Hurry up!

Tuesday 17th and I am off to Beijing and I can't wait.  Since the football finished I have had absolutely no idea what to do with myself and time seems to be going so slowly.  Having been stuck in England for a year doing jobs that pay just about enough to live on and having no time for myself I am glad to be finally doing something constructive again.

I spent a while teaching in India last year and I loved it.  I was really nervous the first time I went over about the teaching but that soon went away and it was an enjoyable and fulfilling experience.  Anyone that is nervous about it, I wouldn't worry and just enjoy yourselves.  I enjoyed myself so much in India that I gave up my flat and used my deposit to go straight back out there on my own.  It didn't work out as planned but that was more to do with circumstances at home.

I'm going out to Beijing early as the sooner I get out there the better!  I'm staying in a hostel called Happy Dragon.  It's only about £6 a night and I paid a deposit of about £4.  I'm planning on going to the zoo as I want to see some pandas and I found a street that sells food at night.  Scorpions and mad stuff like that, so I thought I need to try some.  Kebabs for a pound as well, so I can't go wrong!

Luckily I didn't need to get any vaccinations as I have had them all.  I just need to get myself a decent backpack, sort out my music, and I'm ready to go.  I've learnt a bit of Mandarin and I can recognise the tones pretty well, I'm just not sure if I am able to say them properly!  Oh well it all adds to the experience, I picked up Hindi pretty well so I'll give Mandarin a go as well.

I have no intention of coming back to England any time soon, I want to travel around south east Asia seeing Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos, the Philippines and then onto Australia to see some relatives.  I'm then going to try and get a job in South America as it is somewhere I have always wanted to go to.  I am not entirely sure how I am going to pull this off, but I am determined to do it, so where there is a will there is a way!  I've got it into my head that I am going to finish off my travels at the World Cup in Brazil in four years time.  I've always wanted to travel and seen as I have no commitments then why not.  I think sometimes people too many barriers in the way of things they want to do.

Good luck to everyone with their preparations and look forward to meeting people in Beijing.

Seán

• China