Our Itinerary

Hi friends and family..  I have been meaning to post info on our basic  outline itinerary and it looks like this..

European Mini-trip:

This is the bit about visiting family in Europe.

Belgium:
Brussels - 28th March - 3rd April

Germany:
Cologne - 3rd April - 5th April
Berlin - 5th April - 8th April

Switzerland:
Zurich - 8th April - 15th April

Portugal:
Lisbon:15th April - 10 May

UK:
London: 10th May - 17th May

Main trip - outline only

Canada/USA:  Arrive 17th May in Toronto (Canada) -  Depart 16th August  from LA (USA)

Central America -  Arrive 16th August  in Costa Rica- depart 1st Sept

South America: Ecuador /Peru / Bolivia/Argentina/Chile - arrive 1st Sept in Ecuador and depart on 22nd Oct from Santiago ( Chile)

New Zealand:  Arrive 24th October in Auckland. Depart 12th December from Auckland

Australia : Arrive 12th December in Sydney and  depart from Sydney 12th January 2012.

South East Asia: Singapore,Malaysia,Bali,Thailand,Cambodia, Vietnam,Laos ect. Arrive Singapore on 12th Jan. Depart fron Bankok Thailand  around 12th April..

UK: London on around 12th/13th April for a Week and depart for Angola.

Africa:  We end with visting Family in Angola but also plan to see Namibia and ?? -  mid April -  mid June 2012..

End...

 If anyone knows anyone in any of these places who would put us up for a night or two or go out for a beer with us then do let us know..  !!


Colin & Kizzy ( and Deacon Brodie !)

Inception

"An idea. Resilient. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed, fully understood. That sticks, right in there somewhere."

We didn't plan this travel like many of the other travelers we read about! We've been longing to do something like this for a while, but we could not find the courage or the inspiration to do it. We found it when on holiday last year in Reunion, we felt so relaxed there. We met lots of people with such different lives to our own and we realised that life could be different than what we had accepted it to be.

The courage has been building up since that afternoon, still in Reunion, when we were both waiting for a bus, can't remember where we were going. I recall it was hot and sunny and at some point Col said 'Why don't we take a year off?', I said 'Don't say it if you don't mean it', Col replied 'I mean it' and I said 'let's do it'! There were various moments between then and now that I didn't believe we would do it. I kept thinking, we're not brave enough.

It wasn't until we both resigned from work in November last year that I realised that we were setting something in motion.

My last day of work was Thursday, 24th February... Lol, we're now on the unemployed segment, happy, defiant, unsure. Then finally on Thursday 3rd of March 2011 we bought the tickets. Wow, I'm in a zone now. Backpackers!

No more work !!

Dear All,

Welcome to our first ever blog on this the first weekend since I stopped working. I still cannot believe that I am not going into work on Monday...... nor the Monday after that, nor the Monday after that, for more than a year...  I know I know - shut up already !  But man it is pretty crazy.  I didn't realise how much work defined me until I gave it up and now I am going to be defined by something else..  Exciting and scary all at the same time.  On Friday just gone I had my work leaving drinks. It was really great that so many people came to say goodbye and was much appreciated. Thanks all !

Ana finished work last Tuesday ( but kept working until thursday!)  That's dedication..  She will be posting on this blog too.

I see this blog as a kind of words and pictures memory book of the trip..  and a way to share the experience with all of you - our friends and family.

Love Colin