In the beginning there was...

…a great sense of anticipation. Only one more week to go! This day has been a long time coming and I’ve worked myself into a state of exhausted delirium to raise the dosh, but finally I did it, I’ve reached my target – money in bank for bills, money in pocket for journey. Just my dad’s 70th birthday party to attend and then we’re off, OFF I TELL YA.

Wednesday 26th May 2010 is our day of escape.

So, what’s all this about then? Well its about touring Europe. We’ve already bickered our way around America and Scotland, and we thought it was time we tortured our European cousins for a while.

Who’s ‘we’? That’ll be me and my hubby, Steve, who’s a Yorkshireman with a huge personality and a gob to match. I’m a Brummie, so I’m hardly in a position to slate people from oop north, but I do, I just can’t help myself.

We’ll be travelling in a car absolutely packed to bursting point with the basic necessities of life: tent, airbed, the best sleeping bag money can buy because I hate being cold, and whisky. I’d tell you what brand or make the car is, but I don’t know what it is, we’ve only had it three years. It’s silver anyway and quite cute. You’ll see pictures of it.

Yes, we’ll be camping. As I’m in my 40s and Hubs is in his 50s, our only limitation will be getting off the airbed first thing in the morning – if we can achieve that we can achieve anything.

We’ll be driving down from Birmingham (UK) to Dover, lobbing ourselves on the first cheap ferry to France, then turning right. Our journey will encompass Northern France (living off French bread, French cheese and French wine), Northern Spain (living off paella, tortillas and Sangria), through Portugal, then across Southern Spain and Southern France. Once there we’ll stop awhile and figure out what we’re going to do next.

There are two components to ‘What are we going to do next?’ The first is, how much dosh we have left, which is quite a biggie, but we’re frugal to the point of stinginess so we might be okay. I mean, you can’t get any cheaper than camping can you! If I’ve managed to locate wifi up to that point I’ll be able to work en route (I’m a transcriber… you know, typist), in which case the world is our oyster.

Component two will involve questions like: are we homesick, would we kill for some Heinz baked beans, do we miss our loved ones back home, and have we had enough of the airbed? As we both suffer from persistent itchy feet syndrome (Athlete’s Foot?) I suspect the temptation will be to carry on and see where the wind takes us. After all, there’s nothing we need to get back home for.

Hubs doesn’t have a job by the way (the nasty economy made him redundant), and I can work anywhere that has wifi, so we can do and go whatever we like… how exciting is that!

If you read anything here that includes the words ‘Help’, ‘Save us’ or ‘We’re lost’, please notify the appropriate authorities (and tell my children I love them). And don’t be afraid to get in touch if you have any questions or tips that might help us survive: bhamsecretary@gmail.com.

Let the adventure begin!