Off to See a Few More of the World's Pages

A couple of months ago I reviewed the book, Notes From a Blue Bike. Tsh Oxenreider devoted an entire section to the subject of travel. You might remember that when I talked about that particular section in my review, I mentioned an upcoming personal trip. My exact words were these:

"Mike and I are not terribly ambitious when it comes to traveling (although we do have a big trip coming up in a couple of months that I'm excited to tell you about soon)."

Well, the time has come to tell you about it.

Mike and I are going to Australia.

Yes, Australia.

In two days.

If I were telling you this in person, this is the point where I'd be squealing or doing a little happy dance or at the very least grinning rather obnoxiously.

Yes, we're pretty excited.

The first question people ask when they hear about our upcoming trip is, "Why Australia?"

So I'll tell you: Last July, Mike's brother-in-law (along with Mike's sister and three kids) got transferred to Sydney for eight months. When they first announced their big move, Mike and I joked, "Maybe we'll come visit you." (It seemed like a long stretch since Clark was a brand new baby at the time, plus those three other hooligans we call our own, plus we needed a new roof.)

But the more we thought about it, the more we gave it serious consideration. One by one, we resolved those deterrents. The baby? We could take him with us. The other boys? My mom said she would come stay with them. The roof? We decided we could hold off until next summer (still crossing our fingers on that one).

Also, once Anne and Nate had actually settled in Sydney, we realized we'd be crazy not to go. They live in Manly and are a mere walk away from one of the nicest beaches outside of Sydney. They started exploring and sight seeing from the moment they stepped off the plane and happily volunteered to be our tour guides. They also offered to watch Clark for anything Mike and I wanted to do on our own. It was kind of too perfect, don't you think?

And so in September, we bought tickets . . . and then stared at each other in disbelief.

As the time has drawn closer, I've been obsessively checking the weather. In the last week or so, the temperature around here has plummeted (as I'm writing this, it's 12 degrees), and we've even had some snow. I am not a fan of winter, so Sydney's 79 degrees is looking pretty awesome.

I used to think travel wasn't worth the steep financial and logistics price tag. After all, you have an awesome fling for a week, and then what? Back to the daily grind with nothing to show for all that time and money you just spent. But then in 2008 Mike and I went to Chile while Mike's parents were living there for a year. And I discovered what many of you already know: the memories are the keepsakes and worth every penny. There's just something about experiencing another part of the world for yourself, and especially doing it with people you love, that is absolutely priceless.

In Notes From a Blue Bike, Tsh quoted Saint Augustine, who said, "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." Starting on Wednesday, Mike and I are going to read a few more pages.

P.S. If any of you have visited (or lived) in Australia (particularly Sydney), I'd love to know about your must-sees. (Many thanks to my blogging friend, Melissa, who recently returned from her own trip to the land down under and shared her itinerary with us.)

P.P.S. And since this is a book blog, here are several books I quite liked, all set in Australia:

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Steadman