London

I made it, or should I say we made it.  Dad and I arrived safely into London on Thursday morning.  I ended up carrying lots of Dad's stuff, guess he figures I'll need the practice since I've been a bit lazy for the past few months.

I was so glad to see Sara when we came through those final doors at Heathrow.  I had started to worry she might have really forgotten about me.  She picked me right up and threw me on her back just like I remember.

Since our arrival I've not done much but hang out on the floor, trying to adjust to all the street noises which occur 24 hours a day.  I'm not sure how or why for that matter Sara has stayed so long here in London when she could have been hiking the Appalachian trail or camping in the Adirondacks with me where it's nice and quiet.

I also have heard rumours that it's been snowing outside, which I've learned is unusual because it's all anyone talks about around here.  They're obviously totally clueless about what to do, as I've yet to hear a snow plow or sanding machine, and last night Sara said something about how it took her 2 hours and 45 minutes to get home from work which is only 3 miles away.  Something about bus drivers scared to drive on the roads, guess I'm happy my job this week is just to relax.

Well that's all for now, hope you all have a great holiday season!!

Proposed Itinerary

So I over heard Dad say last night that on Thursday he's going to London, so I'm guessing when he said he, he actually misspoke and meant to say "we", I'm so excited!!  I have also learned where we'll be travelling & boy oh boy does it look exciting.  I am a bit worried how Sara plans to put all of her belongings in me for 6 months, but I'm sure she'll figure it out some how.

Let me show you a map of all the places Dad mentioned Sara & I would be going,  The black line shows our route. I think if you click on it, you can make it bigger to see it more clearly.

Introducing Penelope . . .

Hi everyone, my name’s Penelope, but you can call me Penny for short.  My owner, Sara, named me Penny for two reasons, one after a horse – don’t ask me why cause last time I checked I didn’t look like a grey mare at all, but then again my owner is naturally blond, so maybe that has something to do with it, but her other reason which I’m a much bigger fan of is that she’s loves the expression, “find a penny pick it up & all day long you’ll have good luck” so I like to think she named me after the expression cause she feels I bring her luck :-)

I doubt many of you realise, but I’m actually still living in the USA, I’ve been hanging out in a storage unit in Schroon Lake for a while now, just waiting for her to return & start camping again . . . I’m still not exactly clear where we’re going camping next, but Sara’s dad came by to get me the other day & has put a few of his clothes in me, put me in the car & we drove to New York City.  This is the most posh camping trip I’ve ever been on & to be honest I’m feeling a bit useless.  Dad just placed me in a corner of this very swoosh flat in Manhattan and hasn’t come back since.  I hope I didn’t just get sold, I thought I’d heard Dad say something about going to London to see Sara, but maybe I got confused?

Well back to enjoying the quiet corner of my Manhattan flat . . .

PNG details

Thanks to my wonderful cousin Tim & partner Kate here are the details of my time in PNG:

POM = Port Moresby
RAB = Rabaul Town with the volcano on New Britain
KVG = Kavieng where Tim & Kate live.

4/15 - Dad & I arrive in POM, clear customs, go to domestic terminal, and get local flight to RAB

4/16 -Tim & Kate meet Dad & me in RAB.

4/18 - Tim, Dad, Kate and I all fly to KVG.

4/19- 4/22 - do things in Kavieng, hopefully some diving and/or snorkeling.

4/23- All go to Rubio Plantation resort about 100 mile drive down the coast. Kate and Tim went last weekend and said it was very nice. There is plenty of stuff to do, not just surfing: www.newirelandsurf.com/

4/25- We all come back to KVG.

4/28- I fly back to POM and then onto New Zealand!

What do you, my readers, think?

Last night I was having trouble sleeping because I'm so excited about my travels, I fear this problem will only be getting worse in the coming days so I'm going to have to start counting sheep or reindeer or sleeping pills in order to get some kip.  Finally when I did fall asleep last night I dreamt that I had named by rucksack Penelope (don't ask where the name came from, it's another random long story) and that I was writing my travel blog from the point of view of her.  I'm wondering if this is a really crazy idea or if people would enjoy reading it . . . I must admit I think this idea came from the fact that recently I finished The Art of Racing in the Rain, which is written from the dog's point of view.  Side note, I highly recommend that book!!  I'm now reading We Need to Talk About Kevin & I'm not sure I'll be recommending it to anyone!

Okay, back to my point . . . what do you as my readers thing of my idea of writing from the point of view of my rucksack, Penny?

So it's not long before I leave

I figured I'd start a new blog just about my Around the World in 160 days. Here is my itinerary as it stands:

Jan 20 - leave London, England

Jan 21 - arrive Kigali, Rwanda

Jan 31 - leave Nairobi, Kenya on an overland adventure to Jo'burg, South Africa visiting Botswana, Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia - getting to see things like Masai Mara Game Reserve, Serengeti National Mark, Zanzibar, Victoria Falls, and Kruger National Park

March 2 - arrive Sydney, Australia

April 15 - arrive Ports Moresby, Papua New Guinea

April 29 - arrive Christchurch, New Zealand

May 23 - arrive Santiago, Chile for an overland adventure to Rio, Brazil visiting Argentina and Uruguay

June 25 - arriving London, England to visit friends before the final move "home"

July 1 - arriving into New York City, USA- probably rather knackered and with lots of dirty laundry & a million stories to tell ;)