Hi Kirsty,
good to read your blogs. I can understand how excited you are. 8 months of non stop travel. I would love that too. You wont believe when I went on Great Escapde site , I made the excat tour, and dreamed of all those places. I wish I would be able to do that sometime. For you, keep enjoying that pre-journey excitement. Hey why don't you join (rtwers) on yahoo groups you will get lot of good information.
Take care