And a voyage begins...

Chapter 1 - the departure
28th October - I leave my flat and my previous life behind. Wow.

On the way to the airport I arrange for the taxi to take me to the storage facility to drop off the remaining belongings which will spend the next few months in 25 m2. It was so hard to sort through it all and already I don't miss any of it and realise I've brought more than I need away with me! There's more sorting to do when I get back to the UK, but I am pretty sure I have got quite good at this lark now and it was only time which was lacking before I left. Feel free to remind me I said this... I can already hear your voices.

I check in at Heathrow and text Gloria who lives nearby and joins me for a swift "bon voyage" drink. She laments the fact that no-one else has come to see me off, as she had a whole group of friends come to see her off on her travels a few years ago. But I am very happy, and feel like I have been surrounded by wonderful, encouraging, helpful and supportive family and friends in the run-up to my departure, and I didn't even consider anyone coming to see me off at the airport. I was too busy sorting out the flat and storage! Just having Glo offer to come is a lovely surprise.

She kindly posts a couple of packages for me, including a Christmas package to my goddaughter and her sisters in Strasbourg. I tell her she can throw out everything else in the bag, and I later get a facebook message from her listing all the things in it... including a book on diving in Thailand and all sorts of stuff I was originally intending to fit in my luggage. Oh well... probably all part of my journey to become a minimalist! Anyone who sees my 30kg hold bag and 14 kg hand luggage now has permission to snort at me. Work in progress.

Long flight from London to Abu Dhabi, then on to Singapore where I sleep in a hotel. I'm still pumped on adrenaline from the past few weeks and find it difficult to sleep during the trip. I watch the Sandra Bullock film where she's a cop - some real laugh out loud moments.

But everything's in motion now - I'm on a new journey! A word which is overused in the world of consulting, but very apt for what I am about to do, in the physical and maybe even the spiritual sense.