The Travelling Fund; £10,000 in 10 months!!!

Siouxsie32

Morning all (I have been reading, mostly on the run so no time to update properly:p)

I seem to recall visas needing to be on a separate page rather than on back to back pages. The ones I've had in passports have always been this way. Yikes, does that mean you can only have 32 visas? :eek:

Back shortly when i have more time to chat properly.....

LoveaDove

Re Saiga Sound.... 'Mooo, Waaa' They sound like a cross between a cow and duck!! *so many tears* What an excellent find Clippy!

Kat- Seriously, for all of us, you must meet these creatures in real life (at some point)!!

Also- The sandals look comfy and could pass for dressy with the right outfit- good find! Could you link us up to these £300 pumps? I am somewhat curious!

NinjaSavingKat

Loveadove this is the shoe, although some are a little less expensive than I thought, if I was to get them shipped in they would be hit with import tax etc and I have yet to see them sold in the UK. They would be perfect, long-lasting etc and comfortable but then again I have lived in a £14.99 aid from NewLook for a year and I loved them!:rotfl:

Yes those little creatures are so cute! I went to the library on Friday and got a few travel books - the only one available on Central Asia was Kazahkstan - might be a sign - :T:T:T...

Passport hasn't arrived yet.

Citizenship Certificate hasn't arrived yet.

Grr!

daisystar

LoveaDove wrote: »

I spent most of my time either living in hostels, on a farm and for 4 months rented a house, but do be aware that some places (e.g. hotels) can get a bit funny if you arrive with a backpack and not a suitcase. Not sure if you've ever come across this before?

I would agree with this for the most part, however after doing a mini-travel holiday around Vietnam a few years ago, we had decided to treat ourselves and had pre-booked the [EMAIL="M@ndarin"]M*ndarin[/EMAIL] Ori£ntal in Singapore for a few nights on the way home (cheapest rooms). We rocked up on foot, past the valets parking all the amazing cars, all sweaty with our rucksacks to check in - and promptly got upgraded to the most amazing suites!!!!! :j Seriously, it was the most luxury I have EVER experienced!!

DireEmblem

Ooh something I really need to mention - Have you heard of "A map for saturday" or "Last stop for Paul?" Theyre both pretty good, the first one is a 25yo who documents his journey around the world, from quitting his job, getting ready to go and then the steps taken during the route. He liked 1st class flights, 4* hotels, and like he says comitting to a job, a 30 year mortgage, are not bad things, but he wasnt sure he wanted to commit to them, so took the year out. Working from TV, he goes round interviewing others who did it.

Hope you enjoy watching them!

killerpeaty

liltdiddylilt wrote: »

I have to say, this is all very inspirational, in moneysaving terms, but I am SUCH a 'homebod' as my dad would say, that I would never get further than France methinks! My family are still in shock that I picked up and moved 250 miles from where I grew up. I think they thought I would still be living at home by the time I was 42... haha!:rotfl::rotfl:

I've been through France.. into the Netherlands... :rotfl: You could go to the Channel Islands, they're fantastic for lil'uns, I've been there about 5 times from ages 5 up.

NinjaSavingKat

Morning Diary Hunters,


So funds might be depleted somewhat very soon.:(:(:(
I still have my £1000 pot and I have £350 ready to pay the new landlord a deposit but the motorbike (Hercules the Suzuki Bandit:A) had to be picked up outside my friends house on Saturday because the alarm went off and my key fob wouldn't work!

Looks like the alarm system seems to do more to annoy the rider than actually keep the bike safe! So I had to call my mechanic who thankfully wasn't far away, he came with his van and it's currently being looked at as we we speak.:(

Apparently the wiring to the alarm is a little damaged, and this could be from when my friend rescued me last time and re started the bike OR the time I was in Bath and it went off meaning a complete stranger jump-started my bike with another friends car!

Honestly if I knew it would cost this much money and hassle I wouldn't have bothered but it brings my insurance down a LOT. And I will have to re-jig things if they disconnect it altogether. However the knew place has secured underground parking that "might balance" things out a little. :T

I need the bike though to get to overtime shifts and knew that I needed a £500 buffer saved from somewhere - just didn't want it to happen this soon and in a month where there is no OT to send my anxiety levels up a notch.

A new "box" that attaches to the alarm system might be upwards of £280, not including labour costs and the pick-up from my friends house. :mad::mad::mad: The other option is the aforementioned disconnection of the alarm system and investment in a tracker and massive chain instead.

On the travelling front I think I am pretty much settled on the idea of flying into Bangkok. As much as it would be lovely to do the entire trek by train I want to be able to arrive in SEA as soon as possible and then Astralia. Waiting and overlanding might see me rush through countries and this is something I want to avoid doing. I have also been listening to teh BBC Documentary Archives and one was on Kazakhstans gulag's (not nice at al )and Azerbaijan - "Heroeand Villain" which was a story about their national hero who was a man who beheaded a fellow Armenian soldier.

I have always told myself to listen to signs. The signs so far are telling me to stay away from the Stans:rotfl: - this may change but so far I am inclined to book an el'cheapo flight to Bangkok for £360 that I spotted on Skyscanner. But I won't be booking any flight until the Aussie passport is paid for.

Speaking of passports the British renewed one came through last night. The "32-pages" INCLUDE the picture and information pages meaning that it officially starts on page 7 and there is more information / NOK details in the last two pages. Well at least I ain't going to see Stan any more...:cool:

Tried on a few rucksacks yesterday and am please that I went to see just how big/small certain Osprey rucksack are. I have a top loading Osprey Talon 44 that was a present from my Dad two years ago and am loarthed to leave it behind so I might just use that - despite it being a top loader and just suck it up and see what it's like BUT get a smaller 18l-25L Osprey to use as hand-luggage etc for days out. Pointless spending £90 on another Osprey just because it's a top loader especially since it is extremely comfortable. The one thing that I will invest in though are these. And have a system... at least there is a bottom opening in this bag though - although I am always worred about Osprey bag strength as the material is so thin..

Annnnnnnyway... on a more interesting note I discovered you can walk the 4KM route of the Hellfire Pass in Thailand that follows the route the men building the railway would have to walk - amazing stuff. History comes alive.... this is why I want to travel.


Onwards........

NinjaSavingKat

So far I have missed every oppurtunity for weekend overtime this month! Gutted!!! Means my next available date to get OT is the 9th February as I am moving on the 2nd.... URGH!!!! Just panics me a little knowing that I will have to then work more and more closer to my leave date. I am hoping the folks booking OT now are just in panic mode after Christmas and there will be a lull in takers soon. Otherwise I don't know how I will scrape together the other £3500 I need although in my head it has crept up to £5000.

DireEmblem

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

So far I have missed every oppurtunity for weekend overtime this month! Gutted!!! Means my next available date to get OT is the 9th February as I am moving on the 2nd.... URGH!!!! Just panics me a little knowing that I will have to then work more and more closer to my leave date. I am hoping the folks booking OT now are just in panic mode after Christmas and there will be a lull in takers soon. Otherwise I don't know how I will scrape together the other £3500 I need although in my head it has crept up to £5000.

Run through quidco and do all the 'freebee signup offers' like bank accounts and stuff.

Siouxsie32

Good point-I'm going to open a First Direct current account to bag the free £100! From your point of view Kat, if you open it and close it after 6 months (ie when you go travelling), they give you another £100!

I've been planning on opening one for a while and as of the 21st of this month all my Direct Debits will be in place for me to go through a switch to bag the money

Oh, and I have access to a USA address if that helps you buy the ballet pumps and cut out postage and customs charges