This time tomorrow...

...we'll be checking in to the hostel in LA, and heading down Melrose for a drink or two at The Snakepit with our chum Aussie Nick.

We've spent the day cleaning, clearing and packing, preparing ourselves for the trip ahead and preparing the house for its sitters, Kerri and Ash. The one thing we can't prepare is our cat, Martha. She knows something is going on, and we hope that she will get on ok with her new friends, but it will still be a bit of a shock for her.

Actually, it's not really Martha that I'm worried about. She will be fine, as long as someone feeds her and lets her in and out of the house when she wants. I'm worried about us. We'll miss her a lot. But that beer that's waiting at the bar in LA will certainly help a little bit.

It starts tomorrow!

It's C*****mas time, There's no need to be afraid...

We had our family c*****mas day yesterday. Both our families gathered in our house for a big meal and games and crackers and presents, and it was a wild, beyond our hopes, kind of success. We'd never hosted c*****mas before - We've always spent the day either at my parents or Michelle's sister's house, for various reasons - children, our vegetarianism (we couldn't expect people to have a day without meat, apparently) or space being the main ones. Those and my grumpiness, of course.

So we took the bull by the horns and had 12 people in our house all day. It was great! We prepared most of the food, a huge vege-friendly roast, the night before, in-between drinking wine with our neighbours, and were up and about (despite the wine!) early. Chairs had been borrowed, and in some kind of psychic forsight our table, which had been bought 8 years ago, expanded out to cater for all 12 of us with a bit of a squeeze. Lights had been put up, and the house looked festive.

Everyone turned up on time, and we handed out gifts for our families. Smallish, well thought out gifts. No piles of toys, un-necessary jumpers or joke socks. Dinner was 20 minutes late, and went down very well, which was great because we'd spent a lot of time preparing it all. After coffee we broke out a few family presents that we'd held back - 'Ludo', 'Blow Football', 'Hoopla' and 'Flippin Fish' - all traditional family games, and you know what? It was great! Everyone joined in, we filled the whole day with the whole family laughing and playing and participating before forcing more food on them in the early evening, and eventually waving them all off.

We probably won't see some of our family now until March next year, and it was emotional saying goodbye. But it was nice to say goodbye after having such a fun, festive pre-C*****mas day.

unemployed? us?

We've both finished work now. Which means we are both unemployed. Chelle suggested we go and sign on today, but I pointed out that, what with the travelling, we probably won't be available for packing chickens or carrying bricks. You decide which of us would do which task.

It's 11.55am on the Friday of the week before we go, which means in exactly 7 days we will be sitting in the plane (should that be 'on' a plane, or 'in' a plane I wonder), wondering why we're not actually taking off RIGHT NOW!

Before we get that pleasure, we have a family gathering to plan for on Sunday. Both families. At the same time. It's madness I tells ya... We've been to Sainsbury's this morning (other supermarkets are available) and spent a lot of money on, well, everything but the things we actually wanted. Like C*****mas Pudding. Sold out already. Boy, am I glad we're leaving the country before it really kicks off...

Last night we spoke with our friends in Sydney, Kirstie and Manu, who we will be spending C*****mas with, and they seem just as excited as us about our trip. They told us that New Year's Eve is all planned, and that their new arrival Summer (whose birthday is the same day as mine, although 42 years later) is looking forward to meeting us. If our schedule leading up to New Year is a tiring as it looks, she has as much chance of being awake to see the New Year in as we have.

Four weeks, two people and a thousand lists...

We've suddenly realised just how much time we don't have before we go. And the lists are growing exponentially.

Our first flight leaves Heathrow on Friday November 3oth, to take us on our four month odyssey to America, Australia, New Zealand and back to America, before landing back at Heathrow on March 19th, 2008. It is the big trip of a lifetime, and having started off as a way of getting away for C*****mas (the first idea was a cottage in Cornwall!), it's ballooned into an adventure which covers 29 thousand miles of flying, utilising 9 separate flights, visiting at least 13 towns and cities, meeting new additions to friends families and chasing summer around the globe.

This will be our way of letting you know what we're up to, where we've been, what we liked, who we met and how we got there.

The explanation we've been giving people is that we're not desperate to leave here, just desperate to get there. Providing the lists get a bit shorter, that is.