And so it begins...

It is the night before the long day ahead. Well actually the morning of the long day ahead now I have finished writing this. I'm finally packed, in the sense that my rucksack is all fastened up. Though no doubt it will all be opened up again tomorrow either to add some extra items I have forgotton, or to take all the contents to pieces because it is just too heavy (though I can't see any possible way of making it lighter other than to take no clothes at all!) I still maintain it is the sleeping bag and thermorest that are weighing it down but unfortunatly for this trip they are a neccessity. And realistically it is probably all the toiletries and clothes I have that are really weighing it down but we don't talk about that. And so all there is left to do is to sort out my daypack and program my camera and music (because the people that burgled us decided to steal mine).


At this time tomorrow, I will be settling in for the long-haul flight to Rio de Janeiro, hopefully getting a little sleep though highly unlikely. Though I have been lucky enough to do lots of travelling before, this will be first time doing it alone so the journey there should be an experience in itself. Two girls I know from university are already out there and looking at their facebook profiles, they're having the time of their lives.


My South America trip involves a week at the Rio Carnival (party time!!!) and then I am meeting up with my Budget Expeditions travel group to tour round the continent on a huge yellow jeep/coach thing for 10 weeks, travelling through Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. The highlights of the trip for me are going to including visiting the Pantanal and Amazon rainforests, Iguazu falls, sand duning in Bolivia and Macchu Picchu. I don't quite know how I'm going to get to the top of Macchu Picchu but it is sometime I've always dreamed of doing so I won't let a little thing such as only being fit enough to walk a mile on the flat stop me


And so I have decided to start this blog probably for the very same reasons as everyone else on here. I hope all my family and friends enjoy reading it and hopefully I can manage to keep it as updated as possible. I have learnt from past trips that it is difficult when you arrive back home to share your experiences with everyone, so hopefully I can share it as I go along.

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