Up at 4.30am, a quick breakfast (coffee), last minute checks to make sure we had everything, then off to the airport to start our trip. The omens are present for a good trip - the flight from Townsville left 10 minutes early, arrived in Brisbane on time, departed Brisbane on time and landed in Sydney on time (must be a record for Australian airports).
So, three airports and 6 hours traveling later, and we still haven't left Australia yet - we are truly the Land Down Under!!! 4 hours to kill in Sydney until we begin our international segment. Luckily our Virgin Velocity membership enables us to relax in style in the Air New Zealand Lounge - comfy chairs, good coffee, free snacks/drinks, access to WiFi, the only way to travel.
Our first stop will be Abu Dhabi - just a 3 hour stop this year, not 3 days like last year (3 wasted days I might add). Then it's off to Geneva where we'll pick up our lease car. We've made our first overnight stop at Grenoble (2 nights). After that we're not sure where we'll head off to, maybe across to northern Italy.