In the early hours of tomorrow morning I leave the UK behind and I embark on the first stage of my adventure.  It has been hard saying goodbye to my friends and family but I am looking forward to finally setting off.

Tomorrow we take the Eurostar to Paris and from there swing south and follow the sun for the next few months.  I will return to the UK briefly at the end of August and I will be around again to regroup in October before heading off across the Atlantic to South America.

I have been dreaming about this for a long time and I can hardly believe that little old me has actually had the bottle to go ahead and resign from my job and that I will be living out of a rucksack indefinitely.

I will be joining the band of travellers, nomads and wanderers who roam the planet as free-range humans with few material possessions, but with a life brimming with experiences.

I am sure that there will be times when I get homesick or I am ill, times when I am cold and wet or hot and thirsty, times when I am lost in a strange city or marooned at a remote bus stop, but goodness, I could be behind my desk working on the same old problems day in day out.

I shall need to find work as I travel and I expect to stay in some very basic accommodation and dine on street food, but I hope to get fitter, meet amazing people and have some fantastic experiences.