I started my last post by saying I’d been planning, and it’s all about travel, and the F1 season has started again… Then continued by writing about my weekend? Slight sidetrack? Nothing new there then! So what is the planning all about?

Well, I’m a wee bit excited. And I’m smiling at the thought. And it’s nothing to do with being on a tube out west listening to Taylor Swift (guilty pleasure). It’s because I’m going on another crazy trip and I’m excited about it!

This time three years ago, I felt a bit like this. I was heading off to Hong Kong on my first solo long haul, into the unknown, not sure what to expect, and blogging about everything from in-flight entertainment, to getting lost in Kowloon, to two Aussies hurling projectiles on a train in Sydney.

Since then, have I become a bit complacent? Or have I just got used to traveling? I’m not really sure. I don’t get as excited about the little things as I used to, maybe because I now know what to expect. But one thing has not changed – the sense of appreciation. Most of my friends don’t have the freedom I do, to just pack a bag and go (their jobs don’t let them, they have young families, or other responsibilities etc). I recognise that and that’s part of the reason I blog about it – some of them say they feel they’re there with me, experiencing it with me. I truly hope so, as it can get lonely traveling alone! Writing my blog feels like I’m telling my best mate about it, the only difference being the blog doesn’t get a round in…

I’m going off on one again, aren’t I? Right, focus Boxy; where are you going with this?

  

Kuala Lumpur. In three days’ time, I’ll be hopping on a big bird to South East Asia! It’s my birthday on Friday and I wanted to do something different for it this year, rather than just drinks in the pub. Also, BA are changing their Avios points system, meaning that after April, the points I’ve been accumulating over the past year or two will buy me just a third of what they do now. So if I’m going to get the most from them, I need to spend them now. The Malaysian Grand Prix falls on my birthday weekend and it’s one I’ve never been to. This all had ‘why the hell not’ written all over it – so I just did it!

With a little persuasion from the F1 paddock (it doesn’t take much), who were testing in Jerez at the time, tickets were booked, a rough guide purchased, and that smile which finds its way onto my face whenever I’m planning my next trip, managed to find its way onto my face. So over the next week or so, I’ll post a few updates from my big birthday trip. (That’s a big ‘birthday trip’ as opposed to a ‘big birthday’ trip, just to clarify, I’m not into my forties just yet…!) I’ll try to make them interesting and will be my usual shameless self – if I walk into a lamppost you’ll hear about it, don’t worry!

#bigbirthdaytrip

#letsgoracing

Bxx