On Sunday 18th April 2010, I will be heading off into unknown territory with a group of about 20 like-minded people. What started out as a simple plan to visit Australia has grown into something much more adventurous - to get there with as little flying as possible. I sometimes think to myself "Why do I want to do this?", and it's not such a bad question, after all I have a steady job, a mortgage, all the usual things. Luckily, it's an easy question to answer: there's more to life than getting up, going to work, watching TV, going to the pub, going to bed, and repeating the whole thing every day, day in, day out, until I die. So really it's about getting out of a rut, and making sure that life is worthwhile.

So, all the preparations are progressing well. Finished the vaccinations today, which is a relief. My arms ache from all the injections. Visas are all being taken care of. Insurance is sorted. House is sorted, we'll have a tenant who probably won't burn it down or convert it into a brothel and/or drug factory while we're away, which is best.

So, in 25 days from now, we'll get the Cross-Channel Ferry from Dover. We start all safe and familiar and comfortable. We'll camp in Belgium. Every day after that, we'll be just that little bit further from home. This blog is an attempt to at a diary for my travels, an opportunity for friends to keep up with news, and a platform for my musings of a warped mind. Join me if you like.

Finally some appropriate song lyrics come to mind:
"I too, live inside me, and very often don't know who I am" (Van der Graaf Generator)
"I've been to Paradise, but I've never been to me" (Charlene)

Maybe I'll find out who I am, or go to me, on these travels, or maybe not. Either way it'll be fun.