Almost A Month Later

So it's been 1 month-ish since my last post, and 2 months-isn since I left ship, and 2 days ago I would have joined the Pacific Dawn for my third contract... But instead I'm sitting in my garden, playing Jenga, with a G&T, enjoying wonderful company.

My decision not to take the contract they next proposed for me was more simple than I first felt. I was torn between heading straight back and seeing how the summer went as there were the beginnings of plans being discussed when they sent the contract through. I had other prior commitments - such as my brothers baby being born - than I had no intention of missing anyway, but you really get addicted to life at sea. So I wasn't sure I was making the right decision at the time, but if you look at everything in a positive light, I may have almost lost my job for saying no but I am so happy to be in England and preparing for the next big adventure.

This new adventure is the Trans-Siberian Rail Route. In July we'll be heading over to Lithuania, then through Latvia and Estonia, before taking a ferry over to Russia and setting off on the train from St Petersburg, a little while later it'll be a decision whether to go through Mongolia to China, or pop in and out again to go round to Vladivostok, then in to China. From there it's all a little vague. Whether to go back to ship or not really depends on the money situation at the time. I mean I wouldn't mind going back, but I also remember how many times during my last contract I couldn't wait to get off that boat.

This has, however, lead to a lot of research and a few lists of essential items such as;

- Spare camera batteries and USB charger (waiting on delivery)

- The equivalent of a Hoboroll from Gobi (ordering one from the US ended up way more expensive than the non-name-brand one found on Amazon, we'll see how it holds up)

- An awesome new day-pack from Mountain Warehouse (which is currently the only piece of equipment I've had the time to try out)

- Power bank (still debating on the Anker Astro E7, which has awesome reviews but is also kind of bulkier and more expensive than planned)

- A lightweight tripod (after a look around Manfrotto, I decided I just don't have the funds for this, so I had a look at the alternatives and came across the CAMlink TP-2800, which seems to have decent reviews and although has the possibility of breaking easily due to it being made from Aluminium, it's cheap enough to get once and if it doesn't work, no worries!)

Other than these things, which I have spent hours and hours searching, reading, reviewing and deciding on, there's simple things that are absolute essentials like gloves, high-visibility bands, decent sleeping mat... But I know which i'm getting through friends recommendations.

Doing all this makes me so excited for the future, but it really makes me appreciate where I am right now. I used to spend a lot of time looking forward and not living in the moment, but honestly making the most of the moment youre currently in makes life seem so much more fulfilling. Spending a day in the garden with my dogs, or getting ice-cream from the village, or walking 16km to the next village over and back (beating our personal best time, with our fastest km at 9Mins2Secs... our slowest was 16mins, but shush!)... It's these little things that are so important in the long run.

For now, however, I'm going back to my next game of Jenga, I'm going to be lazy and put a pizza in for dinner, and I'm going to enjoy the rest of my seriously lazy Monday!

Have a wonderful week guys!