It's Australia Eve 1987

I'm leaving for Australia tomorrow night at 9pm. I fly from SLC to LAX to MEL to ADL.(Now that I'm a world traveler, I can refer to all airports entirely by their code and only other world travelers will understand my itinerary...it's part of being a cool world traveler...someday you'll understand) I've decided (with the help of my darling internet stalker BFF Susan of TX) that tonight is AUSTRALIA EVE 1987. Do you know why???? Because I feel the same way I did on Christmas Eve when I was 10.

That was the year that ALL I wanted for christmas was a Milli Vanili Tape. (come on, I was 10 and didn't know any better...blame it on the rain.) Imagine, 4th grade Ninny, anxiously unable to sleep with the fear that she won't get what she wants and excited by the prospect of what ELSE might be under that delightfully fake, Star Trek decorated Christmas Tree (more on that another time...) That's me with this trip.

What I want is to fly to Australia and have everything that I've thought could possibly happen come true. I want three months of everyday phoned-in emotional intimacy to translate in the flesh. I'm a romantic with a serious fantasy streak and for good or for bad, so is Adam...we make a mean imaginary duo. And therein lies the danger of this trip. Reality. Waking up to a pair of underwear instead of the musical genius of dreadlocked, shoulder-pad wearing frenchmen. It's entirely possible and I've mentally tried to plan for it, but I think we all know that you can't really steel yourself against that tide. So, I'm just going to live in the other part of Australia Eve which is...WHO KNOWS WHAT"S UNDER THE TREE!!!!

Isn't that so exciting? I could fall in love. I could get stopped by customs and thrown into an Australian prison for smuggling baked cheetos into the country and then my internet boyfriend could bail me out ala mr. darcy. I could bring a wallaby home in my suitcase. I could find an inner calm about myself and my place in the universe. I could discover strength that I didn't know I had. THe outback is a wide open place with more deadly spiders than people and I'm going there to explore and come out conquerer.

Australia Eve 1987 is the beginning of the neverending adventure of my life. I think I should have a sign that says, "Will travel for growth" because it's true.