Wednesday 31 October 2007

Last Chance

Well here we on the last day, if it ain't sorted now its either not important or it will get done on the run.!!! I think we are still waiting on our hotel vouchers for our jaunt around NZ, this will be confirmed later today, after today we can only collect them in Christchurch our first port of call. So fingers crossed all will be well.

Checks and double checks on clothing and accessories including medical supplies have been completed all of which hopefully will fit within two suitable strong and resilient suitcases especially purchased for the event. It will be interesting to see how they survive the bumping and thumping from plane to airport over the next month. The pessimist in us has made us divide the articles up into two separate lots containing half mine and half hers in each case., that way any losses are minimised unless of course both are lost.!!!!!!

Tonight will be the weigh in, bags packed and hung from the specially purchased spring scales to make sure they register below 20Kgs each, if all goes well we will have grammes to spare, otherwise it means unloading and repacking and adding the overspill to the 'onboard' case which we would rather not do. There maybe arguments and scuffles in the corridors of the Brown house as we decide whats NOT going on the journey, hopefully it won't come to that, and heck we can always buy odds and sods when we get out there anyway - we can use the housekeeping money!!!!!

So the evening events are pretty well defined for tonight, my car will be going into the garage and locked up for the duration, no dishes will be used as they will already have been cleaned and stacked, so its a 'carry out' night from the chippie. Then we will spend a relaxing evening watching Die Hard 4 just out on DVD followed by 'Heroes' on the TV, sadly I will miss the remaining episodes while away.

Our eldest will be out to join us as he will be taking us to the Airport in the morning, we have already shown our gratitude by giving a 5p off a litre of petrol voucher, which if he fills his tank up will save him at least £2.00. - cant say fairer than that.!!!!

Tomorrow we meet up with our travelling companions in London where we will spend our first evening at the airport hotel relaxing before the first flight out on Friday. Looking at the weather in Singapore its periods of thundery showers, so the pak-a-macs may come in useful earlier than we anticipated.

Well thats it for now, keep a look out for some updates in the future, it will depend on where we are, what time of day it is and if I'm sober or not.!!!!

Wednesday 24 October 2007

Final Stages

Well here are 6 months later and the Planning Phase is finally coming to an end, I'll need a holiday after this to get over it. The intinery has been written, the Hotels booked by Mr Thomas Cook for the main Stop Locations and with Go-Kiwi for our whistle, stop, back up a bit, thats it turn left into the car park lodgings around the South and North islands.

So we have spreadsheets for where we will be each day, we have maps for where we will be travelling each day, we have maps to show us where the hotels are in three different Continents and we have lists enough to fill a suitcase.!!!! So what could go wrong.!!!!

Money has exchanged hands to secure us foriegn currency which funnily enough is all in Dollars, Dollars for Singapore, New Zealand & of course the good ole USA. Where do we keep all this cash we say, in handbags - I don't have one?? in suitcases, may get lost, no its secret money belts hidden under our billowing clothing around towns or under our speedo's on the beach, the bulges will be unbelieveable. I did suggest they could be turned into support bra's to make 'em pert again, but that didn't go down too well.

So with 7 days to go, all the shopping for clothes, medical supplies, and fancy knick knacks has been done and dusted all of which have settled nicely into little assembled groups on the bed in the back room. A spring weight used keenly by fishermen who eyes are usually bigger than their catch was purchased so that we could meet the weight criteria set down by each Airline..20Kgs to go here or 32 Kgs if you are going there but no bigger than 115cm in HxWxD dimensions if going on board. So brows will be furrowed and teeth will be gnashed if things go wrong at the booking in desk..the anticipation how can one wait so long.

The week end will see dummy runs on suitcase loading and unloading taking place, I will hold the stop watch and weighing scales while 'her in doors' rolls the t-shirts and knickers into bundles dividing them out 50/50 per suitcase; must be the pessimists in us to share out the items 'in case one gets lost' scenario. That reminds me must check the list to see if I have travel Insurance on it and the boxed 'ticked'. Where would we be with out our lists?

Arthur is pursuing the travel documents from Mr Thomas Cook in Cardiff and will be calling in there on Staurday to go through it all. A double check on all aspects of the trip to make sure we have flights arranged and seats booked for all destinations. Its then up to us to be in the right place at the right time, must remember the time differences especially New Zealand to USA as we arrive in the USA before we have left New Zealand, and they said you couldn't travel back in time.!!

So 1st November will be it - either all the planning works or it doesn't, time will tell. If we have time we may add some stuff to the blog on the way round, however, no promises as we are out to enjoy ourself's and not be 'blogged' down with e-mails etc.

Wish us luck..

Tuesday 13 March 2007

Still Planning

Well here I am 3 days later and still researching material for our trip as if I'm swotting for an exam.!! Hope I don't get tested. I've printed off more pages, single sided, double sided that could keep a litter tray supplied for a lifetime, mind you if it was a cat tray, it would be a short life.!!

May has indicated she will ask some favours for information on Singapore which I thank her for in advance, (now the pressure is on her), and I have browsed various websites to glean as much detail as possible. I'm probably at the stage of overload on with too much information and probably need to sit back and plot a path to suit our timetable and fill in the blanks later. With Gareth and May visiting New Zealand as well, it maybe prudent to hold off on doing a full plan until they get back, hopefully with some good suggestions that fit our needs.

I probably would have done more over the week end except for the arrival of a 'wii', which then occupied my spare time and attention 100%. Having set up the machine I spent many a happy hour creating the characters of those who will be allowed to play on the machine. Needless to say having created myself (handsome chappy), 'her in doors', my swampy pals and the kids, the eldest turned up on Sunday and immediately decided to change his profile (spoil sport), so I hate to think what Gareth and May will think of theirs when they turn up. We then spent the rest of Sunday evening playing tennis and ten pin bowling, I must say you can certainly get a sweat up playing those games, benefit being we had to turn off the central heating, I reckon its like an investment as the money we save on the central heating will pay back the original outlay for the wii. Another 10 years and it'll have paid for itself.

I'm enjoying reading Gareths blog at the moment, he's still keeping it interesting with the odd photo thrown in via 'flickr' for good measure. Seems to have a good following as well, maybe will have to write a book, become a second Bill Bryson. On the photo's side I need some advice on how to do a 'badge' as having registered with them I cannot find how to create the collage of pictures as seen on Gareth's, If he reads this somewhere out east he may be able to give me some hints.

Anyway, I've been told its my bathtime (you're never to old to be told), so I need to finish this and if I'm good I might get another custard cream with my cup of tea. Here's to the next time.

Tuesday 6 March 2007

Phase 2 Planning

Well here I am into phase 2 trying to put an Itinery together while reading Gareth's day by day account of his time in Japan. Sounds as if he is getting about a bit, probaly eating sushi for breakfast etc, and no dishes to clean, must think he's on holiday. I have added his blog to my page so if anybody would like to browse be my guest. He's there until Friday then I think he heads for KL in Malaysia to stay with May before he starts the next leg of his journey. Nearly 1 week in already, only 7 to go.

We popped along to his home abode this evening to check the flat out, June offered to do his washing if she found anything in the 'basket'. She came out of the room with a bag that looked as if it had a dead body in it, just as large and just as heavy, talk about taking liberties. I got my own back though I drove his car back to our place doing nearly 50mph in places, that'll teach him.!!

Back to my Itinery, I've created a spreadsheet so far, compiling known data such as flight times etc, and now have to fill in the blank spaces such as what we do in Singapore for 3 days, then there's the 17 days 'flogging' a car around New Zealand followed by 3 more days in San Francisco. So not much to do really, but in case it gets a bit complicated I better away for a cup of tea and a custard cream. Will do more tomorrow.

Wednesday 21 February 2007

A Gem of an idea

Well its happened, we (4 of us) have now booked our flights to New Zealand for November 2007. Its a round trip starting at Heathrow on the 1st November hitting Singapore first for 3 days, followed by the next leg to Christchurch , New Zealand on the South Island. But before I cover too much of the intinery I had better introduce the 'we'.

There's my good self to be known as Ken throughout this journey, accompanied by my good lady wife of 35 years, namely June; me being Welsh and June being Scottish. Joining us on this epic voyage will be Arthur and Susan, both Welsh and still living in the green green grass of home, and close to Swansea our home town. To complicate matters from the start June and I will be leaving from Scotland while Arthur and Sue from Wales.

The idea started more than 12 months ago at one of our annual get togethers where the wine flowed freely and the ideas spilled forth. Unfortunately 2006 was out as both parties had commitments to see other folks in the USA and South Africa. However, it was agreed that a trip of this magnitude was worth waiting for and so began the planning process.

On a visit to Wales in March 2006 we all 4 called into Cardiff for the day and looked at the options being offered by the various Travel Agents arming ourselves with a plethora of travel magazines and brochures. Later on in the same year on a visit to Edinburgh by the 'Team' again on a retail therapy outing we came across 'Austravel' specialising in trips to Australia and New Zealand. Further armed with more brochures and even a DVD we had along with the internet more than enough information to begin 'The Plan'.