It's all turning into concrete!

In the past few days I have put down my deposit and received my welcome pack, been to sort out my flight and insurance, and ordered a "Learn Spanish in about 2 days with minimal effort" CD course, and it's all starting so sink in a bit more that I'm travelling about 8000 miles to the other side of the world - and I HATE flying!!! At least I'll get to see if water really does go anticlockwise south of the equator...

I have to pay for and confirm my flight details next week, but it looks like it's going to be a LONG couple of days! I'm going from Heathrow to Madrid on Tuesday (5th) evening, then to Santiago in Chile to hang around for 12 hours, then to Lima to arrive 22:50 and be whisked off to a hotel for the night, before a (relativel) short flight to Cusco on Thursday. Phew! And I always wondered what jet lag felt like! I've also got to get insurance and an ISIC student card, which shouldn't be too much. And for an extra £60 I can change my flight dates when I'm out there, so I can extend my stay if I don't have resit exams in September (which I hopefully won't!), and I haven't run out of money, and Jon doesn't mind moving houses without me (love you!). Thank you STA Travel, I love you too!

My bungee jump idea isn't looking quite so hot at the moment. Turns out that not many people really want to tie elastic to their ankles and jump off a crane, so I'm looking into abseiling instead. No one has any excuse not to do that (except for a general terrifying fear of heights maybe), and the more the merrier! I've emailed a few companies so I should have some more information next week, but I realise that time is of the essence and all that, so need to start nagging people. And I've also got to get this Smartie thing up and running - basically you get people to fill a Smartie tube with 20 pence pieces and pound coins, and then they get a go at guessing the Smaries in the jar. Quick and easy! For a sponsored event, I want 10 people to raise £200 each, which will make me about £1400. Anything else over that should pay for my flight and general costs, which I have started panicking about since I realised how much kit I'll need - spare glasses, prescription sunglasses, a watch, a fake wedding ring to ward off scary Latino men, a massive first aid kit (this is me we're talking about here!), mosquito net, waterproofs, clothes that actually fit... I'm just glad I already got buying my sexy rucksack out of the way!

Finally, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has seen the website and not said they hated it - all 10 of you! No, seriously, thanks for your encouragement, spreading-of-the-word-of-me and offers of help, it is really all appreciated, even if I don't say it as often as I should. So cheers to you all! :)