Setting off

It’s not quite stupid o’clock yet but it’s getting on that way. Certainly it’s later than I had hoped. Not that I imagine I would have slept well tonight anyway. By 7am tomorrow we want to be by the motorway on the first stage of our trip, looking for a ride to Warsaw. My bag’s almost packed now. I think I’ve spent most of the evening just moving things around, from one small pile to a slightly larger pile and back again. I feel woefully under-equipped, under-skilled and under-prepared. I’ve realised as I’ve been going through all my clothes that I have no idea what I really need to cross the Himalayas. I also don’t own any shirts which are long sleeved (to keep out the mosquitos) and yet cool (to be worn in hot whether). And all the long sleeved t-shirts I own are dark coloured. Apparently mosquitos love dark colours. I do have a passport with all the right visas in though, so hopefully that’s all I really need.

I guess I’ll probably look back on this in a few months time and think myself quite frightfully naive. I’m trying not to set my expectations for a life-transforming experience too high, but everyone I speak to seems to think that’s what it’ll be. I figure if I just hope to enjoy the trip for what it is then I can’t be disappointed. If I gain marvellous insights about myself or the world then that can only be a bonus.

I’ll be aiming to cross-post everything both here at my personal blog, and at Wanderers, a joint blog that Ben has set up for all four of us to use. Anything I write on Spherical Bowl will also be automatically imported into Facebook as a note, so if you know me on there, check my profile now and again for updates. And, of course, comments can left in any one of those locations.

See you in 2009!