The great Oprah adventure is about to get very real for Cotati resident Andrea Vincent.
In September, as one of Oprah Winfrey's invited guest audience members in Chicago, Vincent learned that she and the rest of the audience would be traveling to - wait for it - Australia, as "The Oprah Winfrey Show" continues to celebrate its final season.
Once the shouts and screams had died down some specifics were offered: 10 days, in December, for you and a guest. John Travolta will be your pilot to the land Down Under and a host of surprises are headed your way.
"I'm nervous only in the way of, it's more excitement and anticipation," Vincent said Friday, amid the clutter of clothes destined for the one suitcase allowed and single carry-on bag.
She leaves Sunday at noon from San Francisco Airport and will rendezvous with other lucky former audience members in Los Angeles to board the charter for Australia.
Her husband, David, will remain home with the couple's two children, 8-year-old Trinity and 5-year-old Cheyenne, while Vincent travels with longtime friend Rene Cattaneo of Novato.
"She's my Gayle," Vincent said, referencing Oprah's longtime friend Gayle King, known to all regular viewers of the popular show.
The trip to Australia is filled with promise for Vincent, who was recognized on the program for developing an environmentally friendly bag to tote vegetables from the grocery store.
Continuing exposure of the Veggie Bed to an Oprah audience could bring financial relief to the family struggling through the recession, she said.
The trip also is a big deal for Australia, which is underwriting part of the event for the exposure it will bring the country.
What that will be is part of the adventure.
Winfrey plans to broadcast two shows from the trip, but air dates were not available.
"Everything's still kind of a surprise," said Vincent, who knows she will be given a cell phone to keep in touch back home. Her daily dispatches will be available on pressdemocrat.com next week, unless Oprah has the group somewhere in the outback or otherwise without cell reception.
That's a possibility.
Vincent said she was able to choose between museums, shopping or action and adventure for her journey.
"I chose action and adventure when they asked our theme," she said. "Even though we're middle-aged moms we're fit and we're not afraid," she said of what awaits.
She knows that a welcome will take place in Australia, perhaps Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman will be involved, and she'll spend three days in some region of the country.
Other than that, it's two days flying there and back and eight days in the country, returning Dec. 18 to a house hopefully decorated for Christmas.
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