Our Honeymoon World Tour

So after our epic day of travelling and finally arriving at Sarah & Paul's apartment in La Nucia (just outside Benidorm) we decided to treat ourselves and have a day relaxing by their pool and soaking up the sunshine...

...however, we did quite realise that the temperature was soaring into the early 30s and Nick particularly ended up a little pinker in areas than he had intended!!

Lesson learnt!!

Chillin by the pool in La Nucia

Enjoying the sun at La Nucia

Watching the world fly by on the train to Barcelona

Soaking up the sun on Barcelona's beach

Resting before seeing the rest of Gaudi's Parc Guell

Relaxing after a tough walk in Como

Admiring the view of Lake Lugano

Part 1 - Coach to Gatwick - 04:10

After a very emotional goodbye to my parents outside Broadmarsh bus station, we set off on our epic journey to...

... Benidorm

We decided to get the coach to Gatwick airport saving someone the mad drive there and back. Little did we know this would be the start of a very long travelling day.

We managed to survive the 5 hour coach ride rather well, as we slept most of the way. There was the occasional snoring and smelly person, but nothing too bad.

Once we arrived and checked in our bags, we headed straight for breakfast. The food was the usual airport breakfast, no too inedible. Better than the one at Stansted Weatherspoons last year, when the eggs kept there shape the whole time you were eating them (Sorry Katie).

Part 2 - Flight to Alicante - 11:40

After food and a peruse of the shops we headed for our gate, where we settled in an empty section of seats to wait for our flight. Then, within minutes we were surround by parents and there crying, loud children.

Oh what a joy this flight will be.

Then to top it off they announce that the French Air Traffic Control are on strike today till 17:00 and will not be letting anyone fly over France.

Great.

The flight will be delayed 45 minutes, however because it’s BA we only actually wait 20 minutes, much to our pleasure. As by this time all the parents had started getting toys and food out to entertain their kids and now had to urgently tear it all away from their children to pack it up again.

That made up the noise.

We are now settled on our plane ready to take off when the pilot announces, that due to the strike they are going to have to fly around France and approach Spain from a new direction, adding an hour on to our flight time. However this didn’t matter too much, as we’re flying BA and receive complementary drinks and food.

Part 3 - Bus to Benidorm 17:05

We finally arrive to a very humid airport and have to wait what felt like and age to get our bags then headed for the bus. Thanks to Sarah we knew exactly where we needed to go to get the bus and how to get tickets. Unfortunately for us, we had just missed the bus by 5 mins and because of the economic climate bus ran every 2 hours instead of 1.

So we waited for 2 hours, part in the airport and part in the sun, (after we made our British clothes a little more summery). Eventually the bus arrived and we were happy to be on as we had already made our friend wait 2.5 hours for us. This journey was a much shorter 45 mins and after 15ish hours of travelling and waiting for transport we made it to Benidorm bus station, to meet Sarah.

Part 4 - Chilling in La Nucia 20:00

Sarah drove us to her lovely apartment in La Nucia, where the sun was shinning and the pool was looking inviting and we could finally settle down and eat some food, catch up with gossip and go to bed.

The bags are all packed (down to 2.5 Stone), all our affairs are in order and now it's time to say goodbye.

Friday saw the start of goodbyes to friends, with drinks in The Orange Tree. We were amazed at the number of people who came to wish us well (perhaps they were just checking we were definitely going)

To put off saying goodbye, we also had a lovely picnic in the park on Saturday afternoon, unfortunately it had to end and the time came to say goodbye to Katie, Tex and Tom, and we only just managed to hold back the tears.

Sunday came around all too soon, which meant BBQ, Bolli and Croquet at Nick's parents. After a lovely afternoon of chilling, eating way too much and enjoying the company, it was time for an emotional farewell, Susie, Hughie, Liz, Rich and Faith. We didn't manage to hold back the tears this time and it finally hit us that it's really happening and it's going to be a long time until we see everyone again.

Again we are delaying the inevitable and are saying our "final" goodbyes on Monday with friends, we better bring the tissues.

How is all of this going to get in our bags?

Our Bedroom Floor

So we have been organised and sorted all our luggage out in piles;

• The important stuff, Passports, Visa, Flight and Accommodation info

• Medical items

• Beauty products

• Clothes

• Electrical items

• Travel books

• Anti-Mosquito bits

But now it's all in one room, it seems like a LOT, how is it possibly going to fit into two 75L bags?

So after several hours and a few moments of panic that this is never going to work, we have finally managed to get everything in our bags, minus a few items.

However there is now no space for anything else and I can't even close my bag.

Charlie's Bag

And to top it off it weighs 3 stone that's 19kg which I think is a little too heavy.

So plan for the weekend, potentially with a hangover (after our leaving drinks) is to unpack, look at it all again, and re-pack!!!

Fingers crossed we do a better job second time round!

The things you don't think about when planning a BIG trip

visa's are not cheap! £354 spent so far
It takes a month to have all your Jab's
Malaria tables are not cheap! and you'll need a lot (150 tablets)
It's impossible to read about everywhere you want to go, before you go
Travel insurance is also not cheap! £600 ⁺

However this is going to be a trip of a life time!

Only 53 days till we set off ...

...and until now we've been doing the fun stuff; planning routes, arranging to meet family and friends and choosing accommodation (we finally have some where for New Year in Sydney! phew).

Only now, are finally doing the important bits; visa's, vaccinations and sorting the house out. However we have been slightly distracted with our fence blowing down, the new one is looking lovely though.

So what do we need to do:

• Russian Visa - Tick

• Vietnam Visa - Still to early for this you can only apply 6 months in advance

• Vaccinations - Nearly Tick
  I have just had, Hepatitis A, Typhoid, Tetanus, Diphtheria & Polio, just 3 injections to go for Hepatitis B and Nick is booking the ones he needs today, luckily his job means he has most of these.

  (Note to anyone looking into these, make sure you do your research but it can get quiet scary when you start reading about all the diseases you can get out there)

• Tenancy Agreement - Another nearly Tick, Downloaded the word doc from Hugie, thank you

• Packing up our house - Started, kinda, well one room is done.

• Packing our rucksacks - Umm! thinking about it

• Leaving do - Friends are planning for the 7 June

... only 27 days left now

Getting close to ticking most things off the list now;

• Tenancy Agreement - all signed and posted to the mortgage company

• Packing - only two rooms left to pack, we're still thinking about the backpacks

• Visa's - just waiting for our Vietnam visa's and passports to come back

• Vaccinations - last jab tomorrow!

We'll update you soon...