Mike's "Promise to Travel" blog: Sunday, February 10: Success! Arrival in Australia, 14 hours before end of my 40th year

Introduction:

In my mid-twenties, I promised myself that I would visit all 7 continents by age 40. I kinda thought that would happen naturally, without any special effort on my part. Alas, I now find myself precisely age 40, and I've only been to 5 continents!

So at the end of 2007, I booked a flight to Argentina, the most common jumping-off point for voyages to Antarctica. I've scheduled about a month to find a stand-by berth on an expedition ship. I depart Argentina on February 7, 2008, for Melbourne, Australia. If all goes as planned, I will celebrate my 7th continent on February 10. And if I'm not too hung over, I will celebrate my 41st birthday on February 11. In Spanish, they call this timing "justito." I'd call it "cutting things close." Welcome along for the ride!

A note regarding photos: if you have trouble viewing the slide shows, try this alternate link: http://picasaweb.google.com/travelinsider .

Sunday

Sunday, February 10: Success! Arrival in Australia, 14 hours before end of my 40th year

I made it, but JUST by the skin of my teeth! I'mhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif in , having reached my continent #7, and feeling damn glad to be here.

I must have been pretty excited to be in Australia:

Now, the rest of my trip can be about relaxation. My mission is complete, and relaxation is my new goal.

My friend Terry picked me up at the airport, which was quite nice. I hadn't seen him since we met on a sailboat cruise in Turkey in 2005. We had a pretty instant rapport then, and it repeated today. He took the requisite phot of me in front of Australian customs, and then we headed for another friend's place, where I stayed my first couple of nights. Terry has a guest at his place now, so I won't shift to his guest room till later in the week.

Clearly, upon arrival I wasn't thinking straight. While looking in the mailbox for the key to my friend's apartment, I left my laptop on top of the mailboxes:

Within the hour, I realized it was gone. By then, the laptop was turned into the police station, a note had been left at the mailboxes,

...more so, an email had been sent by the local police to friends in Brisbane, letting them know my laptop was safe. There aren't many places in the world where a lost laptop gets turned in. Kudos, Melbourne! And thanks for the pleasant first-day surprise.