Hobart

ALMOST GO TIME!!
7th June 2011 

11 days to go! So over the weekend I had a mini panic attack as I had no idea how much stuff to take or even the kinds of things I needed to pack. Luckily Jordan’s Aunty Robin had gladly volunteered to make some inner pack bags for us to put all our clothes in (I will take photos soon) so I decided that it was time to do a practice run to see whether I had overestimated the amount of space I had.

Trial pack 1- Turns out I had ridiculously overrated the size of my pack and although I fitted all my clothes in the tiny bag I had no shoes, no makeup, shampoo underwear, bikinis or jackets... NOT IDEAL. So I was back to square one. I took out anything that I had two of i.e two pairs of jean shorts, two t-shirts of the same colour and things I knew I probably wouldn’t wear. It still wouldn’t fit. Ouch! I decided I had tortured myself enough for one day and moved everything to one corner of the room to survey later.

Trial pack 2- This time I got mum on skype to go through the pack with me... she wasn’t much help at first but then she got into the swing of things and we cut my pack down by nearly half... pretty happy about this. So now I am down to 3 shirts, 3 singlets, 3 small dresses, 1 pair of jeans, 2 bikinis, I pair of horrible khaki pants with zip offs (MMMM), 2 pairs of shorts, 2 jerseys, 7 pairs of undies, 4 bras, 1 thermal, 2 pairs of tights, pjs, a rain jacket and a soft shell jacket... I also have things like all my moisturisers etc in small 90ml bottles, a small travel hair dryer, a universal sink plug, a small washing line, padlocks, a compact mirror and Jordans been making a very amazing first aid kit... so we are getting there...

I have a few things I need to buy I want 1 pair of black high heels so I feel human, shoes for in the day when we are just sightseeing, a pair of black shorts, maybe a small hoody not sure if I will need this, and a plain black bikini. So yea thats about it for packing... I have a feeling I am not made for backpacking but oh well if I need anything I can just buy it on the way! J

So yea apart from that we are nearly uptodate with everything. We booked all our LA stuff the other day such as Disneyland, Hotels, Universal Studios, Six flags, Hotel Transfers, a hire car etc Just need to finalise our insurance tonight, and book flights out of LA to Miami and then Miami to mexico and we are done!

Anyways that’s about it from me, not sure if I will get another blog in before NZ, it’s all a bit surreal at the moment doesn’t really feel real... but we are excited and I cant wait to get home to see my beautiful family and friends.

Lots of love
Sam & Jordan x

22 Days
June 29th
AHHH i can't believe it is only 3 weeks until we go and then we get SUNSHINE?! i hardly know what that is anymore... i am now starting to wonder where the time has gone!? 
We have finally started getting things organised for our trip, and Kathmandu was rather accommodating with having a 50% sale on pretty much everything in their store. I have been asking everyone i can what the best things to take / not to take are and there are some handy things come up that you wouldn't necessarily think of, like rope to tie your pack to the bus, a universal plug to wash your dirty undies and apparently vegemite (eww) because there is so much bread and you get sick of eating this weird natella like spread. 
Soo i have made a box for all the new things we have bought and it's slowly adding up... i am not sure what i am going to put all our bloody stuff in. I hope Jordans knows he is going to have a very heavy pack? Girls shouldn't really carry packs anyways should they? 
On another note my replacement has started at work now, which is bitter sweet. Its a bit sad to be leaving but soooooo exciting that we are actually going SOOON! I had a bit of luck too as Lucia (the girl taking over my role) is Spanish, so i get to have daily lessons on local / naughty words :) I will also get some good ideas on where to go in Uruguay which is cool.
SO yea thats about it for now, stay tuned for the adventure of how I fit 8 months worth of wardrobe in one tiny pack.
Lots of love
Sam & Jordan xx

The Countdown
May 29th
We are down to 8 weeks to go seems like a pretty long time but i have a feeling it will go fast. Over the past few months we have been taking Spanish lessons from a private tutor. Things are going quite well but it is crazy how much you have to learn, there have been times when Jordan and I have been camped out at the library trying to do some last minute cramming so we don't get lectured for not studying enough. At this stage we have a few crucial sentences down pat - 'queremos dos cervezas por favor' which means we would like two beers please and one for my girls 'quiero una botella de vino blanco por favor' - i would like a bottle of white wine please.
Apart from that there isn't much new to report, just working hard, saving hard and trying to stay motivated to still go to work everyday in this beautiful cold tassie weather...
Sam & Jordan x

The First Post
May 3rd 2011
Ok so here is our first blog, we are about 11 weeks away from our big trip, the rough plan is to head to NZ for 10 days on the 24th July to see my beautiful friends and family.
We will then head over to LA for a week of adventures - Disney Land, 6 Flags - magic mountain, universal studios, Venice beach and maybe a Katy Perry concert... i promise i didn't force Jordan into this haha! Then its off to Miami to see the beautiful Camila and drive with her up to Daytona  ;) Finally we are going to head to Mexico with whoever is keen to drink in the sun, get a tan and learn some Spanish before we start making our way down for 6 months in SOUTH AMERICA!
We're looking forward to our big adventure but at this stage its pretty hard thinking what things to take, what we need to buy and things to leave at home.
Stay tuned for more updates
Lots of love
Sam & Jordan x