Towards the beginning of October, my company (Quest Software - NASDAQ : QSFT) got a request to have a jumpstart in Glebe, Australia. A jumpstart is nothing more than on-site training for the product I work with. Normally we each take turns doing jumpstarts in a round robin fashion. This was the exception since we usually don't have to many jumpstarts overseas, let alone Australia. Everyone was hyped up for several days and word spread throughout the company that someone from my group was going to be sent to Australia to do a jumpstart. Of course I was excited because several years earlier, Shane ( From the Adventures of Tony and Shane ) and I had tried to go to New Zealand and Australia for 6 weeks along with a group from college.

Finally, the day came. We put everyone's name in a bag and Claudia, our admin person and impartial for the most part, drew my name out of the bag. It was great. Immediatly I started planning my trip. My time in Australia was limited so I had to really pack it in.

Day one was October 17, 1999. My flight left LAX at 10:30 PM. Fortunatly, the company I went to train is a corporate travel company so they got me a business class ticket on Qantas and I doubt they had to pay for it. It was great, I had the little personal TV and everything. I watched the South Park Movie twice on the way there.