I Am Reaching For The Sky

Maybe it's the jet lag talking, but before I dive into reviewing my most recent trip and the shows I've just been to across the southeast coast of Australia, I feel like I need to give a little bit of a sappy context to put it all into perspective. Feel free to skip this one and wait for the actual reviews in a few days if that's not your thing.

I've wanted to go to Australia for as long as I can remember. The first time it entered my brain to combine this desire with my love for traveling to Hanson shows was when they toured there back in 2012. I had been around as a fan just long enough at that time to have seen much of the U.S. in the name of Hanson, but I hadn't yet set foot outside of the country for them. It felt like a crazy goal to set, but at some point while scrolling past updates from the 2012 tour on social media, I decided that one day I'd make it to Australia to see Hanson play. I knew it would be expensive and that if I really wanted it, I would have to be patient and start saving for a trip that might be years into my future. "If you can dream it, you can do it" feels like an accurate summary of how I made it happen.

Sometimes I get the feeling that it looks deceptively easy for me to go to as many shows as I do. Maybe that's a fair assessment for some trips, but there was a lot more behind-the-scenes planning than simply deciding to go to Australia when this leg of the String Theory Tour was announced. This might be an overshare, but the truth is I wanted this trip badly enough that I opened a separate savings account specifically for Australia back in 2012, way before String Theory existed and with blind trust that if I kept saving, it would eventually all work out even if I had no idea when or how. In 2014, I opened an airline credit card, and I never touched a single rewards mile until this trip. That same year, I even trolled my parents with an April Fools' blog post announcing that I was going to Australia, setting the stage for that inevitable "someday" when it would be true, and they believed it wholeheartedly to the point that it took some convincing to get them to believe that I was NOT going to Australia after all. I wish my dad could have been here for the moment I finally announced the real trip to see how he would have reacted. He probably would have claimed he knew it was real all along. I'm sure he knew I'd wind up there eventually.

So after seven years of saving and five years of stockpiling enough rewards miles for a free round-trip flight to Australia (and even turning down the 2017 Australian tour because the timing didn't work), a seated tour including two nights at the Sydney Opera House suddenly felt like the exact right time to finally make it happen. In the end I overshot my stockpiled miles by almost double, I flew for free, and everything cost a whole lot less than what I had planned for, allowing me to splurge on a few great hotels along the way. I'm so happy the timing all worked out the way that it did and that I was able to share it all with a friend that has been on board with this crazy plan right alongside me since 2012. It's been well worth the wait.

Now that I've rambled on as though I've just achieved the ultimate trip of a lifetime, I do have to add that I know I'm no special snowflake for traveling to Australia to see Hanson. Plenty of Americans have done it before me, many will do it after me, and if anything, going on this trip gave me a small taste of just how hard it is for those outside of the U.S. to see Hanson on a normal basis. I have so much respect for every person who gets on a plane for 20 hours every time they go to Back to the Island or just for the chance to see Hanson even once because tours never reach their own country. You guys are dedicated in a way that I've never had to be, and I admire that determination.

Not to go all Taylor Hanson motivational speaker on you (seriously though, I love his speeches and his passion), but if you don't fall into that frequent traveler category and you find yourself dreaming of going some place that seems crazy or unrealistic or too expensive--quit getting in your own way and don't be afraid to start planning now. The concept of "Tonight" and the "do it right now while you can" mentality is a nice idea, but sometimes that means starting something tonight to build towards an even better tomorrow. Save whatever you can whenever you're able; it adds up. Do yourself a favor and join a rewards program for the airline that flies out of your home airport with the best prices. You don't need a credit card to do it, and many offer free ways to earn points just from shopping for things you're already buying. Research it, dream it, do it, cliched etc.

Maybe it will take you ten years, or maybe it will never actually work out because life happens and this isn't a Disney movie no matter how many uplifting mantras we repeat or how many cheesy blog posts we read. But if the worst that can happen is you wind up with extra air miles and a savings account for a rainy day emergency, I say find your patch of green and go for it. To quote part of my own motivation for winding up halfway across the world, "Chase down the dream and don't give up without a fight," and you, too, can find yourself in your own personal version of sunburned and grinning surrounded by kangaroos.

How To Tell Your Loved One That You're Going to Australia

1. Sit by idly and steep in your own jealousy when Hanson plays an Australian tour in 2012. The fact that it's the year Hanson decided not to tour the U.S. at all makes it hurt worse that you weren't financially prepared for this.

2. Start secretly stockpiling money so you can go the next time they return. (Now try saying "start secretly stockpiling" three times fast. No relevance--just funny.)

3. To build up excitement and keep yourself motivated in your savings goal, look at pictures like this:

Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC-BY-SA 3.04. 

4. And these guys:

Photo credit: fir0002 | flagstaffotos.com.au

5. Open up a separate savings account because you're GOING to go to Australia. It's happening, and it doesn't matter that you don't know if Hanson is returning in six months or six years. If you wait until tour dates are announced, there won't be time to save and you'll have to start back at Step #1.

6. Do internal flips when you're at a Hanson show in Vancouver in October 2013 and they FINALLY allude to returning to Australia "soon." You've been saving for almost two years now, and the slow churn of "soon" should be just enough time to afford your dream vacation.

7. When they finally announce tour dates in March 2014, it's time to write a blog post coming clean about your plans. Post it somewhere and tag your friends/family/significant other in it, or send them an email with the link to make sure they see it.

8. Allow 3-5 minutes of hyperventilation/intense anger/lamenting groans of anguish/jealousy/etc. from your chosen loved one. You've had a few years to get used to the idea; let them have a few minutes for it to sink in. (Hi Mom, Dad! Still love you! Hope the feeling is mutual.)

9. If the symptoms from Step #8 do not subside, comfort your loved one with the information that you've been saving responsibly for the trip. Ensure them that it is both safe and affordable and that you'll be traveling with a group of trusted, equally crazy friends. Remind them that you did this in 2012 before you went to Jamaica, and things turned out fine (except for when the bus broke down on the way to the airport, but leave that part out).

10. If symptoms still do not subside, refer your loved one to THIS IMAGE.

____________________________________________________________________
Update April 3, 2014, The Reaction:

One reaction I received from this "announcement" was better than I ever anticipated. On April 1st, I got up early for work and emailed the link to my dad. At best, I hoped for a stressful five minutes of reading time followed by a big sigh of a relief and some form of "haha, you got me!" (and probably a "that is SO like you"). I thought it would be your average lame attempt that only fooled anybody for about two skeptical minutes before the big reveal. What happened instead was pure April Fools' gold.

I got off work hours later and called Dad. It became clear within a few seconds of the conversation that he had indeed read the article--but not in full.

"Please tell me it's a joke," he said. Not so different from the reaction I got to the Jamaica article which was NOT a joke.

I just told him, "If you don't know the answer to that question, then you didn't read it all."

He admitted that he skimmed it but stopped reading because he had "already seen enough."

I told him to go back and read it again all the way through this time, and that as an ex-English teacher, I was pretty disappointed in his reading comprehension. At that point he had already believed it for hours and seemed unsure whether or not the "real" joke was that I was making it out to be a joke but was, in fact, going to Australia. Poor dad.

So to be clear, I am NOT going to Australia (this time ;-)), but I AM pretty pleased with my trolling abilities.

____________________________________________________________________

Update May 4, 2014. The prank that won't die:

Hi, me again. You thought this post was done a month ago? Me too. So what has happened in the month since April Fools' day in regards to this Australia trip? Nothing, because--and apparently I can't say this enough-- I'M NOT GOING. At some point in the last few weeks, I did decide it's time to replace the backpack I've been using as a carry-on item for trips. I can understand how maybe a sudden interest in new luggage might reignite my parents' suspicions of a big trip looming on the horizon, but the truth here is my 15-year-old Jansport is finally dying on me. The timing may be ironic, but the strap chose now to start falling off, and that just won't do.

I started researching travel backpacks to find the perfect fit, and I posted on Facebook about the one I chose. Innocent nerd talk about luggage ensued. Nothing of importance happened, or so I thought.

Fast forward to today, when my mom "admitted" that she had seen a friend's comment on Facebook about our new matching backpacks for our trip to Australia. Cue utter confusion on my end because--I'll say it again--I'M NOT GOING TO AUSTRALIA, and as such, there is no secret comment about our secret trip that my mom accidentally saw. True, I do have a friend going to Australia with her husband (in a trip completely unrelated to Hanson), and she did comment on my Facebook post about needing a new backpack. But I couldn't understand how my mom made the jump between me knowing someone going to Australia and me going with her.

Until I reread the comments:

Now if you're me, you know that the "we" my friend is referring to is her and her husband. But if you're my mom, it looks a whole lot like your daughter really is going to Australia and her friend just outed her on Facebook not knowing that her mom would see it. I have to say, I'm pretty delighted by the ambiguity in those comments and how much it really DOES sound like we're picking out backpacks to go to Australia together when taken out of context. I don't think I could have planned it better if I thought of it myself.

At this rate, I don't think my parents will fully believe I'm not going until August has passed. Even then, I should probably go visit a friend for a week just to keep up appearances, and then next April Fools' Day I can post a blog called "How To Tell Your Loved One That You Never Went To Australia."

Best April Fools' prank ever.