Happy Belated New Year

For us, new year started on September 24 when we arrived excited and exhausted at our flat at 63 Eltisley. Every part of our lives have changed - our haunts, our friends, our conversations, our life patterns, our routines, our modes of transportation(no cars), even our clothes! I now regularly wear a Darwin College scarf and routinely carry an umbrella, although I have not switched to tweed.
December has been a busy month, that started on a sad note, with Marc's and Patsy and Paul's visit ending, and quickly jumped back into high gear with the first performance of Troubled Felix live at Darwin College and a fantastic visit from long-time friend Dorothy Albrecht. The performance went very well, with me playing drums for some songs and congas and random percussion for the others. I've attached two videos. They are available on face book as well. The song "Leaky Beavage" is an original tune by the lead guitarist Stu Hohnen and lead vocalist Anja Baum. What a thrill to play in a band again, with talented musicians, who have now become my friends.
Dorothy's visit was perfect, with great weather, the last punt on the Cam for 2009, and some fun walks around town.
Michaelmas term ended, leaving me behind on my reading, so early December was spent catching up with the voluminous reading, trying to get on top of all this new stuff that I am learning. International concepts of family law, the awakening of the law of restitution, and trying to grasp world-wide intellectual property law filled my days. The readings have been stimulating, well chosen and topical. I am grateful for amazing professors, who have convinced me that after 25 years practicing law I still have a lot to learn!
Susanne finally made it to her Christmas break, and after a bit of frantic shopping, a few more end of year parties. we were off to Denmark for the holidays. Our hosts and Susanne's cousins Annette and Johnny, and Rasmus and Birgitte were perfect in making sure that we participating in all aspects of the season, including a welcome respite from English cooking.
The most amazing moments of all came when we were actually able to share Christmas eve festivities with our family in Hamilton. Being able to videoconference using skype was absolutely miraculous. We had tried a test run for Hannukah with my parents and the kids, and that was fantastic, and days later we did it again marrying Danish Christmas with Canadian Christmas. Being able to watch the family open the gifts that we sent, made being away from our family bearable. It was almost like being there. Even the danish Juleman was seen this year in Canada and we can now be thankful that "Pretty Tree" has now crossed the ocean ad become a Danish tree-dancing spectacle as wel!
Well here it is: what others are calling New Years' Eve, and since we have already had ours three months ago, we actually aren't all that excited about it. Cambridge is empty of people, being mostly a transient city, so we will be going to our favourite pub for dinner, then off to a party with some students who have also stayed around, and then tomorrow we will feast on local fish, scallops and crayfish cooked Caribbean style (this may be as close to a Roti as I come this year!)
My new years' resolution is to attend more of the academic talks available at Cambridge, as I realize that I only have six months left, so we have to make the most of it.
Miss you all and hope everyone has (had) a great new year.

Tokomaks,Turkeys, Ties, Tides, Tuxedos and Troubled Felix

This month I got a taste of English culture and science, with a capital T.

First, Tokomaks. The JET Tokomak is a toroidal structure that was the first to produce fusion energy on earth, 16 megawatts worth, in 1997. Plasma is heated to three times the temperature of the sun (another small fusion generator). JET, the Joint European Toros, was proceeded by another Tokomak, called MAST (Mega-amp spherical Tokomak). Both are located at a research facility at Culham, near Oxford. Marc and I had the priveledge of visiting these amazing structures, giving us a glimpse of a possible worldwide solution to the energy crisis, and to Marc, a glimpse of his own future, as a fusion physicist. It was exciting to see the hope exhibited by the scientists who are part of this team, as well as hearing about their trials and tribulations in making the thing work. Think of this: the amount of lithium in your laptop battery plus half a bathtub of seawater would supply your energy needs for 30 years! The new one in France, caled ITER, is poised to supply 500 megawatts by 2028. Incredibly expensive, but very safe and no carbon discharge, just inert helium. Go for it, Marc!

Second, Turkeys. Forty-seven "Americans" crowded into a small room at Darwin College to celebrate US Turkey day. All the food was lovingly made by my fellow Darwin College students, and voraciously consumed, with a wee bit of wine. But before the feast began, we played some yankee football. After made from scratch pumpkin and apple pie, we tried unsuccessfully to pull in a weak, web signal so that we could watch the big boys play. Everyone wanted to be an American for just a few minutes, so the Europeans joined in, too. Note - I did play for the winning football team!

Third, the tie, black and to be tied in a bow, apparantly. Well, that goes with the Tuxedo. I finally bought both, at the same Harry Potteresque store where i bought my gown. The sign in the window said £100 off for October, so on Halloweeen I took the plunge. The tux(called a dinner lacket here) is a a thing of grace and beauty, but oh, that &TI&^R%I*^% tie! I had three sets of instructions, one that came with the tie, and the other two on dueling laptops, and I could NOT tie that ^*&%*^^ thing. The taxi was waiting to bring us to the LLM Christmas formal at Trinity Hall, and I was sweating buckets. Susanne to the rescue, it got beautifully tied and I had the chance to show off the tux, tie, Susanne and Marc to my colleagues at the LLM dinner. It was a perfect night - good food, great company and an incredible historic setting.

Next, tides. On a chilly Saturday morning, 8 brave souls set off into the shallow North Sea for a battle with the English tides, aboard a beautiful 42 foot Jenneau. Leaving Shotley, where the River Stour meets the River Orwell, we first met up with the other 2 boats in the floatilla. They immediately challenged us to a race around a few navigational bouys. Susanne skippering we, of course got a great start, but alas the wind came up and we were a bit overpowered. We tried to keep the faster boat (Kestel, the Cambridge U Yacht Club boat, a Sigma 38) at bay behind us, but she eventually powered past us to leward, much to our chagrin. I did remark as she slid past that the winners were to buy the ales. After the race, (we came in second) the tides were in full force as we fought our way out to sea until we were in sight of our destination, a country called Sealand (look it up).

Finally, Troubled Felix. Michaelmas term ends tomorrow. I get to catch my academic breath, and get caught up on the missed voluminous readings. But first, Friday is Troubled Felix's first gig. Yes I am in a rock band. It is a very talented bunch, and we shall attempt to play: Hit the Road Jack, Killing Me Softly, Reckoner (Radiohead - how 'bout that Scott!), an original called Beaverage, Sweet home Alabama, Highway to Hell and Wish You Were Here. We have two amazing female vocalists and some awesome musicians. I shall try to put some video footage on the blog next week. I am incredibly excited and honoured to play with this talented bunch, (see group picture above) by far the biggest thrill in a very thrilling two months.

Oh I forgot one more T word - The Queen. Marc and I saw her in front of King's College on a fine day where we bicycled all over Cambridgeshire. She was very cute in her orange bonnett.

Miss you all!

A rose is a rose

I cannot believe that it has already been two months!
The best part of the past few weeks since my last entry has been Marc's visit, but I shant digress any further from today's lesson on common "English" words. Suffice it to say that we are very much enjoying his company.

The "English" word is on the top, whilst the "North American" is on the bottom. See if you can match 'em up. (Hint - some don't match at all)

nappies
pudding
crisp
£
biscuit
rubber
welly
lounge jacket
2-3
waterproofs
hall
dual carriageway
motorcar
assured
paper
cheers
p
jumper
torch
trainers
wash up liquid
naked lights
yacht
bursar
porter
buttery
bobby
brawley
sailing in November




__________________________________________________





course
security guard
accountant
c
pardon me
eraser
cheeseburger
running shoes
divided highway
confident
open flame
wet weather gear
boots
$
popcorn
dishwashing liquid
potato chips
cookie
sweatshirt
dress
car
soap
flashlight
snack bar
insured
residence cafeteria
classroom entrance
diapers
dessert
tuxedo
sailing in September
policeman
umbrella
keelboat
4-10
truck
prophylatic


Email me with your answers and good luck - the winner gets syrup cake and gooey yellow custard.

here's a few pictures for you all. Good night.

Who threw the shoe?

Whilst studying at Cambridge, one must avail oneself of activities designed to provoke, entertain and bemuse.

Last weekend, it was London's turn to become the backdrop. It was Susanne's last long weekend before she started work, so we booked a 4 star hotel via priceline for 59 pounds, and set off to see Big Ben. We arrived early afternoon, checked in, and went directly to TKTS at Leistershire (sp?) Square. We scored tickets to what I wanted to see last summer, that being 'Chicago'. After a pint on Charing Cross Road, we checked the 'Time Out' tour book (thanks mom and dad!) and discovered that we were one block from Bar Shu, which was described as a Szchewan restauant that was still true to its roots. Right they were - that place sizzled, provoking the tastebuds with some of the spiciest food this side of the Great Wall. The people at the table across the aisle asked the waitress to remove the chilies from one dish, and her slotted spoon removed an entire large bowl full! The place was also immaculately clean and our food was delicious, beginning with a rolled up beef appetizer, Ants Crawling up the Tree and a spicy stringy potato dish and of course some hot and sour soup.
After cooling our mouths with another quality English pint, we saw quality entertainment, London west end style with a fabulous rendition of Chicago. We tarried a bit on our way back to the Hotel, marvelling at Picadilly Square.
Our comfortable hotel made us extra sleepy, which meant that we didn't leave that cocoon until late. After a nice brekkie near Paddington Station, we set off to Portabello Road market, where we had cursorly explored a year prior.
What a market! My wonderful memories of that bustling street as a young lad were confirmed - it appeared to be every bit as entertaining as I remembered it to be. There were jewelry stands, records, tools, clothes, compasses, all sorts of interesting dodads. I fell in love with one item that Susanne made me come back and get - a mantle clock circa 1925 like the one that was at my paternal grandparents' house. I was and still am absolutely smitten with it.
Next was a dinner of Ribs (yes Erik, England has great ribs!) and then off to the Tate Modern for a beautiful dusk view of the Thames, dessert, coffee and some very bemusing and beautiful modern art pieces, including an old VW Microbus as Art - hmmm. Most of the pieces were incredible, with Dalis intermingled with Picassos and Monets. Then the return train home.


Then came last Friday night. We arrived at the gorgeous Cambridge Union Debating Society building to see former Aussie PM John Howard. Not being a big fan of his, but realizing that he was a guy who was a 4 term PM, it seemed like a good bet for an entertaining evening. As he started to speak, a guy two rows in front of us started to yell 'racist'. Although the accusation may have been appropriate given his questionable immigration policy of literally refusing entry to all who tried to get into Australia illegally, leaving some to die on the ocean, the method of attack by the heckler was really ineffective and obnoxious. When he did it a third time, he was asked by the President of the Society to leave and he refused. The Society security guard came over to escort him out, and as he was being ejected forcibly he threw his boot at Howard! Howard's minimal security guards blocked the good throw, and Howard unabashedly continued his talk. I can see why he was popular, as he carried himself well and did not sherk difficult questions such as his positive??? impressions of George Dubya, and his support of China in light of its Human Rights record.

The next night being halloween we were back for more Cambridge union entertainment, bemusing ourselves with solving a murder mystery. We arrived 'en mask' with our teammates from the LLM program, aka 'The Killer Bees', and set off to the Bar to solve the mysterious killing of Paris Wilton. Unfortunately, it was way too crowded to make any headway with the confusing plot, so off we went to party number 2 at 'The Cow' for more great costumes, and then to party number 3 at Darwin College for another masked event. And yes, before we went out we gave out more candy (Haribo!!) to the street kids in one night than we have given in 15 years at 15 Hillcrest. They kept coming in waves until our 2 huge bags of mini Haribo goodies were gone, and they still kept coming!

One last thing. In case anyone thinks that this place is just one big party, let me tell you that between all the aforementioned fun, I have been working my butt off trying to keep up with the reading. I figure about 1000 pages of complicated stuff very week as assigned readings. It is challenging, exhilarating, provacative, sometimes entertaining and often bemusing, indeed.

Until next time, the adventure continues.

So there you have it, bloggers.

Whilst

I never knew that people younger than 110 used this word, but it seems that academics at Cambridge still do.
This place has a pace like no other place that I have ever seen. Yes i've been to the Caribbean, and saw the pace of sun and rum, and been to the Greek Isles and watched the pace of long lunches with Ouzo and grilled Swordfish. Yes i've been to the big apple, dodged crazy taxi drivers under Big Ben's watchful eye and jammed myself into a Greek train.
Cambridge time doesn't run with a watch, it runs with a crazy timepiece known as the Corpus Christi clock, with a huge bug clicking off the seconds, Dr. Seuss style.

First there are the long days of fresher week (really 2) where one party or punt outing leads into another.
Then there is the long day of watching 25 professors sell their wares while you decide which 4 of them deserve your continued attention, and hearing that the lawschool really has absolutely no idea who is enrolled in the LLM, as only each college has that information.
Then there is the realization that university fees for tuition and lodging will be paid in due course, when your college gets around to sending you a bill.
Next is the realization that other than the 8 hours of class, time is basically your own until exams in May next year, with an unbelievable number of distractions that have nothing to do with your course of study, such as incredible history, architecture, lectures, punt adventures, sailing the English channel coastal rivers, debates, readings, music (both classical and jazz/rock), societies from Tiddly winks to the Cambridge Union Debating (Paul Martin and John Howard to name a couple participants), and of course those wonderful pubs with that wonderful cask ale.
The library opens promptly at 9am, and a bell rings for "last call" at precisely half eight, with the lights flickered at 8:50, lights out at 9:00, which is the hour that the college pub opens for business, with its last call at 11:30 with the same bell, bar doors shut at Midnight, every day of the week.
Lunch at Hall is served at 12:45, with the same bell rung at 1:30 to rouse you for to bring your coffee into the parlour, until 2, when classes begin again. Dinner is at 6:45, with that crazy bell at 7:30 and coffee again in the parlour until 8:00. Formal hall which is the gowned and dressed version available Wednesday and Friday has the same starting dinner hours, but sherry is poured first in the parlour, and port and Madeira served after instead of coffee, and again the pub is open right after, with formal diners mingling with the jean cladded non-formalists.
To flourish in this strange laissey-faire world, these people must be and are incredibly bright. They only need to be shown where the books are, and what they need to know, and they get right at it, with plenty of time for socialibility and exchange of ideas. This place has been like this presumably for 800 years and they have it down. Speaking of time, one of my strolls at Gonville and Caius (pronounced "Keys") College lead me to observe the names of the resident "fellows", which included as one of many a "Steven Hawking". Just one of the "guys" around here.

Getting down to it

It's now 12:15 and I am sitting in the law library taking it all in. I have reviewed the reading list for my Family law course, looked at the questions on our first topic, Parentage and I realize that family law discussion topics have changed drastically since when I was last sitting in a Family law course. For example, one of the discussion questions is:







5. Is there an inherent difference between donation of an egg and donation of a sperm that justifies treating the right to know your parent (and indeed the allocation of parebthood) differently?



or

12. Should the parental status of a parent change when he/she changes his/her legal gender?


or

13. Under English Law (and the law of some US states) it is possible that a legal man (i.e. a man who changed his legal gender from female to male) gives birth to a child. Should he be the father or the mother of the child? What about his partner (male or female)?



The readings should be quite interesting.

Just to go backwards a few days, the weekend has been filled with new skills and opportunities.


There did not appear to be any sailboats readily available, only the punts previously descibed and some odd narrow things with paddles sticking out every which way. Having had previous success with the punts, I decided to try the narrow things. Apparantly, these narrow things require that someone actually push snd pull the sticks to make it go, rather than the far more relaxing wind power that I was used to. So with other like minded folk, I have begun to learn to push and pull the sticks in unison. These sticks have large spoons to make the boat go fast. I now know how those Vikings felt when the wind died and they had to resort to splashing sticks in unison. All kidding aside, I had a ball learning this new skill and intend to see if I can get good at it. It sure is good excercise!


Saturday night was the big fresher event, called a BOP. There was salsa lessons, and then a fabulous salsa band. We tried our best with these odd steps, and were about to head home, when Ole, the partying Swedish guy who really wants to be a Dane, invited us to the "after party". When we politely tried to say no, Ole told us the story of driving all over town in a taxi after store closing hours to find cups for his guests, and that we had to come and use them. Ole is a very persuasive guy (the life of the party), so off we trudged to his residence. There were about 60 people in his room, hallway and outside, drinking out of his cups. Strangely enough, the house next door to his residence in this lovely Cambridge residential neighbourhood was for sale! We were one of the first to leave - god knows how late the "after party" went on!

I have been saving the best news for last. We got a Darwin rock/blues band going. Ever since I met Jens, who showed me all his various guitars (including a vintage Fender stratocaster - eat your heart out Geoff!), we have both been trying to put something together, lacking only drums, another guitar and a singer. We finally found some drums in a cellar accesed with a trap door under the bar, Nikon found a great singer (Anja from Germany), Jens found another couple guitarists and had our first practice Sunday afternoon. What a thrill. Our first attempt sounded great, so we have our next practise on Sunday.

Susanne is off for a week, so I am going to try to get ahead on my reading. back to family law!

Here is the Fresher`s week schedule with the events attended by me highlighted.

Classes week 1

Okay - its not just all fun. Today I really missed people at home. Classes started yesterday, and I had to think very seriously about which courses I am going to take, and whether I want to write a thesis. Been to International Criminal law, Comparitive Family law and Jurisprudence, as well as meeting with the seminar leaders in Comparitive Law if I want to do a thesis. The courses have been really amazing so far, but it has been a bit hard to get my head back into listening to lectures and taking notes. My new tablet laptop has been a hit, letting me take notes using a neat program called windows journal.

If I do a thesis, it will be in Consumer law, specifically comparing UK and Canada (Ontario) law with respect to cooling off periods. The first professor that I spoke to wasn't too keen on my topic, but the next one was. I will have to decide this early next week.

On the social front, we had games night alast night at the college. Along with ping pong, we played this crazy drinking game with chugging beer and then flipping your cup over (I was really good at that game) and another one where you had to choose a sign, and then sign each other. Very goofy, but there ended up being about 20 of us playing. Great bonding with my college mates.

Maybe it is all fun. Even the courses. And missing people means that I will be that much more excited and apprecitive of them when I see them next, and that I will return to a rich and fulfilling life when I return. Everyone stay healthy.

Here is another picture for you all, taking a couple minutes walk from our flat. Note the beautiful weather. We`ve had very little rain, for jolly old England!

A great weekend

Last night we had our first "dinner" party. It started harmlessly enough. A pancake breakfast, a walk downtown, and a last look at the Darwin exhibit. Susanne went to a lecture entitled "Lunch with Mrs. Darwin" which was a look at Darwin's life and the personality of his spouse and her cookbook. She was given the last ticket, so I wandered around the museum once again and then headed over for punting at 2pm at the College. It was too crowded, so a bunch of us chose to watch at the Mill Pond Island whilst quafing an ale. Met a fellow student from Owen Sound, who smoked rollies with filters, and a couple of other interesting blokes. We wandered back to the college, and joined in the scavenger hunt. We were suppose to answer a bunch of questions about Darwin College, and it was amazing watching 100 people keenly running around trying to find the answers. We got stuck on: "What was watched on Darwin's birthday?" We thought that there might have been an eclipse or something on Feruary 12, 1809, but alas - nothing of note happened that day. While we groped for that answer, which turned out to be "Zoolander", which was the movie that the film club watched that day this year, other groups figured out the secret clue and won the hunt without even getting all the answers.! Oh well, we should have thought about a trick.

While standing around drinking Pims (a drink popular in England), a bunch of of us decided to go punting. We set off, and then doubled back to grab a bottle of wine from the party. It turned out that it was a privately owned bottle, and the owner chased after us in a kayak. He arrived on a collision course, and we calmly offerred him a glass, which he accepted with a good laugh. This was the first of two acts of piracy that we engaged in this day.

Apparantly, learning to punt has 4 stages:

1. Getting the punt moving, but not likely the direction that you want to go.
   
2. Learning to turn using the pole as a rudder.
   
3. Using the river bottom to turn the boat the way that you want to go.


4. Doing 3. with one hand.
   

I quickly got to 1., mastered 2.., and struggled through 3. Tried 4., quickly went back to 3.

After a beautiful trip past the colleges of Cambridge U., we all decided that we were all thirsty, my friends. We moored off King's College, and ran to King's "private pub" and bought 6 bottles, as we learned to do in the BVIs. Alas, according to our upper year skipper Nikon (a person not a camera!), each college's pubs are for their members and invited guests only, so we had to run and not get caught. A person appeared, who Nikon told us was a guard, and he suggested to Esther, an M. Eng. student that she had to tell the guard that she had to use the ladies to get past. Turns out he was just a bystander, and not a guard, and Nikon laughed at his good folly, and we all joined in. Arriving pirate style with our pirated beers in hand at the moored punt, we jumped in and completed our journey.

We arrived at the college, starved. We were directed by Nikon to the best pizza in town, where we ordered 3. When they were ready, we dashed to our flat with our hot pizzas in hand, and served dinner with limited plates, cutlery and my computer for music. We laughed, drank my last bottle of wine, and concluded the evening at the Darwin pub for a nightcap.

Oh, as you may have guessed, the pictures here are not pictures of our first dinner party. They are pictures of our first formal dinner at Darwin, and the scavenger hunt quiz. Enjoy.

Geting settled

Indian summer has followed us since we arrived. The weather has been amazing. Warm, sunny and perfect for getting to know our new surroundings and putting our flat together.

In the midst of a lot of this activity, there have been some great moments where I have had to pinch myself, as I didn't believe that I was doing those things.

Like punting down the Cam River. I actually got the hang of it pretty quickly.

Like putting on my new gown and walking down to the College for formal dinner with Susanne all dolled up as well. (pictures later).

Like sitting at a pub with my fellow students and being treated like one of them, despite my grey hair.

Like hearing people talk enthuisiastically about attending an amazing Darwin history and art exhibit at Fitzwilliam museum, and then having intelligent discussions about it after everyone had seen it.

Like sitting in the law school and taking in my first lectures, where things were actually pretty clear to me.

Like talking to a PHD biologist about his hypothesis for new DNA findings, or to a Chinese Archaeologist about his controversial findings about the origin of the Chinese people.

Like the thrill of seeing people's eyes light up when I tell them what the heck that I am doing studying law at Cambridge.

I am truly living my dream. Tonight we are off to the first pub night for my LLM class at the Eagle Pub.

Missing everyone.

Paul at Darwin

This is me in front of Darwin College, overlooking the River Cam.

First days at Cambridge

It is so nice not to have to have to get into my car to get anywhere! Everything is within walking distance.
We have a great flat, really big and in a really nice area of town. Newnham to be precise. We are walking everywhere, for supplies for our flat (we now have plates, a toaster, etc.) Susanne and I chiselled 10 years off the stove, and it gleams now. There are victuals in our little fridge and cupboards. We are (virtually) unpacked.
We arrived and found our flat key waiting for us (along with some mail in my "Pidgeon Hole" as they call it here) at the College porter's office, while the taxi was waiting. We aslo relished a couple pints of English ale, seeing Susanne's school's Open House, and most importantly, a taste of the ancient traditions - I picked out my master's level gown at a 300 year old store called "Ede and Ravenscliffe". Unbelievable experience, and very Potteresque. The first formal dinner is next Wednesday, where I will try it out officially for the first time. Staring tomorrow, we begin Freshers' Week, which seems to be a lot of drinking events, with a bit of other stuff thrown in to make it look like it is not just drinking events. Of course, being a senior student, I won't be partaking at all.
More later...

Thoughts on the way to Cambridge

I have learned that a lot of stuff has to happen to unwind a life and wind it back up somewhere else.

First you have to have a dream of doing something different. Then you have to find someone to join you. That is a lot easier if the person has already done it herself, and you helped.

Then you have to visualize the dream by breaking it down into manageable steps. Otherwise, it can be overwhelming.

1. Pick the time to go. I think that sometime during a lifetime, it should come around.
2. Check out your options carefully. Don't hesitate to visit and test the possibilities.
3. Ask permission of those that need to agree to make it possible. If you approach this with enthusiasm, the response you elicit may surprise you. This includes both the formal request such as the schools you might want to attend, and the informal ones such as your family and friends.
4. Get everyone to agree. This is the hardest step and takes a lot of thought, discussion and timing.
5. Say yes to your dream. Nothing short of a disaster should stop you now.
6. Find someone to live in your house.
7. Have your companion apply for and find rewarding work, to help pay for the dream.
8. Get leaves of absence from your jobs, or something that is as close as possible.
9. Find a place to stay at your new destination.
10. Start planning your good byes. Make sure that you remember to create lots of good memories of the people you love, so those memories will be able to sustain you and them when you are lonely. Invite people to join you as you live your dream.
11. Make a three month list of things to do. Use big sheets of paper and don't lose the list! Be realistic. Try not to forget anything, and review and add to the list often.
12. Start doing everything on the list. It's easy to fall behind if you're not careful.
13. Pack your house and start planning what you will bring.
14. Make reservations for your travel, and plan your last days. Try to leave some time to relax (Good luck!)
15. Finish the last minute things to do, spend your last days before you go with friends and family.
42. GO!

Hi all - we begin our adventure tomorrow. Check back in a few days and you may see the first jetlagged post.