The Journey So Far (Part 1 of ?)

First, the administrative note.  I'm writing from a hotel "business center" (more on that later) and, of course, being charged by the second.  So rather than write everything out in Word and cut and paste and move it around into the right amount of entries, I'll just write as little as I think will actually get posted and move to the next entry, k?

So, my first flight went direct from LA to Sydney.  I was sitting next a man from Sydney.  Although we sat about a foot away from each other and chatted on and off for 13 hours, we never exchanged names.  But he was pleasant enough.  Although he did seem somewhat puzzled by the fact that I was only passing through Sydney -- seems the idea that someone would actually want to holiday in New Zealand rather than Australia was incomprehensible to him.  I placated him by telling him I'd been to Australia before.  (He seemed satisfied.)

He also could not comprehend why I would do this journey alone.  "Why isn't your sister coming with you?"  (Um, because she takes vacations with her husband, not me?)  "Why aren't you meeting up with a tour group?"  (Because no tours do what I want.)  This can't be that unusual.  I mean, it isn't like I'm going to Vietnam by myself or anything -- it's New Zealand.  Civilized country. Modern medicine.  (None of the shots were for New Zealand.)  I speak the language and everything.  I just couldn't get why he couldn't get it.

Anyway, we chatted and ate and slept for 13 hours 40 minutes (the in-flight movies were a disappointment.  Qantas apparently scheduled all the GOOD movies for the "flights out of Australia" and ten movies I had no interest in seeing for the "flights into Australia" this month -- so I didn't spend much time with the in-flight video).  I read though.  And then we arrived in ... Sydney.