ready to rock and roll

trip starts in a few days... kind of weird. as stupid as it sounds, i dont think the whole excitement has kicked in yet. i think once i get there i will be good to go. it seems like right now there is just too much crap to run around and do before leaving. tentative plan is:

27 december: fly to sydney
january: australia
february to mid march: southeast asia (thailand, cambodia, vietnam, laos)
march: china
april to early may: all across russia and some of eastern europe (hungary, croatia, turkey)
rest of may and june: africa (kenya, tanzania, zimbabwe, south africa)
21 june: home

now, lets see how much that changes. any input on happenings in any of those general areas, give me a shout.

my packing list contains of about 4 t shirts, 3 long sleeve shirts, a pair of jeans and khakis, 2 pairs of shorts, sandals, sneakers, a beanie, some underwear, 2 pairs of socks and a fleece jacket.

now, i have some other things in the way of an ipod, camera, toiletries, etc-- but you get the point.

bryan and i fly out on united from detroit on tuesday, 27 december. theres a whole hodge-podge of connections, but we get to sydney on the 29, at which point a few of my friends from prior time spent in australia are picking us up at the airport.

at this point, im thinking i can have a cold beer consumed by 9 am sitting on coogee beach. i wanna say that right around that time the whole "being on vacation for 6 months" mentality will kick in.