60 hours and counting

So... here goes my first attempt at blogging. I've been resisting the idea of blogging for fear that I'll spend a great deal of time writing, editing, trying to be clever or profound and then no one will read it. Now that I've begun typing, my biggest fear is that someone will.

That preoccupation aside, my greatest fear confronting me now as I get ready to leave for Australia is.... will they have the kind of gum I like there. The runner up fear is that I won't taste beer or wine for 6 months. Those are my biggest concerns. My friends and family have warned me about malaria, terrorist groups in Indonesia, plane crashes, tsunamis, intestinal maladies, and no less than 1000 lethal Australian-native animals and insects (from jellyfish to crocodiles to black widow spiders to little sea creatures disguised as seashells- very clever trick, wouldn't you say)... but nonetheless my biggest anxieties, I admit, relate to teetotaling and oral hygiene ("when you can't brush, chew" is possibly the most effective gum slogan ever come up with in the history of advertisement.)

But of course when you came to this blog you were hoping for something a bit more substantive, especially if you have supported this trip with your hard earned dough. So the best I can do right now (given that I am not yet in Australia and actually farther away than I was a week ago- in Chicago) is give you my travel plan info:

Friday July 2nd I will leave for the airport at about 11:00 P.M. I fly direct (14 hours) from SFO to Hong Kong. I arrive at 6:30 a.m. and will meet up with a friend of mine from college to tour Hong Kong for my 8 hour layover. I re-board at 3:00 P.M., I think, (this is July 4th mind you) and arrive in Perth at 10:40 P.M. where I will hopefully pass out immediately and begin exploring the "campus" and city the next day.

May I take just one more moment of your time (since your're here already) to point out that in this whole travel scenario I will be not get to experience July 3rd, 2008. It will not exist in my life. I get on a plane on the 2nd and exit that very same plane on the 4th. Where did the 3rd go? Of course, the 3rd does exist somewhere (law of conservation of mass or something like that)... I'll just be passing over it somewhere near Fiji. Pilot: "If you'll look out the windows to your left you'll see the beautiful islands of Fiji... and to your right you'll see July 3rd, 2008." Thanks to Bill Bryson for pointing this out.

Pray for good sleep on the plane... and that they'll provide me with lots of snacks. I still eat like a starving college student. Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you when I get there!