Once Upon a Time...In a Land Far, Far Away

As I write this, I have just arrived in Australia to spend some time with my marketing counterparts in the company’s Brisbane office. At some point in the future, it will be interesting for Jack (or perhaps Marcus and Deagan) to look for some of the places that I flew over on my way from Los Angeles to Sydney…the Channel Islands, Honolulu, Nadi, Papeete, Samoa, the South Pacific Ocean, Coral Sea, and Tasman Sea. Of course, there'll be a test at the end of it.

After the 14-hour flight (not helped by the fact that United’s aging jumbo jet didn’t have seat-back TVs), I had a couple of hours in Sydney waiting for my connection on Qantas to Brisbane. As usual, I picked up a newspaper to see what’s happening in Australia—I find it a good way to acquire some conversation-starters and show that you know something of day-to-day life here.

Of course, it’s summer at present, so Brisbane (which is in the tropics) is very warm—
temperatures are above 30C/85F. Staying at the house of work colleagues of mine, I spent Sunday afternoon alternating naps and work, before having a very good dinner (steak, couscous, red wine) with several members of the team.

Tomorrow is the first of 4 days in the Brisbane office before returning home on Friday. Jack and Kelly will be back from Michigan the following Tuesday and we’ll be preparing for our Christmas trip to England, which we are all very excited about.