Preparation... bad times.

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Hello and welcome to the first post in our 2010 Travel Blog; Nick is the author and will be for all posts.
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Ahhh planning and preparation; bad times!

By June 28th we have to pack shipping boxes of anything we want to keep (but not carry with us for six months) and have them shipped back to Australia to wait for our return home.

We have to sell or throw out everything we don't want to keep ( a very liberating experience).

We have to do all of this whilst Alicia works up to June 16th and Nick works up to July 2nd; not to mention making time to watch the World Cup!

We've got 500 rows of research already in our travel planning spreadsheet and a LOT more still to come.

We have a million other things to arrange, organise, or cancel.

The stress of needing to do all this preparation is balanced by the excitement of doing the trip we've been looking forward to for years; it's going to be fantastic.

I'm most looking forward to Iceland and France just now...

I've included photos of the heroes of this travel blog: Nick and Alicia, and of our most valuable and necessary assets for this world trip; our rolla backpacks, hardy hiking boots, and Camera.

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Photos

Alicia and Nick
The Happy couple eager to travel the world and seize the day!

Rolla Backpacks + Walking Shoes
Alicia bravely bought one of these 75Litre Rollabackpacks despite the issues we feared (unnecessary weight, uncomfortable to carry) and we've now discoverd that Rolla Backpacks are in fact really good and bought one for Nick too!
Hardy walking shoes are a lesson learned from previous trips; with the amount of walking we do you want fairly new, fairly serious walking boots to keep your feet comfy and not literally fall apart ( as Nick's shoes did in euro 2006 trip).

Serious Camera
I was unhappy with my previous world photos on lesser cameras; so now it's DSLR, a load of filters and serious all the way; I'm determined to take good photos of the memorable sights we see.

Ultra-Light Laptop
Weighing in around 1 KG (!) we LOVE our ultralight laptop which will be churning out travel diary, travel blog posts, emails, and photo review.
Good times.

Comments

[Lorraine and Dan Grunseit]

ist blog
Hope that you have time for typing it all up on your Blog!!(as well as travel) We are very much looking forward to photos and details of your big adventure. Good luck with all the final getting out of Manchester. Can imagine how time consuming and hard you have had to work packing and getting rid of everything.Love from Mum and Dad XX

[Steve]

With all this detail I feel like I'm there with you! I had a netbook in the states. It's great having a light laptop, mine weighs far less than the Lonely Planet.

[Chris Alexander]

Goodbye, and thanks for all the fish...
Nick and Alicia, good luck on the trip. It's been great working with you Nick but I'll see you tomorrow to shake your hand (and claim the laptop for my own use if it's better than mine). I've laready told you that I'm envious of you going to OZ, but now that I know you're going to Iceland too......words fail me. Cheers Chris