The. End.

Today officially wraps up my life as I know it as a teacher. I have forever left the school where I worked for 4 1/2 years. I do not know what to feel, fear or happiness? To be honest, I just feel tired right now... this year wore me out!

I had a wild ride at my school, with ups and downs, but the people and kids I worked with there made every day worthwhile. Now I am in travel-limbo for almost a year. Thankfully I have a solid "everything will be okay" attitude and don't feel the anxiety I thought I would experience. It helps to be a "do-er" and I definitely know that I am a "do-er". If I say I am going to do something, I do it. I put my mind to it, find a strategy, and just do it. I think that's one of my good qualities if I do say so myself. ;) It helps take the stress out of situations (i.e. leaving a career and travel the world with a backpack) because I know that in the end, if I need/want to do something, it will get done.

On another note, summer camp starts up (for me..it started for everyone else Monday but I was at postplanning) tomorrow so I will be hitting the ground running! Then 10 weeks until we start prepping for our big move out in August, and set off to Atlanta to be with family until we dash off into the wild blue yonder. It's all happening very fast.

For now, I will focus on having fun with the kids and camp and try to survive the hot Florida summer!

Teaching is done! School is out! On to bigger and better things.

G'Day, Australia.

Well today's Tuesday, and as some well know, it's the cheapest day of the week to book a ticket. So I took advantage of this beautiful Tuesday here in Jacksonville, Florida and decided to check out some prices. Sure enough, there was a good deal and we will be bound for Australia on April 7, 2014. I hope all our Aussie friends are ready, because we will be there with bells on! So, that's all our major flights done and booked. Now we need to check out how we will get from Australia to somewhere in South America.... But that can wait a little while.
Now I will begin really looking around my house and see what I don't particularly "need" anymore and start listing that stuff on eBay. I also plan on having a huge "moving" sale sometime this summer. When you know you will be out on the road for an extended period of time, you begin to realize all that stuff that has accumulated over the years is really ridiculous and extremely unnecessary... Hopefully SOMEONE out there will buy my crap! And the clothes I've accumulated..wow. I know I can only stuff so many articles of clothing in my bag, so some of those old clothes I haven't worn in years have gotta go.. I'm going to eBay my little heart out! 

Passport has arrived!

Well, as said in the previous post yesterday, I had a feeling it would be coming! Almost a month to the day from sending it, my UK passport has arrived. I feel like James Bond or something. I can pick and choose which citizenship I want to take whenever and wherever I want. I have a pretty odd British accent though...... I also got this sweet keyboard for my iPad because I am awful at tying on the screen... Mywordsusuallylooklikethis because I seem to neglect the space bar somehow. Thank you Groupon Goods! For Dinner tonight we will be having Heinz baked beans in honor of my new citizenship (half, officially). And it's pouring rain. How fitting!!!!

Happy May Day! Booked another flight segment!

In honor of May Day, I have another flight purchased for Paul and me! I'm not really sure what the significance of May Day is, but I figured we are month closer to our departure so I should get serious about looking at flights and booking up.So here's what we have coming up.. We head to India after a few other stops on January 8th. My wonderful Uncle Ian and Aunt Celia from England will be in Goa the same time we are there! We will be in India from the January 8th to February 4th. From there we will fly to Thailand and stay for two weeks (+\-), head on over to Vietnam for a little over a month, and then our next stop is Taipei, Taiwan. 

Eventually we will end up in Australia, around April. Haven't gotten that far yet... And if we are lucky, we will be able to use Buddy Passes for our Aus - South America leg. What a wonderful offer from our dear family friend and longtime Delta flight attendant, Martina. OMG if we could manage to get a pass on that flight, it would be awesome. Who cares if I'm in an airport for 48 hours, as long as we get to where we want to go.

September will be here before we know it! Good thing I have a summer job lined up and we are really serious about saving. Also got an e-mail today informing me that my UK passport I have applied for will be making its way to my home via DHL. Now, I'm not sure if it just the passport documents I had to submit or the passport itself. That will be another celebratory post for another time. :)

Can I Ashram You a Question?

Okay, so I was watching a show last night on BBC America with Gordon Ramsay, and he went to an Ashram in India.. and it made me think.. I love yoga, and veganism, and cooking... I need to go to an Ashram. Anyone know anything about these mysterious places? I need a guru... I've heard they are around $6/night for simple accommodations, food, and YOGA classes.. That is right up my alley. I guess I now have another thing to research! I'm learning so much about all these places we are going to far, that's the cool thing about travel. It's almost like a research project that you actually get to experience, rather than research, report, and turn in. Hence why travel is the best education. Take that, 4 year degree.

It's real, folks.

Two major things have happened lately.. Yesterday I turned in my official notice that I am resigning from my school district. Today my British passport application officially arrived in Washington, DC at the UK Embassy. I guess this means it is officially official. I (and my brave husband) am seriously quitting my job to travel for 9 months and live like a gypsy. The only upside is I do have a home to come back to, I am not perpetually on the road. I have also calculated how much vaccinations will be to visit the other places on itinerary where I may catch some crazy disease, and have decided to wait until I leave this country where medical care is ridiculously priced... And this advice is coming from a health professional at the state health department! I just want to thank Barbara at the UF Health Center in Jacksonville for the advice to wait to get to a country where they have universal healthcare. Gotta love it. I would much rather do that than spend around 1300 on vaccinations when all is said and done. Redic.

We have just had Spring Break here, which means we only have 9 weeks left of school after this week... After that I have 10 weeks of YMCA Summer Camp and then a month-ish to prepare before heading home and shipping off from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. ATL Here we come. I feel a bit overwhelmed, but I know with hard work and meticulous saving this will all work out. A UK passport may come in handy, too. So I hope those kind folks at the Embassy give me the a-o.k. and I get that maroon passport to match my blue one. All I can think in my mind is, "eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!" with anticipation and nervousness for this all to be officially real. That day is sure to come sooner than I know.

Another flight! Woohoo!

Another flight in the books... We have now booked a flight from Prague to Istanbul to India... We are thinking about getting train passes through Europe so that we can head down to Croatia and visit other parts of Europe after leaving Amsterdam.. Pretty cool though, we will be having a Czech Christmas, Turkish New Years, and spend a month in India.. I'm sure they have some cool festival or celebration going on while we are there, they love a party those Indians. I'm just so stoked to get this trip moving along. I'm still freaking out about money though.Anyone have good budgeting tips?

Well, just in case I need to work, especially in the UK, I am taking my right to UK Citizenship and applying for my British passport.... That's right, dual citizen right here. Thanks to my father who was born in Hucclecote, England, my awesome Nana and Grandpa who served in WW2 for England, and my adorable British husband I apparently have enough English in my life to apply for dual citizenship. Word.

More to come as I book! Currently I've been busy working my multiple jobs and living an existence of school and yoga. One more marathon under the belt, with a PR to boot... I guess I'm one busy lady? I don't know how I do it......

Amsterdam, here we come.

Another flight booked! We will be in England from September 17-November 5th... Upon when we will make a departure to Amsterdam. Another flight to put in our books. We are making progress!! I think deciding to book flights as we can has been a better choice, rather than waiting. This way I can check out all the cheap fares.. I definitely liked skyscanner.com, which gave a lot of flexibility and allowed me to look at different airlines and days. Thanks to Paul's friend Mitesh for the advice!

Aaaand we're off....

Well, not quite. Still in the saving/planning phase of our trip. It's been a while since I have ventured onto my blog, but to be honest, not a lot "trip wise" has been going on.. Until.. Friday! I managed to book the first leg of our trip.. Atlanta -> Reykjavik-> London. After much consideration, I've decided to take the tickets into my own hands, for now. I wanted to get this thing started, and otherwise I would have had to wait until July 2013 to book our official tickets.. So for now, we at least have a ticket. I'm thinking to get a EuroStar pass rather than book a bunch of internal flights in Europe. I'm not sure how long we will be in Europe, but I know I want to be there for Christmas and visit the Christmas Villages in Germany. Ahhh this means it's real, folks!!!! :)