heading to Heathrow

Well I'm full to the brim and ready to go, Sara is off to check in online ahead of time & then we're off to Heathrow . . . will keep you posted as often as we can, please pray for smooth on time flights for us (you know how nervous Sara gets with turbulance!)

Our first flight is London to Nairobi, Kenya were we will spend the night & then Thursday morning fly on to Kigali, Rwanda!

Look at me I'm beautiful!

good morning everyone, I just figured since many of you don't actually know me that well you might like to see a photo of me so you can imagine me in your head as I travel around the world with Sara, so here I am.  I know I look at bit boring, but that's cause Sara is still organising before packing so I just sit around all day as she runs around like a headless chicken calling her letting agency to organise views, calling the utility companies to cancel her accounts, mailing off thank you cards for her Christmas presents, going to see musicals with her dad, catching up with all of her mates here in London before leaving, and I'm sure there is more which I've forgotten.  Please don't tell her sometimes when she rambles on & on about all the things she has to do I just sorta smile & nod instead of paying full attention cause to be honest I'm a bit insulted I've not been invited to join her on any of these little jaunts around London.  I mean I came all this way from NY & so far I've seen Heathrow terminal 3, the Piccadilly line & the Northern line, a bit of Kentish Town & now just the inside of Sara's flat, which don't get me wrong it's nice, but a bit boring since she's sold basically everything which use to be "fun".  Okay back to my point, here is a cute photo of me :-)

Penelope

slowly getting there

Sara has been moving stuff around like crazy in her flat.  There really isn't that much left to be honest, just a mattress for her dad, her bed, a telly, dvd player & lots of clothes on the floor!

Sara went off to get her last vaccine today, she said something about cholera at the Nomad Travel clinic, not sure what that all means but I hope it doesn't taste too bad.  Yes, that's correct the cholera vaccine is actually a drink, I learned that just after Christmas when she went for the first half of the vaccine.  Pretty cool huh?  Okay, okay, I know you're really interested in reading about our travels, but so far I've not moved from the corner of her flat so I don't have much to tell you.  I know she & dad were up in Scotland for the holidays, but I was left behind, apparently I was too big to fit in the over head compartment of the ScotRail train they were taking :-(

Hopefully soon I'll be able to tell you more interesting things, but for now that's it.  Happy New Year!

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?