australiavacation2008.com

Australia. The word evokes a wide variety of mental images to the average American. Prison colonies, the Olympics, immigrants, Crocodile Dundee, fake steakhouses, vast open spaces, and copious amounts of beer.

I have spent the last sixteen years vacationing internationally, with about a dozen work trips tossed in for good measure. My trips have ranged from spending President’s Day weekend split between London and Dublin to 38 days exploring Western Europe big and small. Europe and Canada were my focus for the longest time, but I managed to put togther a twelve day Asian tour in May, 2006.

Australia has always been on the list, but something kept on getting in the way. Until 2002, it was a lack of vacation time - I felt that Australia and New Zealand deserved at least five weeks. In 2003, I ended up buying a townhouse. In 2005, it was organizational change at work. And last year, it was Asia. I felt that Australia (and New Zealand) was sufficiently distant that I’d go once in my life, and I believed to do it right was going to need the same 35-40 day commitment which I had made to Europe in 1991.

What changed was the non-stop flight to Hong Kong, and the connecting flight to Singapore. 9200 miles in 24 hours, thankfully in business class upstairs on a 747-400. I loved the idea of Asia, but I dreaded the flight. And to my shock, I found that the flight was a breeze! In some ways it was even easier than my annual eight hour flight to London.

Suddenly, the Australia option exploed into my mind. I didn’t have to go for five weeks and get it all out of my system! I could go for three weeks, see a mix of sights, and set up a plan to go again in 2009 and beyond. If I carried over one week of vacation from 2006, and one week from 2007, I could make three weeks a reality without limiting the rest of my travel.

And so the plan was hatched on my return from Tokyo a couple of weeks later: Australia 2008 or bust!

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