Travels around the world – The Concept

It all started with an idea as so many things do. The guy who used to play keyboards with us in Full Confession had taken a year out and gone to Australia and returned with some great stories that all sounded too good to be true. One weekend Ian Fisher and myself had decided on a camping trip in Wales, it pretty much did nothing but rain the whole weekend and the tent was waterlogged after the first night.  Tired, cold and miserable we packed all of the camping gear into the car and prepared for the journey back but even this couldn’t go our way.  A couple of encouraging sounds of life gave way to a cough and splutter as the car decided it was way too wet to be going anywhere.  An hour later the AA man had managed to get the car moving and off we set back to the Midlands. After a little while the conversation turned to what a miserable wet weekend it was and Fish then piped up with the suggestion.  “You know”, he began, Craig had the best idea.  “I am thinking about taking a year out and buggering off to Oz for a bit”, and there it was, out in the open for discussion.  The idea had crossed my mind a few times but I was not a very confident person at that point so the idea of leaving my home comforts for the unknown was scary to say the least.  However, if I had someone to support me or travel with then that was a different story altogether.  By the time we got back to the Midlands the idea was in full swing and we had a date planned.  One year to the day September 1^st 1993.
The plan was  to spend a little time in Asia, 6 Months in Australia, 3 months in New Zealand and then the rest of the time in America but sometimes things don't work out the way you expect.