I’ve spent the last week buying all the supplies that I will be needing before I embark  on my travels in a few weeks (with a special thanks to my mate Alex for writing down everything that I will need to get, turns out I need more than a backpack, charm and an Arctic Monkeys t-shirt!)

It’s only when actually buying everything and planning routes that this suddenly seems real rather than a pipe dream which gives me a feeling which is exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time!

I’ve deliberately got no plan beyond my first destination (Cape Town) as I want to seek advice when I am there and just go where the mood takes me and from what I am told timings and schedules in Africa take on their own meaning anyway so preparing too much seems a fruitless task.

Given this what I want to do in my first post is to list some objectives for my journey that I can periodically review as I travel:

• learn a new language. Across Africa a wide number of different languages are spoken but as I get to North Africa and then the Middle East I will go through a number of Arab speaking countries so I want to get to the stage where I can at least speak Arabic at a basic conversationalist level
• try out new foods-OK granted there is no excuse for not having already done this living in one of the most diverse cities on the planet but I’m determined to truly integrate into the areas that I am traveling and that means trying the local food!
• overcome a physical challenge – as much as a shock as this will be to those looking at my physique I’m not naturally built for feats of endurance! As part of my wish to push myself and throw myself miles out of my comfort zone I want to overcome a physical challenge, be that scaling mountains, trekking through jungles or whatever I can find to push myself
• Learn to play an instrument – music is a significant part of my life and in the words of Plato gives wings to my imagination. I’m currently staring at my guitar which has been gathering dust for the last 6 months so now I am going to change that – I’m packing a ukulele with me which I want to learn on my travels – my bohemian fantasy of strumming a John Lennon ode to humanity on top of a mountain overlooking thousands of villagers going about their daily lives is surely only months away!!!
• Give back – so much of what I am writing about is my life and what I want to get out of my journey but I hope to be able to volunteer in projects along the way to help the communities I am visiting and at least try to make the world that little bit better than I find it
• Talk to people with a different outlook to me – the most exciting part of planning for this trip is imagining the types of people I will meet. My hope is that I will meet people with completely different experiences and beliefs to my own to challenge my own outlook on life. They say a man who thinks the same at 40 as 20 has wasted 20 years and I hope I won’t think the same at 30 as I currently do at 28!

In 2 weeks I will be getting started!