Taking advantage of a rare chance to have a proper long vacation (using our marriage leave), we chose an independent trip to Australia this time — also our first time abroad in the three years since the pandemic began. The decision came together very quickly: we booked the tickets at the end of January and were flying at the end of February, leaving only about a month to prepare. Planning an independent trip of nearly 20 days all at once, I'd forgotten just how much research you need to do in advance.