Episode 19: Please fasten your seatbelt

Five days and 4 nights to go.
Five countries to be in this coming week (London-Paris-London-HongKong-Bangkok-Vientiane).
Five weeks off work to explore the world
Five hours and Five seconds to go (this bit I just made up I as could not think of anything else to do with FIVE and it sounded quite mystic if I added a couple more).

The wheels are in motion, I am leaving my powersuit behind and instead cloaking myself in backpacking gear for a few weeks to see the world. The aim is to see if I can survive travelling by myself. Not only survive in the "not-get-killed in a dark alleyway" or "starve myself to death from incapicity to communicate the need for food in a foreign land" sense but I mean also proving to myself that I am able to be on my own, meet people on the way, and in general be a proper traveller. For some people this is second nature, for me not necessarily that easy, as I am quite shy and prone to insecurity when meeting other people I don't know. So it's a bit of a personal challenge really. Also it's a test to see if a possible round-the-world trip sometime in the future is compatible with me. It's been a dream for a long time, and like all dreams it all sounds nice and good and easy when you dream about, but can be much more scary when you actually do it.

Or alternatively, maybe once I do it I will realise it is not as scary as I imagined, and it will be pretty darn difficult to persuade me to go back to work!! But given the "going-back-to-work" will be happening in another exciting new land (Hong Kong) I am pretty sure I will not be tempted to staty away. At least for now..