And so it begins...

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We've decided to go travelling after many many months of indecisions ... bugger it, only once in a life time opportunity etc etc ... and we really need to have some time away from things, see if what we really want in life is real, dn't know how long we'll be, not making any definite plans!

Today is 9th May 2003 and we received all our travel gear this morning, woooooo it' so kool!

Got our backpaks, sleeping bags, tent, waterproofs, travel eating utensils, some walking shoes, travel first aid kit, travel water filter, loads of stuff.

Only got to get a couple of small things like a solar powered battery recharger/power unit, which obviously uses solar power to charge our rechargable batteries, but it also doubles up as a power point for any electrical stuff we take with us like our walkmans and toothbrush, yep you read that right, toothbrush, you can't beat an electric toothbrush, they clean your teeth so much better, and with a solar powered charger you can't go wrong really!

Were both going to get a couple of pairs of combat trousers and that is about all we need to buy cloths wise.

I put a load of stuff into my backpak just to try and get a jist of how heavy it might be, and even though I work out and am stronger than most people for my size I was surprised at how heavy it felt on my back. Although, having the waist and chest straps make the load not seem so heavy, which is good. Altogether I had 23kilo's in the backpak ... which doesn't sound too much but when it's on your back you would be surprised and don't forget we've got to walk around with that for hours at a time!

I think we'll only be putting in a couple more kilo's than that as it would start to get too heavy i think.

We've got a rough checklist of things which we are taking, here it is for anyone that is nosey!:o)

Each person:

Tent(only 1 obviously, which i'll be carrying!!)
Under cover for the tent(again only 1)
Sleeping Bag
Thermal mat(for under the sleeping bag)
Travel plate,thermal mug, water bottle, knife,fork,spoon
A 15 litre travel water container, which folds up(so we don't have to go back and forth to get water from the tent)
Travel water filter(essential in todays polluted world!!)
Various first aid things, tummy/bottom pills etc
Toothbrush and toothpaste(natural, no additives or flouride!:o)
Towel and flannel
Bum paper, you never know when you might need it!(and recycled of course!:o)
2 pairs of jeans
2 pairs of combat trousers
3 pairs of shorts
3 casual shirts(me)
6 t-shirts
1 jumper
7 pairs of socks and boxers/knickers n bra's
Waterproof trousers and coat/jacket(these are both very light weight)
2 pairs of shoes, 1 pair of walking shoes(which will be warn on way) and 1 pair of running shoes for a change to the walking shoes. Running shoes are much better than normal trainers(for your feet and for durability!)
1 walkman + various CD's (5-10, unless I can burn some with my cd burner, it's a bit pants so it'll be touch n go!)
Torch/Lamp - we've brought a torch which changes into a lamp too(nifty this modern day techology!:o)
A SAS survival handbook and some bits, multi toolz, waterproof matches, wire army saw(all neccessary for when we go camping on our own in the forests etc!:o)
16 rechargable batteries/solar powered recharger(essential there are rechargable, the cost for these and the rechargers far far outweighs the cost of the shitty normal ones and the damage they do to the environment!!)
Note book - for writing in about our experiences(and so I can remember what to write about when I log on here!)

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That sounds alot, but it also doesn't sound that much if you consider that we may well not come back from Europe and just go straight on to New Zealand.

Brought our plane tickets to Denmark last night, through easyjet.com, £18 each oneway(as we don't know when we coming back of course!), now thats a bargain if I ever saw one!

Got our travel insurance too, £87 for the pair of us, backpackers special for 4 months, coverz us for most things, but most important was; accident to us and loss of luggage etc.

Brought bus ticket to the airport(from Oxford) £30 for the pair of us!

Now guess what time the plane leaves and what time we have to get on the bus to Stanstead? ...... the plane leave @ 7:15am so we have to get on a bus from Oxford @ 1:15am!!! It gets us to the airport for; 4:15am which is a little early but thats the only one that gets us to the airport on time.

We went for this time of flight because it was the cheapest and we don't really care about the time anyway, we'll just sleep along the way whenever we can, gotta get used to this, tis what travelling cheap is all about!!

So for a total of around £650 we have every thing (we think anyway!:o) we need to go traveling, can't complain at that AND if anyone else is thinking about going traveling that proves that you don't have to have a lot of money to go, JUST GET YA FINGA OUTTA YA BUTT AND SORT IT!!!

Right well thats that for this entry, until next time...

24 days and counting.....

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