That's better!

At last! after three attempts I can post as myself!!! Ok, the technology isn't that complicated...but occasionally these things take me a while! :-(

Aargh! 9 days to go!

Oh dear, where did all that time go! Just 2 seconds ago it seemed we had a month to go, now it's just 9 days!

Not that we have a huge amount to do...
Just

Sort out entire house ( including putting away the Christmas decorations!)
Email Bank
Email about 15 others to do with the trip
Prune roses and a few other things I haven't got round to yet...
Sort out post arrangements with daughter Jen
Pack
Get plants to their plant sitter (thank you Jess!)
Book 1 more car and a few more hotel rooms
Get Simba up to his temporary home in Kent..
And probably 1500 thngs I haven't remembered!

Oh well, I suppose we'll get there! It has been Christmas after all!

Father Christmas (in the guise of family and friends!) has come up with some very useful "bits" for our holiday including

2 new hang up wash kits - thanks Jen and Dan
Small toiletries you can take on the plane -thanks Simon and Kirsty
Bite cream
Ear plugs
Washing line (tiny!) -Last 3 were Rons gifts to me...are you trying to tell me something?!
NZ Dollars for a boat trip, cable car ride, nicemeal, or what ever we fancy! and a travel journal and travel Game -Thanks for the very imaginative present Tricia and Jacques
and lots more besides!

On the positive side, we have got the notepad we'll be using to update the blog up and running -
I'm using it now in the hopes I can get used to the tiny keyboard before we go!

It's really good to see that we've already got a couple of people following the blog already. Obviously we knew we were going to miss family and friends while we were away, so it'll be great to see any comments people wish to post. Several people reckoned they'd add rude comments - tough luck, folks, we edit before publication!!! Cheeky ones will, of course, be allowed through!

Requests to carry luggage, whilst the idea is great, will be sadly declined! Margery's Dad was the first to request the privilege! - not bad at 85 Dad!! Sadly we don't have enough luggage allowance to take you!

There may be some more posts before we go, if not, the list of things to do was longer than I thought and I'll have to catch up with you in the States!!! LA and then Las Vegas (for the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam) are the first stops....so watch this space!

Margery

Planing, Booking and Dreaming

Well, 10 years or more in the planning, and Philias ( the small bear who arrived carrying a balloon flight ticket for Ron's 50th birthday) is off on a round the world adventure!



We leave on 6th January and go first to Los Angeles, Las Vegas (for the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam) Then on to the Cook Islands (Roratonga) for a week of Sun Sand and Sea :-)

then to the main reason for our trip - taking Ron to the place he's always dreamed about - New Zealand. He'll actually be spending his birthday there - a pleasent change from the chilly UK.



We have 9 weeks to explore both islands before moving on to see friends in Australia, a week in Singapore (we'll be there for our wedding anniversary) and finally a place Margery has always wanted to go, South Africa, before returning home flat broke and to a no doubt disgusted dog!



Simba will be with his friend, Bazil, and his very kind owners (thanks Val and Ian, we couldn't do this without you!)

Thanks also to Jenny and Dan, for far more information and advise than they probably realise gleaned from their epic American trip in 2007!

So if you want to follow what we're up to - watch this space! We'll post whenever we can, although it might be a case of doing the posts and uploading them a few at a time, when we can get a wifi connection!