Well, here we are again. On the brink of a new adventure to different lands…with a twist.
One way tickets, checked bags, and flying in the wrong direction.
It’s hard to believe that a mere two and a half weeks ago we received word that we were to be heading to Melbourne…how much we had to do to be ready to leave seemed daunting at first and now all that feverish activity remains just a blur of a memory.
People to rent our place out furnished – check.
Wonderful, willing friends to temporarily adopt our pet Dori – check.
Deciding which pairs of shoes to bring – good Lord, check!
This time of preparation has been a carry over of that limbo feeling we had while waiting for the ‘okay’. A lot of feeling that a manual for how to handle those “in-between” situations in life would be useful. For example – we have grown quite adept at packing for short (or, not so short) vacations where lightness and practicality trumped everything (well, it never trumped style…but that’s another post). Knowing that we only had to make it to day 14 and then succumb to the need to do laundry was second nature when it came to our vacation selves.
This…this is another beast entirely…but again, not quite. We are NOT relocating permanently, we did not have to pack up our entire life, in fact, we had to make decision on not what to bring, but what NOT to bring.
Semantics? Perhaps…but trying to decide what to leave behind felt like an entirely foreign concept to us, the vacuum bag packers extraordinaire.
Again we had to prepare for that in-between space – not quite relocating, and not quite an extended stay. Manual please?
Ultimately decisions were made, suitcases were shut and we are now waiting to board the first leg of our trip to Los Angeles where we will catch our red-eye connection directly to Melbourne.
Which brings me to time travel.
Yes of course the two are related. Here’s the deal – we leave at 4:30 PM EST on Wednesday June 1st. Our actual flight time only lasts for 22 hours. We land 8:30 AM Melbourne time Friday June 3rd. Wait, what’s that? Where did your Thursday go?
My thoughts exactly.
Time travel is the only concept that allowed me to wrap my head around our flight schedule without it bursting into flames fueled by incomprehension. Thursday will mysteriously vanish from our actual calendar leaving our poor brains to make the jump and accept the fact that while we may not be traveling for over 24 hours, over 24 hours will be lost to the travel vortex of time…travel.
Don’t worry Einstein, I’ll take it from here.
4 Comments
Yesssssss……..finally the big work/life/adventure continues…..what can I/we say? We love having you around, we were tickled to help you get ready (though you all did so much of the work, and so early on; well that’s impressive!), and it all has been grand—-your going away party, dinner and bagels and so much more—we will so miss you. so very much but as much as we will miss you, we are just that happy and excited for you both! Your lust for travel is great….and your tome about time; well, it was timely and really, very good timing! ( Read Einsteins Dream if you get a chance…Alan Lightman—great little book about time, space, life,etc…..)
OK, enjoy the flight(s), be they on Wed. , Thursday or Friday and be ready for the GDay (sp?) to be omnipresent ( and everywhere too!)
Good luck, have fun, work hard, play nice, meet a ton of new folks and make sure you bring your asses back to the states when you are spozed to!
Love, Us
Wish I could have visited with you both prior to your leaving for down under. I am sad to know you are further away — there I said it now I need to stop feeling sorry for myself and move on….. on a positive note, glad that you have the opportunity to travel and see so much of this big world! Skyp (or however it’s spelled) will be my new best friend! Dad and I love you both very much! p.s. Don’t worry about losing Thursday out of your week — it will most likely be another typical day for most of us so you won’t miss much! oxoxoxoxoxoxo
I think your Mom is 150% right! Nothing that special happening this Thursday ( so far anyway) except that it”s hotter than Hades here! So Wednesday begats Friday…just think, when you get back, you will leave on, say a Wednesday, and when you get back, after all of that travel, it will still be Wednesday…I think, right?
By the way, Karen and Jim…..your alls trip sounds very exciting and it’s coming up fast, right?
( Hope Mandy doesn’t get mad and kick me out of the blog for communicating with you!)