And on to Perth…

On the flight to Perth, we headed cross country and also trailed along the coast for a long time. The beaches looked awesome and I can’t wait to stick my foot into the water. Sure it will be cold, but who cares, it can’t be much colder than the Brazos or the Guadalupe at this time of year. You only live once!

 

In total I flew about 17,000 miles – that’s almost halfway around the globe. (1,987 from Dallas to LA, 12,052 from LA to Sydney and 3,274 from Sydney to Perth) The flights took in total around 22 hours (3 to LA, 14 to Sydney, 5 to Perth) My butt felt every 22 of those and must have expanded by about an inch from sitting in the dang airplane seats – but I made it. On the flight to Perth we even got a hot meal – and I already thought I had to survive on three ounces of tasteless pretzels or fake goldfishies. There was even ice cream for desert!

 

In Perth I had to find out that there were no exchange bureaus at the airport and trolleys cost A$4. So I called Warwick who was just about to park to car to give him a description of what I was wearing so he could pick me out in the crowd. Once I had my suitcases piled together, Warwick and his girlfriend Lee stood next to me. Quick introduction and off we went.

 

The weather was decent; it didn’t feel too cold though it was quite cloudy and a bit rainy. Warwick and Lee gave me the lowdown on the area they lived in which is a suburb of Perth called Subiaco. We also went to Fremantle and strolled around the shopping zone for a little bit. After that we had dinner at a pretty good Thai restaurant and I was just about ready to crash at 9pm which I did when we got back to the house.

 

Next day I took it slow. Just drove around the city for a while, went to the beach to watch the kite and wind surfers and the buggy boarders.

Off to Sydney

Once I finally arrived at the Los Angeles Airport (of course with a delay – I was flying American after all) I had to find out that my next flight to Sydney was also… you guessed right … delayed. It must be something to do with the One World Alliance. I got on the phone to the Perth Office to assure I have a contact phone number for the Warwick, the guy who was supposed to pick me up from the airport, just in case I didn’t make my connecting flight from Sydney to Perth.

 

In pursuing such endeavor I realized that the Perth office does not appear to have voice mail but luckily they do have a receptionist and after about 100 rings I got an answer and a cell phone number. I am just glad they are still expecting me. At the beginning of the week I wasn’t so sure about that. The only reason why I knew they were in fact expecting me was because one of the guys from the Perth office apparently emailed Justin from my office, who was in Perth last year, to ask if I was cool and if I could drink. I did receive an email the day after that informing me that I was in fact being picked up and that my apartment wasn’t ready and I was going to stay with Warwick and his girlfriend for a while. I am not sure what a while is or if they do in fact not have hotels in Perth because obviously they didn’t feel like putting me up in such. Later I found out they actually offered money for them to keep me. Doesn’t this make me feel like a pet? We offer you A$1,000 if you keep the weird American/German/whatever. She is potty-trained and low maintenance.

 

I finally got on the plane to Sydney around midnight on June 26, 2008. It was one of those massive Jumbo Jets and, unfortunately, Quantas tried to get as many passengers as possible onto that thing. The seat was tiny and there was no leg room whatsoever. The stewardess also tried to make me give up my carefully packed carry on as it was too heavy. I refused and she left it at that. After a quick dinner, which was surprisingly good for airline food, I immediately fell asleep and woke up about 8 hours later – then about 10 hours into the 14 hour flight. What a nightmare. I am trying to remember the last flight this long, which was the one to South Africa last year. I do believe South African Airlines had larger seats. On the positive, there weren’t too many small children on the plane as is the case when you flight to Frankfurt or London.

 

We landed in Sydney with an hour delay around 8:30am local time on Saturday, June 28, 2008 at which point I wondered what the hell happened to Friday. I find it quite amazing that they pretty much decide to take away from you while traveling to Australia. It’s like June 27 never happened for me. Of course, you get the day back when you return to the US but think about it. Isn’t it amazing how this works?

 

In Sydney I had to go through immigration. They are not as picky as the Americans are (sorry but going through immigration in the US is just about the biggest pain in the butt for a non-citizen/non-green card holder – I almost got myself deported one time because the immigration officer had a bad day and I didn’t feel like saying “yes sir” while he was lecturing me) On the Australian immigration form I didn’t fill out an address where I was staying at because… well….I don’t know where I am going to stay yet. I explained that to the lady at the immigration desk. And sure enough – no worries! 10 seconds later I had a stamp in my passport and was through immigration. Now had this happened in the US, I would probably have been questioned for 3 hours straight. Next I had to collect my entire luggage and go through customs. I was asked if I had food in my luggage which I didn’t – honestly, this time I didn’t. The next question was what kind of shoes I had in the bags? What on earth? Well, some sneakers, hiking boots, cowboy boots…. Uh oh apparently boots is the key word here… boots? You will have to show those at the quarantine desk. Thoughts of my nice lizard cowboy boots landing in the trash were already running through my head. Where they really going to take my little piece of Texas away from me because it was of animal skin? No, of course not! All they wanted to see was some clean boots to assure I wasn’t dragging any Texas cowpats into the country. My hiking boots were a little dusty but passed the test as did the rest of my shoes. And through customs I was. Pretty simple really!

 

Considering my flight to Perth was going to leave at 10:30am I really did not think I was going to make it with having to pass customs and immigration – that’s based on experience on other continents. Everything worked out well though and I finally boarded my last flight from Sydney to Perth.

Dallas to LA

After a day of running errands, the time had finally come to say goodbye to Dallas for quite a while. Chris and Brandy were spot on time and after loading all my bags (4 total – which still seemed so little for such a long trip) off we went to DFW and got there with plenty of time to spare. It was a short goodbye since my chauffeur obviously didn’t want a tearful goodbye or a parking ticket for parking the truck in front of the terminal building with the dog inside.

 

At the check-in counter I had to show my green card for the first time (how cool is that!) I was also asked if I preferred an aisle seat in an exit aisle to a middle seat in a different row. I wasn’t quite sure if that was a rhetorical question and nodded my approval to the seat change.

 

On the plane to LA I sat next to the cell phone monster. This lady was on her cell phone when I got on and was still on the phone as the plane had started moving 20 minutes later even after the friendly stewardess … I mean air hostess … mentioned over the intercom that all electronic devices should be turned off. Said stewardess also waited patiently next to the lady until she had finished her conversation. I am dreading the time when we will be allowed to be on the cell phone throughout the entirety of the flight. I could not imagine sitting next to the cell phone monster for 2 ½ hours. The stewardess then went on to ask if we were willing to open the exit door in an emergency. After a nod from my side, she informed me that she needed a verbal response. Did she truly believe I would not open that dang door if there was an emergency but I refrained from such a remark and instead gave her a polite “yes”? As soon as I said that the guy in the window seat started talking about how he had to open the exit door twice in his life. I don’t know if that’s a good sign or not. Either he had had his fair share of opening these doors by now or he draws that kind of luck. Let’s think of the glass as half full.

 

I tried not to sleep on the way knowing full well that I’d have plenty of time to do just that on the next leg. Unfortunately, the monotonous hum of the plane engines doesn’t take long to put me right to sleep. So after about a chapter in my Bill Bryson book on Australia (thanks to Karin) which by the way is a great read and if you have never read Bill Bryson you should definitely do so – very entertaining -  I finally fell asleep to the soft sounds of Sebastian Bach …  no not Johann, the composer …  I meant Skid Row.

 

When I woke up about half an hour before landing, cell phone monster had her blackberry out and was typing away like a maniac. I am not sure if she knows about the “BlackBerry Thumb” which recently has been named a medical condition – seriously. When the exit door guy asked her how she liked the phone she gleamed and said very proudly “I have two”. I will never understand why someone would want to be connected 24/7 to work. I will also never understand why 90% of my email is just complete junk – it is just too easy to copy people on emails or hit the forward button. Could we survive without internet or cell phones? What would happen if we limited the daily email writing to 5 emails a day? Would we not get our work done? I doubt it. We’d just carefully consider what to write and not forward every junk.

Packing for 3 1/2 months of travel

Have you ever tried to pack for a 3 1/2 month long trip? I sure haven’t. When I moved to Spain it was easy, I had a car I could fill up to the roof and a mom who was and still is an expert packer. Mom won’t be able to help me this time though I have no doubts that if she was here, I’d already be ready to go by now.

I started by checking the weather statistics. Average temperatures in Perth range from 8 to 20 degrees (Celsius that is my dear North American friends – which equates to about 46 to 68 Fahrenheit) Pretty cold, I’ll have to take a jacket and some boots. Of course, I’ll also be going to Cairns in October where it could get to up to 30 degrees (90 F) I figure I pretty much will have to take a selection of my whole wardrobe with me! On top of that there are the hiking boots and clothes, the dive gear and the cowboy boots. Perth also requested I bring a suit. If their typical client is a mining company I cannot possibly imagine what I would need a suit for but OK.  For the benefit of the doubt I brought the suit to the cleaners.

I started with a list. It keeps growing and growing. The dive gear is packed and takes up one bag all by itself. I checked with Quantas and it’s $140 to take a 3rd bag – still cheaper than renting the gear every other weekend.

The other problem I encountered when I started packing was Benji. He knows I am leaving and decided that he will make this as difficult as possible for me. Besides throwing the things I need to take and that I stacked so neatly on top of my drawers around my bedroom , he gets into every suitcase I open and makes himself comfortable. And when he looks at me with these accusing green eyes of his I am moved to tears. I am very glad Rachel and Flori will be taking care of him. He will be in good hands.

I noticed as time draws near, people have started requesting presents. I am not sure yet how I will get a diverse selection of boomerangs, didgeridoos, shot glasses and beach samples back to the US, but I am sure I’ll figure it out once I get there. Sending clothes back via snail mail suddenly doesn’t sound like such a silly idea. Oh wait, my super packer mom will be there when I leave to return to the US. Issue resolved!

Well, that said I should get back to my suitcases. They need some more content.

The great Australian man-draught…

As I am preparing for my trip, Christel from Adelaide (she was a secondee with my office at the beginning of this year) sent me an email about what they call over there the great Australian man-draught. This is apparently a scientific term. I figured I read up on this topic.

Let’s start with the good news. Statistics show that in the under 26 age group, there are actually more men than women. Unfortunately, after that there is a shift. Per the census women in Australia outnumber men between the ages of 30 and 50. For example, in the 36-year old age group, there are actually 9,000 more women than men. What a disaster! But wait, apparently, the man-draught isn’t affecting all of Australia. Western Australia (i.e. where I am going) has an equal balance of males and females. That’s good news! The problem is that this is mostly due to military bases and the mining business. Or as Christel put it so nicely – the majority of men in Western Australia are bogans (slang for “very Australian men who call women Shelia’s and love bad Australian beer and don’t know about holding doors open for women” to quote Christel)

Explanation for the man-draught? Men join the global workforce and simply leave the country to work overseas. Of course, once there overseas they don’t necessarily come back because they get hitched (due to their accents probably). Once Australian women hit age 50, or late 50s, there are suddenly more men to choose from again. This continues up to about 65 when women start to outnumber men again. And we all know why that is – life expectancy!!!

The way I see it there are several options. 1) use the cougar survival skills and go for the younger crowd, 2) go for same age or older and end up in some trailer in a mining town, 3) forget about the man-hunt, live life, enjoy your time and be happy with what you got at home. Hmmmm, choices choices. I think I will go for the latter.

Don’t drink with an Australian

An Australian, a Kiwi and South African are in a bar one night having a beer.All of a sudden the South African drinks his beer, throws his glass in the air, pulls out a gun and shoots the glass to pieces. “In Seth Efrika our glasses are so cheap that we don’t need to drink from the same one twice,” he says.

The Kiwi, obviously impressed by this, drinks his beer, throws his glass into the air, pulls out his gun and shoots the glass to pieces. “Wull mate, in Noo Zulland we have so much sand to make the glasses that we don’t need to drink out of the same glass either,” he says.

The Australian, cool as a Koala, picks up his beer and drinks it, throws his glass in the air, pulls out his gun and shoots the South African and the Kiwi. He turns to the astonished barman and says,”In Strailya mate, we have so many bloody South Africans and Kiwis we don’t need to drink with the same ones twice.

 

(Thank you for this one Marinda…. I sure hope there aren’t too many Germans in Strailya or I might have a problem)

In the planning

I have finally gotten a blog set up so I can track my memories and everyone can be part of it who chooses to do so. I am set to leave the US on June 26. Currently, I am still in the process of organizing my life such that it can go on without greater disruptions. This means the apartment, Benji, the car, any unnecessary bills…everything needs to be taken care of – including saying my fare wells.

Then of course there is the organization of my stay in Australia and the couple weeks of fun travel that are going to be added on to the end. I got my visa, the flights and apparently I will have a place to stay and a car – or so I am being told by BDO Kendalls in Perth. I am a little sceptical but this is somewhat out of my control. We will see… 10 days to go.