Hi everyone, I've never written a travel blog before so I'm hoping I can just pick it up over the next few months. I thought this would be the easiest way to share my exciting new adventures with you as I enter the amazing continents of Africa, Europe and America over the next 12 months. 12.4kg is what my bag weighs and it seems like too much and too little at the same time. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to survive 4 months wearing the same 3 t-shirts, 2 pairs of pants and 1 dress. Most of the weight in my bag leads to toiletries, however I have managed to reject my face wash, cleanser, toner, body wash, hair treatment and makeup, leaving just a bar of soap, 30ml sunscreen, 30ml shampoo and conditioner and a very, very small hand sanitiser in my bag. The most essential items I need for this trip would have to be my malaria tablets, yellow fever vaccination card and passport as without these it will be hard to go anywhere. In the last 10 days since I arrived home from Asia I have managed to say goodbye to almost everyone who I love, however leaving my mother is going to be the hardest. For anyone reading this who knows her, please give her a call because a year without your husband and only child has got to be tough on anyone!! Anyway I'll keep you all posted when we arrive in South Africa Check out the map on this blog and it shows you exactly where we are going (haven't done Europe or USA yet) but it also shows the dates : )