Departure

The big day has finally arrived! It has been almost eighteen months since our exchange to Australia was first initiated.

Eighteen months to get all one's affairs in order seems fairly reasonable; however, on our departure day we were rushing around to insurance companies, photocopying documents, taking down Christmas lights and, of course, packing.

Ah yes, packing! How do you possibly pack for a year, especially with the airline's generous weight allowance? We would have been better off packing our belongings in plastic garbage bags. Our carry-on luggage could only weigh 15 pounds, but the bags weighed 9 pounds empty! In the end, our three carry on bags were only half full. We eventually made it to the airport with our six suitcases and three carry-on pieces. Together they tipped the scales at just over 450 pounds. Jodi's "purse", Hannah's backpack, and my computer bag probably held another 50 pounds. Our biggest worry was how much were we going to have to pay in surcharges for our luggage being overweight. We arrive at the ticket counter and wouldn't you know it, they didn't even weigh the bags! We could have packed that bottle of maple syrup!