The Most Recent Update..

Good Evening,

Our first stop, Sri Lanka.. We will be staying away from the North and North East, due to the issues with the Tamil Tigers but we are hoping to cover as much of the Sri Lanka as possible in just under 3 weeks that we will be staying for before we fly to Travandum, South India.

So every thing's coming along nicely, believe it or not we finish work in just 9 Weeks time and I couldn't be happier! I have worked since I was 12 with my family business and never taken anytime out..not even when I was in school. It's my turn now to enjoy a year off and well deserved it is (Even if I do say so myself!).

The pile of travel equipment is slowly getting bigger and our progress with travel plans are coming along swimmingly, most recently we booked a hostel with Hostelworld.com for when we arrive in Sri Lanks...very cheap site and they have a fantastic reputation to go with it. We land in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 2nd April 2010 in the early hours of the morning after flying for nearly 24 hours including our stop in Doha, Qatar.

First of all though we officially finish our main jobs on the 5th March 2010 and then leave on the 8th March 2010 to travel around the UK saying Goodbye to our nearest and dearest! For anyone that ever fancies travelling around the UK a great tip is to book well in advance. A great company to use is The Mega Bus if you book far enough ahead (3 months or so) you can even find free tickets to places! Daniel and I have managed to find some free seats on our journey from Gloucester to London, Victoria! Worth a look :)

Anyway I better check my Ebay sales for Party Animal and then have a nice relaxing bath while I imagine how my first days in Sri Lanka's going to be! I can't stop dreaming.....

Not long Now!

Hi Everyone,

So sorry I have been super slack at staying on top of the blog, Christmas work has been consuming all my free time. I have, however managed to get some time for Travel research this week and we have now booked our flights from Sri Lanka to India (Travandrum) and that's another thing paid for. The only very scary thing is we have only 2 months of pay slips left and no way near the money we were hoping for. This flies right over Daniels head and he says "It'll be fine" I however am a bit more sceptical. We will be living life on the cheap that's for sure.

I can't wait to fly away on the plane, it's got to the point where I fantasize about landing in a beautiful new country every night in my dreams and the hustle and bustle of a chaotic city and the soothing waves lapping up against the shore of some idyllic getaway..... Not long now!

I'm counting down the days!

:)

All paid up.....Brighton and to great friends!

Hellooooooo!

I know it's been ages! I have soooo much news for you. First of all I'll tell you about Mine and Daniels trip to Brighton. What a fantastic place, we went down to stay with Chris, Ellie and Steve and what a great catch up we had. My 23rd birthday was on the 27th October and I got spoilt rotten by all of them, I haven't had so much fuss made of me for years and although "we" always insist we don't want anyone to go out of their way, it was so nice to feel so special and I'm really greatful to them all for that.

Ellie and I got some quality girl-time together which mainly consisted of having a right good slagging session, which deffinately needs venting once in a while so we keep our sanity. Ellie is a really great friend and we get on better than I could of ever imagined! We talked about all sorts and of course the possibility that moving to Canada after the world trip could be on the plate....which suits me just fine! We made amazing muffins and they tasted so great and of course drank possibly the best MARGHERITAS ever created!

Since then Daniel and I came back home and back to work and are working VERY hard! The Ebay shop has really taken off and our websites really started to pick up which means, fingers crossed, I'll have a job to come back to when we get back from our travels!

*BIG NEWS* We paid off the full balance of the flights and are now building up our savings fund! So far we've paid £6000 and we just have our spending money to go! We must take as much overtime as possible! With just 145 days and counting we have lots of Visas, Medication and Equipment still to pay for, so we need to really push ourselves!

I think that's pretty much everything for now! I am ready to leave this town........

Take it easy x

24 weeks until we go!

Hi Everyone,

Feels like I haven't wrote for ages, I've been so busy with both works, I'm still working very hard at the Post Office especially with the run up to Christmas...believe it or not if you want to send your mail by surface mail To USA or Canada you've missed it!! Can't believe every things coming around so fast! Also the threat of strikes is a nightmare!

Also Party Animal Online is still doing well and is becoming increasingly challenging to juggle along side my other job. We have just set up an online ebay shop is very much like our other online shop with similar prices but just not as many products listed at the moment.

Less of work, Travelling! 171 DAYS....25 WEEKS!!! I can't wait, we have bought a world map and put all our pins in the places we've already been so it's really interesting to see who's done what already! Also we're paying off even more off our flights at the end of this week which is awesome news AND Daniel got over-time this week so extra money in the pot!

Sorry about this really shitty unorganized blog, it's rushed as Daniels just got back from doing the week shop so I need to go and help him unpack it all!

I will tell you more soon :) x

Channel 4 for the boys!

Amazing Daniel and Chris had a great time down in London working in Damien Hirsts Exhibition...so so proud. I went and bought 10 papers the next day and searched out the links of them...I'm so sad!

This is the video of them on Channel Four! They're the twins!

Also Daniel and I had a fantastic time in Dublin, we walked miles and drank as much as we could at £6 a pint so you can imagine our money didn't go very far! It was nice to get away though and have that taster of us travelling together for the first time.

181 DAYS untill we go...26 WEEKS!

We are moving back into dads at the end of this weekend so that's going to be nice to be warm and have the cats around us and before we know it we'll be in March!

Take care everyone!

x

I bet you wished you had a pet peacock!

Hi All,

There's has been a new addition to our roof garden...yes a Peacock of all things (Even though I thought they lived in lavish areas of big green fields of rich country manors) Well apparently they live in little St.Annes as well. These are pictures taken of my grans roof top garden....you can imagine what my cats must of thought. Although I think even for them, catching and eating a bird of that size is far much to like "HARD WORK" instead staring uneasily at it seemed to please them enough!

Other news is we're going on a good old last minute dash to Dublin next weekend! Can't wait, I've never been but I do hope it's like the stereotypical image I imagine of Irish bands playing live in the corner of some little over-crowded bars while everyone merrily dances around drinking Guinness and Jameson's....that would be awesome...I would also like it very much if only one person says "Top of the morning to ya". Daniel and I are booked in a little place just walking distance from Temple bar and can't wait to see something other than St.Annes....here's hoping!

Hope your all great! I know I am!

Halloween

Hi Guys!

Hope everyone's good, I'm shattered I worked a 14 hour shift yesterday at Party Animal in hope to get some of the Halloween fancy dress and decorations on the Internet and ready to go and still feel like I have barely touched the never-ending supply that Party Animal offers!

I've got to say I love Halloween though, not only is it around my Birthday but as a kid I always use to have Halloween parties, which were always great fun and of course having a party shop in the family meant that I had my pick of the spooky decorations on offer!

This Halloween however I am going to Brighton to see a couple of my favourite people Ellie and Chris and of course Daniel and Chrissfer have got the Damien Hirst exhibition to attend and take part in so it should be an extra special birthday and Halloween.

I wonder what it will be like spending Halloween in a hot country when we're travelling next year? At that point in our trip we will be in Indonesia possibly on some little islands just off the cost of Bali.... Talking about ravelling there's 209 DAYS TO GO! It's really sneaking up fast now! Woooooo culture here we come!

Finished Tattoo!

Amazing I've had my tattoo finally finished and I think it's incredible (even if I do say so myself) I'm going to wait until it's fully healed before I put any pictures up, so hold tight!

Travelling news..... 216 Days until we're on our merry way and I can't wait. We went to the Doctors the other day about the jabs and we've managed to get our Malaria tablets free on the NHS which is unexpected and will save us around £700 for the year! We have our Hepatitis jab in September and not sure about the others yet. All this brings the trip so much closer it feels less like a dream and more of reality now :)

Mum's coming to stay this weekend so looking forward to seeing her millions, she's not seen my new tattoo yet so really looking forward to seeing what she thinks of it. Also I'm still working hard on the Party Animal Site but I have to say things do seem a little quiet at the minute. We've been having some problems with the online checkout and are having to get online customers to pay over the phone which is a bit of a nightmare but if all goes well Mum's going to start writing a completely new site which will be great.

Take care everyone :)

Morning..

Morning,

Another great weekend. On Friday Daniel and I had a quiet night in and watched a film called Powder Blue, surprisingly very good and worth a watch. On Saturday we walked to Lytham and sat outside the Queens on the green with some cold beers and some good friends, we went back to Amanda's and Adams for a little BBQ which was bloody lovely although I haven't stopped being sick since.lol. I don't blame the cooking I do however think I've come down with a bit of a stomach bug...Ah welll!

Totally forgot to mention this great news! Daniel and Chris are going to be working along side Damien Hirst. Yeah that's right DAMIEN HIRST! So proud of them boys, they'll be in their element! Got to show you this picture of them together!

Anyway short but sweet, I have got to get to work. I'll try and update you a bit more next time.

Take it easy. x

As Promised..

My new tattoo... well as far as I have got after the first 2 and a half hour sitting. I love it! I will put another picture up after it's fully done an healed.

It makes me feel like I'm even closer to going on my travels...not too long now!

Anyway other than that Daniel and I went to the Doctors this morning and are going to be making are appointment for our jabs as soon as possible, some of them are really expensive especially the malaria tablets! Hopefully we will get it all sorted soon though.

I have also sorted out to hire out a club for two days before we go so we can have a big going away party! I really can't wait!

Stealth mode sergeant Kitty Cat!

Hazel had her 21st Birthday party last night, after a long day at work with a rather sore head from the night before I thought that it was best that I just stay for one and then grab myself a nice early night and a long relaxing bath.........however, it didn't quite turn out like that.....instead i had one beer then two, 3, 4, 5 and so on.

It was a wicked night was good to see Haze and have a great catch up with everyone. Wish Daniel was there but he had to go back to his mums to sort out some family business. My favourite part of the night was stealthing around with Kit we ducked and dived in-between cars, and had our imaginary guns. Kit always has that way of making you smile no matter what mood your in...it was bloody hilarious! So cheers Kit for putting a smile on my face, cheers Hazel for having a wicked party and supplying us with beer and cheers to everyone that was there that had to listen to my drunken ramblings!

Beautiful day today and it's Newburns birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAL. Enjoy the sunshine!

Take it easy x

First part of my tattoo down!

I sat through just over 2 and a half hours of agony and for it I have the most beautiful piece of art on my side! It's not finished yet but the guy I went to Paul Nailer is a truly talented and lovely guy! Really looking forward to my next sitting now. I have some pictures as well so I'll load them up here soon for you all to see!

Still been working very hard as usual, constantly uploading new products to the website, recently we have been getting a lot of nail technicians into the shop and buying this hologram glitter rainbow dust from us, apparently because it's suitable for food it meets all the cosmetic statutory requirements and has become one of our best sellers. The nail technicians that I've spoken to said it is actually much cheaper and better quality than the stuff that they can purchase from the suppliers. Have we found a Niche in the market?

Anyway other than that I haven't been up to too much I went out last night to the station pub in Lytham to watch a wicked band called The Coustics they were amazing!

Hope you are all well, the travel plans are still coming on nicely but savings never as fast as you'd like it to be!

Take care

New Tattoo

I'm getting a new tattoo on thursday it's going to be the first 4 hour sitting of a tattoo that will take up to 8hours and I am really nervous! Can't stop thinking about it! I have been planning this tattoo for just over 2 years and have waited 9 months to get this amazing tattooist called Paul Nailer!

I will show you guys pictures of the progress! My tummy has butterflies and I've still got 4 days to wait! One step closer to the travel plan!

Also went out for Rosy's 21st this last weekend had a great time with everyone..i miss going out sometimes but it will all be worth it when I'm seeing the world!

Hope all you guys are well!

Take it easy! x

First stop Sri Lanka!

And I can't wait! Fly me away from here! 260 days to go!!!!

Daniel's gone to Amsterdam

Oh what a lucky boy! Considering we're living on an extreme budget he's doing pretty well for himself, Daniel my boyfriend got bought flights, hotel and tickets to see the infamous Mars Volta preform in Amsterdam this week for his birthday by his brother (Brothers please take note) I'm very jealous!

Whilst the cats away on the other hand.... I am having a well deserved girlie night, the girls are coming over Wednesday evening, plenty of wine may be drunk and some perfect conversation shall be had! A great excuse for the ladies to get together!

Travelling is sneaking up fast and we are both still working very hard to reach are target, found some nice little cheap flight from Sri Lanka to India online which has saved us almost half the amount that STA were offering for there's! Good find Daniel!

Still working hard as ever on the Party Animal site, listed loads more cake tins earlier this week and have been working on adding more ranges of Fancy Dress too...it's all go and I'm still really enjoying it.

Anyway it's getting late for me just thought I'd finish a long day of work off with a new post!

Take care x x

Another payment down!

Great news we've paid more off the flights so only about £1000 now outstanding which will be paid within the next couple of weeks with a little bit of luck! Amazing, still getting my head around the idea of travelling and leaving everything I know behind. I have to say it's becoming increasingly more tempting to jump on a plane tomorrow, at the moment St.Annes feels like such a small place with very little secrets I always feel like I have a painted on smile. Sounds awful really because I do like it around here but I just can't wait to see the world!

I am still enjoying the shop work and uploading new products, our fan base on facebook also seems to still be increasing which is quite incredible, thanks to all of you that have joined and supported!

Anyway I'm tired it's been a long day of work and so far today I have worked nearly 13 hours! I am definitely a workaholic!

Speak to you all again soon

x x x

Research on Sri Lanka

Still researching but I have to say it's great to know that it's all booked now! Daniel is taking every ounce of overtime he can get away with and I am working solidly on the Party Animal site! It's coming along nicely! I feel like I'm really making a difference just need some lovely customers to spread the word round about it now!

290 days until we fly....not that i'm counting!!

We're flying into Colombo and are hoping to do a waterfall trek which will be nice, I am not disillusioned however that this whole trip is going to be tough! I am going to have the time of my life but I know I'm going to miss all my friends and family millions!

Got to keep counting down this will come around soooo fast!

Booooooooooked!

Finally!

We booked our trip officially on Saturday which means there's no turning back! We start off by flying to Colombo, Sri Lanka it's going to be incredible.

I'm sorry I've been a little out of touch but I have been madly trying to save and we no longer have Internet at our place, I have also been really busy helping with the party animal online site which is coming on really nicely http://www.party-animal.co.uk I'm enjoying everything at the moment and really working hard to save every penny both myself and Daniel earn! It's tough as it means I can't do everything I want to do all the time but it's all for such a worthwhile reason!

Anyway I know it's abit short as I have to go into work but I will write again soon with the full itinerary!

Take care all :) x x x

Friday is the day!...

Friday is the day that I get paid...YAY...It's also the day that Daniel and I move out and get a little alone time for 6months which will be great! I love living with my Dad but I think Daniel would appreciate not having to fight over things like hot water.lol. So tonight we WILL be packing, I know, talk about last minute Lil!

Other than that I am trying to concentrate on gathering any overtime at the Post Office and help mum with the online business http://www.party-animal.co.uk which is really interesting and good fun, so I don't mind at all..

Monies doing better than I thought it would be at this point, although we still have a large chunk of Overdraft to pay off we're getting there slowly but surely!! Less than 11 months until we set off on our travels!

Working again today so I'll have to go and earn some pennies.

x

Moving Again?

Yes we are!!! We must be mad but we have found a nice little flat in St.Anne's which gets us out of Dads hair for a few months, the plan is we spend 5 months at the new place (Without Internet) and then 5months back at Dads before we head off on our merry ways! We move out on Friday! Quick I know!!!

Luke got in touch and the Everest trek is going really well, he still has about 2 weeks before he's home and then he flies straight off to somewhere in Europe! GOOD FOR HIM!

Daniel got his first pay packet last Friday and we are slowly starting to see some of the debt disappear and the savings begin to build up! What a relief!

BIG DATES COMING UP
May 1st- Moving house again!
June 11th- Appointment with STA Travel (first deposit)
June 18th- Daniel playing a gig in Leeds
Aug 6th & 27th- Tattoo appointments for full side design!

Busy few months!

I'm off to work to earn some more pennies!!

Love to all :)

The Weekends almost here :)

Hi!

Well Luke left yesterday morning on his trip to Island Peak in Nepal, he's gone for three weeks and I'm going to miss him loads! GOOD LUCK LUKE!

I'm off to Daniels mums for the weekend which will be nice apart from the four hour train ride that is, we're going straight from work tonight to Northallerton and coming back Sunday will be great to see Chris and Ellie too!

Pay Day today and one step closer to going travelling, as of today I will have the credit card completely paid off! Oh it's about time! and it 394 Days until we go! Woooop! Not that I'm counting....

Anyway speak to you after the weekend!

x x x

Back to the usual

Good Morning,

I'm back to work at the Post Office and working hard as ever! It's Luke's leaving do tonight, he leaves to go to Nepal for three weeks to do Island Peak in the Everest Region! He's a legend and one of my best friends! When he gets back he's spending a week back in England and then abruptly following it with 4 months work in he doesn't know yet but most likely to be France! He's going to have a great time! So we're all going out for a couple of drinks tonight.

Me? Well I'm finally starting to feel much better after my nasty tooth surgery, stitches are still in but not for too much longer I hope now.

Plans for a new tattoo is on the cards, I have it booked for August but £500-£600 is a big chunk of savings that could go towards travelling! My mind is still not made up...just have to wait and see on that one :)

Anyway take it easy everyone. x

Bored out of my Brain!!

Evening,

Today I have decided I could never be someone that sits on there ass at home all day it's my 3rd Day in a row of doing it and I feel like I've lost a good couple of hundred brain cells! There's only so much one person can do whilst taking it easy in a day and I'm no fan of Jeremy Kyle!! So tonight I have plucked my eyebrows, shaved my legs, had a 2hour bath, painted my finger AND toenails, cleaned the house, made the bed and done the dishes, made a budget sheet for travelling, also a target sheet for travelling (I know...Obsessive) and now, NOW, I'm bored again!!!

Not much longer of this insistent pain and I'll be back to the normal me! Daniel's back tomorrow!! I miss him so much when he's not here, I'm lost without him. Plans for this weekend?? Well we have a BBQ on Saturday but something tells me the weather will be rubbish and no plans as yet on Sunday or Monday but will be doing something....Can't stand doing nothing any longer!!

I did also however get so bored I played around on Photo shop and this is what came of that!

I've got to be honest I quite like it, it has LOADS of legendary people in it!! Great memories :)

Anyway I'm going to head off, that's your lot for the night a few ramblings on boredom!

Goodnight, sweet dreams x x

Ouuuccccchhhhhhhhh!!

Hey,

You know I mentioned I had my operation to get my impacted wisdom tooth out on the 7th of April!! Well I've had it done and it's hurting so SO much...not eaten properly in 3 days.. I'm bloody starving the only good thing to it is that I'm losing weight at the same time!!

Anyway apart from that Daniel has gone to Leeds for his Birthday weekend so I'm all on my little lonesome, didn't want this operation ruining his weekend aswell!
What have I been up to?? Well I've been sat on my arse for the last 2 days taking silly amount of drugs to stop me from screaming in agony!

Also been saving money, or trying, still trying to clear our debt as well of course.

Debt= £1650
Savings= £250

So that makes us still in debt by £1400

Sounds alot worse than it is as less than a month ago that debt was over £2000 so were getting there, the trick is not spending the money we've saved!! Just got to keep trying it'll be well worth it in the end!!

Anyway lets just hope this horrible pain stops soon...

Take care. x

Drinking and Stocktaking....

Hey,

It's now less than a year to go until we are on our travels and I know it's going to come around before we know it!

This weekend has been full of working hard and partying hard, it's my family shops weekly shop take this week so we've all been working really hard to get it all done (11 hour straight shift today) The shop is called Party Animal and sells all sorts to do with cake decorating, balloons, party goods, fancy dress, favours and so many more bits and pieces, unfortunately this all takes a very long time to count!

You can visit the shop online by going to http://www.party-animal.co.uk/

Anyway we also went out to one of our very good friends Amandas boyfriends birthday party! Was so great to catch up with them. It was really good we had a few beers (Some a few more than others) We also got to see Chris and Ellie who is Daniels identical twin brother and his girlfriend! They really are wicked people and it's always a pleasure catching up with them!

Thanks to the extra work at Party Animal we've also earned more pennies to go towards travelling WOOOOHOOO!! There is a long way to go though and only 2 months until we pay the deposit on the flights!!

Anyway I'm going to go relax and have a nice hot bath! Another long day at work tomorrow like the rest of the poor slaves to society!!

Regards Steph x

Finally Done!....

Evening,

We moved all of our things out of the flat today, there's nothing left, nothing that even slightly suggests that we were ever there! It was such a beautiful place but will not be missed.. we needed to move on and move out which in turn means we can save for travelling!!!

1 Year and 3days.... then, the serious saving needs to begin! I hope Daniel can pick up overtime at his new job that would make things considerably easier on money! Our new home feels like ours already it's just perfect and I love having the cats around! Daniel's nervous as it's his first day at work tomorrow after being out of work for nearly 6 months it's going to be great for both of us! Extra money! Step towards travelling.

Busy week this next week and I have my operation coming up. I'm having an operation to get an impacted wisdom tooth out, I've already had one of them done and I think it's one of the single most painful things I have ever been through in my life! Well it's on the 7th April (The day before Daniel's 23rd Birthday) Nearly one week away!! Arrrggh!

Anyway to report no savings as yet towards travel but we are slowly getting rid of the overdraft and the credit card bill first! It sounds worse than what it is, these things happen when you have to support 2 people on 1 wage for 6 months!! Its been a long time coming! We'll get there it's just a matter of time and picking up extra work wherever we can!

Here's to our new home, new life and travelling!

Much love! Always x

The Move!!

Morning everyone,

First steps to going travelling is down-sizing in apartment to go and live with my Dad to save lots of money!!

Daniel and I have a long day ahead of us, we're planning on getting it all done in one day (Possibly wishful thinking) This means we can save extra money and be able to make our lovely travel dreams come true!!

We actually put our deposit down on the flight on June 11th so less than 3 months away!! I know this year is goin to zoom by and i just can't wait! Considering getting a second job to make the saving up come on a little faster but don't know what I'd fancy doing?? I already work in a Post Office 5 days a week!

Well it's going to be a long day so I guess I better get cracking!!

Take it easy everyone x x

The very first of many!!

Hi there,

Just set up this blog it's looking very basic at the moment but i'm sure I'll soon get the hang of all the technical things to make it look better!!

374 DAYS

Until the big trip I can't wait...so much to do, so much to plan, and so much to save up...

Think I might try and find something to show you lot how were getting on with our savings..

First of all I was suppose to be travelling this September and due to my lovely boyfriend Daniel (who is quite the housewife) being sadly made redundant, we've had to put off the trip until April.

April 1st is when it's going to happen! Untill then we have £15,000 target to save up and at the moment we only have one wage (thats untill 30th March when Dan starts his new job). Never the less we will get there no matter what it takes!! So cheeers to that, cheers to the future...IT WILL HAPPEN!!!

Speak soon

Much Love Steph