3
Despite crossing more things off my to-do list, I don't think I've had as productive a day today as I have had previously, considering I didn't set my alarm and thus got up at 6.30 when I wanted to be up at 4, and I dozed/napped for two hours this afternoon. Sigh. But I think I've finally done all of my shopping, so I'm pleased about that.
In the meantime, I have decided to start my proper travel blog at blogger.com. It means I will have two blogs going - the one over there is going to be a more public travel-related blog that my parents and other people can read, whereas this one is going to be more for general communication, private thoughts, asking questions, so on and so forth, just like how I've always used it.
http://antipodeanlich.blogspot.com
There's nothing really there at the moment except (once it uploads, and if it works) a slideshow of some pictures I've taken around Brisbane stored at Flickr. Yes, I went and got myself an account there, too. I'm still investigating how both work, but I expect to have a fair degree of expertise in a few weeks' time.
Now that my room is more or less in a state I can leave it in for eight months, I expect to be able to remove a few more things from my list. I still have to do a backup of this machine and of the desktop, which is probably the next big job, but that doesn't count my preliminary pack. I've set aside everything I want to take with me, and now I have to see that it all fits, and if it doesn't, what I can leave behind. If it does all fit, then I'll start living out of my luggage. I also have to ring the health society and Telstra, and see if both my health insurance and my hiptop can be suspended while I'm overseas. I don't have the money for both while I'm over there, and I think it's pointless to pay for something I'm not going to use. My travel insurance will cover any health stuff if needed, anyway. *touches wood*
Telstra will probably encourage me to take my hiptop (sidekick) with me and use international roaming, but I don't think that's going to be worthwhile as you guys will want to call me from time to time to basically see what's going on and I will want to call you to ask the same thing and, especially when I'm in transit between places, to let you know where we are and when I expect to be there. So I can't afford to keep making international calls and you will not want to make international calls to me, which is essentially what the roaming is. Maybe I can get it unlocked and bring it with me, but I don't know who will be able to take it over there and, if they do take it, what functionality my phone will have. If it can't sign in to messengers or use the internet, that's fine, but if to restore full functionality I have to sign up for a contract, then I won't do that. I hope there's some prepaid option I can use. I have been told that T-Mobile and Cricket are pretty good. I've also been told that Verizon has something as well, but after seeing the utter bs that they have pulled on people on my friends list, I don't want to go with them out of principle.
I also need to do a lot of photocopying. I'm bringing music with me, and I'm photocopying the relevant parts of my Lonely Planet guides. I went and got another printer cartridge and another 500 sheets of paper the other day, so I think everything will be fine. With the Lonely Planet photocopies, anyway, I can just chuck them out once I'm done with a particular place. I'm still waiting for the keeper of the pipe band music to send me an electronic copy of the pipe band stuff, too...
In the meantime, I have decided to start my proper travel blog at blogger.com. It means I will have two blogs going - the one over there is going to be a more public travel-related blog that my parents and other people can read, whereas this one is going to be more for general communication, private thoughts, asking questions, so on and so forth, just like how I've always used it.
http://antipodeanlich.blogspot.com
There's nothing really there at the moment except (once it uploads, and if it works) a slideshow of some pictures I've taken around Brisbane stored at Flickr. Yes, I went and got myself an account there, too. I'm still investigating how both work, but I expect to have a fair degree of expertise in a few weeks' time.
Now that my room is more or less in a state I can leave it in for eight months, I expect to be able to remove a few more things from my list. I still have to do a backup of this machine and of the desktop, which is probably the next big job, but that doesn't count my preliminary pack. I've set aside everything I want to take with me, and now I have to see that it all fits, and if it doesn't, what I can leave behind. If it does all fit, then I'll start living out of my luggage. I also have to ring the health society and Telstra, and see if both my health insurance and my hiptop can be suspended while I'm overseas. I don't have the money for both while I'm over there, and I think it's pointless to pay for something I'm not going to use. My travel insurance will cover any health stuff if needed, anyway. *touches wood*
Telstra will probably encourage me to take my hiptop (sidekick) with me and use international roaming, but I don't think that's going to be worthwhile as you guys will want to call me from time to time to basically see what's going on and I will want to call you to ask the same thing and, especially when I'm in transit between places, to let you know where we are and when I expect to be there. So I can't afford to keep making international calls and you will not want to make international calls to me, which is essentially what the roaming is. Maybe I can get it unlocked and bring it with me, but I don't know who will be able to take it over there and, if they do take it, what functionality my phone will have. If it can't sign in to messengers or use the internet, that's fine, but if to restore full functionality I have to sign up for a contract, then I won't do that. I hope there's some prepaid option I can use. I have been told that T-Mobile and Cricket are pretty good. I've also been told that Verizon has something as well, but after seeing the utter bs that they have pulled on people on my friends list, I don't want to go with them out of principle.
I also need to do a lot of photocopying. I'm bringing music with me, and I'm photocopying the relevant parts of my Lonely Planet guides. I went and got another printer cartridge and another 500 sheets of paper the other day, so I think everything will be fine. With the Lonely Planet photocopies, anyway, I can just chuck them out once I'm done with a particular place. I'm still waiting for the keeper of the pipe band music to send me an electronic copy of the pipe band stuff, too...