Days until lift off: 18

Everything is almost ready. The day is getting so close now I can almost taste it. Only 8 more days of work until the longest holiday I've ever had.

This blog is half for my memories and half for everyone I am leaving on the other side of world. The idea of keeping a travel blog has been around almost as long as the idea of this trip. I've been planning this trip for nearly 8 months.

The idea.
I had been playing with the idea of a gap year for a little while, but never more than as a fleeting fancy. I was contemplating my life post-high school. Working my ass off to get into uni science. Working my ass off to get into medicine. Working my ass off to survive medicine and do well. Working as an intern. Working as a resident. Working as a registrar. Working. Working. Working.

I suddenly realised I was in danger of looking back on my life years from now with regret. Regret at not doing those crazy, stupid things you do while you're young enough to get away with it. Dirty hostels and broken down tour buses. The fleeting fancy became something solid one day in the medical student computer lab, waiting for a lecture on orthopedics to start. My friend Steve casually mentioned he was planning on taking the next year off and traveling Europe. That was the moment I decided to do the same. Then it was done and nothing could make me change my mind.

Most of the plans have changed since they were created. But the spirit is the same.

To travel. To experience.

No regrets.