Waking up to the Sound of Music

The day has finally come! As of 8 pm this evening, I will have boarded an airplane to take me to Munich, Germany. After that will be a short (by comparison) bus ride to Saalfelden, Austria. With the combination of the 8 hour flight and the 6 hour time change, I'm desperately hoping to be able to fall asleep as soon as I sit down on the plane. Waking up upon landing would be absolutely ideal... fat chance of that happening. Good thing I've got my trusty neck pillow and creepy-man-diverter pillow courtesy of the Belisles ;)

When I first found out that I'd be travelling to Austria, I had to look up where exactly that was. I knew roughly where it is (attached to Germany... but that didn't help me much. My knowledge of European geography is somewhat lacking). The flight lands in Munich, and then we drive ~160km Southeast to get to the little ski village of Saalfelden, Austria. In case you guys are in the same position as me, here's a map:

I did NOT realize there were so many countries tucked into Eastern Europe.

As behind any athlete, there are a lot of people who helped get me here. I'd like to thank the following people for supporting me on my trip to Worlds - I honestly couldn't have done it with you:

Jim and Dave Smith from Gowanlea Farms

Grandpa and Grandma Smith

Grandma Turner

The Belisles (Cathy, Steph, Kayla, and Spencer)

The Snoddons (Suzanne, Brent, Cal, and Ashley)

Thank you guys SO much! Your support means a lot to me.

I'd also like to mention the rest of my family... my parents and siblings especially. They put up with a lot of stuff in order to support me; my weirdly busy-but-not-busy schedule, last minute planning, stress of waiting for selections, and many other things that get tossed their way. Thank you guys for putting up with me :) Love you guys!

There are many other people who deserve thanks... my coach, the OCA, the CCA, Norco and Havi... I'm slowly learning that so many people play a part in even just one athlete's life. I'd really like to thank Kevin and Norco for getting me and my bike ready to go. Because of them, I'm probably going to be the most prepared racer Mr Scott Kelly has ever seen. You da bomb, Havi.

T-minus 12 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!