The journey all began in November 2015 when Qantas had an amazing sale. I thought what an opportunity to go to America with Liam and to show him Broadway. It was originally going to be for 1 week but when talking to Georgie from work she told me I needed to book the trip for longer. Without any consideration for school holidays, Liam's commitments, my work commitments the trip was booked in 1/2 hour. I then called Dylan to see if he wanted to come but he declined - knowing he couldn't afford it.

I gave the tickets to Liam for Christmas and the look of shock on his face was priceless. I still had the niggling feeling that something wasn't right with the trip but figured it was just because I had so much to organise.

My dear friend from work Jayna was so excited and decided to jump on board and help with the planning of this trip. I will always be grateful for her patience and the advice she has given me. This trip wouldn't have been possible without her support.

The months flew by and with them came the sad news that Leigh, my ex husband and the boys father was not well. He had been battling cancer for a long time but things had gotten worse. There was an apprehension on my part regarding the trip as I wasn't sure if something would happen when we were away. Towards the end we spoke about this and he told me he didn't want us to come home if something went wrong. I also told him at that stage that I was going to take Dylan and that I didn't care how much it cost. At that decision a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Unfortunately we didn't have to worry about any of this as Leigh passed away on 9 June, 3 months before we would leave.

With the change in plans, I then had to book the trip all over again for Dylan, at least this time I was a lot wiser and I didn't have to annoy Jayna for advice - well not much.

With everything booked, travel arrangements made, we are now ready to begin our journey.