After almost four years away from our family and friends in Australia, we have made the decision to head back home. But before we touch down in Melbourne, there is room for one "Big Trip". Our plans are to touch down in countries across the 5 continents (Antarctica was sadly outside our budget) in 5 months of travelling.
As we travel, we will be using the following hashtags #OlieMeiTravels or #5in5months on social media: Twitter, Instagram and our Facebook page to record our travel adventures.
This first post includes the mini pre-trip updates that we previously posted onto a separate page.
Enjoy!
Mini Trip Updates
*3 August Update*
Ticking off the 'to do list' with great efficiency. Boxes shipped, garden tidied, house cleaned, landlord happy. Now just the big question of 'will all our stuff fit into our backpacks?'
Hope the answer is yes - but it could involve a lot of creative packing.
*29 July Update
*25 July Update
Both of us are now unemployed and should be 100% dedicated to packing. Although it is difficult to not get distracted. Bought more clothes and odd bits and pieces for the kit list including folding day packs, portable batteries and packing cubes from Muji. Discovered the hierarchy of cost pricing for 'travel accessories'. Highest are the stores at the airport; next come the dedicated travel stores; then the premium sport/outdoor stores, then the discount sport stores. You can buy an amazing range of cut-price travel goods at Sports Direct. Order placed.
*20 July Update*
Progress to date: Medical kit (tick), backpacks (tick), utilities sorted (tick), goodbye drinks with friends (tick). Packing? Well, at least some of the clothes have made it into a vacuum sealed bag. Still work to do in this department. But good news is that we found a cheap source of storage bags - just one quid each at Poundland.
*16 July Update*
Mei is on her last day at work and looking forward to a fortnight of admin and packing. Joy! Olie still has a few days left to go but is on the receiving end of some rapidly delegated tasks. Great system we have here.
*4 July Update*
At the one-month to go point. Scary - so much left to do and so many admin related activities to sort out. Beginning to wish we had more time.
*27 June Update*
Saturday morning and at 7:45am there is a firm pounding on the door - our 30 cardboard boxes have arrived! Bubble wrap and 9 rolls of sticky tape. Packing phase kicks off from today.
*19 June Update*
Already at the 6 month point until we arrive home in Melbourne. Time has flown by. During the week we have packed up our place (as we had prospective tenants coming in to rent), inquired about shipping boxes and booked in dates to do visas. Not long to go.
*8 June Update*
Mei decided to get a head start trialing some gear from Decathlon store - picking up items from the hiking section that mirror purchases from dedicated travel stores. Two packing cubes, socks and a light pullover jumper all made it into the basket. A new travel poncho was on the list, however they only had one left in the 126cm-156cm size (for small people like us). Will have to go back another time.
*7 June Update*
Our vaccination count has increased from 5 vs 3 (although Olie bravely got them all in a single arm on the same day!), we have worked out where to source most of our travel kit and now we are less than 2 months before travel date!
Realizing also that we have neglected to keep up to date with the rest of the travel blog posts - now > 8 months of backlog. This is our focus for the next fortnight and then more big trip posts should appear soon after.
*14 May Update*
One of us has kicked off the travel jabs; whilst the other is still indecisively finding space in his calendar, with the knowledge that we need 7 needles for everything from rabies to yellow fever; plus malaria tablets and treatment for altitude sickness - plus the emergency dose of pills for an upset tummy. The travel clinic nurse provided us with a pack of helpful information and websites - fun times reading it!
*27 April Update*
A productive weekend has passed with more travel bookings - including the flights to Norway that we were 100% certain had been booked, until we went hunting around for the confirmation. Luckily for us, prices hadn't moved much since we first started looking back in January. Big sigh of relief.
*11 April Update*
*29 March Update*
It hits home pretty quickly that we are leaving all the fortnightly 'explore-Europe' travels behind when Easyjet shoots through an email announcing their new schedule up to February 2016 and we feel sad that we won't be taking advantage of these flights.
On the trip planning update - we have now bought our hiking boots, going with well known brand Salomon with help from the friendly staff at Ellis Brigham, Covent Garden. With 20 weeks to go, we have a few more trips in the calendar to break these boots in before the big trip.
This first post includes the mini pre-trip updates that we previously posted onto a separate page.
Enjoy!
*3 August Update*
Ticking off the 'to do list' with great efficiency. Boxes shipped, garden tidied, house cleaned, landlord happy. Now just the big question of 'will all our stuff fit into our backpacks?'
Hope the answer is yes - but it could involve a lot of creative packing.
 |
| Our stuff all fits. Yay |
*29 July Update
Achievement of the day: travel insurance sorted out. If you are booking a tour on your RTW trip, pay attention to the 'small print' as they might specify minimum amounts for emergency cover and repatriation. Also check the policy details regarding excess amounts and hazardous activities - which may be all those fun optional extras that you intend on doing but need to check whether your insurance policy will cover it.
*25 July Update
Both of us are now unemployed and should be 100% dedicated to packing. Although it is difficult to not get distracted. Bought more clothes and odd bits and pieces for the kit list including folding day packs, portable batteries and packing cubes from Muji. Discovered the hierarchy of cost pricing for 'travel accessories'. Highest are the stores at the airport; next come the dedicated travel stores; then the premium sport/outdoor stores, then the discount sport stores. You can buy an amazing range of cut-price travel goods at Sports Direct. Order placed.
*20 July Update*
Progress to date: Medical kit (tick), backpacks (tick), utilities sorted (tick), goodbye drinks with friends (tick). Packing? Well, at least some of the clothes have made it into a vacuum sealed bag. Still work to do in this department. But good news is that we found a cheap source of storage bags - just one quid each at Poundland.
*16 July Update*
Mei is on her last day at work and looking forward to a fortnight of admin and packing. Joy! Olie still has a few days left to go but is on the receiving end of some rapidly delegated tasks. Great system we have here.
*4 July Update*
At the one-month to go point. Scary - so much left to do and so many admin related activities to sort out. Beginning to wish we had more time.
*27 June Update*
Saturday morning and at 7:45am there is a firm pounding on the door - our 30 cardboard boxes have arrived! Bubble wrap and 9 rolls of sticky tape. Packing phase kicks off from today.
*19 June Update*
Already at the 6 month point until we arrive home in Melbourne. Time has flown by. During the week we have packed up our place (as we had prospective tenants coming in to rent), inquired about shipping boxes and booked in dates to do visas. Not long to go.
*8 June Update*
Mei decided to get a head start trialing some gear from Decathlon store - picking up items from the hiking section that mirror purchases from dedicated travel stores. Two packing cubes, socks and a light pullover jumper all made it into the basket. A new travel poncho was on the list, however they only had one left in the 126cm-156cm size (for small people like us). Will have to go back another time.
*7 June Update*
Our vaccination count has increased from 5 vs 3 (although Olie bravely got them all in a single arm on the same day!), we have worked out where to source most of our travel kit and now we are less than 2 months before travel date!
Realizing also that we have neglected to keep up to date with the rest of the travel blog posts - now > 8 months of backlog. This is our focus for the next fortnight and then more big trip posts should appear soon after.
*14 May Update*
One of us has kicked off the travel jabs; whilst the other is still indecisively finding space in his calendar, with the knowledge that we need 7 needles for everything from rabies to yellow fever; plus malaria tablets and treatment for altitude sickness - plus the emergency dose of pills for an upset tummy. The travel clinic nurse provided us with a pack of helpful information and websites - fun times reading it!
*27 April Update*
A productive weekend has passed with more travel bookings - including the flights to Norway that we were 100% certain had been booked, until we went hunting around for the confirmation. Luckily for us, prices hadn't moved much since we first started looking back in January. Big sigh of relief.
*15 April Update*
The admin (and more important) side of planning a RTW trip is starting to kick in - finalising accommodation (half of the CultureStamps team does not like to 'wing it'); visas, vaccinations and logistics. Fun stuff.
*11 April Update*
With about 4 months left before this big trip kicks off, we have kicked off the 'project plan' - a task list that was hastily thought up whilst waiting for a train in Germany over the Easter weekend. Categories with assigned ownership, all colour coded and spanned out across multiple tabs of a spreadsheet. Wow - that's some serious admin!
*29 March Update*
It hits home pretty quickly that we are leaving all the fortnightly 'explore-Europe' travels behind when Easyjet shoots through an email announcing their new schedule up to February 2016 and we feel sad that we won't be taking advantage of these flights.
On the trip planning update - we have now bought our hiking boots, going with well known brand Salomon with help from the friendly staff at Ellis Brigham, Covent Garden. With 20 weeks to go, we have a few more trips in the calendar to break these boots in before the big trip.
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