Get this Blog Started

So...who are we..and what are we trying to achieve here???

Well, we're two schoolmates from Wexford, Ireland who have signed up for the trip of a lifetime with OzBus who are going to take us through 20 countries to get from London to Sydney between May and August 2009. Both of us were looking for a change..a bit of an adventure and weirdly were both thinking that the OzBus was the way to get it without having ever spoken about the idea!

The decision to do the trip together came about at a friend's house when we were having a few glasses of wine and I mentioned I was going to apply for time out of work and planned on taking the trip. Una said she wanted to do it too and so we joined forces and agreed for May 2009 as the time to do it. A couple of the other girls were interested too but they can't make it but said they wanted to keep tabs on us as we went along. So the blog was born and we have the best of intentions to keep it updated as we progress along the trip with the assistance of my new Netbook (which I still have to buy - I can't be without technology for 3 months...I am a nerd after all). One of the girls suggested we should be renamed Lemmie & Loonie and it's kinda stuck from there...Aileen..thank you!

Lemmie = Emma (aka Little Miss Organised)
Loonie = Una (aka Little Miss Laid-Back)

So here we are in November 2008, application forms completed and submitted, deposits paid and the 'Welcome Aboard' confirmations are in hand so we're starting the countdown until May 24th 2009 when we leave the safety and comfort of our respective homes behind to spend 13 weeks in confinement on a bus travelling overland through places we've never heard of before. Adventure is what we wanted...I'm sure it's what we're gonna get ;)

Here's the list of countries that our trip will see us visit:

(1) Ireland
(2) England
(3) France
(4) Belgium
(5) Germany
(6) Czech Republic
(7) Austria
(8) Hungary
(9) Romania
(10) Bulgaria
(11) Turkey
(12) Iran
(13) Pakistan
(14) India
(15) Nepal
(16) Myanmar
(17) Thailand
(18) Malaysia
(19) Indonesia
(20) East Timor
(21) Australia

In keeping with my "Little Miss Organised" title, I've started my initial planning in that I'm starting to form a view of what I'm hoping to do once I get to Sydney at the end of August '09. Number one item on the agenda is to hold up in a hotel for 2 or 3 days where I can enjoy a decent sleep that doesn't involve constructing my accommodation for the night before climbing in and trying to sleep in a mummy like sleeping bag on a wafter thin matress on the bumpy ground. Camping isn't something I've done a whole lot of...so I'm slightly nervous about that..but it's all part of the adventure so I'm quietly excited. After a few days to catch my breath in Sydney a flight to Perth is on the cards to spend a few days there visiting some fellow Wexfordians who'll have set up shop there and then either head straight back to Sydney to meet up with Conor or possibly go back via Adelaide (to do some more visiting). With a base set in Sydney the plan would be to do the East Coast of Australia before moving on to New Zealand (I'm really excited about spending a few weeks there). Depending on where the 27th Ad World Series is on I may be travelling back to Ireland with a stopover somewhere in the USA to make an appearance at the tournie and see if we can defend our Divisional Title! It's all a work in progress and I'm changing my mind on a daily basis...just trying to get some ideas together..so if you have any thoughts let me know :)