Mic Check 1, 2, 3

I am headed out of the country for about 7 weeks and thought I would write a blog while I am gone so my family and friends can keep up with me.  I've never really written anything for the public to read other than a longwinded Facebook post every now and then so please bear with me if I start to ramble or get a little boring.  I do find writing to be somewhat enjoyable.  I hope you find reading this at least tolerable. 


So here it goes...


The day that I have been anticipating for about eight months has finally arrived.  At 5:32pm EDT today I will board a flight headed for Sydney, Australia.  The flight doesn't land in Sydney until 7:25am on Saturday.  That includes 20 hours of actual flight time – about 5 hours from Atlanta to San Francisco and then about 15 hours from San Francisco direct to Sydney.


Two perks come with flying such a great distance. One, my employer allows me to fly Business Class on all international flights. And two, I will accumulate enough airline miles to buy two round trip tickets to New York City in November 2015 to run the NYC Marathon which I had to withdraw from this year due to this AU/NZ trip. 


I will be in Sydney from Sat, October 25 through Monday, November 3. I will then fly to Melbourne and stay there until Friday, November 28. And after that is Auckland, New Zealand where I will stay through Friday, December 12. And then I head home just in time for Christmas!


I am leaving behind my sweet husband, Jonathan, and my cutie pie Scottish Terrier, Jacoby.  If someone could take them a home cooked meal occasionally I know they would really appreciate it.