It's been a fast two weeks of travelling to get from downunder to the US, with bicoastal visits so far.

My flight from SYD to LAX only took 12 hours - thanks, says my back. After 12 hours near the airport at a hotel with a spa and pool, my aching back and I got on another 12 hour flight and car trip, making it 36 hours in total to get door to door.

I took my birthday week to visit with family in Hershey, the sweetest place on the planet. Ate my fair share of chocolate! Got to see my grand niece and newborn nephew, plus my pregnant niece and her husband. There must be something in that chocolate...Mom is 93 and 122 pounds and Heath is 22 pounds at 8 months! Interesting extremes!

Now I'm in the Big Apple, after an absence of one year. Same Same. Only Different.

I think I'm on my seventh suitcase now, about one a year for the 7 years of wanderlust I've been enjoying.

Deetouring Dee

Travel writer Dee Farrell currently works in Australia and is visiting around the US. American by birth, Australian by choice.