Australia 2018

The beginning of this trip started with my wish to go back to Australia and share all of it's sights and sounds with my family. And to visit Rachael! If you've ever met Rachael you'll understand how much fun it is to hang out with her and why you would travel around the world! The idea was hatched nearly 2 years ago with the wish and the realization that I would need a plan on how to save enough money to spend a couple weeks in this awesome country and be able to do the excursions that I had not had the chance to do the first time there.

So we're really at the middle point now. Trip is booked; excursions are booked; places to stay are booked; packing preparation has begun and travel documents are issued.

Coming from sunny and always warm Tampa, Florida we are starting to realize that we will need what I now consider (sorry to my upstate NY roots) winter clothes. My best friend Rachael lives in Canberra and tells me that you can see your breath in the morning but that it warms up during the day. I translate that to mean I need my warmest, winteriest coat possible, all pants, several long sleeve shirts, sweaters, a scarf, hat, and potentially mittens. However, I'm not willing to lug all these thick, warm clothes around in a suitcase for 15 days so I'll need to go back and figure something out. You'll probably see me in the same outfit for every picture if it's really that cold. Or I could just wear all my clothes instead of packing them in the suitcase.

So we are in the process of finalizing the suitcase plan, thinking of things to keep the kids busy on the 16 hour plane ride and as well as things to keep the adults busy (this is a little easier to think of), and making sure we have all the internal travel details printed out in case technology decides to not cooperate and we have no access to phones or computers. Thankfully we are traveling with our bestest family friends, The HUBERTS and I'm counting on them to entertain all of the Johnsons for the majority of the trip.

Our travel itinerary has us leaving June 18th and arriving in Sydney on July 20th. Our connecting flight is at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (my hubby can connect with his Texas roots one last time before heading to the land down under).

My plan is to update this blog as often as I find it interesting (so hopefully every day) and to get the kids to post entries and upload some of their own photos from the trip as we go.

This first entry is mostly a test to figure out how this blog works and get me to learn how to upload things and send you all a link now before it gets too close to departure day. Hopefully, each of you will enjoy seeing and reading about our trip as it unfolds as much as we enjoy!