I haven't looked at this blog in ages. I remember starting to write here and thinking the big day will never come. But here we are. Late September 2012. 36 days before we leave and boy, it's going fast now.

I've officially failed at keeping it a secret from everyone at work. I've always been an unconvincing liar and this has resulted in me telling a handful of people. Maybe a couple of handfuls.
I hand in my notice in 5 days. I don't think it's going to be quite the liberating "up yours!" experience I've built it up to be. Don't get me wrong. I'm very much looking forward to my last day at work and leaving for the airport a week or so later, but I'm really going to miss a lot of people I have in my life these days.

The flights have been booked for a few months now and I've slowly been selling off some possessions and buying up things I'll be needing for the trip. I've just spent some of my savings on a nice second-hand digital SLR camera, which is obviously a travelling essential...right?

I visited my old friends in Fleet the other week and it was so great to see everyone, but there's never enough time to speak to everyone as much as you'd like. I'm told that it's something of a rarity to see everyone together in one place nowadays. And that got me thinking about how easy it is to be homesick for a place or situation that doesn't exist anymore. You're not really missing out on anything...because it's not there, or it's changed beyond recognition.

It's all about the present and the future with your memories on a shelf in good health and good time.

We've got family and friends visiting every weekend until we leave. The time we have left has changed from a seemingly endless countdown to a slight panic about just how much we have to do to get ready and just how little time we have to do it. But these are still some very exciting times. I'm not going to be in the 'just about to go travelling' stage for the foreseeable future and I need to remember to slow down a little and enjoy where I am. I'm sure that will be much easier when I'm done with work.

Earlier this week, I received a nice email from Stewart M with his suggestions of 'must see' New Zealand. I spent most of the evening plotting these spots on a travel map I got for Christmas. That certainly got the juices flowing.