- Day 1

All our bags are packed, we're on our way

..... well not quite but the old song 'Leaving on a jet plane' keeps humming its way around my head and I've got a crack team of past International trip participants rewriting the words for me!

Had a bit of a scare this afternon as we sorted kit, prioritised what we really needed against what we fancy taking and then tried to pack in some logical order. Wet weather gear to the fore will be really annoyingly in the way if it doesn't rain - however - as an insurance I shall put it in the most easily accessible place which will guarantee that we don't need it. Anyway, back to the scary bit, having done the priority organising we then started to load the roof box (huge thanks to my sister Georgie for lending us her half roof box and to my other sister Deb, for lending Georgie her full size roof box as a replacement for her own family camping trip!) but, couldn't lock the box or remove the key or do anything sensible with it. It's a hot and humid day in London today and struggling with a roof box that wouldn't shut was not making things better. So, emptied the box, closed it and hey presto it locked - hurrah! It's a very deceptive beast the roof box, looks enormous but patently isn't so. Repacked it, need to wedge everything presumably so it doesn't move around too much but can't build castles. Lesson learned.

Still got to pack some clothes. Hard to recall the warm, wet weather we've had so far this summer when we're in hot, tropical mode now. Need some Guide uniform but not for everyday, invited to some evening social events when Caroline's advised me I might want to look slightly smarter than general camping mode. Away for 19 nights. Hmm, don't want to drag a huge amount of stuff around - a challenge for tomorrow morning I reckon. Nick's ahead of the game and has demanded to know how many pairs of underpants he needs to pack! Notorious for hauling massive great suitcases, a back pack and a shoulder bag to Banbury every Monday morning for 2 nights away he is a surprisingly light packer for Guide camps, thank goodness. He's also a saint when it comes to organisation and knows exactly what equipment we need, where it's stored at home, gathers it all together and helps to load it all in the car.

We ventured down to our local Saino's this morning to stock up on a few basic things for the trip. We're very fortunate in that we're being entertained by local guiding members in many of the Counties and so don't need to consider an evening meal however, we're excited by the couple of nights or so that we're self catering and have a few staples packed up along with basics for lunches. Keeping food cool could be a challenge, we don't need much of course but being on the move everyday isn't easy. I'm sure that we could have borrowed a travel fridge or cool box to plug into the cigarette lighter in the car but we don't need anything that size. So the request has gone out to each County to kindly bring us a pint of frozen milk at each overnight stop - the perfect way to keep a small coolbag and it's contents chilled for the day.

Driving around Wandsworth today and experiencing the effect of the ORN (Olympic Road Network) was interesting. Many people appear to be ignoring changed turnings and will drive into incoming traffic to turn right where they always have done, skirting around newly erected barriers. I can understand peoples' frustration with the Olympic lanes when they are empty and the one that they are in is at a standstill - but hey guys, this is a 'summer like no other' get over it and appreciate how much London has achieved so far to ensure that this is the best Games ever.

Only 2 hours to go before the Opening Ceremony - can't wait! Better get on with all the preparations for being away from home for 20 days!