I was at Heathrow on Thursday last week to see my sister off on her round the world trip. She’s starting off in Borneo for a few weeks before making her way down through Australia and New Zealand to visit her twin and back through Mexico & South America. I think the Galapagos were mentioned too. It brought back memories of the first long overseas trip I did when I was 19. I’d just finished my A Levels and went to Australia for a year. Nearly 20 years ago now! There was no such things as email, I didn’t have a credit card and even cheap calling cards weren’t even a twinkle. I had a bunch of travellers cheques and some US dollars on that first stopover night in Manila, Philippines when I had 24 hours to kill on the way to Sydney. I felt completely on my own – scared to death :)

It’s amazing how much that has changed. My sister got herself an International SIM card for her phone. Obviously it’s bloody expensive for her to phone people up for a chat, but for texting and emergencies it’s perfect. Internet cafes and broadband all over the shop, Skype, MSN and all the rest of it, it’s a whole lot less cut off out there in the wide world these days. I got a text from her this morning telling me everything was going well in Borneo and she was just setting off to climb a mountain.

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