Welcome back!

When I started this blog (hmm…I get the feeling I’ve written this before…possibly not though) my aim was to write about the events leading up to leaving the UK and the adventures I will have around the world.  Well I’m slowly starting to realise that I can write about more than just that and it’s something that people are doing all over the world all of the time.  So…for now I think this will be a general blog about me, who I am, what I do (me me me) and my life in general.  this is the plan for now and now only though. 

Once we have moved out of our house and we can actually start planning our trip properly, with a date in mind, the main emphasis of my blog with be that (travel plans).  I intend to blog about everything, and I mean everything, that we do to get our trip off the ground from vaccinations to destinations and beyond. 

Then finally once we have arrived at the airport to leave the UK the blog will be all about our travels, trials and tribulations + me, my life and anything else I fancy!!

I made this decision after reading many personal / business travel blogs and I realised that, really, I don’t know much about travel as I haven’t done that much.  Europe and bits of the USA were my travel destinations when I was younger and I don’t think we every really strayed off the beaten path.  I’m definitely eager for adventure and keen to learn all I can about the world (which is a pretty big place I hear) and so I hope that I can turn my blog into a travel guide for a “beginner traveller” as I myself am now!  x

Ok, so this far my attempts at trying to rent the house out have been 1) trying to convince Jamie’s brother to move in and 2) using my Facebook status!  A little slack if I do say so myself.  Hopefully I’ll be able to change that soon, but in a way, as I’ve said before I would prefer to know the person who is going to be living here (mainly so I know they wont wreck the place)…so I’m sticking with this plan (Facebook) for a few weeks and then failing that I will try a rental agency - I’ve looked in to a few already and think I’ve picked on so if i can’t find a tenant on my own hopefully they’ll be able to find me one. 

See photos below as promised!

So, Thursday night has come and gone!  I’m not really sure how well we convinced Daniel with the plan of him renting our house, but I’ve decided the outcome doesn’t matter.  If he takes up our offer (and ends up paying just £50 in rent inc. bills a month) he’ll be laughing and doing us a massive favour, but if he doesn’t it’s not the end of the world.

I’ve decided that, despite being scared to death about it, I shall try and find tenants for the house myself, for the next 6 months at least.  I’m thinking that it wont be so difficult for me to arrange things whilst I’m still in the country, I wont lose out on 17% of the rent by using an agent and I might be able to find a tenant that I know already…fingers crossed!

I’m impressed by my positive outlook (how long is this going to last!?).

So…I’m going to start taking some photos of my house and you can tell me what you think….fancy renting a house by the seaside??? xx

Well…the house is pretty much finished (I’ll upload some pictures shortly) apart from the garden.  The next step is to find a tenant. 

I had come to terms with the fact that we were going to have to leave the house in the hands of an agent, as I don’t want my parents to have to deal with the stress that may come with the house, but now I’ve changed my mind! 

Recently I’ve heard lots of horror stories about bad tenants and useless agents which hasn’t really helped the issue (I do wonder why people are desperate to tell stories of bad tenants - there must be good ones out there too!!). After the final story I heard, which was pretty horrific, I decided we needed to find a different way to do this.  As my luck with the lottery isn’t really up to much Jamie suggested we ask one of his brothers if he wanted to move in and we would move out.  All we need to cover is the monthly cost of the mortgage and due to recent financial decline and massive drop in interest rates our mortgage is currently less than the rent on a 1-bedroom flat (and for a large 3-bedroom house I think that’s pretty bizarre!). 

So….Daniel (Jamie’s “middle” brother) is coming over on Thursday to discuss!  If we manage to convince Daniel it’s the best idea he’s ever heard (which it possibly is as he could actually make a profit if he let out our 2 other bedrooms) then this could be the start of the real journey!! 

Wish me luck!

I recently came across this website http://chrisguillebeau.com/3×5/, whilst spending a miserable rainy afternoon Goolging anything travel related to brighten the day a bit.  Most things I Google seem to get me nowhere as they tend to be irrelevant or just want you to buy things you don’t need and so I end up getting bored / fed up and giving up.  This however was much different.

After reading the site for the first time and finding out what days new posts were uploaded I could not wait for the next (and that’s very unlike me!).  So a few days later the How To Be Awsome post was up and I was really excited because after reading it I actually felt inspired to starting doing something instead of waiting for someone else to do it!  Although we’ve been talking about travelling it’s always been “when the house is ready” and because I am (officially) a bit useless when it comes to DIY I leave it all to Jamie (who is a builder so in my head it always made sense). 

There is a chance (the back of my mind is telling me) that the “when the house is ready” line was used a little too frequently to give me something to talk to people about (i.e. travelling) but also as a delaying / diversion tactic so I didn’t have to leave the safety of what I know for the scariest but most amazing trip of my life (part of me was thinking there is the smallest chance in the world I could win the lottery so then I could have the whole thing planned for me!)….but no more!

This epiphany has come somewhat late in the day as our house is almost finished but I do intend on making the most of my new found enthusiasm and determination to get moving!! 

So…here is the list of things to do (this list is actually going to be pretty short for now as I need more time to think about it, but there are a few obvious things that I need to start with)….

1  Help Jamie finish the house!

2  Find a tenant

3  Find Tatty a home (Tatty is a new fixture in the house - a stray cat who has become very fond of us - I think he’s deserves his own post tomorrow!)

4  Move out - to our respective parents houses (depressing but definitely required!)

5  Start saving

6  Save enough for tickets

7  Pick a route - most of this is actually done, but we need to work out the cost

8  Save more (and more and more and more)

So, this is the list for now and I will let you know how I get on!

Woo hoo….I will soon be awesome (in a non-work related way!)