We are finally on our way!

New Year's Eve   2014   Chicago

John's 2 year mission to get a job and live and work in Australia is finally here. As you can see we are leaving from Chicago to travel through Los Angeles, and from there non stop to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

JP collected us from Lake Geneva at mid-morning for a hopeful 12-1pm departure to Chicago. We were fairly well together and ready to go except for the last minute paper collecting and packing that last piece of clothing that you know you won't really need. But, we did get on our way about 1.

We met up with Lynn and Scott for a quick lunch at Old Orchard and then we were gone to O'Hare for the drop off. All that went well, no over weight bags, and with a quiet night of traveling by Chicago standard, we were through security and at the gate in no time. Now reality set in. We were really leaving.....don't get me wrong.....as I packed up my life and moved, sold and said a million good byes.....I knew I was leaving. But we were REALLY going.

The flight to LA was long but uneventful as a first leg can always be. Before we knew it we were in a holding area at LAX for our Qantas non-stop to Brisbane. As I looked for a "bubbler" (an expression I will no longer be using) I nearly bumped into a very tall African American woman with headphones and a baseball cap on, VENUS WILLIAMS will be on this flight! I looked at her, she knew I recognized her, I said something stupid I'm sure, and she walked away. I told John who I had bumped into and he asked me if I took a picture of her. Sure, a selfie, and she signed my broken down old racquets, too! In fact she asked if I could hit with her when we got to Brisbane. My life was turning around.....

So now we are waiting about an hour and change for the next flight and who appears again, my new bestie, Venus, who by now thinks I'm stalking her as I walked into the WC just as she was leaving, then we chose the same restaurant for a quick bite, then we showed up at the gate going to Brisbane. Yes, I was a stalker. I'm sure she was worried that I would be sitting next to her in first class picking her brain about the Aussie Open, but alas I was in the cattle car and she....not. Sadly she didn't wait for me in the jetway for us to exchange information about the hitting so I'll just have to watch her in a few weeks in Melbourne.

Good bye Wisconsin!