United Kingdom

well, one of the most frequently asked questions to date has been 'what areyou taking?', so here goes, in no particular order.

lower alpine 50litre rucksack
silk sleeping bag liner
a sleeping bag
hand trek towel
waterproof rucksack cover
first aid kit
toileteries (i won't go into detail)
a hammock (folds away to a tiny pack)
hankies
mosquito net and head net
a camelpak
waterproof trousers
north face micro fleece
berghaus long sleeve zip top
trekking trousers
shorts
swim shorts
passport and driving license
tickets!
a travel pillow
eye mask
wallet
head torch
playing cards
vip backpackers pass
glasses
sunglasses
i-nano
sunhat
wooly hat
4 pairs of boxers
2 pairs of walking socks
5 t-shirts
a north face shirt
walking boots
sports sandals

our flight to london is at 2.25pm then we fly out tonight at 10pm

all journeys have to start somewhere, sometime.......our journey starts today.

love
murray and lynn
xxxx

well i am very hungover. it was my mums 60th last night and it was quite a party! all our friends were there as well as my mums so it was a great way to celebrate my mums 60th and see everyone for the last time for a year!

it all kicked off at 6pm with around 30 people coming to my mums house for champagne- very civilised. we then got the bus to the robertson arms in carnwath. i was dj-ing and played some fantastic 60's tunes to get the dancefloor going.

the real party started back at my mums! me, lynn, dave, shona, elliott, martyn, kenny, marjorie, wigs, carla, deborah, harry, ross, dougal and kirsty popped openall the remaining bottles of champagne and anything else we could find!

me, lynn, elliott, carla, deborah and marty stayed up till dawn blasting music out. god knows how my mum, my aunt pat, harry and wigs got to sleep. wigs crashed out in the front room. elliott slept on the floor in the living room and me and lynn ended up over at ken and gwens!

it was a fantastic night and i'd like to thank everyone that attended for making it so special for my mum.

we all had breakfast ataround 10.30am, this was 5 hours after we had gone to bed!

classic wigs moment - the guy was born and raised in carluke but got lost walking to the station from my mums! he ended up walking up back roads and through farms before arriving back at my mums tomuch laughterand piss taking - classic!

i've now said my goodbyes to my mum, brother, sister and friends and weare spending our last night in scotland for a year at lynn's mums. dinner is about to be served and i am starving!

i'll update the blog after a couple of days in thailand.

take care

murray

well it's been quite a week.

on monday lynn and i went to a lawyers to make a will - just in case anything goes wrong while we are away.

on tuesday we had a lovely dinner at our friend maureen's and enjoyed her fabulous company along with the legendary mark o'sullivan and the very cool miss jillian steele.

on wednesday i enjoyed the sunshine in the botanical gardens with my friend richard before playing my last game of fives for a while. i then went to the crown with my friend scott for a few beers.

on thursday it was another stunning day and i climbed ben lomond with my friend elliott. the views were stunning and will rival anything that we see on our travels. we go for a wee paddle in the loch to cool down - lovely. at night i play pool with kenny and have a few more beers in the crown with scott. we have a great laugh and i am sorry that i will miss his best man speech at wig's wedding. it will be hilarious. wig's - be warned!

on friday lynn comes over to my mums and we go for dinner at la piazza with martyn and his icelandic 'friend' hannah. we then meet upin the crown with elliott, gillian, kenny and scott for more beers. we are having a very sociable time!

on saturday we spend the day in scorching sunshine out in my mums garden, which now has the martyn mcsporran seal of approval! we then head to tuts to sit outside in the sun, watch the futuristic retro champions soundcheck, meet up wih loads of friends and enjoy a simply stunning gig.

i was incredibly proud to see my sister play a venue i have been going to for over 13 years and where i have seen amazing gigs by beck, teenage fanclub, arthur lee and love and the white stripes - to name just a few! the champions were on championship winning form and everyone had a cracking night. thanks to everyone that came along.

so the week ahead - more socialising! i think we will need to dry out when we get to thailand.

sunday - bbq at ken and gwen's
monday - a night out in ashton lane with scott and hopefully wigs
tuesday - calvin harris at king tuts
wednesday - lynn has a girls night out, i may have a night of doing sweet fa - sounds good
thursday - i have an invitation to the edinburgh school of art degree show preview night. my sister graduates this year - well done carla and i will be thinking of you when i am on a beach in thailand.
friday - wee alan (who now is over 6ft tall) is 21
saturday - my mum's 60th
sunday - our last night in the uk
monday - the travels commence!

phew - maybe we will have time to relax when we get to thailand. seriously, it has been great to catch up with so many friends lately. i have had an amazing time.

well lynn and i have now finished work. i had a fantastic leaving night from maggie's that culminated in dancing the night away at glasgow's premiere mod night - friday street.

since then we have......
- moved out of the flat and handed the keys over to deborah and lynn, the flat is remarkably clean
- lynn finished work on thursday
- i went out with my mate reddy on thursday night to the variety bar and to see my friend james band juno. we also met up with friends lorna and kenny
- i dj'd at our friend agnes' 30th on friday night and played a storming 5.5 hour set. highlights were 'you'll never walk alone', a live version of 'sit down', 'going back to my roots' and 'don't leave me this way'
- i attended the glasgow manchester united supporters club agm yesterday and it was good to hear the club is in good health although ticket prices are up dramatically, not that i have to worry about that for the next year
- we went to a bbq last night at lynn's mum's golf club but left early as 3 nights out in a row was not a good idea

tonight we head to ryan's for dinner and the week ahead will consist of finally getting our thai visas, playing fives, going to friends for dinner on tuesday, climbing ben lomond on thursday with my mate elliott and the futuristic retro champions on saturday

all systemsgo

Well as I am off work on holiday today I officially only have 5 days of work left. What a feeling!

Deborah and Lynn are now moving into the flat on May 29th so we have a busy 10 days ahead - making sure everything is packed up and moved out to our very accomodating parents!

I have started compiling the playlist to end all playlists to take with me on my travels - a Nano only holds so many songs you know. I look forward to hearing Teenage Fanclub while driving around Australia, Stone Roses while lying on a deserted beach, Stevie Wonder while trekking through the Amazon and the laid back sounds of Air while floating down a river in a dugout canoe!

Footie news - United lost the 2nd leg of the CL semi. Milan were awesome and surely can't lose to the scousers in the final. United did win the league though. An inspired 4-2 victory away to Everton after being two down clinched it - although technically it was the victory away to City and Chelsea drawing at the Arse.

The first league title in 3 years is sweet and it's all set up nicely for the FA Cup Final against Chelsea at the new Wembley this weekend.

I need to sign off as I am headng out to get some innoculations - OUCH!

MURRAY