The build up

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This is my first entry in our blog so please bear with me for the time being. I wanted to get this blog going in plenty of time ahead of our trip so I can share our thoughts on the trip and then we can look back in a couple of years and see how things changed and panned out.

Currently, we are in the planning stage. Our house is on the market (if anyone is interested in buying a beautiful house in a beautiful village in Lincolnshire then we are open to offers :-)
What this means is that we currently don't know when our trip will start but what we do know is that we can't go until March (mortgage tie ins etc etc). As soon as the house is sold though we will be off within a very short space of time. I have just been offered a new 6 month contract so hopefully, fingers crossed, this should see us through to the start of the trip.

Our current plan regarding a route is to head into Europe for a couple of months - there are so many beautiful diverse countries on our doorstep that we haven't visited that it seems a shame not to include them. Details of where in Europe are a bit sketchy at the moment but we intend to go for a couple of months. Then it's back to England to start the rtw ticket. Thinking is to go England to Vancouver then spend a couple of months in Vancouver travelling to San Francisco, then onto Cook Islands and to Christchurch. We have a couple of friends in SF so it will be great to see friendly faces there, oh and also we have family in Vancouver that I would like to meet for the first time in over 20 years.
We have planned to take a couple of months to do the Vancouver to Christchurch leg. This means we will be in Christchurch (all subject to house sale of course) around August 07. Then its proposed three months in NZealand travelling around seeing all that the islands have to offer. Personally I cannot wait for NZealand as for some reason I have always been drawn to it although I have never been.

We'll look to leave NZ end of Nov 07 then have three months in Oz. We would like to travel up the West Coast so maybe we'll fly into Sydney, spend a couple of days on the East Coast then head over (somehow - not sure how) to Perth and travel up the West Coast to Broome and maybe Darwin. Again we aim to spend three months in Oz leaving around Feb 08.

Then it's onto SE Asia - again we are a little sketchy on places and details at the moment; but Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia or on the wanted list. Couple of months spent travelling in these countries and then it's onto India. I have been to India previously but would love to see a load more of this country and the region. I definitely want to visit Nepal and Bhutan if possible, Nicola is very keen to return to Sri Lanka after spending time with VSO there a few years ago.

And then begrudgingly it's back home. I have tired myself out writing that out as it comes across as a real whistle stop tour of the planet but I think once we are the road we will change the itinerary and maybe miss places out so we have an excuse to come back again!!

That is the end of my first ever blog!! Things may go quiet for a while until we fast approach leaving time but I will try and keep using the blog to put down our thoughts and how things change. We would definitely like to get in the habit of using the blog so that all out family and friends can keep in touch with us when we are travelling

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