I've been trying to restrain myself slightly from writing lots of silly posts filled with excitements at mundane pre-travel tasks like picking which mosquito net to buy and deciding how many pairs of pants to take.... and I've decided that, as its exactly 10 days until I leave (3rd Jan already!), and the organising of a trip is actually quite often the most exciting bit, I'd surrender to my need to chat shit a bit ;-) and hope that you'll forgive my weakness!
It's been a totally different experience organising this trip, to any of my other travels.  I think the main reasons being that, it was decided quite on a whim... less then 6weeks ago, and also that it's a totally different experience when you are organising and setting off on your own.  When I was deciding and planning my trips with Jen, it was months in the planning and earning...getting through 40-50 hr weeks by chatting and giggling about adventures we were about to have.  It's a great feeling bouncing off of each other and the excitement gets soooo massive by the time you are all packed up and ready to go!  This time though, its been a real calm and gentle ride, after the abrupt decision making and buying of tickets at the end of november (only a couple of days after I got fired from my horrible job-the deciding factor).  Money is pretty tight, especially as I was relying on a reasonable profit from the Clothes Show which wasnt nearlly as lucrative as it should have been.  But its possible, and though I will be pretty much fully overdrawn and penniless when I return Im hoping it will be worth it and hopefully I should come back with new skills and ideas and inspiration for a more holistic lifestyle.  A good shake up is most DEFINATELY needed <3!
I knew that as soon as Christmas came and I headed up north to see the family time would fly by and before I know it it would be time to go, but I dont think I am really able to take on just how quickly time creeps up.  Its now the 3rd of Jan, Solstice, Christmas and New Year have passes (with lots of beautiful people and beautiful smiles), and my birthday celebrations are on their way (gathering on the 5th, seeing dad on the 6th, my birthday and saying goodbye to ash on the 7th....and then 6days of final prep and im off on the 13th!),  I only have 3 days left with Ash and 3 1/2 months before I see her again...and only a couple of weeks left of Jen before I have to say goodbye to her too.  I'm feeling the pull of having no mum there to sort me out when Im being ridiculous....no friends to support me at a moments notice and keep me sane.... No lovely gentleman to keep my heart smiling and my brain preoccupied.  Mmm, at the moment it feels a little bit like exile, though a very exciting one i might add.  I think I just need to get on with it now and stop worrying about the travelling alone, cos Im sure I will be fine really...and its normal to be nervous when its something so big and new.
I spent a lovely new year with the beautiful Nutmeg and Miss Moon... squishy and cosy =) embrassing our yoghurt-weaver sides and sending our new year wishes to stars.  I asked for appreciation and contentment to come more easily for me, and decided to take heed of some amazing advice given to me by a lovely bluebell faerie: to live and be present within each moment that I live.

But all that squishyness aside: I've had a great laugh trying to sort out the horrible bureaucracy that is the India Visa offices of london.  They have in the last month changed the whole system so that all visas are now dealt with not by the embassy but through a affiliated private company, who i might add have succeeded in being actually less able and more frustratingly awful then the previous lot....an impressive task it must be said.  I sent off my finished postal application for an India visa in the post on the 10th Dec (the most confusing process known to man!) only to receive my passport back without a visa in it on the 30th Dec with a one sentance explanation that I had not put in the correct number of photos.  After searching the website and calling up the customer service line (cost 90p a minute and took 10 mins on hold to get through to a woman who could barely speak english) it becomes apparent that I am going to have to go to London the next day to the visa office and re-apply in person.  So on the train I am at 5:30am to get to their Victoria office before they open at 8:30 to beat the queue.  3 hour of queueing and bureaucracy later I am totally confused (turned out i didnt get my visa through in the first place because my photo was the wrong size- they dont accept PASSPORT photos oh no no no! They have to be an extra 1/2" wider ho ho ho!), thoroughly unconvinced I will in fact receive a visa or a passport back, and back on the train to Bristol...new years eve morning at its best =P   So the Visa situation is still very rocky, I dont trust at all the ability of the people I left my visa/passport in the hands off.. So fingers and toes crossed, as if this doesnt work I dont see how I will be going anywhere?!
Other then that, Its been the fun of deciding on a brand spanking new mosquito net (you'll be interested to know I settled on a LifeSystems Double BoxNet...at a steal in the xmas sales for £19 down from £35, oh yeh!)...and making lots of different piles of belongings- big piles to go up in the attic, and smaller piles to be put in a certain rucksack.  Ill finally be able to breath when(!) the visa comes through throughyl attached to passport, and I can finally start the journey and get cracking.  In the meantime Ill just have to be content with stealing peoples music to create the perfect travel IPOD collection and deciding on the perfect number of pants to take....  <3