkes failing to blow up the houses of parliament by well, blowing things up.
05 November, 2012 /
I can’t remember what Andrew and I used to talk about before we started planning our round the world trip. I really can’t.  Nowadays, everything revolves around trip planning – plotting our itinerary, reading travel blogs, sourcing gear, building up our savings, booking flights, organising visas…the list goes on.  I have become totally, utterly obsessed with our travel plans.
01 November, 2012 /
Some of the most tedious and frustrating tasks on our travel checklist are the financial ones. After much research, we finally found the best travel credit card on offer, but we then had to consider how we were going to access our money while we’re away. Turns out that the fees for using your debit card abroad can end up seriously eating into your savings, so we set out to find the cheapest option. So, what's the best debit card to use abroad? 
29 October, 2012 /
Stunning scenery, glaciers, skydiving and glow worm caves – it’s no wonder New Zealand is near the top of our travel wish-list. When it came to planning the itinerary for our round the world trip, New Zealand came first for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s an English speaking small-ish country that’s simple to get around in, so we can ease ourselves into our new travelling lifestyle. Since we’re leaving in March, it also makes sense to stop in New Zealand first to catch the end of their summer before we travel on to Australia and Asia.
26 October, 2012 /