Endings or Beginnings?

In almost next to no time, it was time to say goodbye to everyone at school and to start packing. I have been very fortunate to have been working alongside some great people this past year and I am already missing everyone immensely especially those who were in my classes. (Mwahawah - I know who you are!) I had left myself with hardly any time to pack which was probably a blessing as it gave me less time to panic over my missing passport! All the countries I am visiting require a visa to enter, unfortunately the governments involved are not the speediest in the world. Each visa costs between £50-£100 pounds and each require, ideally, a couple of weeks after all the correct paperwork has been submitted to process the visa. To speed up the progress a company in London had been organising the whole thing since March. This meant they had my passport. I knew my passport wouldn't arrive until the week before I flew but as that date passed, I started to worry. I tried to carry on as normal - I went to buy some foreign currency, but this turned out to be very difficult without a passport. Even getting money out of my own account was problematic without photographic ID. As the days went by, I tried to call the visa company, but with no success. Finally with the help of the Oasis Office staff, I got through to the Visa company (who had been having faulty phone lines) and my passport arrived in my hands on Friday lunchtime... the day before I was due to fly! Relief was an understatement. I am now packed and waiting for the taxi to take me to Manchester Airport.

P.S. Did I mention that the truck I will be travelling on, is going to be followed by another truck full of Japanese TV people! The trip is going to be filmed and turned into a documentory to be shown on Japanese T.V. Alas it will be impossible to see the footage anywhere else in the world, so the world will not have to suffer footage of me after a week of bush camps and no showers!