Emotions, excitement and a mysterious travel companion

Emotions are a funny old thing aren’t they.

You can try and keep them all packaged up in a nice little box on a shelf but eventually they prise open the lid and jump out and begin to scratch away at your calm controlled exterior until the wounds are visible for all to see.

The little buggers have been having a field day on me in the last week and only became more intense as we reached the denouement, the departure.

The farewells, have been said, the tears wiped away and the hugs completed and now it’s time for excitement to take the helm.

It wasn’t until we finally stepped on the train and said our final farewell to John’s Mum and Dad at the station that I truly felt we were on our way. For the last week I have been psychosomaticising various illnesses and ailments or accidents that might prevent us from actually setting off. They have all now miraculously healed themselves this morning.

I have been touched (some may say I already was a bit touched) by the kind messages and sentiments received from family and friends as I said my goodbyes, especially those from unexpected quarters.

If you are still reading, here is what to expect over the following weeks months, and maybe years. The blogs will range from plain reportage to ups and downs of travel and our thoughts and feelings as we experience new things and challenge ourselves.

Depending on your preference you will like some and not others, but I suppose the whole point of blogging is that you get what is going on in the writers mind at any given time (trust me, mine is a strange place at times) . However, feel safe in the knowledge that you always have the scroll wheel if particular bits get on your nerves, or are not to your particular taste. Hopefully the bits in between will keep you interested enough to pop back and see if I am in a better mood.

And Then There Were Three

We are now ready to introduce you to our third travel companion.

First an introduction,say hello to Pichachu. Pichachu was given to us by our five year old nephew, James on our last night in Liverpool. As with most things with children of five, the gift comes with some conditions. We are allowed to take him on our travels as long as he is allowed to report in regularly about his whereabouts in the form of pictures. Here is the first picture of him looking relaxed on his bed for the night after our Liverpool to London journey.

The Journey and Gadgets

I used to commute to London weeklyfrom the north. Since then the service has improved dramatically, just over two hours and off we stepped onto London soil, well it was a grimy station platform actually. Anyway hats off to Mr Branson. The best bit though was the price we bagged the tickets for, we booked a few weeks ago, but £15 each from Liverpool all the way to Gatwick, including the tube, you gotta be kidding right.

Geek scroll alert

I have been using my Mifi device for the first time on the train and it has worked beautifully, so no need to purchase virginwifi to keep myself connected. I think it may be my be favourite travel gadget.

I also have a new favourite app, I was sat on the train and wanted to transfer photos I had just taken from my iPhone onto the iPad so that I could include them in the blog. However, I couldn’t be arsed looking for the connectors, as it was a bit cramped, to say the least. So the wonderful simpltransfer app was found on the app store and you connect both devices over the mifi network and do the transfer in seconds. I love my Mifi even more now…

Thats it for now, a nights rest in a quite functional Holiday Inn Hotel and its off to the airport tomorrow, after breakfast of course.