My potential route...

I've had many queries about where I'm going and for how long and so forth. Usually, I can answer the questions about where I'm going, how long is a totally different matter which I doubt I'll be able to answer till I get to where I'm going. Anyway, regarding the where I'm going, I've done some digging around potential ticket prices (which in fairness are really not as expensive as you think) and made some decisions on where I might go.

To give you an idea of what I'm looking at; STA travel do a round the world ticket for about £1400 (inc tax) for the period I am leaving (end January 2008). This ticket includes 7 stops with no penalties if you land in one place and take off for the next somewhere totally different. So you can still extend the 7 stops if you can get some cheap air fares or trains between locations. British Airways and other OneWorld alliance partners can provide a 4 continent ticket, which allows you four stops within each continent for about £1800 (inc tax). This isn't too bad, but so far the less than capable people I've spoken to at BA can't tell me if there are penalties for leaving from a different location to the one you landed in. Guess we know what that means!

So what is a girl to do? Well, this girl is going to go for the most flexible and cheapest option! STA travel wins the day! All going well, I will be finalising my itenary shortly and I can't wait! Its another step forward which means this little niggle of anticipation mixed with fear will probably step up a notch, but will also have to accept that there is no going back!

So, to give you guys a little taster, here is a map of where I think I'm going. Please, no applause for the more than excellent graphic design skills, its fabulous I know, that I can produce such magnificence at 1am on a Saturday morning. Its ok....my brilliance defeats even me....

A blog about blogs

An interesting discussion came up at work yesterday (oh by the way, this is a slight diversion from my travelling topic) about blogging. What makes people want to blog? Or more appropriately what makes some people hesitant to blog. I know I set up this blog as a means of communicating my jaunt across the globe, but if I'm being honest, that simply gave me a good reason to do something I've secretly wanted to do for a while.

Is it like keeping a diary? I don't know. I have tried and failed several times in my life to keep a diary, so there may be some question as to how long my commitment to this will last (it has been 2 weeks since my last post). This is a really public platform for personal thoughts, its on the www, anybody can see it. So why am I so comfortable with it?

Maybe there is some strange shift out there in the world of moral privacy that is allowing people like myself to think we can do this and remain private individuals (I'm pretty sure I will always think of myself as a private person). Or maybe I'm slightly deluded. Would I be offended if someone took an extract from my blog and sent it around the globe on an email forward? In all honesty I probably would...but do I have the right to be offended? I put myself here, there is no restriction on who can access this and I knew that when I signed up.

Some say, us designers and tech-folk all across the globe should be thinking about these types of quasi-ethical implications of the things we design. Maybe, but then again, if I'm not thinking about where my boundries are now that I am a blogger, can I be outraged or offended if someone takes it upon themselves to extend my reach? I don't have an answer. All I can truly say, is that people are dichotomous, we want to be out there and accessible, but just as long as you don't come too close or I don't embarass myself or my family, or I don't get sued for offending someone else or I'm not heckled for being boring, or I'm not forgotten in the dungeons of the www, or a million other 'or' statements that I think caveat my prescence here.

Deluded may just be the right word after all.