I left mom in Kansas City at 9 am and had a smooth flight to LAX. I was able to have my bags checked all the way through to Melbourne so I didn't have to worry about dragging them about--which was great, since they were both so heavy! And my backpack, loaded down with all my electronic equipment, was heavy enough. So in LA, the sun was shining but it was pretty windy and (while warmer than home) not really WARM warm. Having a 12-hour window before the flight out made me feel pretty comfortable because I could get pretty freaking lost and still make it to the gate in time for Qantas. I ambled around outside for a bit to stretch my legs, and passed this cute little doggie relief area:
This would be quite useless for my big dogs, but cute nonetheless. :)
Once I found what I thought was the Qantas ticketing counter, I saw the sign that said they started checking in people at 2, which meant I had three hours before I could even get my ticket. So I sat. And walked. And sat. And went to the bathroom. And took a walk. And played games on the phone. And talked to mom. And sat. And eavesdropped. And kept up a pretty constant stream of Facebooking and Twittering. Much thanks to Kristine for playing Scrabble with me!
The time went by fairly quickly. There were no celebrities, but once I got checked in to Qantas and was able to roam the terminal, there was much more to do. I moved from lobby to lobby and bought a couple cups of coffee and went back to the bathroom and talked to Caroline, who had been dumped by her coworkers at lunch time. I stayed in the main terminal for a pretty long time, since I was told that once I went to the actual gate, there wasn't much to do. So I either walked around or played on the phone and people watched. Amazingly, time went fairly fast.
I started getting nervous as 11pm drew closer... there was an exciting tension in the air as people gathered at the gate. Caroline called again and we talked as she drove home. I talked to mom one more time too. Then it was time to board!
For such a huge plane, the seats are still amazingly close together. I was in the center row of four, in the second seat in. There was a woman beside me but on the other side, and empty seat then an older man. I got to send out one last Tweet before we took off.
Not long after take off, we were fed dinner. And on the back of each seat, you have a TV with a headphone plug-in and even a USB port for charging iPhones and iPods. The food isn't that bad: I opted for the salmon and it was served with a salad and drink and a roll and even a brownie for dessert. There's also an open bar, which most people took advantage off. The man next to me started off with a 7&7 and then went through several small bottles of wine. Then he disappeared for a while, so I stole his blanket. ;)
So what do you do during a 14 hour flight? I got caught up on movies: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (hilarious), Hurt Locker (emotional), Where the Wild Things Are (didn't get it), Sherlock Holmes (awesome!) and an episode of Family Guy. I got some sleep, too, though when you're crammed in a air plane seat, the word 'sleep' is questionable.
In the morning we were served breakfast and before long, the pilot was announcing that we would be landing soon! One by one, people changed into new clothes (I'd somehow missed everyone changing in to pajamas the night before) and before I knew it, we were touching down!
It was great to be walking around again. After you leave the plane, you're funneled into Immigration where your passport is stamped and you must declare anything like food or medication or animals... which even though I didn't have any of that, they still scan the bags to be sure. So off to Customs I went.
Where I got in trouble. The man checking the bags made me open the black suitcase, as he had detected something in the corner that needed to be checked. I had no idea what it was, but was worried anyway. There were some books and some wooden toys that he took note off, but under those, in a plastic bag, I'd packed a pair of Caroline's shoes that she hadn't been able to take home last time. On the bottom of one shoe was a clod of dirt, which meant I had committed the ultimate sin and was obviously trying to smuggle in The Great Northern American Dirt Plague and wipe out the entire population of Australia.
So after they drenched the shoes in Sterilizing Acid, I was free to go.
Caroline was there waiting for me, and I got a big hug even though I probably smelled like an old sock.
THE FIRST DAY
We drove from the airport to Caroline's house, where Paddy and Chester seemed pretty confused by my presence. But after throwing Paddy's ball nine million times, he figured I was okay. :)
I called mom and sort of unpacked and then we had an awesome lunch of stir-fry chicken and rice and a fresh salad of beans and tomatoes from the garden. We sat on Caroline's front porch, on her super-comfy stuffed chairs, and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Once we'd rested, we headed off to Bulleen Art and Garden. What an amazing nursery!! We spent the afternoon taking pictures of the awesome figurines and plants.
Caroline came home with some spinach and lettuce to add to her garden. We headed back out to the market across the street to find some fruit for breakfast, and decided to try something new, something that we had no idea what it was. In a basket under a table of bananas was a bunch of small, spotted oval green fruits. There was a sign that warned us to use tongs to handle them, so of course that's the fruit we wanted to try. As soon as the cashier realized what it was, she dropped it and told us it was a prickly pear. She was completely confused by the fact that we had no idea what that was but just wanted to try it, so another employee took us back outside and showed us how to cut into it without getting hurt, then let us eat it. It wasn't bad, tasted mostly like a pear but with tiny little crunchy seeds throughout.
On the way out of the market, we took a tour of the Asian Food store, just for kicks. Talk about a Tweet-worthy place!! Dried squid and ten-pound bags of mushrooms and salted jellyfish and chicken balls and quail eggs and all sorts of unidentifyable plants and animals!! It was awesome, in that horrifying sort of way! We decided to be even more adventurous and actually TRY something that we had no idea of what it was. Caroline and I picked out two small packets of what seemed to be vegetables, and also some sweet chili sauce and fake crab meat and rice paper rolls for the next day.
We came home and made dinner: the rest of the salad and some really yummy hamburgers Caroline had made ahead, with veggies from her garden added in, and mashed potatoes. Once our tummies were full, it didn't take long to get sleepy! We tried to watch an episode of Caroline's new favorite show, My Kitchen Rules, but stupid Megavideo wouldn't buffer properly, so we gave up and went to sleep.
END DAY ONE
As always, check out my Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr for additional pics!
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