Part 1 - Pre-trip Journal

Wednesday 12th August, 1998

3 weeks tomorrow (12 working days) till we set off on our adventures and I'm panicking slightly. It's not like me - I'm usually quite laid back, but I don't think I have enough time left to apply for a work visa for New Zealand. I've already got the job working as an Support Engineer for HP through a contracting agency and the job has been advertised over there with no takers BUT I'm still waiting on all the documents from New Zealand. If I don't get them by tomorrow (unlikely), then I'm not going to apply for my visa until I get to New Zealand as I don't want to risk my passport going on a two week holiday to the New Zealand Immigration Office 16 days before I leave !

Apart from the visa trouble everything is going not too bad. Our round the world flight is all booked up and paid for, we've bought travel insurance for the year, I've had almost all my injections, visited the doctor and the dentist, bought a rucksack, booked two weeks car hire for California, booked accomodation for places we're arriving at strange hours or on holidays and read every guide book I can lay my hands on. I can't believe I've only got 12 working days left. There's a wee number in the corner of my white board at work which says 12 and every day I change the number. This time next week it'll be 7 !! Well it's getting dark now and the rain has started again so I'm going to sign off now so I can put myself in my favourite horizontal position on the couch. I'll probably write again a couple of times before leaving then hopefully this journal will become more exciting when I hit the road and have lots of Cultural experiences to write about. I'll also have to practise the American accent so people can understand me when I arrive in the U.S. I've has a few problems on my previous trips with people not quite understanding my Scottish accent !

Tuesday 18th August

8 working days to go ! I don't think it has quite hit me yet that we are leaving for a whole year. I actually feel quite calm about the whole thing. Maybe this time next week reality will dawn on me ... Every night I say to Gavin "Where will we be in 3 weeks time ?", "Where will we be in 6 weeks time ?". "Where will we be in a month ?" I think he is getting a bit fed up with the "where will we be" game !

I had a leaving "girl's night out" a week past Friday. A few cocktails, then on to a club. It didn't really feel like a leaving night as I'm not leaving yet, but I'm too busy with moving out the flat and sorting things out that it made sense to have it at the beginning of the month (not too long after payday). It was good seeing everyone again and trying not to get too drunk since I had a wedding to attend the next day ! Talking of weddings - a few of my friends seem to be convinced that Gavin and I are going to get married in Las Vegas by an Elvis lookalike, but I'm not so convinced ! Aparently, you can get married one day and divorced the following day in Las Vegas - something to do if you're bored, I suppose. Anyway, talking about my night out I'm going to miss everyone when I'm away, especially my best buddy Kirsteen (not to mention my mum, dad, sister Karen and the daft dog Zara). I've been asking everyone to come and visit us in New Zealand or meet up with us somewhere in South-East Asia. So far Michelle and her boyfriend Andrew are coming to Thailand for a visit and Judith is coming to visit in New Zealand with her sister before going to a wedding in Australia. I'm just waiting on Kirsteen 'n Bob to book their slot now !

Monday 24th August

4 working days to go and I fly off a week on Thursday ! I'm trying my best not to get too excited about it as I'll be completely useless and unable to work ! So far, so good ...

This weekend was quite relaxing. Went to see a show in the Edinburgh Festival on Friday night called "X" with Judith and Ailsa. It was about a girl who was jealous of her live-in lover's ex-girlfriends, so she murdered all of them. It was quite funny - described as "Bridget Jones with teeth" in the reviews. Afterwards we tried to find a pub with a seat - no success. In the festival the population of Edinburgh seems to double, the prices of the drinks rises and everyone's packed into the pubs and clubs which stay open till 5am. We eventually found our long awaited seat at the Bavarian Beer festival drinking two pint pitchers of beer, eating sausages and fighting with blow up swords - I'd recommend it !

At the moment we're making our last minute preperations for the trip. A box of books and work clothes has been shipped to Auckland, Gav's car is on the market and we're moving out of our flat on Saturday to go and stay with our parents for a few days before leaving. I'm trying to pack up few things in the house every night so I'm not overwhelmed on Thursday when I try to get everything ready for moving out. I'm going out on the town on Friday night with friends from work for a meal and a few drinks, so I want to have nothing left to do on Saturday or it means getting up early. I don't want to do that !

The first stop on our trip is Boston, MA - U.S.A. We arrive there early afternoon on Thursday 3rd September and stay 5 nights in B&B which we've already booked. It's Labour day on the Monday so we didn't want to risk just arriving there without a place to stay. After that we'll find places to stay as we go along.

Deirdre, Aina, Kirsteen and I (left to right)

Thursday 28th August

Well, this is going to be the last pre-trip entry - hopefully the next time I write will be in Boston ! With only 1 week to go and one working day I'm getting quite excited. The last few days has been quite busy. On Wednesday night we were out for a meal for my mum and dad's Silver Wedding Anniversary. All the relatives were there so we said goodbye to everyone. It's weird to think that we won't see everyone for a whole year. My sister Karen and I gave my parents a photo album filled with photos of them both from when they were young up until now, with appropriate captions under all the photos. It gave everyone a good laugh anyway! Talking of photos, I've not scanned any in yet - I've been so busy - not that I actually own a scanner myself. I'll have to try and work something out while we are travelling.

I took the afternoon of work today and for the last few hours I've been dashing about the house putting everything in boxes. Michelle came round to say bye bye and we got through a bottle of vino and two huge bags of tortilla chips. All I have left to do is clean the house which I have decided to leave until Saturday morning as I'm absolutely shattered ! Tomorrow is my last day at work then some of us are going out for a few bevvies after work. I'll have to do my best to stay on good form for Saturday morning !

See you in Boston !

The Eve of the Trip (Wednesday 2nd December)

Excitement, fear, anticipation, sadness (just a bit !) and a few glasses of vino were the ingredients of Thursday night ! Excitement of new places and people, no work for at least 2 months, lots of fun and new experiences. Fear of getting lost, mugged, running out of money and getting ill in the middle of nowhere. Anticipation of the unknown to come and sadness of leaving all my friends and family behind for a whole year. The vino was to help me sleep, but alas I stayed wide awake and alert well past my bedtime and woke up multiple times during the night to clock watch.