Well we've had enough of camping, decided a nice hotel would be a better idea for tonight. Had a lovely day in Brugge yesterday, just a little bit nippy. Not sure the temperature rose above freezing all day. We had to retreat back to the tent to try any warm up and have a sleep before the evenings new year celebrations began.

Ended up having a really good evening, the sing song in the square was good fun. Having got everyone bouncing and spinning all over the square with several raucous Flemish numbers (We narrowly missed out on several black eyes), they threw in a curve ball at 11:45 with Unchained Melody. The situation was soon rectified with YMCA however before the final countdown began with what else, but The Final Countdown. Was a really good laugh with a great atmosphere. Made a good change from a London new year and I'd recommend it to anyone.

We then retreated to a well chilled tent, and had a well chilled nights sleep. We were the only people on the camp site not in some kind of sensible vehicle. This morning an English couple we'd spoken to the night before felt so sorry for us they donated a hot water bottle that will be very welcome the coming few nigths.

Today we've had an unexciting day of driving, the aim, to head south away from the cold! We did consider getting to Lyon and camping there, but we were told by the campsite owner that we couldn't sleep in a tent because it was too cold! We were in fact more defeated by daylight and tiredness, so didn't make it as far as Lyon, so we're spending the night in some random spot not far from Troyes.

And managed to do so in 2008, just!

Due to the wonders of modern technology I'm writing this sitting on a Dover to Dunkerque ferry. Our plan for a new year in Paris was scuppered at the last minute by the popularity of camping in freezing weather on mainland Europe and the only campsite in Paris being full. So, with a change of country we're heading for new year in Bruges, apparently we can take part in a new year sing song there!

We also enjoyed our first of what I'm sure will be many customs searches this trip, just 15 minutes from home. Not a good start! Once we opened the car they decided not to bother searching though, think they were scared (or just wanted to be nosy!).

Next entry will be from the land of the overpriced Euro, but I will try to refrain from ranting on about UK monetary policy in this blog.

With our jobs done and dusted, our planned leaving date rapidly approaching, and our actual leaving date rapidly slipping away, I can safely say we're disorganised. I've always thrived on my disorganised lifestyle, I feel that Hannah finds it a little more stressful. The last minute decision that I needed more blank pages in my passport and the realisation a few days ago that my driving license was MIA didn't help the situation. We also had the slightly inconvenient experience of having most of our savings in Icesave. Thankfully the FSA came good on their guarantee and we got it all back a couple of weeks ago.

Things are however slowly falling into place, we're still waiting for the bank guarantee to come through for the Carnet, which we're expecting any day now. Then according to Paul Gowen, aka, Mr Carnet from the RAC, it'll take them a couple of weeks to sort the rest. Other than that the only thing we have left to finish off is everything else!

We're feeling more confident with the car than we were. A worrying clunk from the rear axel was causing concern. Eventually tracked down to a stripped thread on a diff stabiliser bar, so nothing a bit of welding wouldn't sort out. Tent downsized, old tent sold, trying to pack and repack, and then wondering why on earth we need so much stuff. It's all progress though.

You may have also noticed a shiny new web site. Although I can create a web site fairly easily, my ability to create something aesthetically pleasing seems to be limited. Many thanks to Rick Webb for that (That really is his name). While I'm on the thanks, I'd also like to thank Matt, Veron and Heidi for putting us up on their lounge floor for almost 7 weeks. Due to a fixed length contract we were kicked out of our previous flat at a very inconvenient time!

On that note, I better get on with doing something more useful. Hopefully the next time the diary is updated it will be to say we're leaving.

How time flies, a couple of months have passed since our last posting and things have felt hectic. Just over 3 weeks till we finish work, and it can't come soon enough! Not because work is that bad, but because I don't feel like we have enough time to get ready.

We got the car back from Footloose and gave them vast wads of money in return. We've picked up a few problems with the vehicle since we got it back, so off we go to Peterborough again to get those sorted in a week or so. On top of that the Garmin 276c we bought has decided to stop functioning properly, so that's going back to Garmin for some repairs too. We're not doing all that well with hardware at the moment!

Still feeling highly unprepared, but I think we've resigned to the fact that we'll never feel prepared, so we may as well just leave and sort out any lack of preparation on route. I've been enjoying the book Red Tape and White Knuckles over the last few weeks, and it sounds like she had similar problems / mentality.

Our other major concern is the Angolan visa issues. There seems to be no hard and fast rule for getting into Angola, some people manage, some people can only get a 5 day transit visa, and some people can't get in at all! The country sounds stunning though, so we're aiming for the 30 day visa. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Whenever we tell anyone about our plans you can almost guarantee one of the first questions that will be asked is 'Is that safe?'

The fact of the matter is that we live in South London, 'Is that safe?!' We will indeed be travelling though many places on the trip, some of those will no doubt be more dangerous than Tooting, (although probably not as bad as Hackney). Most 3rd world cities are hotspots for petit crime, but we'll be spending minimal time in the cities, and a vast majority of places we visit will be safer and far more welcoming and friendly than any of the London suburbs.

Most of Africa is very rural and there aren't many foreigners about. People in these places don't hang about waiting for the odd foreigner to come through so they can take advantage. Are these kinds of places any more dangerous than a rural English village? Probably not. From all accounts people are just friendly and inquisitive. Our two biggest risks by a long way are mosquitoes and road accidents. Both of these risks can be minimised with the right precautions, which we will be taking.

Roll on December!

We're just back from our first real trial run with the vehicle (christened Stanley since our last entry) - a week in Pembrokeshire (well known for its similarity to Africa...). The three main things we learnt.

1. Stanley is far more capable than we thought!
2. We MUST be organised in Africa
3. Always choose the more sheltered camping spot

On the first day of our holiday, we'd booked an off road driving course with Wood Park 4x4, which proved to be extremely useful. Neither Will nor I had any idea about off road driving beforehand, and Richard, our instructor, talked us through negotiating Stanley up, down and across far steeper slopes and stickier mud than we would have imagined possible, and we can now talk confidently about our differentials! It was also useful to have the chance to go through a lot of our recovery gear with Richard, and various pieces of equipment in the car. (You can find out more about our off road driving here).

Once instructed in our off road driving techniques, we headed off to the cliffs to test out the rest of the equipment, camping for a few days - via the green lanes of Pembrokeshire, obviously! The tent was a success - causing a spectacle at the campsite (thanks to those of you who came and said hello and asked us about it rather than just gawping!!), despite the windy location, the racket made by tent flapping around and the sensation of seasickness caused by the car bouncing around in the wind during the night!

The theme of the holiday seemed to be "where's xxxxx?", "I don't know, I'm sure I've seen it somewhere..." as there are so many different compartments in the car where things could be, so we HAVE to get ourselves organised for the real big trip!