MONEY MATTERS

Next on my list was money matters.  On my World Odyssey I had Travelex cards that basically work like a credit/debit card and there were a few that you could choose from.  They had ATM cards in different currencies and they also had a Visa card option as well.  So, me wanting to be prepared for anything and everything, I got ATM cards in British Pounds, Euros and Australian Dollars and I also got a Visa card in Australian dollars which this was going to be my primary source of accessing my money.  The beauty of these cards is ten fold.  They don’t access any funds from your personal accounts here in Oz; you transfer money via BPay or reload where you bought the cards from.  If you lose them, they are easily replaced at any Travelex office around the world, 24/7 global assistance and you also get 2 cards on the one account.  It is an amazing product and I didn’t have a single issue the whole trip using these cards. 

There were 2 instances where my card was stopped and I was notified.  The first time I was in Madagascar and I had used my card to purchase duty free (considered an African country) and then I flew 4 hours to get to Reunion Island which is under French rule and I used the ATM to get out some cash in Euro’s.  Well the ‘system’ had a problem that I could get from Africa to France in 4 hours and stopped the card till I had let them know what had happened and at the touch of a button my card was re-instated.  The second time was when I left Brazil.  I had used the ATM at the airport to get some Brazilian rials for my return.  I then flew to Frankfurt and purchased a new camera duty free and then 7 hours later I was using my card in the ATM at Addis Ababa International airport for some local cash.  So as the ‘system’ saw it, my card had been used in 3 continents in a span of 30 hours and again suspended my card.  They are good in letting you know, they send you an email and a number to call them back on.  If you don’t have access or money to use a phone they ask for a phone number they can call you on and a preferable time and they will call you.  And again after establishing the account and identity the card is all good to go again within 5 minutes.  I love my Travelex cards.

So having had and used these cards for the last 16 months, I had to check that I hadn’t exceeded the yearly spend on them of 45,000AUD.  If you get to that limit within the year then they will be stopped until your anniversary of the purchase comes around again, as the cards are valid for 3 years.  I was just going to purchase another 2 cards just to be on the safe side, but Travelex have slightly changed their product since I left and now only have a MasterCard option.  I am a little wary of MasterCard as some people on my Africa trip and in South America had problems accessing money from their MasterCard accounts.  The product itself is a lot better, the withdrawal are now free, the Visa cards were 3.75AUD, the yearly spend is now 100,000 and the cards look a lot groovier.  So when I was at the office yesterday I purchased the cards as ‘no fees’ is too good to pass up and I will use my Visa card as a backup if I have issues with MasterCard.  I always have an Australian credit card (small limit), an Australian ATM card and 2 Australian credit card numbers I have written down in code form with me as an extra backup.  I told you I was prepared for anything and you can never be over prepared when it comes to money.  I could think of nothing worse not being able access my money and relying on others to ‘spot’ me till I got my hands on money.  No thanks, hence the billion different options I travel with.     

So nothing extra has to be done in regards to accessing my money for my next journey.  What I had in place on my World Odyssey worked fine and I will use the same process again.  All I can say is thank goodness for internet banking and BPay and with the new MasterCard product having no withdrawal fees I think I am probably in a better place than last trip and also paying less fees than running my funds through an Australian card.       

ETHIOPIAN VISA

I am a list maker from way back.  From weekly budgets, shopping lists, packing lists, things to do today lists and while I was on my trip I was making notes for my blog and of course lists of things I had to do when we go to internet access, you know people to email, bookings to be made, money to transfer etc….  I am a list girl from way back.  So I made a list of things I needed to get done while I was home and getting my Ethiopian visa was one of the important ones and at the top of the list.

While I was in Chile, I emailed the Ethiopian Consulate in Australia, which is located in Melbourne and the gentleman I was dealing with down there was very helpful.  We went back and forth with a few emails and he always got back to me promptly during the week we conversed.  Basically I can enter Ethiopia on a 3 month tourist visa which I can obtain from the consulate before I leave.  The downside to this is that the visa is valid from the date of issue, which means I would have to leave Ethiopia earlier than I need to if I got it processed in Australia.  So I will now have to get it done in London and as late as I can so that I can stay in Ethiopia till the middle of November to come home for Christmas.  I may even be able to get a 6 month visa in London that you can only get in Australia if you are Ethiopian descent.  In regards to long term living in Ethiopia once I find a job with an approved government registered company I can stay indefinitely or of course if I marry.  If all else fails and I need to stay longer before coming home, I can skip out of the country and then re-enter again to restart a month visa that they issue upon arrival into Addis for 20USD.  So either way, it isn’t too time consuming for me to be able to live/stay and after Christmas I will start in earnest for a job of some sort.

Speaking of visa’s the good news is that David told me that the Australian Consulate has now opened a branch in Addis Ababa.  Currently they had a visa agency looking after the applications of the Ethiopians and then sending then to the Consulate in Kenya.  So this is great news and hopefully will help when we apply for Zeme’s tourist visa for November.  Now that I will also be there, I’ll get some good old fashioned Western time frames going and hopefully get this visa debacle all sorted so that we can come together at Christmas for Zeme to meet all my friends. 

The bane of our existence is visas and I think it is something I am going to have to get used to with Zeme raveling on an Ethiopian passport.  That’s okay, it just means extra planning is involved and we all know how much I like to plan things!!!!

So it another thing that I can cross off that ‘list’ and see what is next to do.

THE PLANNING CONTINUES……..

Well my second week begins and I have accomplished a lot already and it is only Monday.  Today I booked and picked up a hire car for the next 12 days while I am in Brisbane.  Shelly and Shane have been nice enough to have had juggled cars for me last week to save me a week’s costs in car hire, but I hate putting people out and it was time to hire a car.  I did a fair bit of leg work on the internet and the cheapest car I could get was with a company called Abel.  I checked all the major car company’s and all their rates were similar till you clicked to the last page and then they had 150AUD of fees and taxes.  Abel had it all included so I got a car for 29AUD a day all inclusive.  They also had a deal on that the group B car was the same cost as the group A, so I opted for the larger car and then when I picked it up, group B was in for maintenance so I got an upgrade to the group C and an automatic as well.  Talk about lucky.  A triple upgrade is always welcome.  It feels great to be driving again.  I like to drive and to have a set of my own wheels is also quite liberating.  I just need to get insurance for the car as Abel were charging 37.50 per day for their in-house insurance, that’s more than what I am paying for the car for the 12 days, so I’m just going to purchase a domestic travel insurance policy that will cover me and I can guarantee that it will be a fraction of the 450AUD that they wanted to cover me.  I just have to actually do it, so fingers crossed for no accidents till I get a chance to call the office to get a policy issued.  Talk about living on the edge of a 4400 excess should I have an accident!!!

I have also been busy on my EBay account.  Man I have missed buying cheap things for my camera on my account while I am away.  This is where I buy all my SD cards, spare batteries, card holders, extra or lost cords-all found on EBay.  I had to call PayPal to reinstate my account as it hadn’t been used for so long, but after 20 minutes on hold to them and a few clicks of a button it was all back in working order.  So I shopped my little heart out buying 20 micro SD cards (expensive in Ethiopia and at only 4 bucks for an 8GB) they were a cracker price.  I bought a new card holder that will house all the cards which is the size and thickness of a business card (I had one on my trip) and the piece de resistance was a new Blackberry mobile phone.  There is a story behind this purchase.  I have always been a Blackberry fan as I love the QWERTY keyboard.  Everyone keeps saying get the iPhone, get the iPhone, but I have an iPod and for the cost of 699AUD to buy the cheapest iPhone it really doesn’t make sense when I already have the iPod and an iPad as well.  I lost my Blackberry in Chicago over 3 weeks ago and bought a cheap US phone with AT&T to get me through till I got home as the Blackberry’s over on the US were around the 500+ mark.  So when I got home the cheap phone no longer worked and I needed ASAP to get a new one.  My first full day back I went to Chermside in search of a new Blackberry and after visiting over 6 phone stores they seem quite hard to get your hands on, of any model, and the one that I could find was the new Torch and it was 700AUD to buy out right.  Even for me this was a little excessive.  So I ended up buying a ‘look-a-like’ Blackberry (which is just not the same) and though nothing of it.  Well while I was on EBay I thought I would just check out the Blackberry phones and I found the new touchscreen slider (best of both worlds) for 268AUD from Hong Kong and I bought it.  It is unlocked, comes with all the Aussie adapters, is brand new and I bought from a seller with over 15,000 feedbacks and 99% ratings.  I think I am in good hands. I have bought electronic stuff from Hong Kong before and had no worries.  So I will be back to being a Blackberry owner in a few weeks’ time and I can’t wait.         

While I was online I also checked what Olympic tickets were left to purchase as I get there the middle of the last week.  I was surprised to see that there were still some tickets floating around for events while I was there, a few, not many, but I just wasn’t sure paying 400AUD for boxing was worth it.  There were a few more options the week before I was there, beach volleyball, weight lifting and of course the closing ceremony still had tickets for 1700AUD, which as much as it would be cool to be there for that, 1700AUD would feed a small Ethiopian family for nearly 2 years and I was finding it hard to justify that for a single ticket.  So I will be there during the Olympics but have decoded to save the cash and just soak up the atmosphere of London during this massive event. 

I have been busy with any spare chance I get to boot up the notebook to compose and load my ‘photo-movies’.  I have been living on my iPad (I have missed thee) and also my iPod, so unless I am doing a blog entries, updating iTunes or my photo-movies I don’t get on here much at the moment.  I don’t think I could live with just my iPad; I would still need a good old fashioned computer as well.  Besides my notebook, I have my mum’s laptop, my iPad and my Playbook, plus my Blackberry and also my iPod.  I think I have enough gadgets to last me a long time and all bought back in the ‘old’ Bernie days.  Well except my new Blackberry, but I do need a phone right…….  So I have processed 11 sections of my trip and I still have 11 to go.  It is a time consuming process as I have to flick through all the albums of that trip and pick around 80 of the best pictures and then synch them to my iPod and then make the movie, select the sing and then upload it to YouTube.  It is so worth it though to see the playback of the finished product and each and every one brings a tear to the eye and my God-daughters are interested in watching them all, especially the Africa one, which is nice to be able to share the places I have been with them and they are interested as well. 

I saw Drew on the week-end as we had some final paperwork to be signed before our court date on the 24^th July.  He came to the Elks, as we had to have our signatures witnessed and Shelly and Shane could both do that for us.  I asked if he could bring over Scooby for me to say hello.  He is still cute as a button (Scooby that is) but I am sad to say, even though I think he may have remembered me deep down in his doggy memory, Drew was certainly the ‘single’ parent now.  That makes me a little sad as he was my engagement present, but I guess in doggy years it has been over 3 years to him since he last saw me, but it was good to see him again.  It was a little weird to see Drew after all this time as well, but it was all amicable (to an extent) and after the paperwork was signed he was on his way home.  That will probably be the last time I will see him.  We aren’t required to show up at court, so if all the paperwork has been done correctly then the divorce should be granted in a few weeks’ time. 

I am getting some travel business cards printed up.  There was a girl on my Africa trip that had travel cards printed up with her address and email printed on them and personal travel photos on the other side.  I really should have gotten something like that done before I left for my trip last year but I have decided to get it done for my second trip, but with all my Ethiopian details on the card.  I have a picture of Zeme and on the back with a travel proverb “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” which I think sums up the whole adventure that I have been on.  From the first step of booking, to making the first payment, the final payment, the first trip, the last trip and then my move to Africa.  It all started with a single step and I think to put that on my card was a great idea to remind me of what I have achieved the last 16 months.  The other side has my and Zeme’s Ethiopian numbers, our PO Box no, both of my blog addresses and my email.  Hopefully the cards will be ready by Zoe’s party this weekend and I can start to give them out.   

I have been trying to see as many people as I can on my return.  We went out and had dinner on Monday night for Jas’s birthday with Bob and Jen and the kidlets.  Tuesday was dinner with the Tolly’s, Smyth, Jerome and David at Munro which is like a Brazilian all you can eat meat restaurant and then Wednesdays have now become lunch with my work colleagues at The Gap.  I am hoping to see a lot of people at Zoe’s party this weekend as the Elk parties are always bigger than Ben Hur and then I start to need to make dates with people next week as my time is passing way too quickly for my liking.  Just imagine if I was only home for the 3.5 weeks as originally planned….  I would be a basket case I think if I was only here for that short of time!!!!  I’m off to Darwin next week-end, then Melbourne for 3 nights and back to Brisbane on the 20^th July for my final 2 weeks ….ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

One thing I HAVE to get on to is my travel plans to get from London to Edinburgh and back again and to book in my ticket to Addis Ababa.  I really should get onto that in the coming days as the longer I leave it the more expensive it is going to get.  I told my clients this all the time and here I am leaving it till the last minute, well nbit quite that bad, I have 4 weeks but I HAVE to get my A into G and make some bookings. 

So my second week is running away from me as I head into week THREE. 

Are you serious???????

WHAT TO DO WITH ALL MY BELONGINGS…..

In between all my socializing I also need to get some things done for my move to Ethiopia.  There is a level of stress to start with, but it has been reduced a small portion that I am initially not taking a great deal of personal belongings for my first 3 months.  There are few reasoning’s behind this.  Firstly, I am heading to the UK for 4 weeks before I hit Africa, so I can only take 2 bags with me.  Secondly I am not really sure what I am going to need, what can and can’t be bought in Addis etc…. and thirdly I need to know that I am going to like it.  Visiting a country and living there can be 2 different experiences and I think 3 months will sort that out but it helps that I have been twice in the last 6 months so I do know what I am in for, sort of. 

So my first port of call is what am I going to do with all my stuff I have stored since September 2010.  By the time we come back for Christmas it would have been in a shipping container for over 2 years.  I was saying to Shelly I didn’t even take a proper inventory, so I really have no idea on exactly what is in the container but at 300AUD a month, it is going to have to come out and something done with it.  That 300AUD is enough to nearly covers a month’s rent in Addis.  So in a perfect world I would love to have it all shipped to Ethiopia, I mean it is already in a shipping container.  I had no idea on what to expect the cost to be to ship a container to Africa, but really, how much could it cost?  If it was too much people wouldn’t do it.  I had a figure of 5000-7000 in my head and I was prepared to pay that.  So I started to make some calls to international movers and I am now waiting for the quotes to come in.  But I did glean from one lady that I would be looking at approximately 10,000-15,000AUD for the amount I had based on 39 cubic meters.  Yeah that is not going to happen.  I am not sure all my stuff would be worth all that anyway? So it may just look like I will not get to take all my things and I will have to go through it all in December and decide what comes, what stays (small storage unit) and what I give/sell.  I mean I have 60 bottles of vodka in that container (amazing what one remembers with the important stuff).  Maybe I will just have to have a vodka party before we leave in January…..  .  It will take approximately 10-16 weeks for the container to be delivered into Addis and then would our new home be big enough to take all my ‘stuff’.  Yeah, maybe I am better to go through it here.  The only problem is getting to my container as it is in long term storage, so it costs 700AUD to access it.  So once it is out, there is no putting it back in again.  I would be happy to pay for a small self-access storage unit should there be things I don’t want to throw out and that I don’t need to go to Addis, but again this is something I will have to look at in December when I finally know what the hell I have in the container. 

I am a hoarder from way back.  I have report cards from primary school; thousands of photos, school work, posters from school doo’s, Christmas cards, birthday cards you name it I still have it.  This is what I am going to find the most difficult to let go of.  As Shelly says do you look at the stuff and the answer is no, so really it should be easy to throw it all out and I know I will have to be ruthless, but maybe I could just keep a few things for prosperity.  It was my past after all and when I have kids I would want to show them some of my things.  I guess I don’t need to keep 12 years of schooling stuff.  But this is what I am going to have to deal with when I come back.  I may need Shelly standing over my shoulder keeping an eye on my keep and throw piles…. 

Will I need all those ball gowns-no

Will I need 100 dresses-no

Will I need all those pairs of shoes-no

My Elmo’s will be donated

Do I need all the crap I have in there-probably no…..

Oh I can see you all smiling now, but doesn’t it sound like a daunting task?

So my next phone call was to a company I used to recommend to clients when I was in the travel industry.  I have never used them and never heard any feedback but it is a company that sends your belongings as unaccompanied baggage.  They pick it up from your home, weigh it, you pay for it and then they take care of everything else and deliver it to its destination, airport only.  This far cheaper than excess baggage or doing it through the actual airline (according to them) so I gave Jetta Express a call (they have a Brisbane office) and I asked if they firstly delivered to Addis Ababa, yes, and how much would it cost?  He came straight back with a price of 8.60 per kilo.  WHAT!!!!  How cheap is that.  There is a minimum of 15kg and a maximum of 30kg per item, but for me I think this is the perfect solution to eventually getting all my gear to Ethiopia.  Less the furniture of course, but even the Elmo’s will make the cut and then I can give them away once I am there and brighten over 300 little lives with a furry red guy.  I don’t think they will even know who Elmo is, but to have something to call their own and super cute will be worth anything in the world.  I rekon this maybe even cheaper than postage and a great way to get things, even eventually books, pencils etc….. Once I am established there and know exactly what is needed.  This is a very good backup should my shipping come in too expensive.  I had a few people mention back-loading, but I am guessing containers to Ethiopia from Australia would be few and far between, but I guess I should ask the question anyway. 

This then leads me to ridding of my furniture.  I have a lot of new stuff that Drew and I purchased for the new home that literally didn’t get used much.  It’s not super expensive stuff but it is new and nice.  I asked Drew if he wanted to sell it on EBay for me and take a cut of the proceeds which he didn’t seem too keen on, but he was more than happy to take my 60 bottles of vodka off me.  Yeah join the queue pal…..  So my next idea was to just publish it all on Facebook and take the first offer to just move the stuff quick and if all else fails it will go on the lawn and I am sure that would all get snapped up in a jiff.  There is a lot of Ikea shelving in there, which I will miss and beds and couches and book cases and desks.  But I guess it is stuff I can hopefully buy in Addis as we need.  At the end of the day it is only furniture…right……  So stay tuned in December, if you need any new furniture watch this space…..

This week has been spent going through the closet and the 4 suitcases of clothes that I left behind at the Elkins.  I have been ruthless and I have tried on every piece of clothing and anything that didn’t fit or I didn’t like the look of, or that I may not have use for in Africa has gone into bags for Vinnies.  I now have 5 large bin bags of clothes to drop off and I think there may even be a further cull in December, but it’s a good start.  I have also gone through what belongings I have and have tossed what I won’t use, given the god-daughters some stuff and will offer them some bags and purses that I have never even used.  Once again I am just trying to cut down on all the gear I have here at the Elkins and try and get that under control before I leave.  I have no need to buy any clothes, as I still have gear that I bought for my Odyssey that didn’t make the final pack, so even though that was 16 months ago, it is still new and some of the stuff still has tags on them.  I feels like I have opened Pandora’s clothing chest and have a whole new wardrobe….     

So the frustrating thing for me is I really can’t do too much more now till I come back in December, there are a lot of variables out there that I won’t know the answers too till I come back.  But I have started the ball rolling and I am in a good place with where I stand will all my crap…..um I mean all my stuff.  Wait till Zeme sees what I actually own-I think he wouldn’t have seen that much stuff ever in his whole life.  I have a lot. 

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE HOME

I have now been home for 10 days.  The time has just flown by and I am thankful that the Elkins and my friends have accepted me back with open arms and it feels like I have never left.  I was worried that in 15 months (it is a long time) how I would fit back into their daily lives again.  Where do I fit?  I should have known everyone better and when I say it feels like I have stepped back in time, I mean this in a good sense, as it feels just like the way I left and not in a bad way which I think is the way people take it when I say nothing has changed.  Of course the kids are bigger and they really are little people now, they aren’t babies anymore.  Gone are the days that we could spell stuff with them around, they all know how to spell now and we are back to Chinese whispers over their heads when they aren’t looking….. dang, they are getting bigger……

When I first got back from the airport my God-daughters were awed, this is the best word I can use.  I don’t think that they really thought I was really here.  They were a little gun shy to start with but then as we walked the girls to school Tessie held my hand all the way and they asked if I was going to come back with mummy to get them after school, so it was only a matter of time before they got used to me actually being here and not a postcard in the mail or a parcel from the post office.  I now have a little shadow in the form of Tessie and Zoe loves telling me about her day and stories from when I have been away, so this is the biggest gift of all that the girls have remembered me and that their unconditional love they have for me has not changed.  Their main question are why I have to leave again and why can’t Zeme come to Australia to live instead of me going to Africa.  This is a good question and the best answer I can give them is the truth and straight from the heart.  I want to help people that are less fortunate than me and I feel that I can do this better in Ethiopia than what I can from here.  The girls understand about people less fortunate than us as they both have a World Vision sponsor child, which Shelly and Shane organized for each of them when the girls were born.  So I am just reiterating that the Ethiopian children need help with schooling, clothes and general love and that I have to be there to do that.  They understand it, but oh to see the world through 5 year olds eyes is so refreshing at times. 

The Elkins have embraced my return and back into their family fold.  I am so lucky I have such good friends that let me stay with them for weeks at a time.  The girls finished school last week, so I met some of the mums and then again on a few play dates as we drop the girls off during the holidays.  Shelly proudly tells people about my 15 month Odyssey and my plans to move to Africa.  The main questions I get from these discussions are what were my favorite places and what I plan to do for a job when I get to Ethiopia.  It is interesting to note that everyone asks the same questions, all the time, which I don’t mind answering of course, but funny how we all 90% of the time all think the same thing.  So my answer to the top travel destinations:  I have put my whole Africa experience as a highlight (no preference to meeting Zeme of course).  If you ever get a chance to do an overland trip in Africa, I would encourage you 200% to do it.  It was life changing for me, but you certainly will not regret it, do yourself a favor and add it to your bucket list.  Easter Island rates up in the top 5.  This place had a magical air and a little mystery and of course the awe inspiring Moai statues.  If you go to Chile, you have to add this side trip on to Easter Island; once again you will not regret it.  I hate picking places that were my favorite as I had such an amazing experience on every single trip I did but at a push I am picking places where you just wouldn’t find anywhere else in the world, so my last pick would have to be Antarctica.  To complete all 7 continents when I stepped onto Antarctica mainland, seeing thousands of penguins, snowcapped mountain and icebergs as we cruised by in our ship was another ‘wow’ moment for me that I will never forget.  I say again this doesn’t take away from the rest of my trips but these were special ‘WOW’ moments to name a few but I had a lot more on my trip.

As for the work question, I have no idea really what I will be doing when I get to Addis Ababa.  My first 3 months will be adjusting, learning a new way of life and also a new language.  I will be setting up a home and hopefully trying to meet new people and make new friends.  This is the plan for the first 3 months.  Zeme and I will then come to Australia for Christmas and after the New Year head back to Addis for me to then start in earnest looking for a job.  I am in a lucky position where I won’t have to work for the money; I don’t have to work full time, so I can look at voluntary positions, part time roles and charities.  There are a lot of aid agencies in Ethiopia, so that will certainly be my first port of call and then I will just see how things go.  I really have no idea on what I will do.  Options are teaching English, Aid work, orphanage work, adoption agencies for the westerners to name a few things so I will just see what happens after I get there.  Once I start meeting people, then your network grows and then more doors and opportunities also will grow.  But I am confident I will get something and know that I will be helping people less fortunate than me and this was my whole reason for making my leap of faith with Zeme by my side. 

When talking changes I am not only referring to the people I know.  My local shopping centers are all looking the same.  Chermside have now introduced paid parking if you are shopping over 3 hours.  Brookside looks exactly the same, and this is even from way back as this was the Tippetts and my local shopping centre 15 years ago and it’s still the same from then.  The road networks have changed a little.  When I drove into the city last week I had a small panic moment a few times when I didn’t know what lanes I had to be in, especially on the ICB, which has changed considerably since I was last home and now the new addition to the bus way out to Chermside is also nearly complete.  I visited the center where I used to work and not much has really changed there.  A few shop closures (including my store) but new shops have opened and time keeps on ticking.  When I left for my trip initially last year, Shelly said that we will always be here for you and it is nice to know that things change slowly here and I really haven’t missed out on too much at all, all in perspective of course.  Nothing can replace the missed birthdays or the concerts but on a whole-home is and always will be the same.  I do find Darwin like that as well, but my mum was always there, but even now a trip back there always reveals creatures of habit and not too many changes there either, so I should have known better I guess. 

I attended my first Brisbane Lions home game yesterday for the first time since July 2010.  I signed over my membership to Shelly’s niece in my absence so I didn’t lose my seat, but it looks like I won’t be needing that back anytime soon.  But we can still smuggle me into the games and I am lucky I get to see 2 of them while I am home.  I was also lucky that the Lions had a win and that I was also able to bring along David who I met on my Africa trip and has become since a close personal friend.  It was great to catch up with him and reminisce on out 7 weeks together on an amazing journey.  I have 2 more ‘Africa’ friends coming up this weekend for a small reunion, so it will be great to see them that is for sure.

So my first week back has been busy catching up with people and my second week will roll on the same.  It is hard to actually comprehend I have 2 more weeks in Brisbane, 1 week in Darwin and Melbourne and then my last 2 weeks in Brisbane and then I am back on a jet plane again.  Yikes.  As the saying goes time flies when you’re having fun and truly does apply here.

For those of you I haven’t seen yet, I’m getting there.  I hope to have a going away doo, maybe a lunch somewhere before I leave, so I will let you all know when I get that organized in the coming weeks.  We also have a Race Day on the 21^st July that all are welcome, so shoot me a message if you want the details for that.  

PALE BLUE DOT

I saw this on a friends Facebook status (thanks Alan) and for some reason it hit a chord with me and wanted to share the verse......

But for us, it's different.

Look again at that dot.

That's here.

That's home.

That's us.

On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

It is up to us.

It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

Carl Sagan

Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space

PP. 8–9

OFFICIALLY THE LAST ENTRY-NOT ON YOUR LIFE XX

So here I am back in Brisbane. 

Back home-with friends-my best friend and my god daughters.

How do I feel that the ‘true’ Odyssey has finally come to an end? 

453 days.

59 international flights

230 cities

54 countries

430 blog entries and 35,000 hits

Countless friendships made

60,508 photos taken and 85% of them loaded on Facebook

And memories to last a life time………

I have had a lot of people ask me how I feel about going home.  It is sad that my trip has come to an end.  Who wouldn’t feel sad?  Not having to go work each day.  Not having to worry about bills.  Seeing a new country, town or place each day.  Anyone would feel a little depressed about going home.  BUT NOT I.  I am lucky.  I get the best of both worlds, even though Bernie’s World Odyssey officially comes to an end I get to start Bernie’s Ethiopian Odyssey in it’s place.  I am in a great position as I am home for 7 weeks and then I head to the UK for 3 weeks, so Bernie’s World Odyssey continues again, and THEN I go into Africa and start my Ethiopian journey.  So yes I am blessed.  I get to move to a new country with someone I love and see my own country before I do that massive leap of faith.  I am not really sure how I would handle things if I was coming home for good, with no more travel on the books and the reality of settling back into a Western world and integrating myself back into my ‘circle’ of friends lives again and surroundings.  Finding a place to live/buy, finding a new job and purchasing a car to name a few things.  What a daunting task for anyone right!????  I am a changed person my priorities are different from when I left and I just hope that my friends lives haven’t changed too much that we don’t have anything in common anymore.  15 months is a long time to be out of people’s minds.  It will be an interesting first few weeks. 

It is so hard for me to explain to people how I just don’t think I could go back to the way that I lived before in Australia after seeing what I saw in Africa.  My 4 months there changed me.  Even before I had met Zeme I had plans of returning to this amazing continent and trying to help somewhere and anywhere.  I was the first one to raise my hand when it came to keeping up with the Jones back home, especially with electronic gadgets, new dresses, concert tickets etc….  Don’t get me wrong I still enjoy all that, will do all that when I go home for visits, but I feel there is more to life that I feel I can offer, and to people who need the care and the nurturing.  If I can somehow get involved into making their lives more enriched then this is what I want to try and do.            

My whole Odyssey has been a magical and life changing experience for me. 

It has been a trip of a life time that only a small amount of people would ever get a chance to do-ever.

It has been an emotional ride that started on the 27^th November 2008 when I got the news that my mum had passed away suddenly. 

I lost my ‘family.

I reconnected with my dad and his family in 2009.  I now have 2 half brother’s that I am in contact with and my little bro got married last year and has recently had a baby boy.  I would never have thought being an only child that I would EVER become an Aunt.

I discovered ‘new’ family.

After 10 years of being with my ex-husband we decided that we were just 2 different people heading in different directions and separated in August 2010.

I lost ‘love’.

After travelling for only 7 months I arrived for my 16 day Ethiopian Adventure in October 2011.  Never in my wildest dreams would have thought I would find my soul mate on this trip and what was to become a whirlwind romance and my understanding of love at first sight.  It happens and it happened to me. 

I found love.

So this is what it feels like to be smiling on the inside.

I write this last ‘official’ entry with sadness but with hope for the future.

My future in a new country, with a new culture and with the love of my life-Africa will be my new home.

I will never forget this adventure and the reason why I found myself here. 

I’ve had the time of life and it was all in honor of my mum.  I think about her every day and hope that she is smiling down on what I have accomplished and I miss her also every day.

My advice to anyone reading this is to live life to the fullest.  It may not involve a 453 day trip around the world, I could be a weekend with a loved one.  Spending the day with someone you haven’t seen for a while, a phone call or text message to someone, a trip to the beach you’ve always promised yourself or that book that you wanted to read with no interruptions.  Do it.  You just never know what is around the corner and what fate has in store for us. 

Life is about the people you meet and the things you create with them. 

Live your dream and share your passion.

When you eat, appreciate every last bite.

Some opportunities only come only once-seize them.

Laugh everyday

Believe in magic.

Love with all your heart.

Be true to who you are.

Smile often and be grateful.

…and finally make every moment count.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs