7 Relaxing Wonders of the World

Wonder One

On January 2nd it all starts: we leave Newcastle for London Heathrow, then connect to Mumbai where we spend a day before heading on to the place of our first wonder, Sri Lanka. This challenge represents stopping the backward slide of health and making it our number one priority to get better. Our aim in Sri Lanka is to get well enough to complete the rest of the trip....no pressure then!

The first step in our journey back to good health will involve checking into an Ayurvedic spa. This must be just about the only form of "alternative" therapy that between us we haven't tried yet!  Ayurveda translates as "the sciencle of life" and in Sri Lanka they've got the science down to an art. As well as medicinal herbs and dietry treatments we will learn yoga and meditation...mind body and soul sorted.

While in Sri Lanka we will also take tea in the hills where it is grown, and look for leopards in Yala National Park

Wonder Two

After a short stopover in Bangkok we will head for New Zealand, where relaxing wonder two beckons - health giving mud and mineral spas fuelled by the earth's own sustainable geothermal energy. While we're slathered in sulphurous slime you'll be glad we're round the other side of the world! This challenge represents the awful "stuck in the mud" feeling we've all had when whatever we do it makes no difference to our health.

Other New Zealand highlights include living in a camper van, whale watching and generally drinking in all the glorious scenery and wine....or not as we're getting healthy!

Wonder Three 

Originally our Australian wonder was to cuddle a koala, but it turns out that this is not good for the koalas, and is illegal in most states. So we have re-designated our journey on the Ghan railway and trek right round Uluru as our "down under wunder"

From here it's on to Cairns where we can hopefully put our recent scuba lessons into practice, then down the coast to Sydney via the Whitsundays.

Wonder Four

This is the chilly bit and the Chile bit...and Argentina a bit too. Trai wants to include the glaciers because it seems to be a wonder there are still any left at all! It will hopefully help to allay her sense of certain doom...Oh and we should say that we're trying to offset our entire carbon footprint on this trip - still working it out as we write.

Patagonia represents the isolation many ME sufferers experience and is more of a challenge than it might first appear - those of us with ME can also find it difficult to regulate our body temperatures and as it's winter in Patagonia it could be as little as -25C during the week we're here. Also Trai's ME includes a disproportionate amount of nausea, so she dreads getting on a boat.

On the way to Patagonia we will stay in Valparaiso for a week at a Spanish school and experience a little of urban Chilean cool in Santiago.

 Wonder Five

From one extreme to another. People with ME often have trouble with body temperature, so surfacing from the frozen Patagonian winter will be a real challenge as we head straight up the length of Chile to the Atacama desert. This is driest place on Earth and consequently with some of the clearest skies. Here we plan to lie down a lot, look up at the stars and dream of life still to come... This challenge represents the hopes and aspirations that are so important to retain when you have ME - will ours have changed because of our trip? will the secrets of the universe reveal themselves? or will we just get stiff necks and cactus prickles in our bums?

 Wonder Six

Anyone who's trekked to Macchu Pichu in Peru will tell you its not at all restful or relaxing - which is why we're not doing it! Instead we'll take the train. We just couldn't miss out on what really was a wonder of the ancient world, and this challenge represents the need to slow down and do things in different ways when you're ill. On our way here overland from Chile we will call at Lake Titicaca, maybe the Nazca lines, and hopefully avoid any eating of guinea pigs.

 Wonder Seven

Lima is our last stop in South America, and from there we fly to Miami for a "holiday" - yeah we know! - in the Everglades and Florida Cays. Seriously though, we think travelling in South America might be a little more taxing than elsewhere for 2 girls who have very limited energy and are vegetarian.  Anyhow that's our excuse for winding up here for 2 weeks to round off our odyssey. And what could be more wonderful than finishing up in a close encounter with a manatee? They are gentle, inquisitive and endangered, and yet their only natural enemy is man. They represent the need to be gentle with ourselves, especially when we are working towards being well.

Of course there have always been rumours of an eighth wonder of the world. For us that will be the wonder of achieving our goals, raising awareness and funds, and coming back home fit, well and happy, having had fun and made friends along the way.