At the begining of 2003 I found myself at a watershed in my life. I had split up with my long term live in girlfriend the previous summer and for the first time in my working career had advanced warning that my work with Schroders would be finishing in January that year.
You may see this as nothing unusual, but I had been in the workforce continually since leaving college, some seventeen years earlier. Whenever a contract had come to an end, another had taken it's place almost immediately. But 2003 was a tough year, the market was down, oil prices were up and although when I started planning my trip I did not know it an invasion of Iraq was just around the corner.
I had a fair bit of money stashed away and knew that I could survive for some months on my return. I also wasn't getting any younger and had realized that very soon I would probably be married to someone who maybe would object to my running off around the world. Thus was born the fortuitous circumstances in which the trip would take place.
The journal you are about to read, is an accurate day to day summary of my trip, written longhand and entered into the computer every few days at a convenient internet cafe. It truely reflects my state of mind and my interpretation of events. If you do not agree with everything written I crave your indulgence and understanding. Without further ado, let the story commence...