Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking...

Well it's no longer three minutes to Salford, rather it's a slog up a very steep hill to work. I've come full circle, once again working in Mossley—my home sweet home. Once again I'm surrounded by hills and strong accents. It's a perfect ending. I only have four weeks left of work, and then I'll be home free for a year. I'd better appreciate it. It's like retirement has come early.

I'm due in for my Hep B shot today (it's a three-part series, so my pleasure is tripled). Two weeks ago, the hubby and I went for our consultation. Basically we're in danger of catching everything under the sun (except for Yellow Fever—that'll come later if we extend our travels to South America or Africa). Even with vaccinations we're not guaranteed an easy time. I received a Typhoid and Hep A shot (a biggun’, leaving my arm hurting for more than a week). I was thinking of foregoing the Hep B, as I'm not looking to exchange bodily fluids with anyone in Asia. However I've heard some horror stories concerning Hep B, and these had to do with dirty taco stands and such. So looks like I'll be rolling up my sleeve a few more times. It's better to be safe than... well you know.

Chris and I have not been shuffling our feet in preparation for our travels. We've been well on top of things, and for this I'm proud of ourselves. We have pretty much everything planned out, and all the really important things are booked. Now we just need to wrap things up with the house and all of our stuff. It looks like most of what we own will be heading to the charity shop down the street. We've kept things relatively simple over these past few years. I think we always knew we'd be staying a short time here; our accumulations have been minimal. I learned my lesson the first time when I moved over to the UK. You can't take it all with you. In the end material stuff is replaceable, and really not that important.

Our Itinerary as stands:

Europe
Paris, Lyons, Toulouse, Foix, Narbonne, Montpellier-France
Barcelona-Spain
Geneva, Lugano-Switzerland
Lake District, Venice-Italy
Bavaria, Berlin-Germany
Innsbruck, Salzburg, Vienna-Austria
Prague-Czech Rep
Bratislava-Slovakia
Budapest-Hungary
Transylvania, Bucharest-Romania
Sofia-Bulgaria
Istanbul-Turkey

(Back to London)

Middle East
Dubai-United Arab Emirates

Asia
Bangkok, Islands-Thailand
Hong Kong
Guilin, Chongqing, Chengdu, Yangtzee River, Tian Shan, Shanghai, Beijing, Xian, Xining-China
Llasa, Everest Base Camp-Tibet
Katmandu-Nepal
(Too many places to list)-India

After this it gets hazy. We'll be playing it by ear, finding the cheapest flights at the time. Basically we want to do a loop of these countries:

Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia

And Japan if the money is there.

At that time we may find we want to extend our travels, and if that's so, then who knows what will follow. Things can always change. Things have changed several times already.

And now I must get ready to receive my Hep B shot. It's raining outside and everything is gray and dreary. It still gets to me, even though I know I'm leaving...