Prep for the big trip

The rest of this blog covers a couple of weeks frolicking in the USA with friends, then onto 197 days overlanding round South America with 24 people I don't yet know. I think the longest trip I've ever done was just over 3 weeks so this is definitely going to be an adventure. Eek.

Prep for the big trip

Faced with a 70 litre bag and a 20 kg limit to get me through the next 7 months was an interesting challenge. Luckily for me, my friend JC, an experienced overlander, took me shopping and got me kitted out in a weekend. Thanks JC :o) Outdoor slippers for wearing around the camp fire may not be on anyone else's essentials list but I reckon they'll be one of my most loved possessions pretty soon.

Playing with my new kit


Packing up my home ready for letting it out was......less fun than the shopping. Thanks to Carol, Chris, Blaise, Amanda, Anne, Ma Neumann, Shaun, Trevor, Officer Lochman and Lady Johnson for the huge help on that front over the last few weeks. To say I couldn't have done it without you is true but doesn't really convey quite how grateful I am. x



So then off to Casa Caz n Nige in Bognor with kit, wardrobe to select from and lots of paperwork so I could hand over my life to my sister to manage in my absence! I trashed their living room in minutes. Oops. 4 nights there, seeing family and realising how little room there is for 'real' clothes in my kit bag. Uh oh. Rachel's going to be sooooo impressed with me rocking up to a posh hotel in New York in trekking shoes and a fleece. Ha ha ha.

After Nige dropped me off at Heathrow, for the first time in weeks I was alone, but still no nervousness about the South America trip, probably because I would be playing with old friends in the USA for a couple of weeks first.