This is the first entry in my blog. On 7th January 2013 I'm off on a long held dream of a full world circumnavigation. I'll be sailing on board M/V Aurora, a P&O ship. I booked in September 2011 and it's been a long time coming. There has been lots of planning involved. Researching and booking excursions and ports.

I plan on doing some excursions with P&O, some with land based agents and some ports I'll just do my own thing. I'm hoping to meet some friends in various places. Gary in Auckland (Tracey will be in Mexico), James in at least one of Sydney, Hong Kong or Singapore. I was hoping to meet Tim in Dubai, but as it's Spring Break, he's not likely to be there.

I've been organising visas. I already had my ESTA for the US, as I went on an Alaskan cruise in September. Next and easiest was the Australian e-visitor which was free. When the visa information pack arrived from P&O, I set about getting my Indian visa. I took it up to London on 31 October and went up and collected it on 6th November, the same day that I had a lot in a sports auction at Sothebys. And, yes it sold . Yesterday I sent off my completed forms for the Chinese visa. I'd asked for a multiple entry visa as they last for 6 months and I won't be there until mid March, but a guy from the visa company phoned and said I could get away with a double entry and that would save me money. So I agreed and now I'm waiting for the passport and visa to be returned. Hopefully by Thursday next week.

There's a very lively board on the P&O website, and I seem to know loads of people already. Well at least electronically! We've asked P&O if we can all sit together for dinner, but we've not heard back yet. I'm also organising a cabin crawl. 5 cabins so far, but more to come I'm sure.