Over the years it has been a bit of a tradition for Debbie to let me take her on a mystery holiday. We negotiate a week or so when we were both free and then I start planning. Previously I gave her an idea of the budget – but now I don’t bother. Our general attitude to travel is to spend just enough to be safe and comfortable, indulge when the opportunity is once in a lifetime but be prepared to pay anything to solve a serious problem.

But where are we going?

It must be confessed that some people do know where we are going, but Debbie doesn’t. What she does know is the time we are due at the airport tomorrow and the day we return. She also knows what I will be packing for the trip because I pulled my pack apart last weekend and showed her. You will hear about some of our packing habits as the story unfolds but so far this is what she has been told to bring:

• a ‘cafe culture’ outfit (look decent at least once)
• coastal walking clothes (mountaineering boots not required)
• bathers and towel (pointless instruction; she won’t swim)
• simple eating things, knife fork spoon, coffee flask, water bottle
• the usual toiletries, first aid kits, pen and sketchbook
• camera, money, cards, entertainment

Note that I didn’t ask her to pack a passport!!!

Tracking our trip

Although you will find posts published as we travel, these links will become live and take you straight there as our holiday unfolds.

Packing to keep in touch

Going away doesn’t have to mean being out of contact with the world, or your step count. But the grams can pile up if you bring all the devices you use at home on a trip. I have streamlined my digital needs over the years so that when I leave home I can survive with only my:

• Samsung A51 smartphone (camera, music, blogging, email, maps)
• Inspire 3 HR Fitbit (steps, watch)
• Plantronics Voyager 3200 Bluetooth Earpiece (phone calls, audiobooks)

This digital travel pack goes everywhere with me, even if I am walking to work or just driving to the supermarket. I don’t leave home without them. They are usually charged so that they will last me all day – but on longer trips, they will of course need juicing up. So when heading away for holidays I also take:

• Cygnett Charge-up Reverse 20K Powerbank
• A flush USB wall charger
• The three smallest USB chargers that I can find to fit my devices.

The Powerbank is a must. On a previous 9-hour walk my phone ran dry and I had to wait in a remote beachfront fish and chip shop while they kindly recharged my phone so that I could arrange a pickup. Never, never again.

• The whole package neatly fits into one of my lightweight travel bags and all up, including the Fitbit and phone which rarely make it into my pack, they add 690 grams to the weight I carry.

With a minor change to an international wall charger, or hopefully a hotel sporting USB charging sockets, this setup can take me anywhere in the world.

The daily statistics

Every day I will use the Map My Walk app to record where and how far we have travelled. It is much better than Google Maps as it is very happy to show where you forged a river or jumped a private fence. Google Maps, on the other hand, is a bit puritanical and when you try to recreate your walking route it diverts you to ‘appropriate’ pathways – and not the one you took. Below is an example of a previous walk I have done.

One of the tricks to MMW is to pause the tracking when you have a break – or it adds it to the walking time. The trickier bit is to restart it once you start again! It is Debbie’s job to remind me.

We head off tomorrow – so wish us luck!