The what?

So what is the plan for this big adventure? Bearing in mind that S would rather there be no plan (preferring instead to go with the flow and not commit) and K would usually have it all mapped out (with a colourful chart or two) we do have an itinerary of some exciting countries to visit but not much else booked so that should make it interesting for us both.

The why?

Well why not - after years of education and then over a decade of work it really is why not.

Having already done some travelling together the bug has definitely bitten us hard! The prospect of meeting people from different places and learning all we can about them and their way of life is something very few would say no to.

The how?

The brain storming started earlier this year with scribbles on the backs of napkins/paper bags. We made a wish list of all the places we wanted to visit and then the lovely and very patient Anna at STA Travel helped us make it a reality by booking our flights.

All very exciting right? but let us tell you about some of the more mundane (but necessary) aspects of travelling for a year:

-Arranging international bank accounts so that we minimise the currency exchange charges. We now have more PIN numbers, logins and passwords than we shall ever remember but if it saves us some pennies along the way and more importantly gives us some additional security then worth doing.

-Changing phone contracts over to pay as you go (this was much harder than it should have been - O2 take note!).

-Not to be morbid but sorting out Will's.

-Learning about all the different social networking apps and sites - Skype downloaded, Facebook updated, Dropbox registered and this blog we can safely say has been started!

Before going any further though we want to give a massive shout out to our amazing families for all their support and for helping us realise our dream.

H&L (who we're sure will get loads of mentions on our blog over the coming months) make up our 'whole' and although they are not going to be joining us physically for the whole adventure they are every bit a part of it in spirit.

We will miss everyone so much especially our babies (Jaan, Jorsh, Manisha, Aman & Baba Mann) but a year isn't really that long in the grand scheme of things is it?! So we'll be back before you know it. And for those friends and family that live outside the UK we may come a knocking if we're in the neighbourhood - you have been warned!

So we bid farewell to family & friends on the 2nd July (today) and started the adventure by flying into New York City (via Brussels!).