The barman pours two long Gin and Tonics… Now we are on holidays – that first sip of quinine is the taste of adventure, it’s now a tradition N and I look forward to in the airport lounge before we fly out to our destination, the second sip – will hopefully protect us from the sand flies to come.
An hour ago we weighed our bags at check-in, mine was 14.8kg N’s was 12.7kg, and that’s it for the next two months, that’s the weight of our world that we’ll carry on our backs and live out of, and I’m kinda looking forward to it.

…I wish I could say that it was that simple…

But what would an adventure be without a little drama?? As it turns out I’m on the Jetstar “Black List” due to an earlier incident that I must have been so drunk for that I can’t remember. As a result Nicki and I were not permitted to board this flight… As it turns out when the Jetstar customer service counter probed a little further it was another Matthew Vaughan who had caused a bit of a disruption on a previous flight, so now with the green light, our boarding passes, and a gin and tonic we were set to go.

We’ve left ‘The Old Girl’ behind, N’s dad is taking her out for her weekly drive, We’ve had a very family Christmas and left everybody behind in Melbourne. This morning the butterflies were released into my stomach and this the final sip of my gin and tonic I hoped would settle the nerves a little but instead all I want to do is start and the butterflies remain.

Mat.