A Visitor

My dearest cousin is coming for a visit, and she arrives tomorrow.

I'm excited to boot that I'm finally having a visitor. I have been trying for the three years that I've been here to get family and friends from Australia to come for a visit. All met with the same excuses; "It's too far", "I can't take that much time off work, are you crazy!?", "It's too expensive", "It's too far". Blah blah blah, all lame excuses.

For the record, it's not that far - 14 hours from Sydney to San Francisco or L.A, plus a mad dash to the domestic terminal to catch the 6 hour connecting flight to New York. Add check-in times, security checks - 24 hours in total, tops. Jet lag is an incidental. See, not far at all.

Anyway back to my bestest, closest, most favourite of all my cousins.

We've been chatting on the phone a lot recently. Her birthday is coming up and she was feeling a little down. I said, "Why don't you take some time off and come for a visit? A holiday is exactly what you need". "Nah, it's too far, plus I'm broke" was her response.

Sigh.

Now, I admit I was a little sneaky. Sensing her mood, I decided the best plan of attack was to bombard her with phone calls. So I called, almost every day, gently cooing to her that what she needed was a holiday. You know, get away from it all for a while, see the world, treat yourself to a great birthday present.

What I didn't anticipate was the reaction I would get from her. From complaining that New York was too far - "What am I going to do on the plane for 14 hours?", having no money, not being able to take the time off work, to...a one month juggernaut of airline travel. Around the world airline travel in fact: Sydney - New York - London - Hong Kong - Sydney.

A woman's brain works in mysterious ways, don't you think?

So yes, she arrives tomorrow and I'm excited as can be. We'll be doing the touristy stuff while she's here, many of which I haven't done yet. Plus there will be a side trip to Las Vegas too.

All I have to do is clean the apartment and make it look presentable. Can't wait!