The tickets are booked and paid for... the route is planned (ish)... work is finished and the house is being packed up as I type... there's no backing out now. We have books for schooling (but how we use them is yet to be decided) so as you can see the preparations are under way but it all feels a bit up in the air. I guess this is the time to let go of control and allow things to just flow in a zen type way (2 sessions of yoga this week I think!)

Our current route includes 3 months in Central and South America, 3 months in New Zealand, 3 months in Australia and 3 months in Indonesia.

Everyone asks if Sam is excited, but it's hard to say. I have asked him many times how he is feeling and his usual answer is nervous and excited which I guess is the perfect mix (more excited than nervous apparently). He's obviously not looking forward to saying goodbye to family and friends and especially his Dad but he knows this will be a great year (and a year out of school kind of overshadows all the bad stuff). 12 is a funny age because he has just done his first year at secondary school and feels grown up but isn't quite emotionally ready for the responsibilities of grown up stuff so we will see how this year progresses, I have a feeling we will take away a boy and bring back a man but we'll see.