How much?

These are two thirds of our malaria tablet supply for the trip. The reason Liam is crying is that we have just spent £945.36 on them. He kept saying 'take them back'. That's £3.15 each, we shall think of this is every day we take them. And that is why doctors do not prescribe them on the NHS. And we couldn't even get Boots points for them. We'd better not get malaria now. Mind you we spent 50 rupees on our delicious dinner tonight (the equivalent of 66p) so swings and roundabouts, eh?

Travelling light?

No cases or trolley bags for us, we have three fairly small (very small in Liam's case) rucksacks. But we have managed to pack them to capacity. Liam had the right idea, he kept saying 'but what if I want to buy stuff?'. Cliff's weighs 17.4kg and Elaine's is 19k. This is far too much. A clear out is on the cards very soon. We are even thinking of pulling out the pages of the travel guides we need rather than taking the whole books, not sure Elaine can bring herself to do this to a book though. Or photographing the pages we need. We are looking at the pile of books sitting next to our fridge (no, the one in our homestay, we didn't bring one along!) and we honestly saw fewer books on a bookstall in the Metro station today. We didn't pack many clothes or shoes, so we think it's the vitamins, first aid kit and books that are the problem. We'll post a packing list so that you can let us know what you think we should bin.

On our way

Tuesday 29th December was all a bit of a rush; doctors for our private malaria prescriptions (NHS quite rightly won't prescribe for them, we'll see why later), a solid hour for Elaine on the phone trying to find a pharmacy that had enough Malarone to fill the things, a consultant's appointment for Cliff's hip problem (who wanted to give him an epidural - yes, 22 hours before we fly - Cliff declined), a quick visit with Elaine's niece Vicky, a trip to the post office and library to drop off our library books (didn't want THAT kind of fine when we get back) and then back to Mum's for some last second packing. We had to get our final rabies jab at the travel clinic at Gatwick that afternoon, as our local surgery couldn't get hold of it, so it was a quick detour there on our way to Heathrow for that (also the Boots at Gatwick had managed to get the 300 Malarone tabs we needed). If you ever need to go to the travel clinic at Gatwick, don't let anyone tell you it's near the south terminal, it's not, it's right next to the north terminal. We asked the man at the information counter who directed us to the back of the south terminal (it's not there), a man in a high vis jacket (always thought they could be trusted?) told us it was down by the coach station (it's not) and finally when we realised it was at the north terminal, the shuttle bus driver was immense help - Cliff: "Do you know where the travel clinic is?, Driver: "Yes thanks", his conductor friend thought that was very amusing. Driver: "It's at the south terminal" Cliff: "No, it's definitely at the north terminal", Driver: "Whatever". It's at the north terminal.

Schooling

A lot of people ask what will happen with Liam's schooling during our trip. Well, we're just going to let him have a break for a year. Joke. Whilst we're sure that Liam would love that, we have done some planning. Liam was 11 in August and was in year 7, so the rest of his class were aged 12+ and some of his school work was being taught at GCSE level. He was also doing really well, top in English and Maths so we do not feel that taking a year out of traditional school will adversely impact his education. We have secured the Key Stage 3 coursework and workbooks to cover years 7, 8 and 9 for Maths, English and Science. Liam will be working through these as well as using educational software loaded onto our laptop. Liam has been closely involved in the planned itinerary which has given him the opportunity to collect materials and help plan experiences, that will increase the educational value of the trip. He will be continuing his journal, and contributing to this blog, so that he can keep in touch with friends and family; so that the transition for him when we are back in the UK will be less challenging. He is an avid reader and as well as taking a supply of books and picking up more as we travel, he enjoys listening to audio books on his ipod. We will cover history, geography and language subjects according to the destination. We will encourage independant and interactive learning through visiting science museums, galleries, aquariums, historical sites, national parks, performances, nature trails, special exhibits, etc. Also, we will be visiting some of the most amazing places and this will fuel questions and discussion. Liam's old English teacher is also sending us the lesson plan for the next book they are doing ("Holes"). Finally we will encourage him to mix with children his own age; he is keen on mountain boarding and we are hoping for some opportunities for this along the way. We'll post about our progress.  

Merry Christmas

Just a quick post to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and to offer our best wishes for a peaceful, healthy and happy New Year and hope that it brings everything you wish for.

First Post

Okay, now we have a few followers, we need to fill some of this blank space. I'm sure that when we've finished packing and having Christmas, we'll have plenty of time. Just by way of a short explanation, we wanted to create somewhere to document our big trip. The very loose plan is that we leave the UK on 30th December (only 6 days to go) and visit the following countries along the way: India, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, maybe Laos, then Vietnam, China, including Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and the US. Phew. And we'll be taking not quite a year to do it.