Hello! And welcome to series 21. These next three months are busy ones here at Cleared for Departure. From the South China Sea to the dark corners of the U.S.medical system, from London to Kenya and Zanzibar. I hope you’re ready.
We begin with an October surprise (trip) to Asia, specifically Singapore, Darwin, and Sydney celebrating my mom’s 80th birthday. After all, according to her, they are all next to each other … a simple skip and hop. This is actually not true. As I am the logistics planner in the family, she does not concern herself with pedestrian details like geography. She wanted to visit Singapore again and the Australian Outback. A wave of her credit card and mote-it-be. When I mentioned these locales were, in fact, not near each other her look of incredulity quickly shut me up.
Mom’s age is a shock to both her and me. Deep down we both still believe she’s in her late-40s. I know she is continually annoyed when her body reminds her of the truth. I am irked that someday, maybe but hopefully not soon, I will be forced to say goodbye. I would rather not.
RBD was invited but politely declined. She had work to do, whereas I was on a break from school. Let’s be honest: No spouse signs up to travel for three weeks with their mother-in-law. Had RBD not had work obligations, I feel certain pressing ones could have been invented. Conveniently she went to London (for a conference), but I think we all know the real reason1.
Due to school obligations I could not study and write daily updates to you all. Thus this trip has already happened, and we’re home alive and well. Another change: Dianne will take over the narrative duties for this series. I will include my pictures to complement her prose.
Our trip began late at night, departing runway 4 L from JFK, traveling north and east over Europe to Singapore.
We spent about a week in the well-known city state before departing to Darwin, located in Australia’s top end. Non-Aussie’s call it the Northern Territory.
After another several days touring the outback, our next leg took us to Sydney for a week. This was my first time. Mom’s third. (I thought it was the Australian capital city until just a few moments ago.)
So settle in and enjoy the journey. Mom’s buying. I’m taking pictures. What could go wrong?
- Either we’re both Delta Platinum, or neither of us are Delta Platinum. ↩
