Around the world -- here we come

Many months ago some friends suggested a trip to Australia. Sounds great!  And to avoid jet lag, let's visit in California, then Hawaii, then finally go to Sydney etc.  Awesome. 

But what about the return trip?  All those westbound legs will be daytime travel.  But the return will be red-eye flights one after another.  Fly all night (not sleeping), then spend the day at some airport; fly another night (not sleeping); repeat.  This could be a deal-breaker.

So we jokingly suggest to just keep traveling west.  Daytime flights around the world.  No ugly red-eye flights at all.  Go West Old Man.

So here we are -- Los Angeles, Hawaii, Australia, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Madrid, and home.  All in a short six weeks.

Another thing we did last May was to book January departure.  It worked out that Jan 20 was a good day to fly to Sydney.  So as it stands we will be leaving the USA on Inauguration Day, with only a one-way ticket.  Flags at half mast and all that...

You know my wife and me, we are planners.  The itinerary document(s) is 10 pages.  We have Google Sheets (doc available offline) and a printed copy.  

And we are each taking only a roll-aboard suitcase plus a personal item (purse, backpack).  To me that's traveling light!  She jokes that for summer in Australia you just throw your bikini in your purse and go.  At our age that is a one-piece suit for her and trunks (no Speedo!) for me.

There you have it. Our flights to California leave in under 12 hours so it's time to sleep.  More later.