14th Jan

As Sunday draws to a close we say good bye to James and Phoebe. We spent a lovely lunchtime with them at the American Diner in Kingsclere. Lee and Hannah dropped the children off while they went to the cinema to watch The Hobbit. We looked for a restaurant where we could find things that both children would like and Nelsons Diner seem to fit the bill.

Phoebe tucked in to a huge Boston brownie and ice cream as her main course while James relished his cheesy chips with gammon and eggs. I am glad that I don't have to worry about getting them to eat 'real' food.

We now have suitcases packed, passports in order, visas bought, and the itinerary finalised.

Ian has spent many hours surfing the Internet, scanning Trip Advisor as well as booking.com, reading reviews and even referring to hard copy holiday guides. All this has been to plan an epic 'round the world in 90 days' adventure. Here are a few statistics, we have booked  11 flights; 1 ferry; 3 train journeys; 1 sailing ship (Tall Ship); 6 hire cars; 2 coach trips and 24 hotels across 3 continents (4 if you include Europe) and this doesn't include the bookings that friends and family have done on our behalf. It is truly amazing just how much the Internet has changed our lives. 

The countdown continues as we only have 2 days before we fly out of Heathrow. With snow forecast, we sincerely hope it doesn't all go wrong before it starts!