In 12 hours or so, I'll be on my way from Alba (Gaelic for Scotland) to Australia. The trip is for both pleasure and work - I'll be spending a week in Sydney to visit a friend and a cousin. Then it's off to Melbourne for more sightseeing and three days at the VTEC (Verocytotoxingenic E. coli O157) 2006 conference. As part of that conference, I'm presenting a poster on some of my research.

With any luck, four flights and two days later I ...and my luggage... should be in Sydney. Meanwhile I'll be doing a tour of some of the world's prettier locales and less thrilling airports.

With any luck, there will be internet access somewhere along the route, but otherwise I'll check in from the other side of the world!