Anticipation.

It is a wonderful part of travel. The planning stages are a real integral part of the anticipation. How to make an itinerary work? How to get from A to B? We settled on a plan that would include a good look at Myanmar, a catch up with three lots of English friends and an expedition to the Arctic Circle. .

We started by basing our dates around the centre piece of the trip, a G Adventures Expedition leaving Edinburgh, travelling to the Shetlands then across the North Sea, up the Norwegian coast with a final destination of Svalbard high up in the Arctic Circle. 

Flights were on Qantas Frequent flier points. To Singapore first with Qantas then Jetstar to Yangon, Qatar from Yangon to Doha and Qatar again into London. Our last Frequent Flier flights were Oslo to Singapore via Dubai with Emirates, then after a two night stopover in Singapore to knock our jetlag on the head, the final leg into Perth with Qantas. Later when on the road,we purchased two other flights in Norway.

When all this was in place, I saw a special offer for a 14 day G Adventures tour of Myanmar and snapped it up. Emails to our 3 sets of friends in UK sorted out our dates for visits and all was starting to fall into place.

As the time drew nearer a death in the family, and a consequent plan for a memorial service in Adelaide just before our departure date, meant a last minute rerouting of flights via Adelaide.

So with our main plans in place but still areas where we could be flexible we have 2 months of exciting travel ahead of us.

Bring it on!