Pre-trip build up

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Back in the year 2000, I was a 21 year old boy who dreamed of seeing the world. I did not know what I would find when I went out in to the world, and I had no real idea of where I should go if I did go out to see the world. I just knew that I wanted to get out there and have some fun and open my eyes to a different way of life.

I was working at a fashion outlet at Bicester Village, and was feeling very underwhelmed by life. I had a huge desire to leave the place I felt to be a "one horse town" and I was encouraged to start thinking about a round-the-world-trip after several of my colleagues began to leave for their own adventures.

All I knew at this time was that I wanted to go to Australia. I had begun to dream about a trip to Australia back in 1998, when I was in love with a girl I worked with, and with whom I desperately wanted to travel. Sadly, she had a boyfriend, and he was not keen on the idea!

I moved to Bicester in 1999 after my parents decided to move from my childhood home in High Wycombe. My late teenage years were tainted by depression and my first year in Bicester was not a happy time for me. By 2000 I had settled down a little bit, finding a degree of success at the shop I was working at, moving up into a management position in that first year. However, I still felt that I was missing out on the fun that other people my age seemed to be having!

My best friend, Martyn, was also thinking about a round the world trip at this time. He was planning on travelling overland from England to Australia following the old hippy route. I was not so keen on this idea, but we had discussed meeting up in Australia when he got there. I was a little scared of the thought of travelling through alien places, many of which I had never heard of before. I could not understand why Martyn did not take the easy option and fly between places!

Martyn's travel plans meant that he hoped to reach Australia by September/October 2001, so I began to save up for my trip to Australia. Paying minimal rent, and earning good money for a guy my age, I soon saved up a substantial amount of money to pay for my trip.

Martyn began his travels at the end of January 2001, travelling from England to Holland via the Eurotunnel (although he was not aware that he had travelled through it until after the event!). I remember getting very drunk at our local nightclub/dive on his penultimate night in England and I remember that Martyn was so hungover the next morning that he was unable to move from his bed to say goodbye to me before he left!

I returned to work on Monday following our weekend of festivities to celebrate Martyn's last weekend in England, feeling a mixture of jealousy and sadness that my mate was off on his adventures without me. By the end of the week, I had joined him in Amsterdam and my own adventures were about to begin!

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