Bags are packed! Passports are in one of many bags! Ipod is charged! Money is changed!

Everything's pretty much ready, now we just have a few hours to kill off. That sense of excitement and scaredness has kicked in. It's the unusal feeling of knowing your getting on a plane that's gonna carry you thousands of miles away. It just feels wrong to your brain, how am I gonna be on the other side of the planet in just a few hours?!?!

Of course I've guaranteed forgot something, how can I pack everything I need for 7 months into a couple of bags? And then there's the idea that some of the stuff I've packed I've got no real need for. Shoes....I've taken going out shoes but do I really need them? Jen's got 14 pairs of shoes with her, or there about. She's got a smaller bag and she's got way more than I do?! How? Because she's smaller than me, her clothes = tiny, her shoes = tiny. When I went to America one of my mistakes was only taking clothes that I was fond of. When you find yourself short of space and have to throw those clothes out it's a bad time. This time round I'm more prepared, several plain tshirts! You have to weigh up the balance of what you can't live without, (Ipod, Camera, certain clothes) and the essentials, (loads of socks, anti diahorrea tablets, first aid kit) and then the stuff you just wish you could take with you...(Laptop, several big hoodies, pillow).

THEN you have to seperate into what you want on the plane with you. Ipod/wallet/passport/glasses/warm jumper/etc etc etc....But all of this stuff is just there to make everything feel more comfortable along the way. I won't need the ipod on the Inca Trail or at Ayres Rock, but on the countless bus journeys I will.

So you spend your last day or two worrying about if you've forgotten this or forgotten that, whether you should take this or leave that, but everynow an again you step back and remember that it doesn't really matter. So what if I forget my Sex Panther Tshirt? Or if I've only got 1 pair of flipflops. This time in 24hrs I'll be on the way to RIO DE JANERIO! 48hrs time I'll be there, seeing Christo Reedemer and other great sights. And it's 28c and Sunny over there, and that's just the temperature early morning.

So if you hear me moaning about anything, tell me to shut up because I know this is a chance of a lifetime, I just can't wait!! Will be in touch soon!