Lock it in Eddy!

First of all, I would like to inform anyone who will be looking at this blog regularly to subcribe to it. This way you will receive email alerts whenever this blog is updated! The wonders of technology never cease to amaze!

As the slightly annoying gameshow hosts Jeremy Maggs (SA) and Eddie McGuire (Aus) of Who Wants to be a Millionaire made famous, our trip to Europe is "Locked in! Final Answer! No more life lines available!" As of this morning, with the conclusion of most of our ticket purchases, everything has been set in relative stone. Think of it as spongy, jelly like stone that can be moved around a lot because invariably the internal mechanics of the trip will be altered on the fly. However this adds an element of adventure and fun to the experience that would otherwise be slightly less apparent.

At the moment, both Rishi and I are fervently working hard to save up as much money as possible before we leave. We have organised a budget based on the experiences of friends, the cliche 'Lonely Planet' travel guide (the ' Europe on a Shoe String' edition to be exact. Sorry I'm an ancient historian. Referencing my sources comes second nature. I had to physically stop myself putting in the date and place of publication. I CANT HELP IT!) and also our own research. We certainly feel that we are on top of the research aspect of the trip, as we have eagerly exploited the opportunity to procrastinate with university assignments. Our friends may be thinking that Rishi and I have turned into the biggest cheapskates in Sydney, but every $100 we save is another day in Europe (roughly speaking). So every dollar is 1% of a day! So excuse me if we feel we can't afford a movie ticket!

Other than that there is not much to report. I am currently waiting on an equipment list from the Mitrou Archaeological Project which should arrive this month. We both bought our packs from Kathmandu not too long ago, taking advantage of their Easter specials to grab really high quality packs for good prices. Another niggly bit of the trip that need to be completed soon is our Eurail passes which will allow us to travel on the major train lines running all over the EU. A really important missing puzzle piece right now is my application for a job in the UK. I will be going through an agency which one of my good school friends (Jasha) used for his trip to London called 'Overseas Working Holidays'. The agency specialise in placing Aussie travellers in pubs all over the UK for short and long term work. The advantage of doing this is that I will have a job confirmed before I even touch down in London, saving me both extraordinary time and money (although to be honest I will be working for the absolute minimum wage in England).

Well I think I have ranted on quite enough. You can tell I am already getting excited and can't wait to get started. Rishi will post soon concerning the specifics of our proposed travel route and also details concerning our tickets.

Only 50 days to go!

Chris