The Prologue

 

If you’re reading this post, it means you’ve signed up to join our Travelogue: Doing Epic Shit Down Under. Hopefully, a decision you will not regret!

We are in Los Angeles this weekend to attend a wedding of two of our son Jake’s best friends (Jake is officiating their wedding - maybe a fallback career option in case the high tech sales thing gets old!) - congrats Jesse and Nisha!


Being in LA brings us 6 hours closer to the start of our longest journey yet - a 5-month trip that will take us to Australia, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. We’ll be hiking, camping, scuba diving, birding, trying strange new foods (what is the difference between Vegemite and Marmite anyway?), learning a strange new language (Australian English) and doing wildlife conservation volunteering (I definitely recommend you stick with us for a report on our volunteer experience at an orangutan sanctuary in Borneo at the end of our trip in September!).

Yesterday, we celebrated Melanie’s birthday at a great Mexican restaurant (La Cha Cha Cha) in the LA Arts District in great company (with our nephew Zack and his girlfriend Mo).

 

 And not wanting to wait any longer to begin at least the culinary adventure portion of our trip, we ordered the Grasshoppers to go with our guacamole - a first for us!

May also have been the last time for Melanie!



We’ve been planning a return trip Down Under ever since 2020 when Covid hit during our last trip there. Preparing for a trip of this duration was no easy feat. On the homefront there were lots of arrangements needed to be sure that while we’re away all the bills get paid and the grass gets cut (not to mention Melanie having to fly to Florida to drop her dog with her brother who will be dog sitting for the duration of our adventure).

On the trip front, I’ve booked 28 different flights, and reserved countless different AirBnBs, small hotels, camping trips and dive centers in Sydney, Adelaide, Kangaroo Island, Melbourne, Cairns, Uluru, PNG, Gladstone, the Great Barrier Reef, Perth, Darwin, Komodo, Bali, Raja Ampat, Borneo and Jakarta. And some people worry about being bored in retirement! 😎

Success on a trip like this requires a ton of planning and lots of good luck. Fortunately, I think we’ve gotten all of our bad luck out of the way in advance of our arrival Down Under. In late February, Melanie broke her ribs in a horseback riding accident in Costa Rica (it was hugely painful for weeks, but thankfully she is mostly recovered). Then, to be sure that we wouldn’t be bored with too much extra time on our hands in the lead-up to our departure, my Mom fell and broke her leg requiring surgery 10 days prior to our departure (she’s now resting - not exactly comfortably - in a rehab facility in Quincy). And finally, our very first flight to LA was diverted to Cleveland due to an engine failure. The perennial optimist, I assert that this all bodes well for our trip!

We’re now only one 15 hour flight away from the start of our epic adventure Down Under, so stay tuned…..

 

 

Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 30, 2023 at 10:16 AM

    Keep doing what you're doing, except eating grasshoppers! Love You guys :-)
    Neal

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lisa SmonApril 30, 2023 at 6:04 PM

    Fantastic and the adventure has barely begun! I can't wait to travel along with you guys! Happy trails!!

    ReplyDelete

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