That question
At about 10:30 pm last night I spotted that my laces were undone, so I knelt down to tie them up. I was dressed smartly - something that doesn’t happen very often these days (I am a stranger to the world of suits and ties) - and surrounded by lots of other people who were similarly smartly dressed (well, it was a wedding reception). All-in-all, it seemed lke the best time and place to ask ‘the question’.
Manda said yes.
Oh and the laces thing? Well, it was me who untied them - I had to make it a surprise and not give the game away too early. After all, she found the ring in my ’so-called hiding place’ just on Friday night.
Travel update
Well, there’s been some progress on the travel plans. We haven’t changed the route, but it looks like a bus ride from SanFran to LA will be long and tedious. Given that we are only spending a week in the US en route, a half (or almost whole) day is to much to take out so we’ll probably end up flying - any suggestions for carriers? I though Southwest might be good.
Accommodation is already sorted for much of our early stints (US, Cairns done and dusted, looked into Fiji options but not yet booked) and there are some visas to arrange. So far I’m relaxed - we’ll do most things in time. Or at least I sincerely hope we will!
I’ve decided that the best way to keep notes en route is to knock up a site in Dreamweaver (using it’s fantastic templating facility) and do things manually. When we get a quiet stretch I’ll update the site and then when we next get to an Internet Café I’ll take those entries along on a USB key and keep my fingers crossed that I’m allowed to transfer to the PC so that I can upload to Blogger. Have not decided whether to post to this page or to post to a new dedicated ‘on my travels’ type page. What do you think?
After thinking about it, thinking some more, and finally deciding to do it
come what may, we’ve handed in our notice and are going to get a new outlook
on life. I’ve been with my place of work for 13 years, Manda for 5, and it’s
not an easy thing to do, but if we don’t do it now, we probably never will.
What am I talking about? Well, buggering off for a year around the world.
On Saturday we got our flight tickets and the route is looking like this:
- London to San Francisco
- By bus to Los Angeles
- Los Angeles to Fiji
- Fiji to Cairns, Australia (via Auckland NZ)
- Months working our way around Australia
- Flight to New Zealand, North and South islands
- A jaunt (flight? Boat trip? Who knows …) to Tasmania
and back - Leave Australia from Perth, flying in to Chiang Mai, Thailand
- Work our way through Thailand overland and on through
to Singapore - Leave Singapore, back to London … then Swindon, Wiltshire and our
old way of life but perhaps viewed from a different perspective
We leave on 8 December and will be spending Christmas Day in Fiji and New
Year’s Eve in Cairns. It’ll be different, that’s for sure - and I don’t
think we’ll be getting a white Christmas, somehow.
So, there are a long list of things we both need to do before we go:
- Find a home for the dogs
- Sell our cars Make sure our respective houses are looked after (somebody
to open the post, let us know of anything urgent) - Get some insurance
And a tonne of other things that we’ll find out along the way.
It’s exciting and scary (if that’s not too strong a word) at the same time.
But hell, I’m looking forward to it! So, if you know me or Manda, and if we
happen to be in your part of the world, drop us a line - we should meet up!
And if you feel generous enough to put up a couple of unemployed (but very tidy,
clean and respectful) travellers for a few nights we’d certainly appreciate
it, as will the bank manager :)
Off again …
What can I say, it’s been a good year for travel for me so far: Paris in January, Austin, Texas in March, Venice and Barcelona in June, Crete in July and this weekend I’m off to Copenhagen, Denmark for a few days to celebrate Manda’s 30th birthday. And there are bigger travels in the pipeline (work willing):
Zeldman’s Dating Links
This is for real. A little while ago, Jeffrey Zeldman alerted readers to the fact that his site may soon carry a sponsor’s link. Or three, to be precise:
And there I was thinking it would be something relevent to web standards. Is this a wind-up? Is he having us on?
Oh heck
Now I’m getting nervous … Better get bizz-ay with PowerPoint (assuming Mr Tufte will allow me that honour)
