Sorting and Packing...

Greetings, I thought it was about time I sat down and wrote up my recent activities as I’m nearly ready to leave home now and go down and under.

Since my passport arrived, my inheritance has come though (or part of it anyway). Now that I have it I’ve spent the intervening time from getting it sorting my possessions, collecting information regarding what arrangements need to be made before I leave, what I will be doing when I arrive in Australia and packing.

Presently I’m just working though a list of stuff left to do which includes;

• Waiting for some traveler’s cheques and cash to arrive at the bank.
• Finding some travel insurance.
• Booking my very first night in a hotel, from which I can then find somewhere else to stay, like a flat, while I look around Melbourne.
• And last but not least, finding and purchasing my ticket on a plane.

I’ve written an inventory of everything I’m taking and a lose itinerary (basically point three below plus travel details). As a precaution I’ve also made a note of all important documents – my passport details, debit/credit cards and accounts, NI number etc – and stored it in a few safe places so if anyone plays silly buggers they won’t get away with it, assuming they already escaped a really pissed English weight lifter with the mercy of a deranged ferret.

The travel insurance is getting on my nerves a bit cus I can’t find a long term policy suitable for my variable duration trip – the plan is to explore until I find something fun to do so I may stop in Melbourne for a month or two years, all depends and what I find.

Packing my inventory is a bit tiresome too as things like graphic novels and games (cant copy game discs half as easily as my DVD collection which is now sitting on my External HDD) have a half life of my interest in them so anything I take will be rendered dead weight in my luggage. One thing to note about things you take with you travelling is that anything you bring you will have to carry from location to location so you need to think about the utility value of items rather than your favor of them.

I did however pack an inflatable sofa, partly because if I find a small flat sans furnishing I will need something to sleep on and partly because my laptop can serve as a TV with the right hardware addons so even if a bed is present the inflatable can serve as a passable sofa.

I bought a couple of disposable cameras to take with me on the plane as I won’t be buying my digital HD video camera until I get there. Personally I’m just waiting for some little tit in an airport to get it into his head that the strong looking skin head is a terrorist so I can snap a few pics and fry him. I only say this cus I lost my train ticket once and the fuckers charged me close to 50 quid to leave the fucking station after calling me a criminal, and if similar happens again I’m going to make sure that guy gets sacked.

And on that note the exchange rate, much to my profit, has been going up which is all the better for me cus my home currency is gaining value. I may have to do some transfers and get some of it changed into Euros given the closeness of the transfer rates at the moment but if I do make anything while traveling it will be turned into Sterling.

I sorted out my music at last btw. Hadn’t updated my iPod in 2 years and it took me 3 solid days and 20 quid for a iPod file exporter to organize my collection but eventually I got all my music and audiobooks arranged perfectly. 40 odd Discworld books and the entire Harry Potter series are now sitting on my 60 Gig iPod Generation 5. When I get to AU I’m going to get an iPod Touch (2^nd Gen) and perhaps an iPhone too along with a PSP and a DSi perhaps.

It seemed like a good idea to check out vaccinations too. I can’t say I wasn’t entirely not surprised when I was told that AU required me to have no vaccinations what so ever but I guess when the fish, the lizards, the snakes and the insects etc, etc can all kill you in 1 hour or less with toxic poisons then there is little worry regard pansy things like viral and bacterial infections. The US obviously doesn’t require me to have any jabs either which is nice.

...RIGHT! That’s about it I think. For the moment anyway. My travelers cheques should arrive in 2 days so tomorrow I can search again for some insurance and a first night hotel. Post Thursday I can book my ticket, buy some AU$’s and then just tidy up loose ends here (like sorting computer files and posting portfolio work) till I go.

I may post again just before I go or just after I’ve arrived and then I’ll be posting regularly as I want to keep this stuff separate from my personal blog.

=0)

/Ollie