It Starts!

I was sad that I had to leave my only in-country family behind, but the journey had to start at some point. Because I had been based in Sydney for work, that's where I was due to start from. It didn't take long for my travel karma to begin, and thankfully it started off positive.

While I was checking in for my flight from Brisbane to Sydney I noticed a gentleman struggling with the newly-automated systems. I helped to guide him through it, and he repaid my gesture by inviting me to join him for a beer in the Qantas lounge while we both waited for our flights. It turns out that he was a grazier from Rockhampton, the town where I went to university, and where my brother lives. He was in Brisbane for the racing carnival and we both knew some of the same people back in Rockhampton, including my brother's boss. I was starting to wonder who else I might run into on this trip, but there was one other person that I was really looking to seeing before I left.

In typically bad timing, I'd met a girl about two months ago, and we were becoming really close. She knew about my impending travel plans, but would never have been able to join me, as she was in the middle of a masters degree. We both knew that this day was coming, but that didn't really make it any easier to leave. We spent a wonderful night together, not knowing if it might be our last, and she dropped me at the airport in the morning. Ready or not, I was on my way!Read more