Moving on...
I am leaving this house in just under 36 hours to venture out on vacation to Australia for 6 weeks. Chances are, you know me and/or are on my Facebook and you already know that detail. But none-the-less, I include it for the overall effect. My husband, mom and I are planning on departing from here at 10:45am Wednesday morning to head towards Boston. On the way down, we will take a 10 mile detour to go see a horse, Pet, that we used to own. She is now with amazing owners who have offered to let us come see her and her surroundings, which I am quite excited about. I was hoping to ride her for a few minutes, but at the last minute, good old New England weather kicked in and we got a good foot of snow which has translated into mud, making the ground unfit to ride on. Thus, my planned joy ride won't be happening. But at least I will get to see her. I quite miss seeing her and riding her, though I am very happy with her new family as they love her just as much as we did.
After visiting her, we will head back towards Boston. Our plan is to make a stop in Woburn, MA and pick up a bus that will take us directly to the terminal that we need to go to, which in this case, is terminal C. Normally, I would be going to terminal B as I have taken American Airlines out on this particular flight. However, this year that flight was not available until well after we purchased the tickets, so I am unfortunately flying with United Airlines from Boston to LAX. I say unfortunately because that comes with a price tag for checking my second bag. Last year I was forced to check my carry on bag both ways, so this year I thought I would save myself the trouble. If I had been able to fly with AA, it would have been free, because Qantas and AA are interlined and allow two free bags to Australia. I am hoping to check in around 3:30-3:45pm, even though it is a good two plus hours before my flight. That way I have plenty of time to work out baggage fees and make sure that my ETA (visa) is all set. Then I suppose I will sit around and chill out on the net while waiting for boarding.
Obviously, as anyone would be, I'm pretty excited. Unlike most people, I actually like flying. Even if I am squished on a narrow bodied, narrow seated plane for 6 hours of the trip. I'm excited to fly on the A380 once again this year. The 747 the first year was pretty nice, but the A380 topped it, by far for me. Airbus still has a few kinks to work out with their A380s, but overall, it is a really nice jet and despite the fact that I'm in economy, I feel privileged to fly on it.
Everyone has the same question. Why are you going? First and foremost, I am going to see my best friend Chrissy. Everyone's next question is "How did you meet her?" We met online, on a small Christian women's forum. It was not by chance or coincidence, because out of the thousands of people that were on a much larger forum of which we were both a part, somehow we both ended up at a much smaller forum by invitation due to the larger forum going a little haywire. We had no knowledge of each other while being at the larger forum, but somehow, God must have known we needed each other because we both joined the smaller forum, where we first met. Through a chat room held there at the time, we got to know each other, and later we exchanged instant messaging addresses and Facebook names. From there, a friendship was built very quickly and though the first year was pretty rough, we are inseparable now and it has been and will continue to be an amazing journey, both individually and also as friends, walking side by side. This March marks 3 years that we have known each other, and I couldn't imagine my life without her now. The hardest part about the friendship is that we are so far apart geographically. Maintaining any kind of relationship long distance is not easy. We can't balance out fun stuff with the heavy stuff very well, because there's not a lot of fun stuff to do other than play internet games and go crazy on Skype. So anyway, the number one reason I am going is to see her. This is my third trip out there and yes, I am very very blessed to be able to go not once, not twice, but three times. I do hope to get out there every year, but we'll see what God's plans are for me. I love going out there, not only to see her but also to see all the other beautiful friends I've made out there.
This year, I am going to be gone exactly 6 weeks. I'm leaving on Wednesday, which is the 7th of March, and returning 6 weeks later on Wednesday, April 18th. Last year I was gone for 5 weeks and 2 days. This year I had intended to do the same, but these dates were the only ones that promised the best price so I just went with it. It's totally ok, but wow that is a long time. I am sure going to miss being home with my hubby and all the kitties (except King, I won't miss him...). I'll miss seeing my family and friends here, and I'll miss going to church here. But it will be worth it. I know that I am going to come back refreshed and ready to take on the world. Right now I'm pretty depleted...though the winter has been a mild and fairly calm one compared to normal, it has been a difficult past 6 months or so. Things have settled a lot in the last month or so, but I am still tired and in need of mental and emotional rest from it all.
Well, I am pretty much running out of things to say, and I probably should do a little laundry and a couple of other small things even though it is now 2:33am. I kind of got distracted by watching a goat give birth (on a webcam) and talking to Chrissy on skype, among other things such as Smudge (one of my cats) getting in my face a few times for lovins.
I hope you will enjoy the various musings that I will post in here. I am going to try to keep a detailed log of all that happens on my flights and in the airports and beyond, complete with pictures. For now, this is all I've got!
If you have any suggestions for this blog or otherwise, let me know! I'm open to anything! I can also change how this blog looks if you feel that it's too hard on your eyes.
Hope you all have a great rest of the week and I will be back soon!
For those who are curious about my itinerary, jets that I am going to fly on, etc, the information and pictures are below.
Here is my official itinerary:
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Here are pictures of the jets I will be flying on. To see them larger, just click on them.
My first flight is in this jet, the United 757-200.
My second flight, as well as the first flight on the way back will be in this jet, the Qantas A380:
I am sitting in this section, the green section, all the way in the last back row, all the way to the left.
Here is a youtube playlist that has videos of my flights from last year's trip. I had American Airlines to and from LAX, and Qantas to and from Melbourne.
Awesome! Exciting to hear a little background on your trips. May God make sweet the fellowship with your Australian sister!
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