"Preparing to leave the UK" Florida Keys Travelogue by paradisedreamer

My travelogues will read more like my personal journal and not strictly for travel information. When I get back I will add to my tips for that purpose. I have made links on my homepage so you can follow our progress if you wish to.
I guess you could say that this trip we are about to embark on has been about 5 years in the making – sort of! In 1999 we got back from six months travelling around South East Asia, I vowed then that we would do it again. It was an experience of a life time. As soon as we got back to London I started thinking about the next trip, I had to do it again. I wanted to go to Mexico, we had met other travellers who told us it was fantastic and so the seed was planted in my brain of heading in that direction. It was only about 5 months after we got back that I found out that I was pregnant. When I broke the good news I told Marc ‘you know that trip to Mexico we have been planning for January, well um… I don’t think I can go because um well… I will be about 4 months pregnant !!’
Samantha was born in June 2000, we couldn’t be more lucky!

Having a child did not stop us for long, Samantha has become quite the little traveller; here is her VT CV:
T-7months – California, Nevada, Arizona
6 months – South Africa
10 months – Loire Valley, France; Bruges, Belgium
18 months – Vancouver, Banff, Edmonton, Whistler
2 years – Germany, Switzerland (Bern), South Africa
3years – South Africa & Egypt (Cairo, Luxor and Sharm)
4 years – South Africa

She is now almost 4 and a half and we are about to leave for Central America before returning to live in South Africa again. We will have been in the UK for eight years, it will be sad to say good-bye to friends and to a place we have spent most of our adult lives, it will be strange to go ‘home’. I think Sam will cope very well with travelling, we have to see how it goes. My biggest worry is that she will not have interaction with other children and she will miss her friends and school a lot. I am not too worried about her being bored as she is pretty good at entertaining herself. She loves swimming and being on the move and exploring different places should keep her interested. Sometimes we will just have to put down anchor and do things she likes. She is very excited and has been saving her pennies for Disneyland. Every time I buy anything she asks is it for travelling or for Africa.

We have had a lot of different itineries floating around and have finally decided to have 2 weeks in Florida, then spend 4 months in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize. We thought it was better to stick to a small yet diverse area to reduce long bus trips as much as possible. Central America is not like SE Asia where you can just hop on cheap flights between main centres, it will be buses all the way.
We did want to go to South America but will have to save that for another time, the time of year was wrong for one thing and I was worried about Sam and altitude sickness as well as the long distances.
A few years ago Marc’s stepbrother and his girlfriend got back from approximately a year in South America with a huge pile of photographs, it was then that I found out about Uyuni in Bolivia. Have a look at Richiedisc’s page, his pictures are fantastic!!
One day I will visit Uyuni!

I don’t consider myself to be a true traveller or backpacker, even though I carry one – I don’t do dorms or shared baths but still do budget travelling. I work a ‘proper’ job and save what I can so I don’t have to pick oranges or dig up potatoes along the way! What I love about travelling for an extended time as opposed to a two week holiday is that it changes you in ways that are hard to explain. A two week holiday is nice and relaxing it gets you away from work but you only experience the surface of the country you are visiting and you don’t get below the crust and into the good stuff. I love experiencing other cultures, hearing (and doing a bad attempt of learning) the language, watching the people and understanding different ways of thinking. Travelling also puts things back into perspective especially when you are visiting third world countries. In the West we become so greedy and forget what is really important in life. I believe having travelled has definitely taught me to evaluate things more and appreciate the small things.

Besides all the emotions that travelling evokes, the world is full of amazing wonders and beauty, I want to see it all!! It educates and broadens the mind. Samantha may be too young to appreciate or even remember what she sees. This is not important really, what is important is that she will learn so much and it will mould her personality. Children learn by seeing and touching for themselves. My only worry is that she will then want to leave home as soon as she can and go travelling herself – guess we will have to deal with that when it happens!! We will only have ourselves to blame for instilling a curiosity in her, as long as she doesn’t mind me tagging along I may even spring for the flights (don’t tell her I said that!).
There was a forum not too long ago where mapakettle was asking where young people get the courage to travel, Cachaseiro answered it brilliantly – ‘I don’t know why anyone has the courage to stay home, get an education and do a tedious 9 to 5 job.’

Now I just have to get on that flight to Miami!!!

We decided to pack our backpacks today and see if everything fit in. We will be taking the two packs for the three of us and Sam has a small suitcase for her toys. Well we aren't travelling as light as we would like. The bulk is made up by books - we have 18 between us. We both love to read and I know it can sometimes be hard to find English books. Once we have got through those we will have space for other things. We will have to post anything we buy home. Sam has some space for a few more toys. How can we go to Disneyworld and not get a few little things! We also have a lot of mosquito repellent (sprays, candles and coils) taking up a fair amount of space. We may be going a little over the top but we are not taking malaria drugs. We will probably get some Cloroquin when we get there just in case we need it but we are wary of the side effects. Travelling with Sam we are more cautious and it does feel like we have taken the kitchen sink. Our medicines take up a huge amount of space as well but we need to foresee every eventuality.