And thanks for the tips Podblack, albiet a little late! I shall remember them for next time!

I will be content with camping and fishing on the Yorke Peninsular I suppose. Then if I am lucky I might pop over to Melbourne.

Enjoy this chance of a lifetime Jason

Damn, should have told you some of my travelling tips for conferences:

1) Always have handluggage that can squish in additional emergency clothing / be prepared to pick up an additional shirt at the airport in case of lost luggage. Most basic toiletries can be found in airports to help tide you over.
2) Never pack anything in checked-in luggage that is really, really special, in case lost luggage happens.
3) All-nighters to help with jet-lag? It doesn’t work. Figure out the time in the place where you’re heading, keep it in mind to help coordinate your sleeping patterns some time beforehand — but also get used to sleeping on airplanes and organise yourself with pre-booking seating so you’re in a comfy spot. Bring a squishy cushion / one you don’t mind if you lose at any point to help settle in for a nap, do some exercising on the plane (it’s possible) and if you can, a stop-over for even a few hours in order to give yourself a walk around / do some stretching exercises in a quiet area of the airport (gates that don’t have any flights for a few hours can provide a good spot for yoga or a stretch-out nap on some chairs).

Establish routines that you can do before sleeping (change socks, wash face, drink warm tea, play chill-out music, wear an eye-mask) to help get yourself into a ‘sleep time’ zone.

I say this after going round the world three times, gone to the US four times, gone across (and up to Broome) Australia eight times.

As for ‘overlapping group of organisations ’ — you might like to check out the UK groups for Skepticism, which are not that dissimilar. In the presentation at Dragon*Con, I had a list of about five different groups on the powerpoint! :)

Also — Jason has a baby?! Just when I thought I knew the guy he throws in something like that…

*shakes fist in jealousy*

Looking forward to your next post!

much love, elliot