Start of the travels

Well, update number one. It¡¦s been one day of travel and it¡¦s already full of excitement and adventure. My day started out by flying out of Dulles around noon. That was a pretty decent flight, except for the really strong wind which created a lot of turbulence. I sat in the window seat next to a nice lady who ordered cheese, didn¡¦t finish it all and gave it to me ƒº. I like her. The lady on the other side of her was a sweet old lady who I had already bumped into three times that day. She was nice, but she slept nearly the entire time.

So I got to LA around 3:00 pm (their time) after the 5 hour flight. It is really hot here. Coming from 2 feet of snow into this warm climate, I¡¦m sweating big time ƒ¼ I got off and went to go get my luggage, but ended up going the wrong way and had to backtrack back to go get my luggage. In case you don¡¦t know, I¡¦m living out of a 65 L backpack for 6 months. It weighs 34 lbs, so it¡¦s a relief once I get to check it. So I went to go get my luggage from the baggage claim and ended up getting dumped somewhere in the airport. I have no clue where. I know I was in terminal seven. It never occurred to me that I could ask somebody for directions, so I instead just walked up and down the terminal with my big backpack, hoping to find Vaustralia. After about 45 min of walking, I asked someone where to check in for Vaustralia and he told me terminal 3. SO then I had to take a shuttle to the other terminal, go up an escalator and I was there. Finally. I still had about 4.5 hours before my next flight though. I proceeded to check my bag in and made friends with the guy in line in front of me. His name is Alex. He just came from working at Vancouver Olympics and had tons of stories. He let me borrow his cell phone to call home and even gave me a phone card to use once we get to Sydney! What a blessing. We were both hungry so we went to the terminal over (which has a food court) and grabbed a bite to eat. I got Chinese ƒº I figured out where to meet Sarah (my travelling buddy) and went back to meet her. We found each other and hung out after she checked her bag. We went through security and then to Burger King (cuz she was hungry and hadn¡¦t eaten).

We met a girl named Greta whose an Auzzie visiting the states and she LOVES to talk¡K.lol. While walking towards our gate, Sarah whispers to me ¡§is that Brandon? On our DTS?¡¨ I look over and he¡¦s sitting against the wall. At least I think it¡¦s him. So I walked up and said ¡§hi are you on DTS?¡¨ I just now realize how awkward that would have been if it hadn¡¦t have been him¡Klol. Anyways, so there¡¦s us three. Then when we boarded the flight, I saw another YWAMer, Stephanie, sitting only a few rows in front of us. So now there¡¦s four. We¡¦re suppose to get another one once we hit Sydney. Five ƒº

So I¡¦m writing now from on the plane. It¡¦s a really nice plane. I say that because there¡¦s food, the awesome TV¡¦s on every seat, even this cool ¡§chat/texting¡¨ thing. You can use it to talk to people in other seats. So me and Sarah are sitting together. Brandon and Stephanie are in front of us, so we¡¦ve been talking to them. After only 10 minutes on the plane, I broke my TV ƒ¼ I dunno what I did to it, but the screen went blank and it won¡¦t respond. Maybe I should get help or put out flares or something. Anyways, this is a 14-15 hour flight, so I should probably find something to do. They are gonna serve dinner soon. It¡¦s suppose to be Cajun Chicken or beef stir fry. I¡¦m excited.

I still can¡¦t really believe that I¡¦m here. I guess the reality started to hit when my dad told me how much he cried after he dropped me off. Well, I¡¦m here. I don¡¦t know where here is exactly. Somewhere in the air over the Pacific Ocean. But either way, I made it! This is going to be the adventure of a lifetime! I cannot wait ƒº I will write soon!

Love,

Jodi

PS I slept a lot and woke up realizing that I had been sitting on a piece of cheese (in a wrapper) for I don¡¦t know how long. It melted¡K¡K.hehe ƒº

PSS While we were in the airport, Sarah saw somebody famous and freaked out¡K.lol. It was the boyfriend from the movie, ¡§Ten Things I Hate About You¡K¡¨ She got so excited and giggly. Me and Brandon thought it was funny. Then she went over and got his autograph, it was funny to watch ƒº