The letter we sent out at Christmas time ...

Dear Friends, As you may know, we (Heather, Mark, Melissa and Rosa) are planning to travel to visit friends and see the world for nine or ten months from the autumn of 2004. Not all the details are pinned down yet, and there’s many a slip twixt cup and lip – but that’s our plan. So far, we’re planning to visit friends in Beijing and see a little of China; to travel (with stops) by train from Delhi to Kerala, and possibly then up to Kolkata; to spend Christmas with friends in rural Kenya; perhaps to nip over the border to Tanzania for a couple of weeks; to spend a couple of months in S.E. Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, maybe Indonesia); and then perhaps to pop into Oz on our way to Mexico; from where we’ll visit Cuba while Castro still lives (hopefully); maybe spend some time in Ecuador; and see Jamaica before heading home. We hear that “culture shock” is worst coming home – so maybe we’ll call on friends or family in Europe for a week or two first, to ease the return to our home continent. We want to learn about some of the variety of places and peoples that make up the world; to make new friends and visit some old ones; to chill out on a beautiful beach somewhere for a while; to see wild animals, rainforests, bits of wilderness; to swim with dolphins and maybe to learn to scuba-dive; to learn some (beginnings of) languages; to keep up with “school work” in ways that relate to the journey we’re taking; and to have fun. We’re writing to you for a few reasons: Firstly, just to let you know what we’re up to. If you want to make concerned enquiries or give us dire warnings about our finances, careers/education, health, peace of mind or spiritual well-being, this should give you ample time to do so… To warmly invite you to let us know what you think we would love, what we mustn’t miss, or what you think is over-rated in any of the above places. Sights, activities, modes of transport, food, places – anything you’ve experienced on any part of our route that you’d like to tell us about. We’re mostly going to places none of us have ever visited, so all ideas will be welcomed (even if we don’t end up doing all of them!) To equally warmly invite you to let us know about your best friends or distant cousins who live in Mombasa, Mumbai, Montego Bay or wherever – and who would love to have a meal with us, take us around their city for a day, or even put us up for a few nights … We are going to enjoy just being tourists for some of the time, but we’d love to get to know locals wherever we can. And finally, to check that you’d like to be on our mailing list – we’ll try and email home every two to four weeks, maybe even with the odd photo – if you want to get those emails, please let us know what email address we should send them to. If you received this on paper – we’ll need your email address if you want emails from us! Hope to hear from you soon - with love, Heather, Mark, Melissa and Rosa