My daily worries have turned from Victoria line delays to gorilla-tracking permits. I've turned into a premature travel bore, telling even random strangers about my fantastic trip and I haven't even left yet.
The countdown has started and it would be fair say that I have done pretty much no real work in the last few weeks. I've been hungrily scouring the web for gems of information for my travels. Instead I've found bizarre travel blogs from uber-travellers who somehow manage to do everything twice as cheap, three times as fast and ten times better than anyone else.
Strangely, instead of starting the metamorphosis into hippy traveller type, I've become more anal. I shocked myself by planning my route on a Gant Chart, a critical path through East Africa and South America on a spreadsheet. It's been a nightmare trying to route plan. Why didn't I pay more attention in geography lessons? How was I to know that that short little hop from Lima to Rio would take nearly two weeks? It looked so small on the map.
When I started looking into the practicalities of this trip, the itinerary comprised a few key sights and enough time to soak up the atmosphere. As I read more, the list of places to see grows and the itinerary looks like a high-speed Magellan's log. I have to keep stopping myself to make sure I do actually have the time to enjoy the journeys, sights and sounds. I've become addicted to travel guides whose beguiling stories of giraffes in the Serengeti and the source of the Nile literally keep me awake at night as I rearrange my plans to fit just one more thing in. I can honestly say I'm more excited than I've ever been.
Then there are the sleepless nights from the worry. Although I've been travelling on my own before, this trip is way out of my comfort zone. Possible malaria or assorted other nasty illnesses, dishonesty scams, muggers threatening tourists with HIV infected needles, kidnaps and explosions - there comes a time when you have to stop reading and just go. It doesn't help that my parents are petrified of my going, particularly to South America, but I've promised to be careful. I would be lying if I said that I was entirely comfortable travelling as a lone female to and through some of these places, but I would rather risk it than never see them; so, deep breath, money belt secured and into the final stages of preparation.
The to-do list grows daily: currency, injections, first aid kit, travel insurance, visas, work leaving drinks, friends leaving drinks, family leaving drinks, flat leaving drinks, cat leaving drinks (OK, I haven't got a cat but this leaving lark is a great excuse for another lost night), dentist check up. And, when all that's done, I'll swap my heels for hiking boots and fly off into the sunset for the trip of a lifetime with just my DVT socks for company.
