Woke up about 4.50am – because the snowboarder was wide awake and having a conversation with the very ocker bloke sitting in the row behind. He told me he was impressed at how much I slept. I’m not sure I actually did sleep a lot.. just was quiet with my eyes closed for a really long time (a good 7 hours). I can confirm that the Qantas 15 hour flight to or from the US is a hell of a lot nicer when you have an empty seat beside you. Lots of room to stretch out and fidget without worrying about the other passengers. The only problem would have been the old lady behind me giving me the occasional kick. The strategy will now be to stay awake until a reasonable hour tonight so that I can get my body clock back into working order straight away – have too many things to get done today.
We arrived at Sydney Airport right on time and I cleared Customs reasonable quickly. Was good to be home. We had elected to take CityRail back to Wolli Creek lest we risk the road rage of a taxi driver who is disappointed with the relatively low fare. Was good to eventually be home. Very good trip – but still home is definitely where the heart is.
Was amazing to look at the dichotomy in just the few US states that I visited. The differences between LA and Las Vegas and what I would term much more liveable San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver was amazingly stark. The latter three were just like any Australian city – walkable, arty, culturally diverse. It is no wonder the cities of the north west corner of North America feature regularly with Australian cities as some of the most liveable in the world. In particular, I could definitely live in Vancouver. The other things about these holidays is that I think next time I would like to drive around more. The drive out to the Grand Canyon was definitely one of the highlights – not just because of the view when I got there – but the opportunity to see some of the smaller towns. Now I reflect, it would have been good to drive through places like Oregon. So when I get back to the US will have to add some more driving to the itinerary. Will also have to make sure I take someone else with me. Driving around Western Australia with Kenneth was much more fun than this trip on my own.
But that won’t be happening for a while. I’m absolutely broke.
Went out to buy some new goggles at Rebel Sport. Picked up a nice pair of Speedo ones. From there went to Hurstville to have some lunch at Sushi Train. Based on price it has become Kenneth’s new favourite Japanese venue. We stopped by IGA on the way home and then settled in to watch Monster on DVD while I did my first loads of washing.
