Tuesday 12 Jan 2010
Dublin, Ireland
Off again...
It's time I ripped out the old trustworthy Lowe Alpine rucksack (which is now so battered it looks like I've dragged it through a world war) and headed back out into the land of smelly backpackers and weat socks hanging over the edge of bunkbeds.
With this trip I'll complete my tally of "visiting every livable continent on the planet" (i.e. not Antarctica), and I'm looking forward to getting back out there... even if it's just to get a damned tan on Copacobana beach for the whole period!
I'm going heavily "wired" this time: carrying a new laptop, with skype, camera and wifi, plus my phone (with GPS), plus an external harddrive for storing all the pics I take so that I don't have to rely on burning CDs.
I've learned the lessons of past ventures.
Of course this means that there's more to worry about getting stolen, but that's small compared to the advantages... in particular being able to stay in contact with loved ones.
The latter is, of course, why it's actually quite hard to leave on the trip too... but right now, with no mortgage to worry about, or job plans until May, this is the ideal time to partake in such a long-term trip.
Nothing is planned yet as I haven't had time, but I plan on getting the brunt of the planning done while getting nicely toasted on a beach.
All that's left to do is sit back on the plane, listening to the "Learn Spanish" mp3s and head into the unknown!