It seems the first step out the door is always the hardest.  It is your last look at everything that you are leaving behind, everything that is familiar and comfortable, and everything that you will be missing over the coming months. Then you take your second step, and then your third, and slowly the path before you begins to unfold and you realize that the future is exciting and worth the sometimes painful beginnings.


We flew out to NY Sunday morning, April 23rd, to begin our 8  month journey abroad.  Michelle worked in the Three World Financial Center tower for two days while DJ finalized the last details to prepare for our trip (stuff like porting our Sprint numbers to Google Voice and all that smart tech-y stuff).  New York was freezing cold, but we did find some time to enjoy some yummy Mexican food and, of course, DJ's beloved Shake Shack.  Michelle had several successful networking sessions, including meetings with two separate senior vice presidents - definitely a trip well spent.

Here are some of DJ's adventures in NY while Michelle was hob nobbing with the VPs:

 New World Trade Center building - impressive progress since we were living there.

 September 11th memorial pools.  You can't tell from the pictures, but that water is falling 30' into the pool below.

 Tulips in NY?  Who knew!  Red is a nice complement to the concrete.

 The building where George Washington was inaugurated president.

Tuesday afternoon we left for the airport for an all-night flight to London.  Michelle caught a little sleep, but poor DJ didn't sleep a wink, taking full advantage of the free movies on the flight to pass the time.  We landed this morning, Wednesday, at 9 am London time, 2 am Salt Lake time.  We got to our hotel around 11 am, settled in for a few minutes, then ventured out to get to know our new home.  Here are some of our adventures on our first day.

Buckingham Palace - the Amex office is right down the street, so Michelle will practically be neighbors with the Queen.  She's just waiting for her first invitation to tea.  I'm sure it won't be long...

Statue in front of Buckingham Palace.  At first we thought it was cool, but then we realized there are statues all over London of people and things that have no significance to us as Americans - the one behind me included :)

 Whoever said London was just like NY was totally WRONG!  It's nothing like New York.  It's cleaner, the buildings are shorter and you can see more blue sky, and there are parks and flowers and green life all over the place!  It's wonderful.  You can't see it very well, but behind us is a beautiful garden of spring flowers - quite lovely!

 Big Ben.

 Big Ben - again.

Westminster Abby.  You have to pay 18 pounds to get in.  Wonder if it's free on Sundays?  We might give it a try.

Two happy Americans in a new city, ready for lots of adventures ahead!  Stay tuned to hear more!

Well, it's almost 7 pm London time, which means you Salt Lakers are just sitting down to lunch.  DJ is going on 30+ hours without sleep.  We're both fighting the urge to fall asleep.  One more hour and we can go to bed almost in line with normal hours and adjust to this new time zone.  Hope we make it - DJ keeps falling asleep mid-sentence!

We miss you all and hope you will keep in touch with us as we journey on this adventure across the world!! :)