After two years without going on my annual golf trip, I was getting a bit antsy.  Luckily my family lives in Raleigh, just an hour north of our golf trip location, so I was able to combine a visit with family with the festiveness of Golf Trip and a bonus side trip to see Mike at Clemson.  I get more vacation days than Sara, so I didn’t have to sacrifice any fun trips with her to make this work! 2 weeks in America, woo.

I hitched a ride (for free!  Thanks 2013 HandelTech business travel!) on the Qantas Airbus A380 to Raleigh via Los Angeles and Charlotte.  I had a challenging connection at LAX and my golf clubs ended up a flight behind me, but all in all I made it fairly unscathed, if a bit jet-lagged.  Certainly better than our experience in December.  I had a good couple of days visiting with my family despite two plus days of torrential rain.  I got to hang with Natasha and Nick a good amount along with my dad and step-mom.

Then it was off to meet the mates in Pinehurst, NC for what was an annual trip (8 years in a row leading up to 2014 for me) before I left for Australia.  The boys managed to scrape together a trip without me in 2015, but not in 2016.

Lots of golf was played, along with Kan Jam when we got home.

And how could we not choose King Cobra 40oz as our drink of choice given it’s $2 price tag.  It helped dull the pain of 36 holes of golf and Capitals losses.

After Pinehurst, it was off to Clemson to meet up with Mike and see what he was up to in South Carolina.  He was a great host – in a day and half we got in a trip to a local brewery, grilled massive steaks, watched the Caps win and even played golf.

Then it was back to to Raleigh for more family time.  I saw Natasha’s softball team score an epic walk-off win and again went kayaking with Nick on the small pond behind their house.  I even managed to get in a round of golf with my dad.  I also provided numerous, much need IT services for the household.

I headed back to Australia via the epic Dallas – Sydney route.  For a while it was the longest flight in the world, now I think it is #3 or something.  It was a 17 hour flight.  Luckily I was able to sleep for quite a bit of it.  Then thanks to my arrival to Melbourne via Sydney, Sara was able to meet me right at the gate!  Woo.