|
IntroductionFor many years now the idea of overseas travel has been one that I have contemplated, thought about, considered but have never actually done anything about. After much introspection a few years ago I decided that unless I got off my arse and organised things this was all I was ever going to do. The UK was always going to be at least my first port of call. With a very strong Scottish family tradition and my own voracious appetite for history there were so many things that I wanted to see. I had also intednded that I would do a brief tour of Europe primarily with a stop in Bavaria. Sadly this was not to be the case. To start with I had planned on a 3 month trip but I wasn't sure of my return date. Because of this I had to resign from my previous job. I had hoped I could get Leave of Absence but no luck there. It also meant that I was going to have to rely on the money I had brought with me (which wasn't a huge amount given the completely crap exchange rate Australia has with the UK) and any money I may be able to earn while I was there. With the cut-off age for a UK working Visa being 27 I hadn't even bothered to apply. At a Backpacker expo a week before I was due to fly out I am told that evidently there's a leniency being given to people who can work in IT. Great! Why couldn't I get this information earlier! Having spent many weeks (well technically years) organising what I wanted to see where I wanted to go and how I was going to get there, I finally headed off to Melbourne airport on Saturday the 31st of March for my first trip overseas (no Tasmania doesn't count). I was a little nervous about the whole experience. Go to various "chapter points" in the Journal:
The first leg: Singapore then London
|