http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , United Kingdom , England , Greater Manchester , Sale en-us Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:09:37 +0000 Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:09:37 +0000 Here we are two passionate people in search of an adventure. This a story taking us from our little house in Manchester to far flung and wonderful places that we had so far only dreamed about. It's a story where we find out more about ourselves as individuals and where our limits may or may not be as well as story of two people coming closer together than they thought possible.Unlike many stories http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-416598.html So we've packed in our jobs well Mike did at least my contract just came to an end we've moved out of our our house of 3 years and now we are in Sale at Mum and Dad's house poised and ready for the off The backpacks are packed we've even checked in for our flight to Singapore online It's a bit weird it's still not really real but here we go anyway. First thing tomorrow morning Mike's Mum http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-312185.html So a little while since the last update it is now 47 days till i leave blighty and 9 working days although currently i wish the were no days left at work and this refers to the bad in the title. Currently my company are taking the piss as they got a replacement in for me about two weeks ago and now she is up to speed on all the systems and has got all my work. So where as i was the dept gopher o http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-219068.html Click Clock............yes thats the sound of my countdown and yes DDay is getting closer day by day. At the moment its 25 working days to go and 70 days till i hop on an American airlines flight to my first stop NYC......so excited to see the big appleSo i joined this site called Couchsurfing back in March and the crux of this site is to make this world smaller and help out fellow travelers a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-212648.html Well the title sums up my thoughts to my weekend i just had in Denmark with my girlfriend Randi Randi is such a great girl and i really liked all her friends and the Danish are genuinely friendly and the little part of Denmark i saw i really liked.So the start of my trip did not start so well after a flying start with a taxi that got me to Manchester airport in 23 minutes and this including some http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-205547.html Well 105 days till i leave the UK and head out on the roadairsea and anything else transport runs onin or through..........lol.Well i managed to find the travel clinic on Wednesday and left 45 worse off and a saw arm in tow.....lmao as im traveling so widely it was suggested and not advised as such to possibly have the rabies injection. Well its 45 per injection and three are needed and it d http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-202174.html So since my last blog entry the have been some High's and some Low's but Gran Tourtrip HQ is still in motion heading for dday and i could not contain the excitement if i had the worlds largest jam jar...lolAs per previous entry's i have been a regular user of Ebay and Paypal but a recent awful incident has soured my relationship and i would heed anyone reading out there to tread with caution u http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-199544.html Time again for an update on my impending TripTour of a substantial part of the world.......... so on Thursday i went to the health center to discover what injections i would need and what malaria tablets i would require. So left early for my 5.30pm appointment and got the early and did not get to see the nurse till gone 6pm..............so going really well already and then it turns out i can h http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-193838.html So after a busy few days this week trying to recover lost blogs because of a serious server error that Ali the site owner has sorted out and helped many people to recover there blogs. So now im back to full speed and backed up my blogs......................not taking any chances this time......lol.So back to the reason for the title since i paid the balance of my trip on the 18.07.07 i had been http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-190124.html What follows is the current plan and outlines were i am going and in what order.I start 29.12.07 and fly from London Heathrow to John F Kennedy Airport New York and then make my way to the Big Apple Hostel recommended to me by a native New Yorker and the only accommodation i have prebooked and all other accommodation will be booked via the internet a few days before or i will turn and see what i http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-185569.html Well the most recent developments are that on Wenesday 18.07.07 i popped into Trailfinders to pay the balance on my ticket a moment i had been building upto for months......as can be seen by my months of blogging of stuff happeing and my other randomness.Well it couldnt quite go smoothly.....as nothing in life ever does so i was going to hand my notice in a month before my leave date for work w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-183457.html So it is 174 days to go and its not far off now till i travel as we are now in July to think back in January when i was in Thailand.............this was just a light bulb moment and now its full steam ahead.I now have most of my stuff as followsOne 50 ltr Karrimor supercool travel sackruck sack and 20 ltr daysack which zips on and brings up my total capacity to 70 ltr's cost 99 instead of http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-178463.html So 188 days and counting till i leave on a jet plane and i don't know when i will be back again as it goes in the song....................lolSometimes its hard to save money i know i have to survive on my trip..........but this month has been a long one and i don't get paid till Tuesday and this month it was my birthday and i could not just sit back and not celebrate itAlso i bought a sleepin http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-172566.html So there i was thinking............i know i know............thinking is a dangerous pastime and especially for me...lolSo i had to get my Aussie working holiday visa prior to my 30th birthday and then it dawned on me.........that if i applied for a second year id be out of the criteria as i would be heading downhill fast to 32.....lmaoNow i had originally thought that if i had my first year visa a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-166802.html So one of my fellow bloggers raised an import question yes its great planning and getting excited about the planning but were do you draw the line at planningThe are parts of my tour that have been bolted on after reading about someone else's impressions and views of somewhere i may have not considered or discounted early on in my thoughtsdaydreams.The are places i feelfelt i have to include http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-163502.html So the planning does not stop i have my Aussie visa and i will have paid for my ticket by the end of June.I have searched through page upon page of hostels and after a recommendation from a native New Yorker i have met i also meet people............i will talk to anyone.............lolSo anyway i have decided to got to the Big Apple hostel...one block from Time square and pretty central to most http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-160773.html So the are so many guides out there and so the choice could be limitless the are the well known guides like Lonely Planet and Rough guide and many more less well known.I had recently seem some rough guides at 34 a time which ain't bad but i just feel the is something about the Lonely Planet guides and then i noticed some fairly cheap on ebay and then i though i would check out Amazon and to m http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-160102.html Its amazing how time fly's by...........a month from today i will be 31.................when i was in my teens i thought the 30's was old but now im in them i still feel pretty young.Also when i hit my 31st it also means it will be June and 6 months to goI don't know if it is me but it seems as you get older that time goes quicker it doesn't feel that long ago that it was Jan and i http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-159873.html So today is another mind numbling boring day at work and i have another roughly 140145 days till i leave work......so its not so bad when i put it like that.Anyway while whiling away the time at work i have been using my favourite research tool google and ive been researching places to visit in each of the countries i will be visting in Central America and then priting the results off at work we http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-159051.html Wow the whole jigsaw seems to be falling into place now i had been double checking and triple checking the Aussie visa site every day for what seems like forever...............but was only 16 days.Well you can imagine my surprise when i did my usual routine of checking my Visa application this morning at work and normal it says application lodged being processed...blah blahWell this morning i not http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-Manchester/Sale/blog-158808.html