An Introduction.

On September 16th I will embark on a journey I have dreamt of for years, with a rough route planned, but by any means, with two of my best friends! It has the potential to create some of my fondest memories as well as being a soul searching quest at a point when I'm at a crossroad in my life. I would be lying if I told you an exact time I considered travelling to be one of the most significant goals I have in life. It annoys me that I cant remember, but it also makes me think that maybe its destiny and in fact its something that has been inbuilt within the genetics of my being. Which is probably a load of bollocks, but it sounds good!

I am a firm believer that 'things happen for a reason'! This has been an underlying theme to many things I have done in my life so far, and I suppose a convenient excuse I can give to things that either go for, or go against me. Another view I have always adopted, which can often be conceived by an onlooker as either lazy or un-organised is that 'I'll cross that bridge when I come to it', often leaving things to the last minute to squeeze out any chance of another direction, decision or offer that might change the course of the outcome. I suppose it is also because sometimes I want the decision to be made for me, often it is more exciting that way!I think that these views though are adopted by most travellers, to maybe plan or allow for too many preconceptions takes the wind out of your sails and can make the trip predictable and stagnant!

Travelling has been on the cards now for such a long time, when discussion, then later a plan was conceived over several games snooker in late 2010 with Smith (during which I was always winning!) many people considered it to be another fantastical yarn, as they had heard it all before! I'm speaking on behalf of Smith, but as far as I'm aware he has had a similar desire to go travelling for as long as I have, however, we have always, up until this point had separate ideas of what we wished to do. I am not sure I had ever told Smith my idea, but I was aware of his and Kailey's plans of caravanning round Europe, working on cruise ships and living out in Australia on a working holiday visa. Just like me though, nothing had come to anything. After explaining to Smith my ideas of 'travelling' (backpacking) our way to our different destinations, crossing boarders and continents seeing different cultures and meeting new people, a few days later, Smith was on board, and in his usual 'bull in a china shop' approach set about making plans.

In nine months of planning, not a great deal has changed to the original route. Apart from the decision to now fly from Moscow to Beijing, instead of pass through Mongolia on the Trans-Siberian railway. Although disappointing, on reflection its not the end of the world (an apt pun I think). Due to the amount of time we would have spent on a train, and how much extra it would have cost to see the Russian and Mongolian wilderness at a time of year (October/November) when it would have been getting, for want of a better word, 'nippy' wasn't a hard decision to make!

During the writing of this several of our visas which we are having processed before we go are being dealt with by the countries individual embassies. Courses of injections are completed, proscriptions pending and massive rucksack gathering dust in the loft with all the other travel items collected over the past months of planning stuffed inside and mounting extra weight to lug across the globe. (I'm still unsure if the three of us having matching bags are a good idea?) Regardless of the worries and anxieties concealed under the excitement, it only feels like a few weeks ago that I was telling work I was buggering off gallivanting across the world! On nights out with friends, people ask, 'what you doing with yourself now?', a very cliché but polite greeting, to which most answers blur into one, especially after a few beers and the next time I see them, the same line of questioning is proposed! I have spent the last nine months saying the same thing, that 'I'm off travelling'. Listing the countries I'm visiting monotonously! I think people are now becoming bored to hear it again! I will be experiencing my first Christmas and Birthday away from family (and dogs) and friends, and I'll miss them all like mad, but its a small world now, made smaller by social networking, I will never be too far away! So lets get this show on the road, lets fly the nest and hopefully learn a bit more about our little blue planet and what it has to offer before its too late!!!