The trip down under

Warning, this post is extremely long. But its a good story. So, read on.


In what feels like a long time ago now (February 7th) I finished my packing, posted my last post on the Alan in Oz site (for now) and headed to the Airport. I was leaving the country…it was going to be awesome.

I check into the airport, and get my bags checked in. But, apprently, with an airline switch for me in San Fransisco, the ticket agent didn’t know that the final destination was Canberra, Australia. We got this all sorted out though. Later at the gate, I was told my bags had been checked all the way to Canberra.

Here is the first “fun” part of the trip. For domestic flights, the airlines tell you to arrive 90 minutes before your flight. For international, its three hours. So, I showed up at the airport 3 hours before my flight, because overall I was going overseas. But…my first fligh was domestic. So, I got to sit in Sea Tac for three hours, twidling my thumbs. I ended up eating a late lunch and using the Internet for awhile. Good times…

The flight down to S.F. is uneventful, though I’m really starting to hate landing. Seriously, I landed four times on this trip and felt terrible during each one. However, my stomach being in knots isn’t what makes this story great, so lets move on.

On the flight, I met a couple that was headed down to Melbourne. Awesomeness. This meant I basically had a safety net when getting to my next flight. If those guys were there, I was in the good. Fabulous. They seemed very nice, and I talked to them for a little bit throughout the trip.

I landed at about 9:30. An incredible thing must happen around 9:30 at the San Fransisco Airport. That thing is the closing of almost all of the Currency Exchange booths. The one that was open was out of Australian Dollars. So, I’m headed to Oz with my greenbacks, but none of their awesomely awesome looking money (yes, its that cool)

(Sidenote about the money: Its multicolored, each bill being a different colour and size. Also, on each one there’s a piece of clear plastic in the bill. I’m fairly certain its impossible to conterfiet this stuff, and no, I don’t intend to try. Also, the smallest bill is a five. They have dollar, dollar fifty, and two dollar coins (as well as tenty cent, and fifty cent, possibly more, I haven’t seen it yet.) I’ll take a picture of it later.)

So, I get to the International terminal, and get to my gate. However, the sign says “Sydney”. My ticket says “Melbourne” I’m thinking “What the…?” it turns out that my flight was going to Sydney first, then Melbourne. A nice little omission from my travel itinerary.

The flight is relatively uneventful. Qantas turns off all the lights to help people sleep , and they feed you meals (two, even!) Finally, after all these years, I understand those jokes about airline food.

We land in Sydney. Hooray! Beautiful city. I even get some money exchanged, and am ready to get going again. I have a bit of time, so I do a bit of shopping. I am now the proud owner of a Wallabies hat, which I purchased mostly to cover up my hair, that for some reason looked terrible after a 14 hour flight. (Fine, I’ll admit it…I’m a tad vain.) The hat is just a yellow hat with the Wallabies logo on it and green. I have a feeling it just screams “TOURIST” but I like it.

See the couple headed to Melbourne again. They seemed to be happy that I made it as well. All is good. We board the flight, and get settled in for the trip down to Melbourne.

Now, here’s a fun geography lesson. What Australian city lies directly in the flight path between Sydney and Melbourne? Hint: not Darwin.

If you answered “Canberra” then you win. Fantastic. I love watching the in flight progess channel for my entertainment. I know, its lame, but I like watching how fast we’re going and that stuff. So, I kind of cringe as I watch us fly right over Canberra. “Hey! That’s John Howard’s house!” (He’s the prime minister)

Land in Melbourne, and now get to go through customs. Luckily, at the last minute I decided not to pack a bag containing firearms, large knives, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, and over 100,000 dollars. I had to part way with an apple (they fed us well on the flight, so I didn’t dive into my snacks. I was looking forward to eating that apple too…) but other than that, I got through fine.

It was now lunch time. I opted for some pizza over Hungry Jacks (which is Burger King, just with a different name. Their logo is the 80s BK logo, just with the words Hungry Jacks inside the bun.) I then head down to the gate.

At this point, in no particular order, here are some of of the thoughts going through my head.

“Holy s***! I’m in Australia!”
“Why is Dr. Phil on TV down here?”
“They better not lose my luggage.”
“Dr. Phil followed by Days of Our Lives? Alright, American Day Time TV is alive down here!”
“Can’t wait to shower.”
“God, I hope the Sonics lose their next 30 games and get Kevin Durant.” (note: I don’t know if the Supes even have 30 games left. They probably don’t. I just know I want Durant.)
“I get to miss the fun part of the baseball season. You know, the one where the M’s are still alive. I’m saddened by this.”
“But, I’m in Australia, which is more awesome than baseball.”
“I can’t wait to try a meat pie.”

At this point, possibly the point where I’m imagining Kevin Durant wearing Green and Gold, they announce that the flight is being delayed due to a problem with the PA system. Personally, I’m wondering what the PA system can do what the fleet of five flight attendents can’t. But, whatever.

Then, the announce that they’ve found the part and we’ll board in 20 minutes. Fantastic! I go back to thinking about the upcoming Sonics dynasty (I blame this on jet lag).

But wait! They need to get the part from the hanger, so it’ll take a little while longer. Fine, I just want to shower and maybe get a beer sometime soon. This has been a long day. This is when I notice the cricket match is on. England versus Australia. When it comes to cricket (and probably most things) Australia hates England. The commercials during the match, while talking about certain products, openly bashed the English cricket team. Like imagine 710 Bookstore putting on an ad during an SIU basketball game that said something like “Want to be smarter than those Nebraskan morons in Creighton? Shop at 710. Then use the money you save to go to Omaha and tell Creighton fans how much their basketball team sucks.” I have taken a strong liking to these ads.

At this point, they say that itss going to be a 40 minute wait. Alright, itss cricket time. I get a front row seat to the TV and begin to be thoroughly confused by the whole thing. I think the same guy batted the entire time I was watching. Just as I was starting to pick up on the fact that maybe I could understand this game we’re told that we’re swtiching flights. Oh, and the gate is on the opposite end of the airport. This is apperently, the anti-Cricket side of the aiport, as the match isn’t on.

So, we fly to Canberra. We’ve been told that because of the late plane switch our bags won’t make it as soon as possible, but we can put in our claim in Canberra. No worries then.

I meet up with the U of Canberra rep there. She’s very nice, though I can’t hear anything she’s saying (the whole ear popping thing) I get up to the counter to put in my baggage claim and the woman looks at the screen like its a Sudoku puzzle on a 29×29 grid.

Apprently, my bags did not make the trip. When I was told “checked through to Canberra” I though this meant that they would go through customs in Canberra. Not so. They were supposed to go through in Melbourne. (At this point, just for the record, I’m no longer thinking about Kevin Durant playing for the Sonics.) The bags will be brought up the next day, but not gurantees.

So, I get in a cab and go to campus, and get checked in. I meet Martin, one of the International Student coordinators. We make a plan on how to get my bags and the such. I go to my room, and at this point I basically just pass out. I mean, I’m gone. Slept for 12 hours.

I wake up the next day, and walk around campus to get a feel for it. Its a nice place, I like it. Come back to my room, start wondering when I might be able to shower when my phone rings. Its Martin, they have my bags. They’re on campus even! Hooray.

As I lug my luggage (haha…lug, luggage) through the people moving in, the SRs (RAs basically) who know what has happened are glad that my bags are in. I unpacked everything and showered. It was basically the best shower ever, except for maybe the ones after SIU Homecoming. But, possibly better. The bottom line: the shower was WICKED/ (They say that down here)

Considering that this post is long enough, and you probably have something better to do like take out the garbage, make dinner and/or a drink, or play the Wii, I’ll hold up for now. More to come, including drinking games with everyone in Old Ressies including the SRs.

Don’t stop, never give up,

Alan

(My friend Damien down here sings that song, mostly now as a joke. The real song s quite annoying, but its stuck in my head.)