Ok, so now we know what its like to be a Pin Cushion!

The wonderful NHS have cheerfully provided doses of Yellow Fever, Typhoid, Hep A, Hep B, Rabies, Tetanus, Polio, Diptheria and Meningitis... plus Malaria tablets on their way!

In any case, the planning for Africa is well under way - shopping (we love shopping) has been the main focus, but there's also been time for some "culture prep", including Woburn Safari Park and the Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre (both thoroughly recommended).

16 days to go...

Welcome to Africa!

On Friday 9th March 2007, Denise & Aaron will depart LHR T4 for the wonderful lands of Africa, undertaking an eleven-week journey through ten different African countries. Extensive game viewing throughout the journey is all-but-guaranteed, along with a number of traditional African cultural visits and community work. There will also be the chance to undertake some more adventurous activities, such as White Water Rafting and a Shark Cage Dive!

We hope to update the blog weekly throughout the trip, including details of our current location, activities, game viewing and general experiences of rural African life.

Please send us your messages so that we can read them along our journey!

The full tour can be found at http://www.africantrails.co.uk/trip_af-all/trip.php?trip=af-all, and we have put a brief summary of the trip below...

Tour Summary

Week 1

Kenya - Rift Valley scenic lookout at 8,000 feet high. Nakuru - Kembu Campsite. Uganda - Rain forests, tea & sugar plantations. Lake Victoria & Kampala - Cross the equator , Kabale & Lake Bunyonyi Crater Lake - Kisoro - Mountains of the Moon. Virunga Mountains - trek to Mountain Gorillas. Lake Bunyonyi - canoe to the islands.

Week 2

Owen Falls Dam & Jinja on Lake Victoria Bujagali Falls on the Nile River - white water rafting, grade 5. rapids, sunset BBQ bungee jump, fishing. Volunteer for the local community education project. Kenya - Nakuru Town in the Rift Valley. Kembu Camp working farm - local weavers and school. Lake Nakuru - millions of pink flamingoes. Home to over 400 species of birds, leopard, rhino, zebra, waterbuck & giraffe.

Week 3

Lake Naivasha - on the shore hippos graze in the evenings, black and white Colobus monkeys in the morning. Hell's Gate Park - bike in the park to zebra, buffalo, antelope. Elsamere - Elsa the lion of 'Born Free' fame. Masai Mara National Reserve, amazing scenery and abundant wildlife and the big five. Nairobi try the feast at Carnivore Game Meat Restaurant.

Week 4

Tanzania we arrive in Arusha safari city. Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater - camping for two nights in the parks amidst the animals. Dar es Salaam on the Indian Ocean Coast

Week 5

Dar es Salaam - ferry to Zanzibar Island. South through Tanzania, route takes us past Mikumi Park

Week 6

Lake Malawi - small resorts, sandy beaches, swimming and snorkeling, water-skiing, horse riding malawi chairs. Blantyre the old capital of Malawi. Mozambique - driving through the bush Zimbabwe , Capital Harare, then on to Gweru and the Antelope Park - walk with lion cubs and swim with elephants.

Week 7

Bulawayo - Rhodes Matopos National Park - white rhino Zambia Victoria Falls - Zambezi River plunges 100 metres down a mile wide chasm, lots of adventure activities. Botswana and the Kalahari Desert.

Week 8

Maun on the Okavango Delta , Mokoro trip in a dugout canoe through the waterways. Namibia , Kavango River on the Caprivi Strip

Week 9

Etosha Pan National Park - game viewing in the day and the evenings by floodlit water holes. Kamanjab Cheetah Farm, scratch the big cats behind the ears before watching them chase their evening meal. Cape CrossSeal Reserve a breeding ground for cape fur seals.

Week 10

Swakopmund seaside resort - beer halls, horse-riding, sand boarding on the dunes, deep sea fishing and scenic flights. Namib Desert, famous for its 300 metre high sand dunes.Fish River Canyon, at 85km long and 400m deep. Orange River, the border with South Africa - canoeing. South Africa - Western Cape - sparsely populated bushveld, Stellenbosch - wine tour Cape Town - nestled at the foot of Table Mountain.

After a life-changing journey across African Wilderness, we return to our native Hemel Hempstead... but what has changed?

Well, here we are... after months of preparation, dozens of injections, several shopping trips and our first two Malaria Tablets, we are now in the final hours of preparation before the trip begins!!

Spending the night at our respective parents' houses, our "taxis" will be leaving for Heathrow at 0600, which gives me.....ow.....5 hours' sleep! That's more than last night as we were packing until late and didn't get to bed until 0230.

Now, according to the experts, I'm supposed to take these Malaria tablets with food and water. This was all going fine for the first tablet, but this evening's effort somehow managed to span over 4 hours between the "eating of dinner" and the "taking of tablet". Needless to say, it has reacted with my stomach and I'm now ill before I've even left the country. Magic. "Dr Julie" has prescribed milk and dry bread, which seems to be doing the trick, since I'm now able to sit up and have enough co-ordination to type this journal entry!

Who's idea was this holiday again?

So, as everyone keeps asking, "are you nervous"? Well, if truth be known, yes! Not so much about the trip, but more about what I've left behind! 23Kg really isn't all that much when you're travelling for 77 days. Still, I have a passport and money - anything else we can buy when we get there!

The last day at work today was wonderful - the usual M25 slog at 0715, followed by a lovely 2-hour crawl home, resulting in us driving past eachother as Denise left the flat just as I was arriving. Still, lunch was good - a nice Indian with the lads from work (possibly my last decent meal until June!) and lots of handshaking and statements such as "all the best" and "keep in touch". I'm going to the jungle - how good do you think the T-Mobile signal is out there? I can't even stay on a call when driving down the M4, so what hope is there in the middle of the Masai Mara!!

Ok - so its now 0040 on Friday 9th March... we're going to Africa TODAY! It seems like yesterday that we were booking flights and telling people about our plans - then suddenly here we are. But for all the nerves, milk and dry bread and general emotion, this will still be the trip of a lifetime and we are both looking forward to every part of it! We've even packed our Red Noses and Comic Relief T-Shirts to wear next weekend.

News from the Tour Operator today is that there is a wedding this weekend at the lodge we are staying at (Karen Camp), so it could be a very cultural welcome to Africa! Added to the fact that the Zambezi has burst its banks and flooded half the campsites around Victoria Falls ... I'm sure it will all be bone-dry by the time we arrive, but it sure does sound interesting out there!

Well I had better sign off now, otherwise the laptop battery will give up on me and this will never be read!

We will miss you all, families and friends, and of course Hades, our beautiful black Labrador Retriever (see - I'm learning about dogs too)!

Please please PLEASE keep in touch with us through the message board, and we will try to update this blog whenever possible to keep you informed of our progress.

Signing off from the UK for the last time for 77 days...

Rule Britannia! Bring on Africa!

./Aaron

Okay just thought I would try and work out how to use this site before I go, so if you get to see this it means that I have got it sussed.....its the night before i go, i'm packed and ready, surprising how much you can get in a back pack, its a bit heavy but hey I am sure I will manage, just had a lovely night out with my little sis and two of my best mates...okay will keep you all updated of my travels as they happen.

A few years ago I was at an exhibition in Earls Court. I left at around 5 p.m. and made my way back to Hemel via train. I would normally get the coach, but as it wasn’t the usual time I left work and it was snowing I thought I’d try a different route.

It was gone 9 by the time I got back to Hemel station and I still had to get back to my flat. There were no taxis at the rank and none running from the various cab companies I called. I phoned my Dad, who had JUST got home from picking my brother up from school and he came out to pick me up. I thought my journey was awful. It was nothing.

At 6 a.m. the next morning I caught the coach as usual and was informed that the 6.30 p.m. coach the night before, the one that I would usually catch, had not arrived back in Hemel until 2 a.m.! My first question, had I not been too stunned to ask it, would have been: ‘What the hell are you doing on the coach at six in the morning if you only got off the last one four hours ago?’.

Actually, I didn’t need to ask it. I already knew the answer. Some people just can’t, or wont, be late for work.

What kind of a life is that?

There must be another way.

.......................................................................................................................

There is another way.

I’d already worked that out before the horrendous journey from Earls Court to Hemel Hempstead. The exhibition at Earls Court that day was a travel exhibition; I was planning a trip around the world.

My journey to and from work in 2003 was almost exactly the same as it is now. On a good day it takes three and a half hours to get to and from work. At least once a week it takes five or more.

I’d had enough then and I’ve had enough now.

The main purpose of this website is to try to fund my next RTW trip. The other reason I’ve set it up is because my memory is crap. I only arrived back home from travelling two and a half years ago and I’ve forgotten more than I can remember.

I don’t want to make the same mistake twice.

read more www.blistersandbackpacks.com