Before anything too exciting happens, I though I'd sum up what has occurred to date.
So Wednesday was my last day at home. We head out around 12pm to Abbotsford and visited family that night. The next day we drove to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal and picked up my sister then went to Richmond to visit with family friends. I totally lost track of time, and couldn't believe I was actually leaving the next day.
So Friday arrived..kinda suddenly, and we head over to the Vancouver Airport. I wouldn't say it was a tearful goodbye...after all, I'll be in touch through skype, email, gmail talk and countless other means, but it was rather sad to say goodbye to all my family before heading into customs, and then onto my departure gate.
It was an Air Canada flight to LA, and about 3 hours long. It suddenly dawned on me as we started to pierce the low cloud cover, that I'd better say goodbye to Canada and the snow, as it would be the last time I'd be seeing in in quite a while. I sat next to a Hawaiian looking American, on his way to somewhere else in the states that night too. Although we didn't really chat on the plane ride over, we did dutifully wish one another well on the next flight.
Since my bag was checked all the way to Melbourne, when we got to the airport I followed the others down, but walked out the door into the dark but busy LA night. My free airport shuttle to the terminal on the other side of the airport was about a blocks walk away and just out of sight, but I head out in the direction I thought it was. It arrived quite soon, which was noted by the scrolling screen which announced the next shuttles arrival time. During the short ride to the other terminal, the other stops were clearly announced listing all the flights flying out of the other terminals. With my second boarding pass, I made it past the next round of security, and into the terminal, where I quickly found my gate...all the way at the end of the terminal.
LAX doesn't offer free internet..which sucks when you realize that a lot of other airports have this now. I pretty much spent my four hours lay-over sitting near the gate and reading. Before boarding, I decided to freshen up and put on my glasses too! There was a tonne of people in the boarding area...which is understandable since we were boarding a huge boeing.
Any-who..after I made it to the back of the plane and my seat...A lady beside me mentioned her husband was out looking for another spot, as he had thought he had an aisle but was actually in the very centre of the plane. He was apparently very claustrophobic..so being a good Canadian ;) I offered to exchange my row seat. She guessed my nationality but wasn't sure we'd swap in case he found a better more open seat. When it looked like they had found something, for a couple minutes myself and Jeff from Nebraska (imagine a blond gentle giant like huge man child) thought we'd be able to spread out across the four middle seats. No such luck, instead I sat between Jeff and Joan, the lady from Toronto who was travelling with her hubby to Oz to visit relatives. We had some nice conversations, and although my seating was close from ideal (as the gentle giant had control of one armrest and Joan was using the other) I still enjoyed the long flight over. Jeff we learned was travelling on a plane for his fourth time ever, to do some business in Sydney. He also mentioned he would later be heading to Dubai for some more business things. The couple from Toronto were very friendly and we chatted in-between snoozes about there plans to visit their family in Melbourne. It was definitely a crammed flight, so I should remember to pack my backpack in an overhead bin if I want to stretch out my legs.
Once we finally arrived in Sydney, those of us continuing on had to head through international transfer security and get back in the international section, while those departing us went an collected the baggage. We arrived early, and re-departed a couple hours later. This time the Toronto couple, who bought me a drink for my kindness, sat in a more roomier section so I sat alone in the four seats, in a much less crowded flight to Melbourne. After we landed I breezed through Australian customs, and went to collect my bag. I managed to find the Toronto couple and said goodbye one last time before heading out to the arrivals section. Finding my relation wasn't to hard which was nice! My uncle, who I hadn't seen in years was still rather recognizable and he brought my bag to his car.
A view of Melbourne and the bay it sits at the top of
From there we drove to St. Kilda, the trendy part of town. I washed up a bit, had a cup of tea and then was introduced to the area through a nice long walk.
A shot of the courtyard near where I'm staying
That evening after having dinner near the complex, I checked out the IGA corner grocery store for some quick buys so that I'd be able to survive the next day. Unfortunately I bought less than I would have wanted to due to the rather high prices on almost everything.
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