ljdjandiz

Lau and Iz met at Newcastle Uni, UK, in 2002. We have been friends ever since despite long periods of not seeing each other.

They both graduated in 2005 and went on to pastures new.Lau spent the next couple of years living and working in various places including London and Milton Keynes. One day in 2007 she was sitting at work watching the rain come down outside and decided she would travel the world. She left a month later for Thailand, en route to Australia. She returned home in March 2008 having been to Thailand, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, The Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Borneo and Japan. It was the best year of her life. In Aug/Sept 2008 she spent a month in India during her Uni holidays as she is now a student nurse!

After graduating, Izzy moved home and eventually the need to the leave the UK was too strong and in Feb 2008 she flew to Australia alone to have some fun and see the world! Upon returning to the UK later that year, Izzy ended up living in London persuing her career in Journalism. In 2009 Izzy moved home to Northampton and it was around this time that her and Lau got back in touch and within their first phonecall had arranged to travel together this summer, 2009!

That is the story so far...watch this space...x

Derby, United Kingdom

Time until Monday, 13 July 2009, 18:00:00 (UTC time) -
64 days
Well, that's pretty much two months until we leave and neither of us have sorted our visas. Izzy is being far more organised about the whole thing but I am now back at uni so have some time to myself in which to sort it out. No excuses!

We only need 2 visas, one for India and one for Veitnam. Last time I made an appointment at the Birmingham based Indian Embassy for my visa and it was relatively simple. The Vietnamese visa process is new to me but sure I will figure it out. It's mainly the cost, from what I gather it is about £50 for each visa...just another expense but it needs to be done!

I bought a Vietnam Lonely Planet guide and yesterday I finally had some time to sit and read it. I have started putting together an itinerary for our 11 days and it looks to be busy but good. So far it consists of Ho Chi Minh and a visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels, heading briefly south to the Mekong Delta, catching a train north to the coast and on up to Hanoi via Hué and Halong Bay for sure. I have also put together an overall itinerary for the whole trip too in order to maximise our time! With only 6 weeks to do a lot of places, this time we need to be organised. As it stands, we will be visiting 5 countries and travelling many KMs. I feel we may need a holiday by the time we get back!!

I can only speak for myself when I say that the saving is going...well, ok. Not bad, not good. Once the visa costs have dented my already fragile travelling funds I will most likely start to panic that I won't have enough but I'm hoping that by the time we leave it will be a different story. I need to do a budget so I can have evidence to support my panicking!! Argh!!

L x