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1998: The Year of Preparation


Well December was a hectic month, with finishing and both leaving our respective jobs to packing up and moving out of our home of 2 years. We moved into Pauls parents from the 19th which was great-home cooked meals, sky TV, luxury for a while. I must admit living with parents again was an adjustment though after both of us having had left home many years ago. We organised our travel insurance, picked up our tickets and did all that travel stuff and spent xmas time catching up with people and saying the many goodbyes. All great excuses for alcohol and fun times. Its starting to become real now and a mixture of emotions are being felt. We both know its time to move on to something different in our careers so the work side of things is a chalenge and we are both relishing the thought of relief teaching, no reports etc.

I am a bit apprehensive about travelling as I have never before, not scared but wary of the unknown. I have read widely so I think i know what to expect but the other differences i will find are part of the experience. Paul is confident about the trip having travelled before. He keeps telling me London is NOT that cold after wary friends have advised lots of thermals, but his Mother infoms me he left before winter last time so Im not trusting him on that one and have packed 3 sets of thermals. :)

We no longer have a computer so we are dependant on Pauls Dad's PC and visits to Aucklands Cyber Cafes. Overseas our updates will only come when we find internet acess via friends and Cafes. The next time we write our adventures will have begun.

(TINA)




November snuck up on us, and it was suddenly only 2 months before we go. School is hectic at the moment, with both of us having reports and other administrational tasks to complete. We changed our travel plans after discoving LA airport is smoke free and required a seven hour stopover. We have now included a day and a half stop-over in LA. This has caused much excitement for me, and I have been searching the web for information on hostels and local attractions such as Universal Studios. We have sent of all the relative information to timeplan (the teaching agency we have chosen) and all we have to do now is meet them in london, before we can begin our teaching. With our departure date being so close to the festive season, we are under financial strain, but luckily we have found out we are getting a lump sum holiday pay far greater that we had anticipated. Everything seems to be going according to plan.....

-Tina.


Don't forget my birthday!! An my special present ;)

-Paul.




Well, only 8 weeks left of school. Things are rather hectic at the moment. I guess time seems to be flying by, 11 weeks till we leave. All our little jobs are now completed and Tina has finally got her entrance visa sorted out.

All our packs and gear is sorted out, plus we only have one room with much stuff in it. The spare room is now a storage/assembly room for our gear, our old bedroom a makeshift dining room.

A friend at work has offered her place for a farewell party. She offered to do all the catering too....but we were having a few drinks at the time. Perhaps this may still be concievable, as it would save us a lot of time and money. It would also give us a second oppertunity to say goodbye to all our friends (the second occasion is New Year)



-Paul.




We have been recieving a great deal of feedback regarding our travel plans from similar couples. One couple is here in auckland and we have discussed meeting up to share travel plans.

Paul has now handed in his resignation from work, and with only 10 weeks left in next term, soon both Paul and Tina will be un-employed, and ready to taste the world.

We have both been enjoying living together now we have a place (totally) to ourselves. The spare room has become a storage place for our backpacks and travel gear.

We have school holidays sept 26th and will be culling more of our possessions. Already the flat is littered with empty cupboards and spaces...

The fact that we are leaving for some time leads us to the conclusion we need some sort of final goodbye. A party. When to have it??? well, when school finishes in december, we will be short of income and lacking in location...perhaps just our friends at the pub??

With 3 months to go, we have started to realise how close it all is...only 10 working weeks left....




We have now both got our passports and are essentially ready to go (minus a few details). On a negative note, our flatmate has decided to move out, leaving us with extra expences. Luckily our recent pay-parity have left both of us more capable financially.

On a positive note, we are both looking forward to the time alone together. We have been living together for nearly 2 years, but we've always had a flatmate, BW (aka ruprek). We are planning on shifting our bedroom into our lounge and pack up everything non-essential ready for disposal or storage.





We have just booked our tickets today at the Pakuranga travel centre. Paul and I are very excited as this marks the point of no return.It looks like we are on United and will have a stop-over in LA or New york (our choice).

Tina.


JULY UPDATE

Our trusty little car passed a warrant (a miracle) and we now have no car worries until we leave...not too shabby for a 300 dollar investment. We have both got our NZ passports and I am expecting my UK passport within a few weeks. We have been reading the lonely planet guide to london and have been planning out all the things we want to do, plus the locations of the places we will be working in. I guess the whole realisation of our trip has not fully sunk in yet. I still find myself taking for granted the luxuries that in 5 months i will sever access to...
scary stuff....

Paul.




Well, we're halfway through June and time is racing by. We have both had a stressful few weeks with Paul having parent interviews and me having had reports to write but thankfully thats all over. I can't believe we only have just over 6 months to go. I really want to get our tickets and have a definite departure date. Paul has pointed out if we wait till the school holidays in 2 weeks we can take more time to get the best deal. I have told my principal that i am leaving at the end of the year to travel. He was supportive and it makes it easier to share my excitement at work now. I have started my shots too. I went to the doctor for something else and she suggested getting them started as Hepatitis B takes 6 months, I had Typhoid, Hep b and a and Tetanus. $115 dollars later and one very sore arm i left the clinic. Saving is going well, I'm sticking to my budget and Paul has started his own savings plan so things are going according to plan and we should financially reach our goal. The car is due for its next warrant which is a headache, with only 6 months to go we dont want to spend any money on it. We have decided to get a quote for repairs and if its too expensive we'll just sell and get a $1000 car that will last us for the next 6 months. Anyway we will keep you intouch with what happens with the car.

Tina xxx




8 Months to go... The month of April brought with it the realisation of how close we are to our goal, and how many things we have left to do. I have gone throught our shed (storage area) and thrown away 90% of what lay there. The remainder will take some time to sift through or will be put into storage for when we come back, if we do at all. I so much look forward to carrying the world upon my sholders. I still, however, face the problem of selling all my house hold furniture. We will have to face that problem closer to the date.

We have both had 2 weeks holiday from school. The first was quite deeeeliteful, we went away to Piha. The remainder of the first week was spent relaxing arounf the house. A few jobs got done, but mostly it was used to recover from the first term. The second week we both had managed to get some part time work. The parnel school holiday program for myself, and the M'graphs holiday tuition for Tina (better paying). School will start again after that week and again the wheels will turn, as we edge closer to the time of leaving...




Saving seems to be such a concern. We both have had to keep dipping in for car expenses...how i long to be without a vehicle and have to depend only apon reliable public transport. We both have extra work planned for the upcoming holidays and with the conformation of pay-parity in May, we will be conciderably closer to our target ammount. I have already been searching the internet for travel information and have come up with several useful sites. One is a notice board for travellers which i have been playing about with...

Check out the 'Travellers Notice Board'


Now we only have 9 months left in New Zealand. Still so many things need to be done, already the tasks build up...but the reward will be worth it...We have finally developed the 3 rolls of film we had been hording for the last year and a half. I will get Tony to scan a select few to put on the page to add some variety based on the fact that nothing "travel wise has been happening to us of late (all this damn saving..) We are going away to camp at piha at the start of the easter holidays, hopefully the weather will be good or we will find out the various shortfalls of our beloved new tent.

(paul)




A busy month for the two of us. With 10 months too go, we find there is so much to do and so little actual time left...School has been good, we are nearly halfway through the first term. We also find that things are moving faster, as our working holiday approaches. Tina has found a flight (one way) for 1400 dollars, which includes 5 US stopovers (we pick) So we will spend perhaps a month in the states too ;) We have both prepared budgets and hopefully pay parity will come through and we will both have extra money coming in...
A busy month also for our friends getting married. A bit scary really, I keep thinking i should be settling into a good solid job. Looking ahead... But i cant get this dream outta my head. I guess i'm kinda committed to this thing. ;)

(paul)




The beginning of a new year. A year with many expectations and sacrifices... A year with motivation. Tina has take on extra work and I have been working on holiday programs. We need the money to book our flights and establish ourselves when we reach London. We also went camping. Red beach, then on to Waihi... Several relaxing days trying out our new tent One we will grow oh so accustomed to when we travel europe

(paul)