Greetings from Auckland, New Zealand!

I’ve spent the past four days in the Cook Islands and it’s been fabulous. I can’t wait to update you on my travels. In the meantime, here are a few tidbits: I attended an impromptu wedding (not my own), rode on a scooter for the first time, and swam at the world’s most beautiful beach in Aitutaki.

Okay, now let’s back-track to right before my departure…

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Can I let you in on a little secret? Sometimes I think people give me too much credit for what I’m doing, because giving up the “real world” to travel for nine months was an easy decision in my book. But when I really examine all the prep work I had to do to get here — quitting my job, selling my car, moving out of my place and putting things into storage — it’s easier for me to accept that credit.

This post is about my final week and a half in Los Angeles. You might call it “crunch time” as everything I had to do was compressed into 13 days (four of which I spent working at Y&R). So it really boils down to 9 days spent burning the candle at both ends to get it all accomplished.

Oh, and I’ve been meaning to share this story of my last full-time day at work a few weeks ago. Our crew generously rigged Dollar Day by writing my name and well-wishes on all of the bills so that when I drew a winner, my own name was on it. I was completely surprised and so grateful. This goes way beyond cash value — I treasure the memory of this kind thing my co-workers did to show support. In fact, some of the bills are so memorable (like “use this for hookers”) that I can’t bring myself to part with them! Those bills will go in a scrapbook some day.

Three days before I left Los Angeles I had good-bye drinks with my co-workers. We met up across the way at Maggiano’s and I was so glad to spend one more night unwinding with these people. Here are a few images from the evening:

Then back home to finish packing…

The next day I sold my car. I posed it on Craigslist on Thursday at noon and stated that I’d be selling it the next day at my mechanic’s address to the first cash offer. I received a few inquiry emails but not an overwhelming response. So I was pleasantly surprised when the next day it sold in an hour and a half! It felt really good to check that off my to-do list, even if it meant I was car-less for my final 2.5 days in Los Angeles.

That night my sister Bethany and I celebrated my 29th birthday by having dinner at Houston’s in Pasadena. I’d heard incredible things about their Thai steak noodle salad and it did not disappoint. Great meal!

The next morning Bethany and Kelley threw a travel-themed brunch. I am a lucky girl to be surrounded by such great friends! It was really special to get in some quality time with these people before my departure.

My sister made the map party hats. Each one was unique. Major props (double-entendre) for Bethany!

Kelley made these cute “thank you” tags for the goody bags in the above photo. I love the map cut-outs!

Here are a few celebratory images from brunch:

This brunch took place at Cafe Gratitude on Larchmont. It’s a vegan restaurant and my friends teased me a bit for picking a brunch place with an exotic menu. I think (hope) that most people came around and enjoyed the food!

Below left is the key lime avocado pie. On the right is a banana crepe and veggie burger.

And then the staff came out to sing! It’s a birthday song that’s unique to Cafe Gratitude but they changed “birthday” to “last day” in honor of my impending departure.

After brunch Bethany and I walked around Larchmont Village and then headed up to a Mulholland Drive overlook to catch comedian Kurt Braunohler’s Kickstarter Cloud Project in action. Unfortunately, the wind was too strong and the letters dissipated before we could see them from our vantage point.

The party continued that night at Golden Road in Glendale. This is a favorite establishment and it’s a great place for group gatherings.

Sommer even made cupcakes!

My friends and family sent some very sweet birthday cards and gifts. I love them all.

The next morning was my LAST day on America soil for nine months. There was a mad rush to pack up my guest house and make a final trip to the storage unit.

Good-bye to my horse neighbors!

Most travel bloggers do an impressive post about what to pack for an around-the-world trip. But not this blogger! I was way too rushed in my final hours to properly document what made it into my bag. In fact, as I write this in the Cook Islands I’m still shifting some things around and tossing out others. I wish I’d been at the packing point earlier so I could really focus on it, but I was more concerned with tying up loose ends (like properly emptying my place, selling my sofa on Craigslist ten hours before my departure, and making a final trip to the storage unit).

But ultimately, nearly everything on the bed in the photo on the left went into my backpack.

A quick note about my bag: I settled on the Caribee Fast Track 75. I decided it HAS to have wheels because I’d kill my back carrying the darn thing for that many months. And since there are lots of destinations where wheels are impractical, I picked a bag that also has backpack straps for when the need arises. It’s larger than I’d like, but it gets the job done. I’ll update in a few months about how effective (or not) it ends up being.

Then I shared a final meal (pizza!) with Bethany, Kelley, and Irving. We toasted with champagne and then my sister dropped me off at LAX.

Cook Islands, here I come!

The flight was very smooth and I slept nearly the whole ten hours. They did serve dinner and breakfast on either end of the flight’s duration.

My friends Tamar, Grace, Mike, and other will be pleased to know I watched SOME of The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring on the plane. I’ve never seen the trilogy or its prequel, The Hobbit. I still have some catching up to do.

The sun began to rise about an hour before our descent.

More from the Cook Islands coming soon!