Time is running out!
Internet time, London time, EVERYTHING!
SO! I handed in my resignation during the week, which I am sad about, cos I really like where I work and I love everyone that I work with. It has been so nice to wake up at 5.30 in the morning and not dread the working day ahead, or hate everyone I work with.
Have booked my Egypt and Morocco tours. I can't wait! Especially to spend my birthday in a foreign country (I will be in Morocco, I have never been overseas for my birthday!) and for the four days I'm spending at Dahab on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, and also for my two night cruise on a felucca boat up the River Nile. Oh, and going to the Greek Islands. I'm also thinking - since I have a few spare days in between trips - that two days in Portugul may be in order (since I only spent a few HOURS there last time), and my friend Kel says I absolutely HAVE to go to Essaouria on the Moroccan coast, I can catch a bus there from Marrakech no problemo. My only problem is still getting from Morocco to Egypt by plane, it works out cheaper if I catch a bus back to Casablanca after my tour ends on May 31 and catching a direct flight to Cairo, rather than flying direct from Marrakech, this will save me £100 and buses in Morocco seem pretty cheap. I'm sure I will be fine on my own, I travelled around Asia on my own and kept myself covered up and ignored advances from men and I think I'm pretty well-travelled now, I know not to wear revealing clothes in Muslim countries and not to walk around at night on my own and to wear sunglasses to avoid eye contact with men and to be polite yet firm.
I went out to Heathrow on Friday (oh how I hate Heathrow) just to finalise my tickets and see if I could indeed change my last stopover to be Hawaii instead of Auckland, but I'd also forgotten that I will lost June 24 because I cross the International Date Line. The end of the story is that I'm only going to New York and Los Angeles for a few days, then doing an epic long-haul flight from Los Angeles to Auckland, have a three-hour stopover and arrive back in Brisbane at 10.55 am on Wednesday June 25 (Air NZ Flight 153, I believe). I am warning you all that I'm going to be extremely tired and jet lagged and probably very very grumpy unless of course I spend the last flight from New Zealand having bourbon for breakfast. But I am very much looking forward to Daniels birthday/my homecoming party that Daniel and Dan are very kindly hosting on Saturday June 29. See, I am a great friend, coming home for Daniels birthday and all.
I also may have to buy another backpack because both of the front straps of my current backpack are broken and I can't find anywhere that will repair them for me. Without those front straps the back support and harness are pretty much useless and mean that the weight of the backpack will fall onto my shoulders (not good) instead of my hips like it's meant to. I know I travel pretty roughly and my poor backpacks over the years have been on some big time adventures (driving through landmine fields of Cambodia, being thrown onto little rickety boats in Thailand, flying all over the world, being shoved into tents all around Europe, etc) but I would really like one that actually lasts. It's not as if I'm taking them climbing the Himalayas or on safari or into jungles or anything.
Today my friend Bernie and her boyfriend and housemates and I were suppose dto go to Bath and Stone Henge but when Bernie checked the train timetable last night it looked like it was going to cost us £100 just for trains alone! So we decided not to do it. I amy go on an organised coach day trip, it will still cost me £50 though. Also caught up with Mel very briefly on Friday, and had hot chocolate again with Lindsay on Friday night.
Yesterday I was wandering around the West End enjoying the warm weather and sunshine (!!!) and I walked past the Spamalot theatre, this was the one other musical I REALLY wanted to see before I leave London. It was around 2pm, and there was a sign saying there was a 3pm show on, so I enquired about cheap £15 tickets. Turned out a few FRONT ROW tickets had been returned and for an extra £5 I could have a front row ticket, so I saw Spamalot front row yesterday afternoon! I never thought I'd be able to see a West End musical front row, because tickets are usually SO expensive - stalls tickets are over double the price usually! It was really great, and Alan Dale played King Arthur. He was Jim Robinson in Neighbours back in the day (Jason Donovans father in the show, and therefore Kylie's father-in-law on the show!), and in recent years he's also been in The OC (he played Julie Coopers husband) and on Ugly Betty! He was really great, it was a fantastic show. If anyone reading this ever gets the chance to go, do NOT drink a one litre bottle of water before the show like I did. You will laugh, and the interval isn't very long, and the queues for the bathrooms are long!
My boss at work has suggested that I try and get a job as a travel consultant when I get home. I know STA and Flight Centre are constantly advertising. I have a billion years (slight exaggeration) of experience in retail and customer service, I'm pretty quick at picking up on computer programs and I don't know anyone who has travelled as much as I have. By the time I get home I will have traveled around Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the US all in one year, I think I will have gone to over 30 countries in one year alone (my passport looks pretty cool, I have to admit, its full of stamps and visas! Plus I'll get a few more in the way home!). I have heard that it's a pretty high pressure job in terms of selling things to people and reaching sales targets. I will definately apply though.
Gotta sort out my shipping this week - I can get four decent sized boxes sent to Brisbane for £100, it will take about six weeks or so for them to arrive, then there may be more charges once Customs has a look through them. I really pity people who have families who make international removals. Here I am, meant to be living out of a backpack, only abroad for a year and I have managed to accumulte quite a few things that I really don't want to drag around another five or so continents with me (despite the extra 20 kilos hand luggage allowance I have when flying through the US...I am NOT carrying 40 odd kilos of baggage onto the subway in New York!!!).
Time is up, gotta go!
