Temporary Housing!

We have received our temporary accomodations in Sydney and it looks amazing! It's right on the Harbor (here's hoping we have a view!) and is on the 6th floor. It's 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom and probably bigger than our house. It's a 10 minute walk along the harbor to Jason's office. Sounds like a relaxing commute. Might be slightly nicer than taking 2 SEPTA buses in 95 degree weather! Looks like we have a buyer for the car. As long as the inspection from their mechanic goes well it will be gone on June 28th! That's a little earlier than we hoped but that's okay, it's almost gone! I will miss it though.

Things are moving now!

2 bags down...how many to go?

We have two bags packed! They are our two hiking packs with all of our camping gear. We intend to introduce Abby to the Outback through camping so it is up high on the list of stuff that is coming with us. I have been very worried about the weight of our bags since they charge you an arm and a leg if you go over 50 pounds. So, to ease my mind I bought one of those scale things that you hang the bag on. After putting my backpack on I was convinced it was at least 40 pounds. We weighed it last night with the new gadget and it was 19 pounds!! That's right, less than half of what I thought. So forget the scale. The new test is if I can pick it up...it's less than 50 pounds. As another reference - Abby weighed in at 18 pounds at her 1 yr doctor's appointment, only one pound less than the bag. What am I going to do when she weighs 30 pounds and still wants to be picked up?! Maybe this packing of 50 pound bags will help me in the long run.

And just a note on how different men and women are (has that bit been overdone by stand-up comics yet?). I was totally concerned about the weight of the bags but Jason, on the other hand, gets the scale in his hand and proceeds to try and figure out how high he can get it to register by pulling it apart. (About 70 pounds for reference. I could only do 30!). This is not the purpose of this gadget and it will surely be broken before we leave!

Jason will be forever 29!

We have booked our flights!! We leave Philadelphia at 2pm on July 26th and arrive in Sydney at 6:30am July 28th (we stop in Atlanta and again in Los Angeles). We will be crossing the date line and will be skipping right over July 27th (Jason's 30th birthday). Of course I am convinced that Jason has planned this so that he is forever 29. Bull shit I say! Be a man and turn 30 like the rest of us old heads!

When looking at flights and airlines we had a couple of considerations that got us to where we are with our flights.

- The only airline that we could get direct from PHL-LAX-SYD was United and apparently United "sucks donkey balls". That's a direct quote from one of the many horrendous reviews on United. Hence the stop in Atlanta.

- I was rooting for Qantas, an Australian airline, but Jason's company has some preferred airlines that they like to fly. Delta was on that list and they got some really good reviews. So, Delta it is. One free alcoholic drink and OnDemand movies and tv in the back of every seat!
Note: Those of you who are thinking of visiting, Delta is probably the most affordable one.

So, it's off to the races to get everything done before we leave and figure out what can fit into 8 or 9 fifty pound bags.

Abby Got a Credit Card?

We had a great memorial day weekend visiting lots of friends and family! By Monday night, we were beat. I was laying on the couch resting my eyes (aka: out cold sleeping!) and Jason was checking his work email to get a head start on the morning. I can remember the feeling of going into work on Tuesday morning after a long holiday weekend feeling happy and refreshed. Then I would open up my email and it would take 10 minutes for all of them to come through from the crazies who worked all weekend long. So, to avoid this awful feeling a quick check at night is all that's needed. We are glad that he did because there were, among others, three emails (one for each of us) with our visa numbers saying that we were approved. YEAH! As Jason read them one by one he says to me, "My visa was approved, your visa was approved, and Abby's visa was approved." In my delerious state I half woke up and said, "Abby got a credit card?" Man, I am funny when I'm sleepy! :-) Now, off to check out flights!