There's a hole in my bank account.

Well, it's done! No backing out now. I paid for my travel today - I used a bank cheque in the end, because it turns out internet banking has a limit of $1000 on one-off payments. Bah, quoth I. Still, it's sorted now. It's all tying up loose ends and preparing for the day from here on in! Not to mention enjoying the summer.

As part of the paying thing, I have finalised my dates (although there is no charge for me to change the return dates in case I get bored and want to come home (not likely!) or run out of money (...yeeeah, quite a bit more likely... hehe)). I will be leaving on Monday the 26th of February at 2ish and arriving back on Monday the 17th of September at 3pmish. That's two Mondays off work for anyone who cares to use me as an excuse. ^.^ And I will be back just in time to see Turandot. What an amazing coincidence. I will be back in the southern hemisphere on the 12th of September when I'll be in Brisbane, visiting the expat branch of mum's side of the family - thanks for the offer, guys! There are, of course, lots of other dates to do with my journey, but I will post them closer to the time with things like which countries I will be in on which day with my Contiki and such.

Loose-ends-wise:

Before exams I will have to drop my passport in to Jain to get my visa for India, and ring Mrs. Cartmell (my Isle of Man homestay lady) to tell her my ferry dates, and then I can relax (haha) until after exams.

Then, after exams (if that magical time truly exists) I start thinking about talking to doctors about courses of vaccinations, and doing anything else I have't thought of yet, like emailing or MSNing individual overseas friends to see if they will be amenable to having a visitor (this means you Alida, Tony, Jamie, etc, etc...). Ooh, and I get to go backpack-shopping!