End of an era!

So after nearly three years my time at Chichester College came and went, for now. I (Tommo)am now back in the north staying with parents, much like Shell, who has been there for the past couple of weeks. The next three weeks are going to be particularly surreal. We are both incredibly happy to be spending time with family before the big-off but in some respects it feels like we are already in the depature lounge, just counting down the days until we are 'released' into the wild!

Still, the prospect of being fed, watered and sheltered for the next three weeks still makes us happy, we will have to make the most of it before living out of bags for the next year! Onwards and upwards!

T xx

Trailwalkers complete!

One of the big milestones came and went last weekend with the passing of the behemoth which was Trailwalkers. Without goingn into too much detail, as I have already written a book sized diary entry http://www.facebook.com/tomas.walters#!/notes/tommo-walters/trailwalkers-journal-2011/10150236116775914 , it was astonishingly hard. Walking 100km is hard enough but when you throw biblical rain, gale-force wind and mud of quagmire proportions into the equation it becomes so much more than the ‘epic’ event it is marketed to be. All I can say is that the continous thoughts and prospect of a year away definitely helped but then it always helps!

In other news, the ‘t0-do’ list is definitely reducing in content! In the past few days we have been able to tick off;

Buying travel insurance (£476 from Travel-Nation)

Opening joint account (da da duuum, life changes in an instant!)

Applying for credit cards

Booked first two night’s accomodation!

We also got the 16-odd passport photos doneand have all the Chinese Visa documents ready to send. The only thing we really need to do now is save up the last and most crucial amount of money and iron out some of the finer details…… Wow, only 44 days remaining. I cannot believe that after all this time it is nearly upon us. For Shell, only 2 days remain until she reaches the ethereal moment of knowing a year-long sabbatical is upon her. God we are lucky.

Alas the countdown continues but the next few weeks things get extremely busy in the sense that we will try to squeeze in as much time with freinds and family as we possibly can before the departure date. First, next weekend brings the inaugral trip to Cheshire for Shell’s mum’s birthday and a Sunday evening spent in Tatton Park listening to the screams of middle-aged, middle-class Tom Jones fans as they live out a lifelong fantasy of throwing their Sunday-best knickers in the leathery Welshman’s direction…can’t wait. Tommo x

Starting to sink in!

Only four more weeks left of working at Chichester College and things are starting to sink in a little! Our months of planning, reading and procrastinating are finally starting to actually mean something rather than just vague pipe dreams. I have just got home early from work on a soggy wet Tuesday afternoon and all I can think about is where we will be in two months time. I know we still have sooooo much left to do but I can just about taste it! Only two more training days/away days at work and then it is the home straight to my last day. For Shell, who for the record deserves this far far more than I do, only three weeks remain till that last and final day for a year, of what a feeling that will be!



Before any of that I have the uneviable task of walking 100km in under 30 hours across the South Downs. I still feel quite naive about the whole thing and deep down I know that at about 50km in I will most probably perish…

Oh and our friend Graham has just agreed to join the above mentioned team, whoop!

So here we go!

It’s been a long long long time coming but we are nearly there! Today marks a seminal moment in the preperation for our trip with the first of our innoculations. First up Rabies and Mrs A Hepatitis and Mr B Hepatitis!

In the past few months we have slooooowly started to tick off some of the to do list such as actually buying the tickets, moving house, storing our belongings and handing in notices! Having already been granted a sabbatical earlier on in the year by her school Shell knows that at least one of us can walk back into a job when we return!

So here we go then, first up the injections, then travel insurance, Chinese and Vietnamese visa’s, buying the rest of the things we need and saving up that last crucial bit of money!

The weekend was spent round at our good friends Claire and Vito’s who did a very similar trip about four years ago. I honestly don’t think that we would be going if it wasn’t for these guys, they have been invaluable in giving us tips, stories, places to visit and most importantly most of the kit we need to take with us! They are humble people but we are eternally grateful for all the support with our planning and preperation and I hope we can spend more time with their lovely little 3 month old Olivia before we go.

Ciao for now!