Leaving Basingstoke

Vero and Thomas were due to return to their house that we were house sitting in on 7 May.  So we had to decide if we were going to continue in the UK; move somewhere else, pay rent etc and continue with our original plan, which was stay in the UK for a year or more and do short trips to the continent or not.  The credit crunch was an influence because we were not feeling all that confident that our jobs in Aus would remain secure.  The cost of living in the UK is very high and rents were high, so it was going to cost a packet to find somewhere else to live and they were laying people off everywhere.  We found that working full time (Al was doing 12 hour shifts and was working most weekends)  and for me commuting 4 hours a day left us both exhausted and not keen to go anywhere let alone organise ourselves to go away to Europe for a weekend.  It became apparent that we just couldnt afford to go to Europe for any length of time and we were both heartily sick of grey skys.  So what to do? Go on a cruise, somewhere with a blue sky!!!.  So with this in mind, we sold the car, packed our bags and said goodbye to Basingstoke, work and the UK anddecided to head home via Egypt and Thailand.  We had to get a summer in somewhere.