G'Day Mates!!

Day One- October 26, 2008- Well what can I say, Australia rocks! It has been 3 days, and I am still severely messed up on sleep, but as you will all tell me, I cannot complain because I am in Australia!! So let's start back at the beginning....

I get to LAX with 2 1/2 hours to spare and am excited that I will not have to rush through the ticket counter or security. I check in and have "requested" an aisle seat (some of you may know, I am tall). Much to my dismay, the flight is full and I can only manage a middle seat... yes you heard me a middle seats. For the longest flight of my life, I got a middle seat!!Thank you to my phone call and text friend who helped me stay calm and awake until I got on the flight, you were a lifesaver and you know who you are! But trooper that I am, sucked it up and slept for about 6 hours, then watched 3 movies and before I knew it I was in Australia!

So the first day we all arrive to the hotel by noon and we are off for the day. No rest for the weary... We went to the new Victory dealership, then spent a great night on the river with a few drinks and an amazing dinner.

Day Two- October 27, 2008- Meeting day. We spent the day at the Polaris Australia office with their staff in meetings and had a great Victory ride at the end of the day. It was a wonderful day, but lack of sleep is not helping me at this point. As some of you know, when traveling, we like to eat nice dinners. And this means long dinners, like 4 hours! So most of you know I am not the most daring eater, but since taking this job I think it is only fair to try the local foods in the countries I am in and tonight was no exception. We went to a beautiful restaurant called the Lake House. When we got the menus, it was clear what I had to do, there was no backing down from the challenge. So my appetizer who I named Ernie and my main course who I named Skippy were ordered. Ernie was a smoked eel and Skippy, was yes, a kangaroo. Both were amazing!!! Check out the pics of my two new friends...

Day Three- October 28, 2008-Riding with the big boys. Today we rode the bikes for almost 220km. At speeds between 120-130 km at times. Mom, I'll let you figure out how fast I was going:) But it was a great day. I was the only female driving and I was no "Sally". I held my own and got comfortable in the twists and turns of the Great Ocean Road. It was an amazing ride and we have one more long ride ahead of us tomorrow. Check out some pics from the ride today.

Check back soon for more updates!!

Cologne, Germany

October 8, 2008- Well, after some long days of set-up and press people, the show is over for me. We had an amazing booth. It was a big improvement over the past years and everyone loved the new look. We had a great team dinner last night, topped off with quite possibly the best apple strudle and vanilla custard I have ever tasted. YUM!! And of course, Jaegermeister.

It was a brewhouse that was built in the 1300's. Great atmosphere and German food. We all had a great time and left very full!!

After dinner, we of course found another little bar for an after dinner beer or two.

This morning we went to the show for a couple hours and I did my walk of the show gathering research on booths and marketing materials. Then me and some of the guys headed back downtown for lunch and a tour of the Dom Cathedral. We walked the entire Cathedral, then paid 2,50 Euro to climb the bell tower stairs. All I can say is, feel the burn!! It was so worth the effort. We were at the top of the Dom, and I mean the top. My legs were shaking climbing the last set of stairs as you could see how high you were. Not really fun, but the view was more than worth the fear.

So I will now retire to my room, pack and go to bed early. I am jumping in a cab at 4:45am, so sleep is a key piece to my sanity at the end of this trip.

I will be home for 2 weeks and then it is down under for me. My first trip to Australia. I am very excited about it as will be doing a Victory ride along the coast. From Australia I go straight to Italy for our next tradeshow. It will be a crazy but exciting 2 weeks for me.

Thanks for checking in and catch you back in the states soon!

Deutchland!

October5, 2008- So this trip over was the first time I got no sleep on the flight. I got one hour of sleep on the short flight into Cologne from Amsterdam. So my afternoon consisted of a short nap. We are heading to dinner shortly then an early night for me.
I did take a coule hour stroll this morning in the cold, misty German weather. I went to the Dom Cathedral and was amazed to be there during a service. I was able to sit in and go to communion in the church. What an amazing site. It was truly awe inspiring. I walked around the entire church, took lots of pictures and then walked the 30 minutes back to my hotel.
The Cologne marathon was going on so there were plenty of people around. This is a cute city and a nice downtown area. We are heading there for dinner tonight.
I'll have pictures to share soon. The booth is coming along well for the tradeshow. My work begins tomorrow.
Check back soon...