The Build Up Pt 1

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Well well well about time I got this bad boy started hadn't I. So much has happened since we decided we were going to leave the "Wonderful" UK shores and so much happened before we decided too.
Number 10 was sold in the summer (that was fun) and we finally completed the week before Xmas which meant I was moving back into the 'rents place for cheap lodgings and then everything was confirmed, notices handed in, flights finalised/booked, ferry's booked and rail passes gotten. We are so thankful that the "Internet" (beautiful British Invention) has made sorting this out so much more painless than I reckon it could have been even if it was a bit more expensive but I figure its money well spent for making our first big trip as easy as possible.
However in the short time we've been planning and plotting etc I have formulated a few tips.
1) Uk Travel Agents aren't as good as they used to be. When I did IT support for a travel agency the agents were helpful, useful and would give good advice. What I have seen currently is half truths, fobbing off when money isn't going to be changing hands and also doing your own research and getting things from the source can be so much cheaper! (We saved over £200 each booking NZ Experience tickets direct from NZ experience)
2) The Japanese Rail system is confusing yet seems the coolest mass transport system ever! I can't wait to use PASSMO!!!! However I reckon getting the schoolgirls knickers from the vending machines wouldn't make an effective dust/smog mask. The price of the JR price however can really really vary, the cheapest one I could find at the time was from a travel agency in Bristol and was about £60 cheaper than a lot of the others I could find.
3) Vietnam looks possibly the most beautiful place in the world. I don't think one month will be enough!
4) Chinese State Broadcasters don't half put on a good pyrotecnics show. However probably best they leave it to the experts before destroying billion dollar buildings 😊
5) Everyone will become instantly jealous of what you are doing and wish they were. To be honest if you want to travel then do so 😊 the rat race is all well and good but I think seeing the world before travel becomes prohibitavely expensive and nigh on impossible has to be a must. A rainy Bolton morning or a hazy afternoon in Phnom Penh? No brainer 😊
6) Injections hurt and get rather annoying. The worst to be honest are the Japanese Encephelitis jabs, anything where metal hits muscle sucks big time 😊. Also GET MALARIA TABLETS FROM YOUR DOCTORS!!!!! I cannot state this enough, your GP is always going to be cheaper in the long run for example 14 weeks of Doxycylene is costing about £22 from your GP and will set you back the best part of £100 from Nomads! The informed traveller will "do the maths".

Anyway enough musings for now, will keep this going as much as possible until i forget or am unable to. Hope you find these ramblings interesting and have some point and please comment 😊

For now from Bolton
Jay

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