100 Days, 100 Things: Days 81-100

Wow. At the time this post is published, I should be in Iceland. It seems both ages and no time at all since I started planning this and it still doesn't quite seem real. I managed to freak myself out towards the end of last week wondering if maybe I was just imagining the whole thing and come Monday it'd be back to work as normal. Don't ask - I was half asleep at the time.

Anyway, here are the last 20 of my 100 sometimes interesting, but more often mundane things.

81. Tuesday 24th May - envelope stuffing
Yes. That's how thrilling my day got. I spent the day stuffing envelopes with our apprentice. Fun fun fun.

82. Wednesday 25th May - venison sausages
Because once again, food is the most interesting thing in my life. Seriously, though, venison sausages are delicious.

83. Thursday 26th May - invigilating
Which lead to me being overly amused that it's a decade since I took my GCSEs. Aww. Also, I finally managed to offload the Chomp bar that's been sitting on my desk for the last seven months onto Molly. FINALLY.

84. Friday 27th May - ESTA
Following the successful application for my Canadian eTA last week, I tackled the USA's equivalent. It asked me whether I was planning on engaging in terrorism and I was oh so tempted to click yes just to see what happened. Don't worry, I resisted the temptation.

85. Saturday 28th May - Shakespeare overload
My sister and I took a weekend trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, home of the Bard. Two plays in a day - Cymbeline and Hamlet, plus the first time I've eaten Thai food at a restaurant. Very nice. Also, Stratford is pretty.

86. Sunday 29th May - sunshine
Second day of our trip to Stratford mostly consisted of me buying a few bits for my trip (mosquito net, finally!) and then enjoying the sunshine outside the theatre. Amy got sunburned.

87. Monday 30th May - surprise surprise...
Family farewell lunch which my dad had intended to be a surprise until my mum, not knowing this, accidentally gave the game away. Nice though, especially the amazing cake from Patisserie Valerie.

88. Tuesday 31st May - tech support
My grandad is finally attempting to join the internet age. Unfortunately for him, his router isn't behaving and my mum volunteered me to have a look at it. My usual ability to fix basic tech things failed completely, but I'm going to blame the old line he has instead of my inability to work out what was wrong with the damn thing...

89. Wednesday 1st June - lunch with Wendy
Wendy effectively managed me in my previous office and since she's away at the moment, we thought we'd best meet up before I left. That is all... see how my life is thrilling right now?

90. Thursday 2nd June - minor freak out time!
Today I realised that I will be in Canada in three weeks' time. Oh good god. I also discovered my phone is not unlocked. Fuck.

91. Friday 3rd June - "smells like weed"
Molly tried my oolong tea. I love oolong. It's lovely, but it does have a slightly unusual taste and smell. As demonstrated by Molly casually stating, in the middle of the office, that it smells like weed. I hadn't really noticed the similarity before but thinking about it... maybe.

92. Saturday 4th June - even more Shakespeare
Toddled over to Manchester to see my mum and catch yet another play - this time King Lear. Very good. In other shocking news, I bought clothes. Not just any clothes. I bought shorts. It is a well-established fact that my legs are not just white, they are blindingly pale, so this may turn out to be a bad decision.

93. Sunday 5th June - Nandos and puppies
I'd never understood the appeal of Nandos but I've been a few times now and I think I'm falling in love. Yummy chicken. The afternoon was spent lounging in the sun, attempting to get some sort of colour onto my aforementioned blinding legs and watching the dogs pretending to be hot dog sausages because it was just so warm.

94. Monday 6th June - umm...
It looks like nothing interesting happened on this day. Second to last day at work? Uh... nothing booked. Nothing interesting cooked... yup. Supremely normal day.

95. Tuesday 7th June - last day
My final day at work, most of which was spent either in a minibus or at work's Skegness site invigilating another GCSE exam. 3 and a bit years I worked there and that's the first time I've been to the Skegness site. Hm.

96. Wednesday 8th June - WASH ALL THE THINGS!
Yeah... I probably didn't need to wash everything, but I did. Because... oh, I don't know. The washing frenzy was followed by a lovely evening with the folks from my previous office, eating tapas and then toddling on down to the pub for a pint and a quiz.

97. Thursday 9th June - towel of doom
Ah yes. The fabled towel of doom has made a reappearance in my life. It looks like it's had a body wrapped in it, courtesy of 3 years of red hair dye stains. I found 3 bottles of the aforementioned dye in the top of my wardrobe and figured, what the hell, I'm going to dye my hair again. Took all three bottles because either a) I missed quite a bit or b) the dye's that old it wasn't taking properly, but I think it's sorted now...

98. Friday 10th June - I drank how much?
Actually, I didn't drink that much. I went out with the most recent set of work colleagues and had a couple of pints of cider (not a problem). Unfortunately, I also had a JD & coke and a shot of sambuca and that was enough to make my stomach hate me.

99. Saturday 11th June - WHERE TRAIN?!
Even with the slight hangover from the above night out, I managed to drag myself out of bed early on Saturday morning to go and see Flying Scotsman with my dad. Unfortunately for us, the timings given last week turned out to be no longer accurate and as we were walking up to the track we saw steam billow up above the houses. No glimpse of the fabled Scotsman. Most pissed off. Somewhat made up for this with cheap but yummy breakfast at Tesco's cafe...

In other news, my phone is now unlocked. I think. Huzzah.

100. Sunday 12th June - DON'T PANIC!
AAAAAAARGH. Actually, I haven't done much panicking. Which is nice. Dad had to drive me to Doncaster, but aside from that my trains all ran on time and I got to spend a lovely afternoon in London with Claire. Claire, who has gifted me this lovely little koala called Harold, crocheted by her own fair hands.

Someone pinch me?

Oh good god. What am I doing?

The Grand Tour: Packing List Time!

I packed yesterday. Somehow. Still not sure how I managed it. Here's all the stuff that I planned on taking.

And here's my finished packing.

Out of that first image, here's the few pieces I decided not to take.

Because, really, when am I going to need a sort-of-smart jacket, another 3 notebooks (there's already 4 little ones distributed through my bags), so many pens, yet another jumper and 4 extra pairs of socks (just in case).

The big bag is 65l, so it's not huge - only weighs about 11kg, so it's also well under my luggage allowance for my first flight. The smaller bag is 25l and can fit everything in it that I'd need for an overnight trip, plus most of my electronics and my camera and associated oddments.

I'm most impressed with myself. I made myself a packing list and I've near enough stuck to it. Some bits have come off it, some bits have been added but I think I've ended up packing about the same amount as I originally intended. For those interested in the whole packing light thing, here's what's in my bags.

In the 65l rucksack:

• Sleeping things:

• Compact sleeping bag
• Mosquito net
• Earplugs

• Clothing:

• Enough underwear for 2 weeks
• Swimsuit
• Plimsolls
• 3 t-shirts
• 3 vest tops
• 1 thermal shirt
• 1 long sleeved shirt
• Walking trousers
• Shorts
• Maxi skirt
• Micro-fleece

• Health & toiletries

• First aid kit
• ~2 months supply of anti-malarials (Doxycycline)
• Diarrhoea management kit
• Sun cream
• DEET
• Water purification tablets
• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Shampoo
• Body wash
• Deodorant
• Moisturiser
• Nail clippers
• Travel wash
• Travel towel
• Flannel
• Lip balm

• Electronics:

• Assorted charging cables for phone, iPod, tablet and camera
• Travel adaptors - one worldwide, one for South Africa & Namibia

• Other odds & sods:

• 2 small notebooks for keeping accounts and journal things
• Torch & headtorch
• Laundry bag (because, ew, smelly clothes)
• Shoulder bag 

In the 25l bag:

• Waterproof jacket
• Phone, iPod & earphones, tablet & keyboard
• Camera, tripod & lenses
• Woolly hat
• Gloves & arm-warmers (I get cold wrists...)
• Scarf
• Sunglasses
• Water bottle
• 2 more notebooks and a few pens
• Spork (a gift from my sister)
• Small box for food or assorted random bits
• Painkillers
• Stickers (because hostel kitchens never have enough to label your food)
• Wallet full of important travel documents

I don't think that's bad going, really. As far as I can tell, it covers everything I'm likely to need and anything that's missing I can pick up along the way. Even if I end up needing more anti-malarials, I'll be able to find somewhere to pick them up. As it is, it feels a bit like I've become the walking pharmacy I so dreaded before I went to New Zealand. And yet, somehow, my bags still weigh significantly less than most people would take on the typical holiday. Go me and my amazing packing skills!

Any tips on packing light? Do share!

100 Days, 100 Things: Days 41-60

This is part 3 of my attempts to note down something interesting, new, weird or stupidly mundane each day in the countdown to finishing work before I set off on my round-the-world Grand Tour adventure. Things are getting both more mundane and more interesting. How this is even possible, I have no idea...

41. Thursday 14th April - made pho.
Having tried the Vietnamese noodle soup at Pho in Manchester, I decided to have a go at making it myself. My attempt at chicken pho turned out pretty nice, especially with the pile of beansprouts I dumped into it!

42. Friday 15th April - pasta bake?
Looks like nothing interesting happened on this day. First pasta bake in a couple of years was as exciting as it got.

43. Saturday 16th April - took a walk on Saddleworth.
My mum was supposed to be taking a balloon flight from Bakewell for her birthday but the weather turned against us. Instead, we took the dogs out for a walk on Saddleworth Moor, something we've been meaning to do since Mum moved to Manchester nearly 2 years ago.

44. Sunday 17th April - finally did some proper gardening.
I can't remember what I actually did. Possibly I dug over the veg patch? Or did I put the onions in? Nah... I think the onions went in the week after... Nope. It was this day. Onions, shallots, garlic and potatoes. All going in a bit too late for my liking and none of which I'll have the joy of eating because I'll be on the other side of the globe. All the more for the relatives.

45. Monday 18th April - blogged for the first time in ages.
Which, I do believe, was the last post in this series. You can read it here: 100 Days, 100 Things: Days 21-40.

46. Tuesday 19th April - created an overly detailed packing list.
I almost always use a packing list for holidays and short trips, so I figured I need a super-awesome one for the Grand Tour. After all, how on earth am I going to make it all the way round-the-world if I manage to forget something along the way?

47. Wednesday 20th April - started planning Australian adventures.
Claire got her flights booked to join me in Australia over the New Year, so we could finally start planning what we want to do in those 2 weeks. Too many things to do!

48. Thursday 21st April - overdosed on pretty AirBnB listings.
Falling a little bit in love with AirBnB, especially given how many awesome listings there are for Sydney at New Year.

49. Friday 22nd April - started laying out all the things on the aforementioned packing list.
And started worrying that a) I've forgotten some things and b) it won't all fit in my rucksack...

50. Saturday 23rd April - The Complete Walk.
Took a trip to London with my sister to see as many of the 37 films which made up The Complete Walk as possible. 15/37 - not bad going considering the technical difficulties. So much Shakespeare! And topped off with an evening of Shakespeare on the BBC when I got home.

51. Sunday 24th April - booked my first AirBnB.
Got the accommodation booked for my stay in Sydney over New Year with Claire. A lovely little studio apartment a little way out of the city centre for less than half the price it would have been to stay in a hostel, let alone a hotel.

52. Monday 25th April - fell off the blogging wagon.
Yeah... my attempts to keep blogging regularly are not going so well. Doesn't bode well for me keeping on top of it while I'm away, does it?

53. Tuesday 26th April - booked Australia flights. Poor bank balance.
Sorted out internal flights for the two weeks I'm spending with Claire in Australia, just to make sure we actually end up on the same flights. My bank account doesn't know what's hit it this month...

54. Wednesday 27th April - more jabs.
Back to the doctors to get yet another jab, this time for my Hep B booster. Also got my prescription for anti-malarials sorted, so that's another thing I can stop worrying about.

55. Thursday 28th April - played the bath game with the dogs.
We took the dogs out for quite a late walk because the weather had been foul all day. When we got back, we played the game where I chase them round the kitchen with the towel in an attempt to dry them off. They love it - they get like puppies again. Might not like getting wet, but they really like avoiding getting dry!

56. Friday 29th April - more jabs.
Yet another jab, but hopefully this one is the last one I'll need. Certainly the most expensive - anyone want to explain to me why the Yellow Fever vaccine is so very costly? At least I don't seem to have had any side effects from it yet.

57. Saturday 30th April - dogs on the beach.
Took the dogs down to the beach. They love the beach. Poppy invited herself to someone's picnic and Mum nearly had to pull her out of a bag of crisps. Sneaky sausage dog.

58. Sunday 1st May - "Not even for me?"
Someone let slip to my nanna that I'm going away for a year and now she's spending every time I see her trying to talk me out of it. We have now had such classics as "But I might not be here when you get back!" and "You won't change your mind? Not even for me?" This is exactly why I didn't tell her.

59. Monday 2nd May - fixed my "critical error".
No thanks to Microsoft. My Windows 10 threw up a glitch and basically broke my start menu. Microsoft's fixes didn't work, but the one I used last time this happened did. And Microsoft don't seem to know a thing about it. Thanks, guys.

60. Tuesday 3rd May - uh...
Not a lot happened. Other than a minor freak out when I realised that it's now less than 6 weeks until the Grand Tour kicks off. Yeep.

Excitement is setting in! Less than 6 weeks to go!

Packing Lists and why you should use them

Everyone loves the check in queue, right? Stumping along, shoving your bag along in front of you while the person at the front blithers about rearranging their belongings because their checked bag is too heavy and they don't want to pay the extra charge.

Or that delightful moment when you've been on a long flight, arrive at your accomodation, go to take a shower to wash out all the grotty-long-distance-travel feeling and discover you've left your shower gel at home...

Or unpacking at the end of the trip and finding no less than 3 unworn shirts and a pair of trousers in the bottom of your suitcase...

Post check-in: worry about missed packing or take selfies with dwarves? Hmm...

Let's face it, we've all done stupid things when packing. There's a small chance you're going to need that snorkel in the middle of the Sahara, after all. And maybe you'll get invited out for dinner somewhere posh, so you're bound to need that nice dress. Just in case. But, oops, you've forgotten to pack your deodorant, so maybe you won't be getting invited out after all.

Thing is, such mishaps are easy enough to avoid. Make yourself a packing list and stick to it. Only pack what you need. That means out with the tens of shirts and just-in-case extra jeans. Do you really need to take that huge bottle of shampoo? It'll only leak in your bag (oh, it will).

So, what should you include? Well, that rather depends on how long you're going for and how often you feel you need a change of clothes. And underwear - don't worry. When I went to Ireland I took enough for 5 days and then washed whenever needed. Believe me, hand-washing is not hard and that little bit of weight you cut down in your bag can be used to bring back more souvenirs. Much nicer than bringing back icky week old underwear.

Hand-washing sand coated socks? No worries.

On the clothes front, you can take minimal items and not feel like you're wearing the same thing everyday. Just make sure you take things you can mix and match. Use your common sense - pick a colour palette and stick to it.

Shoes are the other big weight eater. Obviously it depends where you're going, but you can probably cope with 2 pairs of shoes. I take a pair of walking boots and then a pair of nicer shoes to wear out and about or round hostels. The walking boots always get worn on the flight (even around Dubai Airport where my feet were really not loving being encased in cosy, heat retaining boots in 40 degree heat...) and then the other pair, always much lighter, go in the bag.

Finally, toiletries. You're going for, what? A week, two weeks? Are you really going to get through that entire bottle of shampoo? Oh, you are? OK. If you really feel you need the entire bottle, buy it when you get there, that way you avoid taking lots of big, heavy bottles which may or may not leak in your luggage. If you're not going to use it all, consider taking travel sized bottles.

By which I mean invest in some little bottles (you can get them from chemists and the like) and put your own stuff in them. Don't bother buying the actual travel sized toiletries - they're seriously bad value.

I am helpfully veering off the topic of what to put on your packing list and into the realm of the One Bag Challenge. Let's get back on it, shall we?

So, what should be on your list?

Clothes, obviously, but be aware that anywhere you go in the world will have somewhere you can wash them so don't worry about taking enough for the entire trip unless it's only a couple of days. Enough for 4-5 days is probably a good guide.

Toiletries. Bit of a given, that one, but as I mentioned above - if you can deal with the smaller bottles, do it.

Electricals. By which I mean your phone, music player, tablet, laptop - anything of that ilk. And make sure to include the chargers and any adapters you might need on the list.

Oddments. I always end up with things that don't fit into any major category. Things like a towel (I have a microfibre travel one that rolls up really small), first aid kit (just a little one) and my swimming gear.

Before you even start packing, write a list of everything that's essential. Make a promise that you'll only pack what you need.

If you're careful enough with your packing list, you might be able to cut your packing down significantly. Maybe, you could even cut it down enough to consider the One Bag Challenge. Even if you don't, you'll be saving yourself from lugging around loads of things you don't need (I'm looking at you, travel guides...) and those annoying moments of "damn, I've forgotten to pack...".

Brilliant things. So simple. I have a couple of standard ones - one for short trips and another for longer holidays. I might need to adapt them for the Grand Tour, but I'm off to a good start.

The One Bag Challenge Recap

When I started looking at going travelling for a year, I decided I want to take as little with me as possible. After all, lugging all that baggage around was going to get annoying after a while. You can read more on this HERE, but basically I decided to use my recent trip to Ireland to test drive this plan.

I took to Ireland a 25l backpack and then a 65l rucksack to share with the two folks who came with me. Into the 25l bag I fit the following enough clothing to last me nearly the full 2 weeks (with 1 wash in Galway), plus my camera and a spare pair of light shoes.

My toiletries went into the shared bag purely to avoid having to take them through security, along with a small first aid kit and my Ireland guide book.

So how did it go? Here's the small bag the night before I left. Very proud of my packing skills.

Well, I didn't need to take quite so many clothes for a start. I could lose a t-shirt or two and still have enough to wear without having to do a wash every couple of days.

Taking 6 days worth of socks/underwear was plenty. I did hand-washing 2 nights to restock and that was easily enough. Did turn the sink filthy the first time round, although I think that might have been the amount of sand that came out of Gemma and Claire's socks after we went down to the beach at Malin Beg.

Ew. Anyhoo, I think I've got the clothes thing down. So, I need to cut my toiletries to 100ml containers so I don't need to worry about getting through security. And I'll need to check my first aid kit to make sure that can go through in hand luggage as well.

The guide book... didn't need to come with me. I think I got it out once in the entire trip. So I can leave guide books out of any future packing plans. Too much dead weight.

Aside from that, well, I think it's entirely feasible to travel with hand luggage only, even on trips lasting more than a couple of weeks. My 25l bag only weighed about 7kg, out of a 10kg carry on allowance, and it's a fair bit smaller than the dimension limits most airlines impose. You just have to be willing to do so washing occasionally and not want to be wearing loads of different clothes.

This is where packing lists come in. They're great for making sure you only take what you really need. Of which, more in a future post. For now, I think we can conclude that travelling with carry on only is realistic. Bring on the next trip!

The One Bag Challenge

Long haul airlines typically give you a pretty generous luggage allowance - in the region of 20-30kg for checked luggage and maybe around 10kg for cabin. Let's say it works out about 30kg overall, in general. Imagine how much you could fit in that much baggage.

When we went to New Zealand last year, my checked bag weighed 11kg. For three weeks of travel. I didn't even use half of the things I packed - mostly extra clothes. So when I went to Iceland in January with Gemma, I figured I'd bypass the checked baggage and just take carry-on, because a) we were only going for four days and b) you have to pay extra for checked bags with WOW Air. Managed it easily.

Ryanair also charge for checked baggage, so we've taken just one between the 3 of us to Ireland. Personally, the less I put in that bag, the better. I'm aiming for just the one bag. Observe.

Woo, badly edited photo. Anyway, the bag on the right is the checked bag and also the one I took to New Zealand with an entire 11kg in it. The one on the left is the bag I intend to fit most of the things I need into. It holds 25l and it lasted me a week in Wales without feeling I was missing anything.

This is the challenge you see. The Grand Tour, my epic grand plan to travel round the world on my own, is less than a year away and I figure the fewer bags I have to keep an eye on, the better.

Enter the One Bag Challenge. My goal is to cut out the checked bag altogether and just take carry on. This can make so many things easier.

• Fewer bags to keep an eye on.
• Potentially faster check in at airports.
• Cheaper travel where airlines charge for checked bags.
• Fewer things to carry around - that 65l bag was not pleasant to lug around in New Zealand.
• Fewer things to misplace from the bag.

With a little thought, there is no reason why I shouldn't be able to fit everything I need into that bag. I'm perfectly capable of doing laundry, so I won't be needing all those extra clothes I always take. I always wear my walking boots, my heaviest item, on the flight, so that takes them out of the equation. I don't take loads of tech with me - my laptop, though fairly light, stays at home and my camera will fit neatly into the top of the bag.

New Zealand also taught me that I don't need to take books away with me. I took a couple to NZ with the idea that I'd read them in the evenings. I didn't touch them, not even on the flights. Dead weight. Even my travel guide barely got touched, so I won't be taking them anywhere again.

The other heavy and bulky things are the toiletries. I only took travel-sized toiletries to Iceland, which seriously cut down on weight and how much space they took up. Also, let's face it, most places I plan to go, I'll be able to buy toiletries there.

Same applies to any clothes I might be missing - nothing to stop me picking up something locally. Might even find something nice to take home.

And there's another thing - souvenirs. They can take up so much space. Nothing to stop me posting things back home though. Could have a nice little stack of things waiting for me when I get back.

Yeah, I'm thinking this is a great idea. I'll let you know how it goes.

Do you have any tips for cutting down on luggage? Feel free to share!

AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH

I think the title is fairly self-explanatory. :D

We're going to New Zealand today (actually, I have to ring for two weddings first, with Zoe in my ear going 'WE'RE GOING TO MISS THE PLANE!!!!!') and then we're going to Birmingham and the weather will be glorious and the traffic will be shit (Something about 1.2million people flying out of British airports today, or somesuch waffle) and then we'll get on a plane and Zoe will be an insomniac and Claire will (hopefully) survive and it will be long and dark and they won't stop feeding us (If Emirates are anything like Qantas) and then it will be Monday instead of Saturday and we will be in New Zealand and SNOW. Or at least COLD. YAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!

(Are you noticing a theme here? Zoe's posts are much better put together than mine, I'm just like WRITE ALL THE THINGS!!!!! TELL THE PEOPLE ALL THE THINGS!!!!!)


Zoe's just told me I'm brilliant at blog writing and that when her fingers are tired, I can do it. YAY. Also, she described my blog writing as just BLBLBLFLERGHGHGBLERGH, or something.


Also, I think that the 2 days to go blog should have been a group of things that happened in twos, like the number of times I had to go through my stuff and take stuff out, the number of spare pairs of shoes I have, the number of jumpers I sacrificed to get necessary stuff in my case... The list goes on.

Just popping to the other side of the world (That almost said pooping), brb.

Amy x

1 Day To Go: "Why are you cutting the money?!"

Sooo, this time tomorrow, we will (hopefully) be on the plane to New Zealand. Please ignore the following madness.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!

Right. Anyways. The packing is done. My poor old bear is stuffed uncomfortably into the top of my rucksack. He is not impressed. Amy had a stupid moment and struggled to sort her packing until she realised that her bag is expandable. Div.

I managed to mislay my dollars for a while despite Amy having thrown the packet almost at my face. In my defence, I was busy sorting out my new (massive) memory card for my camera and didn't actually notice that she'd thrown it at my face.

In cutting into the packaging for said memory card, Amy had another silly moment and thought I was cutting up my dollars. Oops.

Even given that mine and Amy's rucksacks are almost full, they're still both massively under the weight limit for the flight. We are the queens of packing. I'm assuming Claire is in a similar situation. Hurray for efficient packing (apart from grumpy teddy bear).

Things left to do: find my flight socks. I forgot to put them on my list of things, so no doubt I'll end up having to buy some in the airport. Ugh. I also need to leave my dad a nice long list of things that need looking after in the garden so that I can come back to a bountiful harvest. Oh yeah. Priorities.

One more sleep till flight. Given my past experiences on long haul flights, probably one more sleep till New Zealand. Ahhh, flight-induced insomnia.

Right. I think that's enough babbling. Prepare for the ridiculous amount of photos which will no doubt be incoming over the next 3 weeks. HELL YES.

In the meantime, have a little slice of silliness in the form of Aussies taking the (gentle) piss out of the Kiwis.

"You may as well just take the chemist with you..."

We're approaching the one week countdown for take off. For me at least, it's not quite sinking in. There's just a few little things left to get sorted, cash currently being the most pressing one. And travel insurance, which I thought might have been fixed by now...

We also have the issue of packing. Well, I say we. Claire and Amy seem to have more concerns about this. I was just going to sling everything I need into a bag and be done with it. Y'know, clothes, toiletries, my old bear Marmalade who goes on every holiday even though I'm almost (oh god) in my mid-twenties... Apparently it's not that simple, because there's an assortment of other things that we might need and we need to work out who's taking what.

First aid kit and various medications would be one. Anyone would think New Zealand didn't have plasters and paracetamol. I am told we should take these with us. Plasters, fair enough - I always take them with me because I'm an idiot and I injure myself on stupid things like dead trees (see this post from Australia). But apparently we also need to take paracetamol and imodium and all sorts of other little things. Seriously, we might as well just take the pharmacists with us.

Anyways, that rant aside... what else is happening? Much route mapping. I don't trust sat-navs, so I've let Google work out all the possible directions we could need and printed them off so I can laugh when the sat-nav goes wrong. Which it probably won't but after that time a friend's tried to send us through a very deep ford... yeah.

I need to start making a New Zealand playlist in preparation for the flight. Well, I need something to keep me sane. It will involve lots of Lord of the Rings soundtrack and probably some Crowded House because we discovered they're pretty much the only New Zealand band we've heard of.