All good stories need a chapter 1

“Squirrel, squirrel, where’s the squirrel? Daddy, I don’t see a squirrel.  Oh oh, there’s the squirrel.  Gotta catch it.  Gotta catch it.” 

Oh yes, this was the life for Honey.  Laying in the air condition all day eagerly awaiting us to get home from work, getting all the attention any dog could ask for and playing outside until we made her come in.  But…all that changed in the blink of an eye. 

We each grew up a goal…a goal of traveling the world. But, where and when to begin was the question.  So, on we went with our lives.  Then came that opportunity.  

Over the next few months, we had to plan our journey that would take us to Thailand.  We were all the way in Louisiana and had to travel to Los Angeles to take a long 18 hour nonstop flight.  A search for all the best prices, packing, and remodeling became a way of life. We rented a large storage unit and slowly started filling it with boxes and anything else we chose to keep.  Since Honey was coming with us, we had lots of paperwork and procedures to get her ready…shots, health certificate, get her approved to enter Thailand, etc.  Preparation of everything was key.

I think we lived at Lowe’s or some other home store for a few months.  We were always there looking something else we needed for the house.  Paint, paintbrushes, tiles, sink, mirror, cabinets, countertops, appliances…the list goes on.  We worked on everything til the last minute and unfortunately wasn’t able to finish everything but glad we got as much done as we did. 

Finally, it came time for us to head out.   We rented a car, loaded up our luggage and off we went.  We left late on the Friday evening of October 29, 2010 and took turns driving.  The weather in Louisiana wasn’t very chilly but as we made our way across the states, well…being in shorts and a t-shirt in 30 degree weather didn’t make for pleasant stops when having to fuel up.   

Grand Canyon

We made a detour to the Grand Canyon.  What a beautiful sight.  I swear it was 50 mph hour winds and we chose to not be blown off a cliff so camping out there as we originally planned was out of the question.  From there, we head to Los Angeles and made it there late Saturday night.  On Sunday, we went to Long Beach for a few hours and though the sun was out, it was still a bit cool to be running around in a swim suit, but we braved it anyway.  Honey had a blast.  It was her first time to the beach and we couldn’t help but laugh at her.  She’d walk into the water, then a wave would come and she’d start hopping sideways to somehow try to miss it.  She ran around throwing sand everywhere and was kinda sad to leave, but we made our way back to the hotel to get cleaned up and then headed to my friend’s hotel to watch the Saints game.  It’s a small world sometimes.  She happened to be in town training for her job and was staying right down the road from us. 

Then came Monday…oh yes Monday.  We repacked everything in our bags, loaded up the car once again, and set off for a bite to eat.  Later about 1 that afternoon, we dropped off the rental car and hopped on the bus that took us to the airport.  We had the bus all to ourselves.  It was awesome!  We arrived at the airport and walked around a bit in the area we were in and then began the waiting.  Our flight wasn’t until 9:30 that night…so yes waiting indeed. 

Check in started about 7.  That process in itself was a bit of a headache.  It took forever.  We had to run to catch our flight, but we made it without any problems.  Then it was time to just sit back and…fly.