Just checking to see if this works…!

Gosh, well, this is the first blog I think I have ever written, and I do hope that I will maintain it during our nine month adventure around the world.  I am writing it for two reasons: the first is that a number of my friends have asked me to keep them up to date with where we are and what we are up to, and secondly, it will form a diary for me, Ian and Cornelia to look back on in years to come!  I hope it isn’t too dull, especially as I suspect much of it will be about me running in new places, and recording what we all had to eat that day…

This trip has been a long time coming.  You can only imagine my surprise when my level-headed, perfectly sensible husband came home from work one day and said that he wanted to travel around the world together, and that he wanted to do it now.  Without a second of hesitation, I told him I thought it was a bloody brilliant idea!  There’s lots of stuff about his work that I obviously can’t put in here, but let’s just summarise by saying, he has been given a precious nine months off and we are going to milk every moment of it.  I have concluded that this must be a mid-life crisis, and as he already has a younger wife, and a classic (old) car, travelling was the next best thing.  I have NO objection to this at all!

We started the planning by working out the areas of the world we most wanted to visit.  Mine included Southern Africa and Ian’s included the USA & Canada, Australia and New Zealand.  We are lucky enough to have friends and family dotted around the world (thanks to the social wonders of Facebook), so we are going to try and visit as many of them as possible.

Ian surprised me again by suggesting we buy a brand new Mercedes Benz Marco Polo campervan.  We will be paying for it for years to come, but it’s worth it.  The first leg of our trip is to Europe, so we will be camping in “Bluebell” (named by Cornelia) a lot.  We are testing it out together as a family this weekend.  The only problem we really anticipate is what to pack and how to pack it!  We need running kit, cycling kit, day kit, walking kit, cold weather kit, wet kit, beach kit…. food.  And other “stuff”.  I’m quite looking forward to the inevitable de-cluttering that will take place at home as we prepare!

Next time, I’ll share our trip plans with you.