Perhaps I should have said goodbye - especially as I was going to be away overseas for 5 weeks. Still unaccustomed to being a blogger, I'm reminded of my responsibility. It's almost like having a big family (out in the blogosphere) who are waiting to glean some news, wanting to know what intelligent information I might have to share.

With my School in the capable hands of my staff, I was convinced that I'd have access to a computer wherever I wanted it. That way no one would even know I was out of town. Now don't for one minute think that I was idly lying on a beach sipping mai tai's. I was a woman on a mission. I wanted to learn more about staging in other cities of the world.

When you combine a vacation with a mission - you're immediately focused and energized and your days are busily planned out for you. My assignment as I traversed hemispheres was to investigate home staging in the cities I was visiting.

London was my first stop and I arrived armed with questions about real estate and property sales. I walked the streets studying curb appeal. I interviewed developers and agents. I marveled at the magnificent English gardens.

My findings were fascinating.

In London demand for homes far exceeds supply. Prices are outrageously high. Storage is extremely expensive. Here too staging is becoming the norm, just as it is in the USA. There are numerous courses available that teach home staging and after a quick search I even found a few home stagers all of whom were doing fabulous work.

I proceeded with my travels down to South Africa. Cape Town with its majestic views of the Atlantic seaboard has long been a favorite destination of Europeans who for many years now have been buying up many of the magnificent properties available. As a result, here too prices are outrageously inflated. I stayed with a friend in LLandudno - renowned to be the priciest real estate in Africa. With a breathtaking 180 degree view of the Atlantic Ocean - I could understand exactly why.

News of my arrival had spread and before I knew it I was hauled into the neighbor's house and unexpectedly found myself shoving furniture around for an open house. Staging is virtually unheard of in that part of the world, but the idea made total sense and so soon we were all hard at work, like fairies with magic wands. A few successful meetings later and I had numerous South African real estate companies begging to know more about my new online course - but more about that later.