Kalamazoo, MI

It's 5 AM in Queensland, which explains why I'm just finishing coffee and a bowl of cereal right after waking up at 3 PM here in Michigan. If you're planning to make a trans-Pacific flight on an airline that has seat-by-seat programmable entertainment service (as does QANTAS), be aware that this will help you make the transition to your destination's time zone by simply keeping you hooked to the screen during your entire flight. I know I didn't sleep on the way back. I watched music videos. I watched episodes of Absolutely Fabulous and Two and a Half Men. I watched The Day After Tomorrow. I watched a moody Australian film called Tom White. Hell, I watched Shrek 2 twice, which made up for my not yet having watched the original Shrek. It's a good thing that Rick was able to sleep on that flight and the next one -- someone had to be able to drive us home from Grand Rapids at the end.

I apologize for the lack of live entries during our drive along the coasts of South Australia and Victoria. Internet connections were just too few and far between during that time. So, delayed observations will pop up a few at a time, like Myrmecia ants when you disturb their nest on a chilly afternoon.

In the meantime, here's a new version of my Visited Countries map:



create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide