On the Eve

Well, it’s finally here. The countdown on the dashboard of my computer reads: 11 hours, 37 minutes, and 25 seconds till I leave for Australia. Tomorrow is finally the day I’ve been anxiously awaiting for what seems like forever. It’s hard to believe that everything is FINALLY complete. When I began this process I would have never guessed the overwhelming amount of work and stress planning this trip would be. Does anyone know how difficult it is to eliminate 12 pounds of your most precious possessions to avoid paying $100 in baggage fees? But I’ve got my passport, my visa is approved, the luggage is FINALLY packed, and I’m ready to go! I’m still not 100% sure exactly what I’ve gotten myself into, but I do know that this will be the biggest journey of my life thus far.

Since I haven’t flown on a plane since I was 4 (and I don’t remember it) I essentially consider this my first time ever flying. I still chuckle at the idea that my first flying experience will be to the other side of the world. Simply making it to Australia alive will be a great feat alone.

I’ll be waking up around 4:30 a.m. tomorrow morning and flying from Cleveland to Chicago. Then I have a layover at O’Hare until I catch my next flight to LA. I’ll be at LAX for a few hours (maybe I’ll see some celebrities?) until the big 15-hour flight to Sydney. However, our program orientation is in Cairns at the Great Barrier Reef, so from Sydney I’ll be flying to Cairns where I’ll be for a few days. Then from Cairns I’ll be on my way to Brisbane where I have a layover until I FINALLY fly into Newcastle, where I’ll be staying. Yep, that’s 6 total flights. Don’t worry; I’ve already accepted the fact that my luggage will be lost.

Because of the huge time zone difference and since I’ll be crossing the international dateline, it’s kind of odd that I’ll be leaving Cleveland on Sunday morning and arriving in Australia on Tuesday morning….but who likes Mondays anyway, right?

I’m not sure the next time I’ll have internet access to post my next entry, but check back regularly so you can stay updated on what I’m up to. I thought that this would be a fun way to keep everyone in the loop. I plan to update as much as I possibly can. I also have a link on my page to my shutterfly site where you can check out all of my pictures. Finally, if you don’t have a skype account make one right now so we can chat…my name is kpitingolo.

I’ll see ya there!