THE ROAD LEADING UP TO CHRISTMAS ISLAND

11 March 2009: It all starts with an email forwarded from a UVM professor to my old PhD advisor, Nick, onto me: a job announcement for an ant ecologist to do work on Christmas Island. Nick wrote “it sounds like a pretty good match for you if you are in the market for another exotic post-doc...”

The desired skills and qualifications appeared uncannily to my experience, so, not expecting anything, I threw my proverbial hat into the ring, and promptly forget about it.

Two months later get an email from Nick reporting he’s just been asked to write a letter of recommendation, and three weeks after that, get an email saying I’ve made the short-list, and when am I available for an interview. Forward this news to Arthur, whose unwavering support still amazes me to this day. Enjoy a friendly, academic Skype video interview the beginning of June, have a second interview two weeks later, and get the job offer the day before a weekend canoe camping celebration for my 30^th b-day. After enjoying a weekend of carefree fun, we return Sunday night and have the sober conversation of whether this is something we want to do, what needs to happen to make it work for both of us, and write out a long list of questions to ask my potential new supervisors. We get a response the next day, and all signs point to yes. After taking a deep breath, and recognizing we’re doing some long-term, big-leap planning together, which scares us both in the best way possible, we decide to take the plunge.

July 1^st I head to Kenya, and Arthur manages the domestic front, finishing apt renovations, renting out the apartment, finding new caretakers of Kasha, and moving all our stuff to his parents’ house. I work on the international front, trying to find housing on CI, filling out Visa immigration and University paperwork. Return from Kenya end of September, and have one month to finalize plans. Now living with Arthur’s parents, and turns out to be a great arrangement (mmmm, homemade Russian cooking), and really get a chance to know each other: a pleasant journey sometimes lubricated with shots of vodka. Spend endless days running errands, finalizing packing, and trying to hang out with friends. Finally figure out the details of shipping our stuff across the world, and mid-October the movers come to pick up our stuff. Three weeks before the supposed start date, still don’t have airlines ticket (waiting for Visa to be finalized, and to see if have to fly through Melbourne to complete paperwork at La Trobe University). Finally get word, and turns out the project is flying *both* of us out; so happy we don’t have to pay or plan the airline logistics.

There are two routes to fly to the island: fly south to CI from Singapore, or fly north to CI from Perth, Australia. The airline that flies from Singapore hasn't finalized their Nov schedule yet, so we have to fly via Perth. Although it’s certainly the more indirect route, we’re happy to finally have tickets, and we’re schedule to leave on Nov 9^th. A few parties and some more errands later, we start our road trip to MN.