It was a wonderful flight! How many people can really say that on an international flight? I certainly was dreading this part of our trip. Sitting beside a very broad and annoyingly sick husband loudly coughing on an 18 hour flight was not something I was looking forward to. Unfortunately, it was a booked flight with a person on either side of me. ARGHG! No matter. We prayed for the best. Possibly an upgrade, a no-show, or an extremely skinny person.

Turned out that my seat buddy stuck in the middle of a row with me was an Aussie choreographer living in Miami, whose flight was delayed last night, having missed his Aus connection was put up in a hotel, wide awake, and consequently missed his niece's recital, was extremely annoyed that his company flew him on United Airlines this time even though his contract explicitly stated that he always flew home to Surfer's Paradise 3x a year with Quantas and insisted something had to happen to his seating arrangement because he was extremely claustrophobic but preferably beside the hottie guy in the next row. (Whew, yes, it was a run on sentence but that's how he spoke!) The flight attendant located an aisle seat for this dramatic 'artiste' (while he anxiously waited for his Zanacs to kick in) leaving John and I alone in a 4 seat row! WHOAHA! I quickly shuffled over, strategically placing myself with an empty seat on either side of me! In the first time in all our travelling together, we had the rarest of rare luxuries … ample shoulder room! Ahhh!

God's blessings just kept coming. Our Calgary departure was delayed by an hour and half but with a tail wind of 180 miles / hour, we got into SFO and made it to our connecting flight just as it was boarding. Of course, it was perfect that the wheelchair transit was ACTUALLY at the gate waiting for us. (It took over 3 hours to wait for wheelchair service in Heathrow last time!) There was no way John would have traversed the distance between terminals in time, hobbling with his cane, but thankfully our United agent was quick as a bunny.

I had also packed some old magazines and several boxes of chocolates for the crew to enjoy. At first, it was to be used as a selfish tactic to get perks on this long flight. In the end, while they did offered to get us some drinks, I was happy enough that we had shoulder room and a row to ourselves. Just spreading some love, peace, and joy during this season.

Once in Sydney, it was an overcast day of 24'C. I'll take it! Apparently, yesterday, it was 36'C. John and I loved the cool, comfortable weather as we walked around to get some lunch and a Thai massage. The breeze was a little chillier than I wanted but it kept the mosquitos away and refreshed John since he tends to profusely sweat in this high humidity. We couldn't believe the feel of Sydney. Calm, fun, and relaxing. LOVE IT HERE! Best of all, no snow and no more shovelling!

Our Thai massage was quite the experience. We were served a delicious hot cup of fruit tea with honey when we arrived. Our first 30 minutes was spent in recliners getting a heavenly foot and head / shoulder massage. Ah, the pampering. The last hour was on our tummies on a massage bed getting the rest of our travelling kinks out in the most physical, intimate manner. Boy, you would have to be so secure with your body and personal space in a Thai massage!!

While we have had previous experience in Thailand before on floor mats, we were pleased to see that they had sturdy wooden beds for our deep tissue massages this go around. But when our massage therapist joined us ON the bed together, we completely understood why the beds were so solid. Yes, you read right. They began kneading our feet at the foot of the bed but they proceeded to climb up onto the bed and crawled up on all fours ON our calves and thighs. Just imagine the sight of that, I ask you! A little dog balancing on the back of my thighs! Since John's therapist was a male, I just had to peek over to see if he was also on my hubby's legs. Yup. My therapist straddled my hips while she ran her hands up and down my back, extending flat out at times where her entire torso rested on my back. She shifted and squatted on one side of the bed to use her knee and shin to tackle my troublesome spots along my spine. Are you visualizing the close proximity of our bodies??? I'm not completely sure but I think I felt her foot against my vertebrae! I marvelled how often she was completely prostrated on my back in some of her gliding movements from one side of my body to the other. Her outfit had to be equally greased up with the warm massage oils on my body. Wow! Eventually, I got to laying on my back when she walked her palms up my shins and thighs, painfully resting on my inner pelvic muscles. All her weight practically sat on top of her hands! OUCH! I was so glad that she didn't continue her walk up to my chest. The final move was her standing on the bed, telling me to reach up high so she can grab my hands and gently leaned back for an elongated stretch. Oh, would it bother you that the male therapist was facing me as I was stretching sky high in my bra and grannie panties only??? Oh, would it bother you to see John's hairy body being stretched out by an Asian male? I can't imagine what goes through their minds at that point. What does one think of at the sight of a stranger's more than generous, chubby belly decorated with pink zigzag stretch marks and abundant flabby arms??!?? Like I said, to get a Thai massage, you really have to be comfortable in your own skin and have no personal boundaries. We walked out of there feeling great though! Limber and adjusted. Fresh from a long haul flight.

John was feeling better now from days of antibotics, de-stressing from all the travel preparations, a godsent comfortable plane ride, and a relatively pain free massage. He was looking forward to sleeping the entire night unlike the prior week long of 3 hours a night. I admit that upon hearing that, I too was looking forward of night without his tossing and hacking!

So ends our beginning of a new adventure! We are officially in it now. Boy, I have to say that I've missed doing! I'm so glad to be living on the edge of discovery again. I feel so alive!