The Journey Begins

This is my first ever blog, so please bare with me :) As I sit here with my entire life packed into an 80L backpack watching Lauren try and decide what clothes to take and what to leave behind it's finally hit me.

In just 5 days we are out of here, straight out of our comfort zones about to experience the world about actually to live our lives.

I should be at work now; I should be talking to people about selling or renting their house I should be earning money to pay our bills, But all that stopped on Friday when I left work for the last time. The fact that in just a few days we will be hundreds of miles away from everyone and everything we have known our entire lives, This scares the crap out of me but excites me all at the same time.

Our first stop will be three days in Dubai. We are lucky enough that Lauren's uncle lives there so I guess you could say this is kind of a short holiday before the real journey begins. We then head off to India for about six weeks I say about because we have paid for FLEXI PASS flight tickets so if we like or dislike a place we can leave or stay longer. I'd just like to add I SUPER RECOMMEND STA TRAVEL if you are planning any trip like this, They are cost-effective helpful always on hand and have made the whole experience of booking a trip like this a lot more enjoyable.

Yeah so after India we head over to Japan, I have wanted to go to Japan ever since I played Shenmue on the Sega Dreamcast (GOD I'M OLD). It was a role-playing game where you walked around 80's Japan & China I loved how realistic the buildings and cities looked so always wanted to experience it for myself (I'M SUCH A GEEK). After a week or so in Japan we head over to China we fly into Beijing now Initially, we were only allowed to stay in China for 30 days, but since January 2016 the visa has been changed to a 90-day stay although it did cost us an extra £55 each more that's another story.

We have cut down massively on travel cost by deciding to work our way from north to south Asia on land, so buses, trains, cars, etc. I have heard some horror stories about night buses and but I guess it's all part and parcel of going out of your comfort zone. I am lucky enough to have a few friends in Asia at the moment, so I am looking forward to catching up with them and having a beer or two.

After a few months in Asia, we are heading to Australia starting off with a week in Perth again; I am super lucky to have an excellent friend living there with her husband so it will be awesome to see them as I have not seen them for some 5 or 6 years. Then we head to Sydney if I am being honest Australia has never really appealed to me to visit but I do have a lot of friends that live there, so I want to see them more than anything. If I'm super honest I am shit scared of spiders, haha But I guess that could all change once I am there.

We then head to Fiji for a week before going to New Zealand to start our 12 months working visas. It has been a lifelong dream of mine to live in New Zealand this was increased tenfold when I found out that this beautiful country was going to be used to film The Lord Of The Rings. This is my favourite book of all time and also the best trilogy (in my opinion) that's ever been filmed. I am looking forward to finding work once we get to New Zealand, but I am also lucky enough to work for a company that I can work for anywhere in the world, so I always have that to fall back on.

Anyway, this is my first blog I hope I have not rambled on too much.

All the best

Richard :)