Getting excited about landing in Sydney - not about the 24 hour trip to get there - but I guess that's that. I'll be spending a few days in Sydney with friends and then going to New Zealand to spend 6 weeks traveling around by bus. In February Beth's meeting me in Sydney and we're re-attempting to buy a camper van and see someone else's awesome country. Let's hope this van lasts longer than the last. Hopefully nothing too exciting happens on December 9th si...

My oh my… how differently my summer has gone from what I had imagined.After suffering through three miserable months of working in a small, republican/military Texan town full of mostly obese Christians, I set off on what I thought would be a three-plus month long trip traveling the U.S. in a camper van (aka Helen) with Beth and my cool hippie friend Karla, who planned to join us for a few weeks at the beginning of the trip.Within the first few miles of the tri...

Beth and I arrived in Cincinnati (driving from Kansas City) this morning to drop off the dog, our cars and other random items at my parent's house. We leave this evening to fly to Fort Lauderdale, FL where we'll stay the night in a hostel before flying to Ecuador tomorrow. We decided to carry on our bags this time so we'll have to buy several necessary items (such as shampoo, sunscreen, nail clippers, etc) once we get there, thanks to airline policies enacted t...

The long-anticipated day of departure has finally arrived! I leave for L.A. in 3 hours and I have yet to sleep. It appears that won't be happening tonight, as there is still much to do. Noelle and Justin are moving out of their house (where they've been nice enough to put me up for the last 6 months) while I'm away, which means I have to pack up everything I own and bring it to my parent's. Had I started this process before 3 hours ago it might no...