BRISBANE

In October 2005 my mother and I traveled to Australia for my brother's wedding.

Sunday afternoon, 27 hours after leaving Sacramento - with stops in Los Angeles, Sydney, and Melbourne - we arrive in Brisbane. I'm wearing the same clothes that I wore to work on Friday.

My brother drove us to Logan City Motor Inn in Logan City, a suburb of Brisbane, where we spent the next two nights, and our final night in Brisbane.

A few hours later we have dinner with the inlaws-to-be

The next night Jay fixes a California-concoction of improvised Mexican food

In Brisbane people drive on the wrong side of the road.

What?

But Jay proves that he is up for the challenge

Each morning I took a jog through the residential area...

Then across the freeway through a mall. (Note to Brisbanians: Sizzler has a good salad bar and is worth a try. We eat there a few times per year, even though it specializes in fried carcases.)

The final destination is a gas station, where I buy water and use the phone

For $900 I could be rolling in a red car similar to my car in the U.S. - from Californian Motors. (Funny, we don't have an "Australian Motors" in Sacramento.)