Hello, wonderful family! Thanks so much for all your love and support with everything I do. I had so much fun on Sunday when we did Breakfast Thanksgiving and the pre-Hoopla Hoopla!
So, Mom took me to the airport, and I began my journey with a 3hr 45min flight to Denver. I got in on time, but the plane drove around the airport for what felt like forever until we got to the right gate. Just in time -- I had less than 15 minutes before boarding began for my second flight, a 2hr 45min flight to San Francisco. I stood in line and munched on a sandwich for the few minutes I had. The plane was a lot nicer than the first one I was on, and they even played tv shows, including 30 Rock and The Middle. Winners!
I got to San Fran and had 2 hours before boarding for Sydney. I picked up a newspaper and headed to a bar. Side note: San Francisco's airport is like a fancy palace compared to Oakland. I had to text Devin to laugh about that one. While sitting at the bar, I met a few people and had some nice conversations. There was a professor at University of San Diego who was on her way to a presentation in Toronto -- where she was presenting papers on urban revitalization and social entrepreneurship, which happens to be the exact type of organization I work for! So we had an interesting talk. There was a guy from New Zealand who has had months off of work because he's a materials engineer for an oil company and gets sent to really remote places around the world, and as an incentive to take those jobs, he gets months off at a time. There was a girl from Portland who was going to visit her boyfriend, who lives in Australia. And there was Marcos from Seattle who was heading to Mexico City to go home for a family wedding. Oh, and another guy from New Jersey who has a girl friend who went to Allegheny College.
The plane for Sydney was really nice, just like the one I took to Europe, only each seat didn't have its own TV with movie options, but there were TVs throughout playing the same shows and movies. The flight was really smooth and actually went quickly, now that it's all over. At the time I remember thinking that 10, 9, 8, 7... hours was going to take forever. I had six solid hours of sleep near the beginning and rested for the duration of the flight. They kept the cabin dark until feeding us breakfast an hour before landing, so I think my body was tricked into thinking it was one long night. I sat next to a middle-aged couple who went to Grove City College but now live in Philly. This was their 10th trip to Oz, where they go camping in tents and look for wildlife. They were reading about the most deadly Australian animals and first aid. No, thanks. Interestingly, the wife told me that just before koalas change trees, they make the scariest noises. Same with these little penguins that growl. They'll growl and it's really scary, and then you see what the noise is and it's a little furry penguin about six inches tall. HAHA! Another interesting fact is that New Zealand does not have any venomous snakes... You would think that a country so close to Australia would have similar animals because they were forced to evolve with the same conditions. Apparently, that's not so. And this ends the educational portion of the post.
I made my way through Sydney's airport and waited for a long while in customs. I got there just in time though because other flights landed right after mine and soon the line was backed up all the way into the airport with a huge crowd and no organization to the group (should be a line), which would have stressed me out. I got my luggage and then waited in another line where some people were sent through a quarantine with their stuff because they had some food with them (lucky me in my tired daze, I actually watched the video on the plane that stated that you could not bring any food, so I ate my bag of pretzels). I got sent through without a problem,and there was Yves, sitting on a bench.
Getting outside was nice, and so was walking after a 14.5 hour plane ride. The air smells so amazing and fresh here! We caught a taxi at the airport and took a 10 minute ride to his apartment. It is in a really nice part of town that has a lot of gay couples, and his apartment is really cool! He has a pool and the street is cute -- it looks trendy, upscale, modern, and homey all at once.
Yves is working, I took a long shower, and now I'm typing and listening to all the different bird sounds. We're going to walk to lunch soon. It's 74 degrees, which Yves is complaining is a "bit cold for this time of year." I think I'll come back and read this afternoon, and then tonight we're going to downtown Sydney, or as they say, Central Business District. So far so good on jet lag. Maybe I won't have any problems this time. That would be awesome!
I love you, and I'll talk to you soon!
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