GOT TICKETS...

everything is officially set in stone.. there is no turning back now as ive just coughed up $1,350 for plane tickets.. these tickets will get me from LA on mar 4th to fiji for a few days before meeting up with my bike in auckland NZ.. from auckland ill ride across both of new zealand's islands to the city of christchurch were ill fly to australia after a month or so of new zealand.. then once i fly into melbourne, which is on the south-southeastern coast of australia, ill ride 1200 miles or so up the eastern coast to the city of brisbane.. where, after a month and a half in aus and on my bday (5/18), ill fly to bali which will conclude my flights and im on my own from there.. bali is a small hindu island in the mostly muslim country of indonesia.. indonesia is made up of 18,000+ islands and is home to almost as many people as the usa.. it is known for its cultural diversity and strict drug laws (anyone caught importing any amount of illegal substance will be charged with the death penaly, so its kinda like texas) so i expect to be on my best behavior.. from bali its westward to the island of java which has indonesia's largest cities including the capital jakarta.. from here my path is less clear, there is a slew of ferry and charter boat options that seem relatively cheap and i can go many ways to ultimately reach malaysia.. i have a feeling that my 30 day indo visa may be insufficient and ill leave on worse terms than i enter.. once in malaysia (depending on which island i cross the border on) ill head up into thailand.. once in bangkok i plan on posting up for a while (at least 3 months) and this will be my 'next' real stop unless of course i find myself somewhere that i refuse to leave, then ill augment my plans.. chelsea is still undecided on whether or not to go.. there are many factors including her issue with the restrictive nature of multi flight itinerary, but the main one is saving sufficient cash in time for the approaching departure... as she may not be able to, or might have to meet me somewhere along the way, im mentally preparing myself for many rainy nights alone in the jungles of SE asia with monkeys, snakes, insane amounts of bugs, and no cell phone to bail me out.. where its said that the only thing that washes out the sounds of the endless unfamiliar creatures is the thunder... sink or swim.. im working on getting language software for indonesian (said to be one of the easiest languages to learn due to its phonetic spelling), thai, and vietnamese... its go time and the butterflies are almost becoming normal.. cant wait, been waiting a long time for this.. cant wait