Down Under

One of the greatest perks about my job (and I'm really trying to focus on the perks right now) is that I get to periodically travel to cool places.

When I first started traveling for work I thought it was pretty exciting. I would often add on some additional time in each new city to get some additional free time.  But as the many years of work travel have added up, I do this less and less. Partly because I rarely go to a new city anymore and partly because I'm typically ready to get home and get back into my Austin routine.

But every so often I get to travel to some cool places.  Most recently (directly from my honeymoon) I went to Brisbane, Australia. There is an annual international psycho-social oncology conference.  I've been to it once before in Vienna, Austria - both because I was accepted as a conference speaker.

Devon also went on this trip for some additional work related projects with some partners in Australia.  And I'm super glad she was there - for many reasons!

As previously stated, leaving my honeymoon and re-entering the work world was hard but spending a week in Australia, with Devon, was the best way to re-enter it.  Not only did it give me time to check emails and get caught up at my own pace, without people coming to my desk or spending all day in my meetings, it also allowed me to spend time with one of my favorite people!

I hadn't dissected the wedding with anyone yet and, of course, hadn't told anyone about our honeymoon so it was fun to recap this with her. She also caught me up on her life and how work had been. I left the week that the Fall Lance drama hit (USADA report) and it was a tough week at the office. I was thrilled to leave (with a smidge of guilt) but I was glad to get caught up.  For those of you who know Devon she is a great story teller so I knew her facts would be thorough and entertaining!

We rented a one bedroom condo for the five days we were there, which was perfect. We shared a room but there was a kitchen and living area so we had plenty of space, which was often needed with our weird jet lagged bodies.  It was the start of Summer in Australia so the days were longer.  The sun set around 6ish but rose by 4am.  So many nights we were asleep by 9 and up by 4 - even working out by 5.  We did wake up once in the middle of the night to hop on a work call.  Again, it's very strange to be in such a different time zone.  We were literally in the future. We'd wake up at 4am and work would still be in the previous day, post-lunch, working hard.  It made it both challenging and easy to work. Challenging because you couldn't work 'live' but easy because you could really take time to respond to things - which is not always a luxury we have at work.

There were so many great things about the trip and I really loved Brisbane.  It reminded me of Austin - it's a college town, right on water and people are very outdoorsy.  So after 2 weeks in Spain with limited green vegetables and English I was ready for the laid back environment of Brisbane.  They had veggies (especially avocados!), eat eggs for breakfast, love gluten free options (although they also make their iced coffees into milkshakes), spoke English (even though they of course have their own nuances too) and the weather was amazing.

Devon and I tried to make the most of our limited time there - going on some walks (including a brief nature trail walk, which made Nicole very happy), running (me), Crossfit (Devon), eating at every restaurant in walking distance including an amazing pancake house restored out of an old church, shopping and we even took one day off!

We rented a car and drove up to the Sunshine Coast to check out the beaches.  After 2 failed attempts with beaches that were too windy (note: Devon was still finding sand in her backpack weeks later), we found a lovely, beautiful spot. We spent the afternoon reading and relaxing. The water was lovely, too - cold but so clear with no major drop offs.

The most challenging part of the trip for me was driving and walking on the opposite of the road. I quickly got used to it and then found, once I got back to Austin, I had to readjust again.

So not only am I so grateful to have a work place that provides me opportunities to travel to such great places but so grateful that I got to experience this with Devon!

She's returning to Australia this week for some ongoing work and it makes me sad not to go with her.  The only thing I'm not jealous of is the 14 hour flight.....