Leaving

In May 2005 I handed my notice in at the job I'd been doing for the last 5 and a half years. I had no other job to go to , a house on the market that had already been there 3 months without any development, a stack of bills to pay and no income. This is the moment I had been dreaming of for the last 3 years!

It appeared as a rash decision to my employer who, perhaps if they had been slightly better at their job would have realised this was going to happen sooner or later especially given the crazy circumstances that had been developing between us over the previous 24 months. Needless to say I was glad to be out of there and with a chance now to follow my dreams.

Things certainly didn't run smoothly over the next few months. I had decided to have a proper break from work and had to take out a loan to cover me until I could eventually get rid of the flat that was now hanging round like a bad smell. It, of course, took far longer for my flat to sell than I had originally figured for and my plans were slowly but surely being scuppered. Despite this, I was enjoying the first real freedom I'd had in 6 years and feeling much more like my old self for the first time in just as many years.

Th flat sale did eventually go through and once I'd found y buyer things flowed like never before. Strangely in this situation the buyer and I got on well to the point where we would still consider each other friends 2 years down the line.

With the flat now sold it was time to get on with what this whole thing had been about in the first place! Debts were paid off and within 10 days of the sale being completed I was on the Eurostar out of London hurtling towards Lille at over 100mph!

For the next month I proceeded to travel across France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, Holland and Belgium before returning home full of beans and even more determined than ever to get on with the real deal - A magical year travelling the world! The European taster had worked out just perfectly! I had seen more of Europe which had been a huge part of the plan all along, I'd found that travelling WAS something I loved and that going alone WAS for me!

I now had 8-10 months to get myself planned and together for the trip of a lifetime! Guides were read, travel shows visited, travel agents hounded and websites scoured all in an attempt to actually figure out where I wanted to go, what I wanted to see, if indeed it was all possible and just how much hard earned would be going on it!

A few months later with the help of all of the above (a special mention to www.bootsnall.com for endless streams of quality information) I walked into Trailfinders on London's Piccadilly to book my ticket....

...4 hours later (yes, really, 4!) I walked out of there with my itinerary set and details of each flight I would be taking. A total of 24 flights across 5 Continent's in 12 months. I would begin my journey in May 2006 with a flight from London to New York!