Today Mr W got his first glimpse of the NC500 itinerary. 

We sat and scrolled through all of it together. I was so nervous. It’s 6 months in the making and lots and LOTS of research. Up until today I hadn’t even thought to check the word count. It comes in at a hefty 11,000 words. It finally feels finished now that my partner in crime has seen it. 

There are some checks to be made in terms of the postcodes for the hidden locations and truth be told I’m looking to use the ‘what 3 words’ app. This hones down an area by using three random words. And is accurate down to the last 3 metres squared. It’s already all done online, worldwide so I just have to put my brain into gear and spend a day sorting it. With over 80 locations and hotels it’ll be a feat of concentration for sure. A lot of the places we are visiting are described rather than having an address so this will cut a lot of time and guesswork out of the driving. As too many of the places don’t exactly have car parks and you need to rely on laybys we need to have our locations pretty spot on.

When it comes to car parks in general there’s no definitive information on some about payment etc. So it’s another thing to remember to carry a supply of change etc. 

We also discussed lots of ideas about how we will travel in terms of luggage. We’re pretty set on how the food supplies will work. We’ll have meals on the go in one box, snacks and drinks in two more and then the breakfasts and dinners in the back of the car so we can grab them for the evenings. We’ve decided to take one big piece of luggage for clothing such as trousers, tops etc and then a smaller bag for underwear and other small items. We can then compartmentalise the car, much like a wardrobe, and it’ll make grabbing what we need really easy. The idea behind all this planning and strategizing is minimising the amount of time we hunt through luggage and boxes for what we need. We want the car to be like our home on wheels. We have drawers at home for socks. So we will come up with a similar concept in the car. As we will be on the road, in-between hotels for 10-15 hours, we need to be able to cut down on the faffing about. So streamlining the process of reaching our hotel and checking in is really important to me. To check in with our valuables and an overnight bag is our plan. 

As Mr W proclaimed today, this kind of organising effort is right up my street so I’m not worried at all. There are going to be days that we’ll feel like zombies, but as my darling husband announced today, ‘this is an adventure’. And I simply cannot wait!

Oh and a little update on our pool-time extravaganza today. The sun didn’t emerge from the clouds until after 2pm and by that time it was hidden behind the huge trees behind our house. To say the water was cold is an understatement and after many huffs and puffs from me, we moved the pool to higher and hotter ground, it’s now ready for the summer festivities and I am ready for it! It is now also in a place that is not overlooked, which means I’ll be wearing a bikini for the first time in my life and owning every single second of it!