Ready to Depart!

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Hello friends!

It's Josh again. It's 10 p.m. here in Summerville, and my chain of flights towards Sydney begins in only 8 hours. I'll be heading to sleep after this entry, and waking up at 4 a.m. to take a shower and say goodbye to my cats. I've just spent an incredible week with my girlfriend Erin whom I love very much! After a somewhat emotional morning, we said our "see you soon"s and "I love you"s and I drove home to Summerville to finish packing.

Here's what I've got packed!

Suitcase 1 is crammed full of 7 pairs of shorts, 3 pairs of long pants, 16 shirts, lots of boxers, and socks, not to mention my brand new USC pajamas. A pair of dress shoes, running shoes, and flip flops are in the bottom section. It weighs just about 40 pounds. Suitcase 2 contains a suit (jacket, pants, two dress shirts, tie, and a belt), 6 more pairs of long pants, two sweatshirt hoodies, a jacket, and a bath towel. It weighs about 27 pounds. My carry-on contains all my most vital equipment: my laptop computer and all the necessary attachments, my mp3 player, my digital camera, some cereal bars, a pack of gum, one day's change of clothes, just in case, a light jacket, two Terry Pratchett novels, fresh batteries, and important travel documents including my student visa and other things I'll need once I arrive in Newcastle. I hope it'll be enough! I just thought of a couple of other things I'll need... software, maybe a couple of cd's and dvd's, sunglasses, and my little Australian travel guide. Possibly an umbrella too.

Anyway! I've got a 6:20 a.m. flight from Charleston out to Cincinnati, then it's straight on to LAX. Once there, I'll have about 30 minutes to claim my luggage, check in with QANTAS, and sit around waiting for my international flight. The last leg happens to be 14 and a half hours. Once I arrive in Sydney, there will be a Happy Cabby representative waiting to take my to my hostel in Newcastle, where I'll be staying for my first 4 nights, and hopefully no longer than that... I hope to find proper housing as soon as possible, and be a nuisance to anyone who doesn't help me. The bus ride from Sydney to Newcastle is about three hours, so I'll be showing up to my hostel at around 3 a.m.... sorry to anyone who happens to be in my room that first night. =(

Alright, that's it for now. I love you guys and gals! Especially you, Erin!

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Comments

[Chris Poirel]

And he's off....
Good luck josh. I hope your flights go well and you find living arrangements.