Hi everyone,

Nice to meet you all, I'll be on the 26 march tour too. I'm from Brisbane and have resigned from my job so I can stay in Europe for the year. And I'm staying at the Royal National Hotel from the 23rd.

Not long to go now!!!

Renee

Hi Renee!

Welcome to the gang!!

Another for the Royal, great!!

How is Brisvegas going at the moment?

Loz

Hi,

Love the Borat talk guys. My boyfriend and his mates carry on with it all the time with my favourite being 'very nice' & 'Hi five'.

Hey Renee, nice to see you joining the group. Where bouts in Brizzy r u from? I think the majority of us are staying at the Royal a couple of nights before Contiki starts. I think its going to be one BIG meet & greet session before we leave.

How's everyone going with things?
I'm on track and counting down those days.

Jod

Hi Guys,
Welcome Renee - we fly out on the same day and are staying at the Royal the same time before the contiki. I'm pretty lucky I guess my flight is at 7:30pm (ish) so all my friends etc dont have to take time off work coz its a domestic flight first to Melbourne then to Singapore. I CANT WAIT. I wish i wasnt working and could concentrate on packing etc, Ohh well i only have 4 weeks to go tomorrow so i should be thankful!r
Hey Viran how did you go about getting a bank account in the UK? is it through HSBC or some one else? tell me all! I want to set one up (so my parents can start topping it up for me before i go - wishful thinking). My working visa should be here next week I put it in at the travel agents on the 2nd week in January so it hasnt been a month yet. If I dont hear anything by this time next week I will be calling him and asking where it is! I started counting down the days till my last week at work the other day and then I thought - **** I only have 7 weeks till I go! We can now say we are going away next month - then I got scared and started talking about other work related stuff - I have far too much to do before I go! I am so glad I only have 4 weeks left of my full time job and only 3 weeks left at my Saturday job so I am pretty happy. Well I am going to go get some beauty sleep so I will speak to you all soon!
Take care!
SB

Hi Sarah
Which flight will you be taking from Singapore to London? Mine will be British Airways (forgot the actual flight number) departing from Singapore at 8pm plus on the 22nd and will reach London at 5am on 23rd Mar. 5am!! Does anyone knows whether the tube will be operating by 6am?

I'm very excited (and stressed).....cos 2 major events are happening real soon. Wedding in 30 days & flying off to London in 48 days. 29 more days of work left. Sooo many things to be done, yet so little time left.

hi Sam,

I was actually just looking that up the other day. My flight also arrives in London early. So I checked out the website and got all the info I wanted. They have a times table for all the lines. I think the one we use comes before 6am for sure.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/

Hi Renee,

Welcome to the contiki gang, great to see that you'll also be at the Royal...hop your trip planning is going well.

Hi Sarah, in regards to the bank account i went to Travelex to open by account, they are a partner of HSBC and will open an HSBC account for you, its pretty straight forward but does involve a little paperwork..but yeah you should go and see them as soon as possible as it will be really good to have your bank account all set up before you leave.

Me off to go and watch the Superbowl at a bar now, its 11 in the morning but i guess its not to early to have a few beers, took the day off and tommorow is our National Holiday..Waitangi day so it'll be a good 4 day weekend for me...i know what a lazy ass aye..

Take care all and so can't wait to meet you all in London.

Hey beautiful people!!

LOZY
VIRAN
SAMANTHA
BROWNY
BRAD
JODIE
PATRICE
KRISTY
CARA
& SARAH
Is that everyone???
Hows everyone going? My friend Jess and I are getting sooo excited hey.
Started looking at luggage bags today... I have no idea how im going to pack all my clothes for a month in the right size bag..expecially winter clothes.
Is anyone else bringing sheets? Is that weird? I was told that my mates friend got bed bug bites...do you think they were just unlucky???
Hey CARA.. im from Wollongong and Im just doing the trip as well so far. What day are you and Kristy flying out?
Is anyone bring there mobiles over?
Have a great day / week guys
Carnt wait to meet you all!
xox
-Megs

Hey guys how is everyone?

Who were u going for in the superbowl Viran, Chicago or Illinois? I dont follow the NFL but was going for Chicago just because a mate of mine just got home from being in Chicago for 2 weeks.

Cant get over how soon it is until we go on tour, i'm starting my holidays from the 8th of March because thats when I finish up at work so after that it's just catching up with friends and family and packing so that 2 weeks is gunna fly!

Hope everyone is getting excited and starting to finalise travel arrangements and stuff to bring.

Coutning down
Browny

Hey Megs how r ya?

In regards to those questions u asked....I'm taking a suitcase seeing tho i'm going for a years or so but will prob take a back pack as well to carry around but not gunna take heaps of clothes and stuff just what I need cause I will probably buy some stuff over there. Kinda sucks tho because it is my b'day 2 weeks before I go and my famly keeps asking me what I want but I kinda have everything I need already.

Haven't thought about taking my own sheets but i think i will just cross my fingers and hope the bed bugs dont bite!

Cya

Im going gr8 browny...Hey is that what everyone calls you or is that just your special email name?
Im thinking I could pack another pair of jeans with the space my sheets will take up in my bag... but now your the one i'll cry to if I get itchy!
Nit

hidy ho!
we're all getting incredibly excited I take it? certainly not long to go now.

Megs, lovely to hear from you again. sheets? probably a sensible thought but will take up way too much room so I definately won't be packing them.

browny, maddness on finishing work march 8! I'm wrapping up march 15...one week to say goodbye to fam and friends for 2 years just doesn't seem right!

Sarah, I did the HSBC account too. When you set it up, they say to allow for around 5 weeks for them to set it up. It only took them about 3 weeks to set up mine, but given we only have 6 weeks left, I'd get onto it soon hey.

welcome Renee, I'm from Brizzy too!!

and the rest of you kids, keep on smiling!
talk soon.

Sorry Renee,
I missed you on my hello list 2 messages ago...
That makes 13 of us
RENEE / JESS / ME / LOZY / VIRAN / SAMANTHA / BROWNY
BRAD / JODIE / PATRICE / KRISTY / CARA / SARAH
Im thinking were going to have to sort out a special
hand shake or something to know whos one off us ...JOKES

OYYY.. I know everyones going to kill me for asking 100
questions I could probably look up if I go over everyones
messages .... Can anyone fix me up with a
cool sight to look up what I have to pack.. not the one
on the contiki home page.. Like will it be cold enough to wear a
beannie?? Is everyone bringing there swimmers? Do you need to wear
thongs in the shower?? etc..

o.k o.k
GOOD NIGHT!!

Here are some links:
eastboca's tips
Contiki thread abt Bedbugs
Sarah's Blog - packing list

Jeepers, i go drinking for 12 hours and there are a number of messages for me to read at 12.39am in the morning. Yes i have just got back from watching the superbowl so if this message doesn't make sense or goes on for no reason it coz i'm partially wasted...you may be wondering why i haven't go to bad, well the truth is i made the mistake of drinking two red bulls an hour ago and my body just donesn't want to shut down....Megs in regards to your questions i'll have to get back to you on that one..my concentration levels are not the greatest at the moment...man i can't believe i've been drinking for 12 hours...anyways browny i have to say that i was going for the Colts, i was in the States about 2 years ago and really got into the NFL and Payton Manning was the man so it only felt right that i support his team, in the end i lost interest in the game as i ended up having a few too many beers and crazy conversations with American and English folk...good times had by all.

In terms of a hand shake, i'm quite the fan of a HIGH FIVE...don't know what your guys thoughts are but let me know...thought id throw the suggestion out there.

People i'm overly excited, i mean who comes home after drinking for around 12 hours and hops straight onto the comp to chat with his new found friends...yes it's the drunken talk but you guys are great and i look forward to High fiving you all.

Ok i shall end this now, sorry for putting you all through it...enjoy the rest of your week.

Nite nite all...V needs his beauty sleep.