Я волнуюсь

Its been 3 months since my last post, so i thought i'd give a quick update on whats been happening...

It turned out that the housing market hadn't recovered as much as i had hoped and so i have no choice but to rent my house out.  I must admit i wasn't too keen on the idea at first, having to deal with letting agents, tenants and problems when part of my reason for travelling is to leave stress behind. And i wanted the money! After a couple of conversations with my mom and some frantic internet research i was sold on the idea.

Instead of paying letting agents i have done everything myself; advertising the property, vetting possible tenants, following up references, writing tenancy agreements and the list goes on. Within hours of the notice going in the Bromsgrove Advertiser, i was overloaded by calls and texts from people interested. 100% of people that inquired were DSS, not that this is bad thing but there is plenty of scare-mongering on the internet.  I think i have been very lucky in finding the people i have, young family (i'd say mid-twenties), 3 year old and another on the way. They have signed a 1 year contract and have hinted that they would like to stay much longer than that. They also want to redecorate parts of the house and tidy up the gardens, Bonus!

Oh, and they are going to move in on 2nd May! That leaves me with 11 days to finish a few things around the house and move out! For the next 2 and half months i'm moving back to my old room at my mom's house in Rubery. Going to be a very weird experience for the both of us and it has been about 9 years since i moved out.

In other news, my job has been filled at work and the guy will be starting at the end of May which leaves me about 5 weeks to hand over. Got a fixed leaving date as well now... roll on 9th July!! Its getting increasingly difficult to stay focused, especially with being asked on a hourly basis how my plans are going.

We have the first 3 months pretty well mapped out now, train to Moscow, train across Russia, time in Mongolia, train to China, tour through China to Hong Kong, flight to Nepal, time in Kathmandu and trekking then onto India! The coming weeks we will hopefully start to book trains and have a couple of day trips to London for Visa applications.

Can't believe that all that is going to be happening in 14 weeks! excited.com

Rich x

Beautiful scenery and Mongolian yurts- yes please!

Wow- okay (will Rich live to regret granting me blogging privileges!?) Here I am!

Earlier this year I nervously tiptoed into my Head's office and found myself effectively leaving my job this Summer. Bit scary, there were a few sleepless nights beforehand and even now the odd occasion when I ask myself- was that really a good idea!? However, after 'doing lunch' and having an impromptu planning session yesterday with Mr Colley and the delightful Ms Redmond, I am well and truly excited again! In particular, photos of the scenery and food that we'll encounter on our travels are getting me motivated. I have wanted to do this for a number of years now but unfortunately either not had the money, the travel companions or the time. As I am only on a maternity cover at the moment- that solved the time issue, my job was ending in June. The money situation was never going to be perfect but I figure I'm generally poor all the time anyway ;) and here I am- blessed with two wonderful travel pals- who seem to think they can put up with me for three months and I'm not going to argue- Russia, Mongolia, China and Nepal- Here I come!

As a result of my renewed enthusiasm my jabs have been booked, or a least a 'consultation' -I may not need any/many as I had the full set before going to Thailand only a few years ago. I have also been making (duh duh duhhh) financial plans and grumbling at my bank accounts, wondering why my money doesn't spontaneously duplicate itself!? The only solution is to tighten my belt, stop buying beautiful things and possibly try to sell some of my cra- less used possessions! Whatever I do, it's worth it and the more we plan the more I can't wait! Roll on July!

Vaccinations, Valuations & Vacancies.

Things are starting to get very real!

Last week i had my first appointment at the doctors to work out my vaccination schedule. I've got 9 injections coming my way over the next few months. Going for Hepatitis A / Typhoid, Hepatitis B, Rabies, and Tetanus / Dipheria / Polio. They are all covered by the NHS apart from rabies. As the UK is a no-risk area it is not covered so i have to pay £130 for the pleasure. A couple of people have said that as long as you take precautions to avoid animals, even if you do get bite, then the post-exposure vaccine is mostly successful. However, after seeing some video's of rabies victims with Hydrophobia i have decided to have the pre-exposure jabs for peace of mind. Apparently, hydrophobia isn't just limited to water, but includes wine and beer...

On the hosue front, i have booked 3 valuation appointments for next week to see how much my house is worth and find a suitable estate agent. It was quite amusing as each of the agents asked who else i had been talking to and then proceeded to slag them off. I just nodded and smiled politely. Better get cracking and have a bit of a tidy up.

Finally, my job has gone onto the internal vacany board at work! Since being posted, all the people that didn't realise i was leaving have been coming to congratulate me and saying how jealous they are :) I know of 2 people that have applied, as i spent some time talking them through what is involved. I guess interviews will be scheduled soon and hopefully i will have someone to shadow me in the next couple of months.

Its going to be a busy month.

Rich x

P.S. I did try and get a picture for this post of the nurse giving me my first Hep B jab, but she just gave me a strange look and carried on. I'll try next time.

In the beginning....

I would like to start with an apology. This is my first blog, so the first few posts may be a bit _______ (insert boring, rubbish, balderdash etc. as appropriate). Hopefully, after a few posts my writing style will improve. Any tips from you creative / writing types would be appreciated.

Anyway, as the title suggests, I have set up this blog to document my travelling adventures. As most of you already know, I’m going to be setting off to fulfil a lifetime ambition and go explore the world for a couple of years. For those of you that don't really know me that well, I thought I’d begin by trying to explain how I have got to this point.

Since leaving school at 16, I have spent 10 years working. Normal people would get something like this out of their system in their early twenties. I didn't and concentrated on my career and got a mortgage. I can't deny I love my job at Aston Martin, but the thought of another 10 years working really depresses me. The last couple of years I have been using my holiday days to travel around Western Europe, but it really hasn't satisfied my need for a longer adventure. The 31st August 2009 was the 10 year anniversary of starting work, and it dawned on me that this was probably the last chance of travelling. Also I have always been up for an adventure. From a young age I was in the Scouts and I am always up for walking, camping, climbing or anything different.

Joining me on the first part of the adventure are Miss Sadie Lofthouse & Miss Kaz Redmond. The basic plan is to start by travelling across Russia by train (Trans-Siberian Express), through Mongolia and Northern China. Then finding a way to Kathmandu in Nepal where we are going trekking in the Himalayas for a month hopefully making it to Everest Base camp and the summit of Kala Patthar (5545m). At this point Sadie will be heading back to the UK and Kaz and I will probably head into India. After that... who knows?

I set the plan in motion on Friday 15th Jan 2010, by telling my manager that I was leaving. He was very supportive, obliviously doesn't want me to leave (because I am a badass...) and over the next few months wants me to start the handover process. The hour leading up to the discussion was the most nervous I’ve been for a while. Probably one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make, but not as hard as making the decision to stay.

I've set up a Googlemap which you can check out on the top right, which we will show where we've been and where we're heading. All suggestions are welcome! Especially if your going to come and meet us!

The next few posts will be fairly short (basically me talking about selling the house, getting a shed load of injections and trying to sell you my belongings) and will try an post every few weeks once we've set off.

Count down to end of July!

Rich x