The Seasons turn....

It always amazes and excites me travelling the world. Adventure, the unknown, the world in your hands (or the Golden Gate Bridge, if you position yourself to do so!) As I write, I am still in the Northern Hemisphere (8hrs ahead but a calendar day behind) away from "home".

I left during the hot and humid tail end of Summer, I return to Autumn and the end of Daylight Savings.

My most memobrable travel/ time/ season distortion was arriving home to Sydney and standing on the beach (toes enjoying the water) looking out to sea, feeling the heat from the Sun and marvelling at the fact that only 12hrs prior I was standing in Snow 20 degrees below freezing in Japan!

With fondness I am aware of my fortunate life, being able to explore this world of ours.
The travel bug got me fairly early on in life. At 18 my first international journey was all it took, a safe introduction to the wonders of travel. I was one of 200 high School students on a performing arts tour around the USA.

During this first trip I decided that I would explore the world and made the commitment to myself to travel once EVERY YEAR outside Australia. The initial promise was for the first ten years out of school (1992 was that introductory trip) and I can quite happily say ~ I did it (and then some). Some years i've had more than one trip and more often than not more than one country within each trip.

Since 1992 I have only missed one calendar year 2006 and that was only because a snow trip got bumped from Dec '06 to Feb '07! So how far have I travelled? How many countries have I been to? What was my favourite place? Where was my most memorable moment? Hard to say! I've done it for the experience.... not to keep stats.

I've had the pleasure of travelling alone (USA as a nanny/ summer camp counsellor/ storm chasing. Europe and Canada)~ with Friends (snow trips to NZ & Canada, Bali and Thailand) ~ with fellow students (1992 USA Rock Eisteddfod & 2004 UTS to China) ~ with colleagues (Europe, USA & Canada CST tour) ~ with loved ones (China, USA, Phillipines, Malaysia, Canada and Singapore)

And I am yet to get to India, South America, most of Europe, Africa's, Antarctica & Arctic Circles, Ireland, Iceland and many many more. So as my current travels come to an end ~ 12 hours till I board a friendly and familiar Qantas flight from LA, I reflect on the journey thats been the past 6 weeks...

AND i'm drawn to the excitement of planning the next one!
For now, back to the future, back to the land of Oz ~ home.