By Christopher Tobin

As I walked down the ramp in the Los Angeles International Airport towards my plane, I was excited, but nervous.  I was flying to see my brother in Australia and although I was ecstatic to be making my first solo international trip, I was extremely anxious about doing so on my overweight frame.  I was a stroke survivor and  twenty-six pounds beyond my healthy weight and about to fly thousands of miles over the course of a fifteen-hour plane flight.  I was not optimistic about my chances for success.

When I arrived on the plane, I quickly scanned the surroundings of my seat,
measured the distance to the bathroom and breathed a sigh of relief when I figured out it was only about eight feet.  When the pilot announced we were clear for takeoff, I leaned back and nervously closed my eyes.  Soon, however, the Slovakian couple next to me had begun a conversation and I temporarily forgot my tension by helping them to translate their customs card.  The rest of the flight went smoothly and I arrived in Sydney, excited and ready for my vacation.

After exchanging my money at a currency store, I looked for my brother who was supposed to meet me at the airport.  However, after an intensive search, I could not find him.  Completely on my own in a strange and far away land, I improvised and began searching for a hotel.  I took a van to the King's Cross section of Sydney and began wandering around in search of suitable lodging.  It was then that my weight began to wear me down.  When I woke up that morning I had expected to travel around the world by plane but had not planned to wander around a foreign city.  It was a frustrating process.  Once, I thought I had found a good hotel only to discover, to my dismay, that there was no railing along the building�s very steep stairs.  There was no way that I could make it all the way up.     

Eventually I found a hotel only to immediately look myself out of my room.
After gaining reentry due to a helpful maid, I sat on the bed and breathed a
huge sigh of relief.  After a few hours of sleep, I woke up and decided to look around the city.  A cab took me to Chinatown where I bought some carrot juice and began walking around the streets.  It was a tiring day that tested my physical limits.  Eventually, however, I found my brother and a semblance of normalcy returned to my routine.

Together my brother and I went to see the red kangaroos at the Sydney zoo and, after a brief rainstorm, we proceeded into a cave-like enclosure to see the platypuses and other strange and exciting animals.  Though I was wet and growing tired, I was happier than I have been in a long time.  it is truly astonishing to see Wild Parrots near Magnetic Island Days earlier, I was standing in an American airport frightened of my ability to simply last through a long flight.  Now, I stood, sure-footed and confident about my ability to survive even the harshest of circumstances.  My twenty-six extra pounds suddenly seemed as light as a feather.