DoN't PuT tHaT PeN AwAy

Because in the next few weeks I will be crossing a few things off my "to do" list. Ones like going to Bali, scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef, visiting Ayres Rock, and even perhaps a few more unexpected ones. Yes more because I already get to cross one off... of sorts.

A few years ago I had plans with a friend, we were going to meet up for dinner, but when I called her to figure out details her phone was off. I was a little confused, but since I live in D.C. I figured she was stuck at work and thought nothing of it. However, a week later I found out that on that particular morning, she woke up and really didn't want to go to work. Instead, she drove to the airport, bought a ticket for the next flight to London and visited her best friend for a week. I was dumbfounded that someone could do that, but in reality I thought it was a brilliant idea! Since then, I've had a fantasy of taking a change of clothes in a carry-on bag, going to the airport and buying a ticket to a very warm and very international place. Now, while I've fantasized about it, I know it will take very special circumstances for me to actually do it.

Well, this past week, those special circumstances kind of occurred. I'd planned a trip leaving July 21, to see my good friend in Australia. Since she works for the airlines, she put me on staff travel, which meant I was flying standby. Sadly, when I got to LAX I was number 21 on the standby list (with people who had been waiting for several days to get on). Only two people were ticketed and they said with only one flight per day, the next days prospects (and the next week plus) for standby looked even worse. It was midnight, I was exhausted and with the breaking news, I was completely stressed out. Now, I will insert that only because of a good friend and my family did I get through the next 24 hours. My friend works for Wyndham and despite the three-hour time difference between D.C. and L.A., he helped me find a hotel in the area, stayed up until he knew I was safe, secure and in touch with my friend in Australia to figure something out. The next day, besides spending a large portion of the day on the phone with my parents creating options/solutions, I spent the day with my dad's coworker (a 55 year old single man) who took me to buy a phone charger, bought me lunch and dinner, let me use the internet at his house, then took me back to the airport.

To put it lightly, I don't function well on little sleep and a lot of stress. After talking to my parents a bajilion times and my brother a few times in between his flight to Utah (who told me to stop being an idiot and just get over there), I decided to buy a one way ticket to Australia. Well, to be more exact, I bought a ticket, freaked out and canceled it, booked a ticket for Sunday using miles with the intent of killing four days in California (boo), then canceled that booking and decided to buy a ticket again. Expect, by the time I figured all of this out, it was five hours before the flight left... ergo no more booking online option. So after dinner, I went to the airport, bought a ticket to Brisbane and walked through security with the bag on my back. One side bonus was a layover in Fiji, where I got to watch the sunrise over the mountains--it was beautiful.