Down Under At Last ... Saturday to Monday Morning

Greetings! I've landed in OZ ... well, at least I know I'm in OZ -- something Dorothy didn't at first -- but I must tell you, I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore!

People here drive on the opposite side of the street and if you're a stick shift driver like I am -- it's hell to shift with your left hand -- the gears are the same as in the US but you have to do it from the other side. If you think that's easy try sitting in the right seat while someone does the clutch from the left and shift! What an experience!

I'm a few days late getting this site up -- in fact, didn't think about it until I had to write a hundred emails all saying the same thing -- then I thought -- "Ah, time for a blog!"

So for those of you who want to keep up with my travels in Australia -- here's where you can do that and you can post comments about my trip. If you want to tell me something personal -- send me an e-mail -- I will respond!

Here's how it all started ...

I left Chicago on Saturday at 5 pm -- well, we were late getting off the ground -- after all, I was flying out of O'Hare 2 days before Christmas ... nevertheless -- the flight was not the best -- suggest if you're flying longer than 2 hours -- take the option for Economy Plus on United -- cramped is not the word -- I think they have reconfigured the planes so they can sell you the regular spaced seats as Economy Plus ...

Nevertheless, I arrived in San Francisco with absolutely no spare time to saunter through SFO, shop and get to the International Terminal in time for my flight to Sydney ... I decided to skip the shopping part ...

I swore if I they had any available, I'd pay anything for an Economy Plus seat to Sydney ... but I got really lucky and caught a cute guy assigning seats and he comped me an Economy Plus window seat -- not ideal, especially when mother nature calls or you need a stroll around the plane to keep from dying of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) -- but definitely the better alternative to cramped economy ...

The flight was smooth -- a few bobbles here and there -- but at 35,000 feet with nothing but Pacific Ocean underneath -- smooth is good ... food, movies, a window seat to look at ... nothing, two seat mates who slept all the way across except to eat -- what more could one ask for to travel 7200 miles?!

But I must admit seeing the dawn break at 35,000 feet was pretty stunning ... the light comes up pale bluish grey and then a soft pink haze begins to overtake the ending night followed by the brilliant gold of a rising sun ... and knowing at that point Sydney is a mere 2+ hours away ... oh my god -- am I crazy or what?!

The day was overcast as we drifted down through the endless cloud decks -- Sydney had been drenched for the past 24 hours, which I completely missed because of the International Date Line ... it was damp but cool -- yes, cool and breezy -- not the 90+ weather I thought that I might have -- instead, it was in the low 60s and expected to stay that way ... for those of you who know me ... I had manifested ideal weather ... not as easy as a parking space, but very doable!

As the plane drifted through clouds and fog ... I could see the vastness of Sydney -- it has almost 800 suburbs -- and though I had hoped to see the Opera House from the sky -- it was not to be with the weather ... the airport is just south of downtown Sydney and so you actually fly over the city and circle back to land ... and of course, you're over water the whole time as Australia is a land surrounded by water, with more than 23,000 miles of coastline, and if you stretch the 17 miles of inlets in Sydney Harbor out there's more than 157 miles of harbor view ... vast is not the word ...

Landing was clean even though the runway was wet and puddled ... it was good to be on the ground again and it took a few minutes to feel solid after disembarking the plane ... and then it was off to immigration and customs ...

Now this is a country that takes it entry points seriously -- after all most of the plants, animals and insects here don't exist anywhere else in the world -- the customs and immigration website scares the hell out of you about what you can bring in -- they want to look at everything and you better have a note from your doctor for all your meds -- and the sniff dogs are after your backpack -- mostly looking for food (brownies I suspect) and plants ...

I have to tell you with all my preparation -- yes I am meticulous about this kind of stuff since I don't want to be in the headlines -- like I threw away the clothes pin that kept my chocolate-cherry bread fresh because wood is not allowed -- can you see the headline - "Fly Girl Taken Away in Handcuffs for Smuggling Clothes Pin ..." -- but I must tell you customs and immigration was a breeze and I was in and out within about 30 minutes -- the lines were long -- lots of folks coming here to enjoy Summer instead of going to Florida ... and then it was time to exit the customs area and see David face to face ....