lesson #1

you would have thought that after booking the tickets we all would have been stratospherically excited about the whole thing. and we were. especially when it turned out that the fit bloke was in the shop. he recommended climbing 65 foot trees and killing rabbits in australia. though possibly not at the same time. and he seemed like such a nice person.

anyway, £2k later and we were all really giddy, giggling as we walked out the shop and collectively phoning our mams. so excited were we that we walked straight past the public house designated for the celebration so we had to turn round and walk back up the headrow once we realised where we were. it's like your head really does enter the clouds and you've no idea what's going on those couple of miles below on terra firma. in fact, i was so elated that, in some kind of tv moment, i blurted out to the bar man that we'd just booked a year long hol round the world and he gave us cheap beer in return. now don't tell me that that never happened in 'cheers'.

however, in a much more 'eastenders' kind of moment (duh duh, duh duh duh, duh-duh-duh), i discovered upon my return home that the train tickets to heathrow were going to cost £250 (wot, mr blair?!). euphoria popped, shattered, lay dying in a ditch (yes, mrs westley). trauma, distress and disbelief came a-knockin' at my door and with it a general sense of what the bluddy hell have we just done. it's not going to be 12 months of idyllic beaches, gorgeous buildings and a load of mind-expanding experiences. nay, it's going to be the trauma of the number 16 bus multiplied by a gazillion. the eternal question of how to get from a to b in the least traumatic way.

and then, like the number 16 bus, the enormity of the whole thing hit me. it's madness. what if i don't like it? what if i hate staying in hostels? what if we're never able to sleep comfortably? what if we just meet boring irritating people? what if i'm pissed off by rach and dever two hours into the flight? what if we run out of things to say? surely, it's possible in a year. (though maybe not with rach...).

but then the trauma passed. alternative (cheaper) options were explored and successfully secured. this was mainly owing to one of the best up-and-coming legal brains in the whole wide world. a guy who has tea with the attorney general, has interviews in paris, and also a lovely hair cut. (xxxxx).

and so the first lesson has been taught. it won't all be idyllic beaches and gorgeous buildings but someone or something will usually come along to make it better (than this).