Long Way Home

Wed Oct 22
12:22 San Francisco Airport
It’s kinda funny how every time I come home, the first flight to the US is early. The hop to Vancouver is so short that it’s almost a given that it won’t be early. More time in the airport, I guess. Too bad the 2pm flight’s full. It’d be nice to cut the connection time by 2 hours.

Anyways, I am so annoyed by the guy at the SYD security gate. I had a half a bottle of water that I’d forgotten about, and he made me throw the bottle when I was emptying out the bottle! FIRST of all, that’s very environmentally unfriendly, and second of all, it’s not like I was trying to get the liquid into the friggin secured area. If that had been a more expensive bottle, would he have made me chuck it out too? What difference does it make that it’s just a generic powerade bottle? I need water too, ya know. And it’s not like there was anyone waiting behind me. Geez.

The US is so paranoid. I passed through the metal detector just fine at all the other airports, but had to take off my money belt at the United gate. Yea. Only flights to the States had an extra security check point and gated area right at the gate. I really didn’t like the guy rifling through my stuff. I’ve had my bag checked before, but I didn’t like this guy. It could be that at the other airports, they just ran a sensor over and in my bag, rather than actually take out my stuff. I think the point where I was really annoyed was when he took out my journal. If it had been dangerous, and the first security checkpoint hadn’t caught it, then really, what’s the point of it in the first place? I think also that on all my other flights this trip, the person described exactly what they were going to do, whereas this guy just dove in. Lack of courtesy, ya know? I’m not a criminal; don’t treat me like one.

Anyways. The flight was fantastic. I had the entire centre row to myself. The person who had been sitting at the other end must’ve changed their seat online shortly before checking in. I think I slept 9 of the 12 hours! I was so tired (having been up the day before, then taking the red-eye from Perth and finally boarding at 3:40pm the next day) that I missed take off. I mean, one minute, the plane was stationary, and the next thing I’m aware of, we’re already in the clouds. I think Will’s rubbing off on me =P

Oh my lack of direction really sucks. So we get to Sydney from Perth at 7am, and I’m supposed to pick up my stuff from Monica at 9:30. Desperately needed a shower, and the Lonely Planet said there were some at the Traveller’s Aid on Platform one of Central Station. I ask information, and he directed me to a public pool near Hyde Park, which is a bit of a trek, so I go to YHA Railway Square to see if I could buy a shower. The guy says showers are only for guests. Fine. All my customer training was appalled at how he didn’t even suggest alternatives, like gyms or community centres or whatever. Way to go, buddy. But since I’m not really a customer, I guess I’m not worth his time or breath.

Oh, and the kicker. When I asked if there were a pool somewhere, he tells me there’s one about 15 minutes away. I ask in which direction, and he’s like “Away from the city.” WTF? Thanks. And then he’s like, “You’ll be wet from the rain walking there and back anyway.” Uh. Hello? A shower and wet from the rain are two COMPLETELY different things. I have 20 hours before I get home, and the last time I took a shower was 30 hours ago. What a moron!

So I head to the post office to pick up mail. I have a Tax File Number now. Fat lotta good that’s gonna do me, eh? =P

Off to Darling Harbour to meet Monica. Easier said than done. I had to turn back 3 separate times. WTF! I’ve BEEN there several times this trip! You’d think I’d be able to get there 3 weeks later! Oi.

Oh, I must say. The rain was most welcome after the blistering heat of the past week. Even if Sydneysiders hated it. Monica tells me that the weather was really nice over the weekend; further proof that Vancouverites really do bring our weather with us =P. I have to admit that I was missing the rain.

Thank goodness there were complimentary showers at SYD. And the lady at Information was so nice about it. She was so grandmotherly, telling me that she hoped it were still there, for my sake. I guess I seemed really desperate =P

I’m glad I had set aside clean clothes for the flight. Everything else is in dire need of washing. Not that any of you need to know. Heh.

Oh. The Coles bag that I used to pack the excess clothes broke. It’s not that I actually had a lot of stuff; total weight of my check-in luggage was less than 20kg. I just didn’t pack efficiently. When I got to the counter, I asked the guy if I needed to repack it all into my one bag, and he told me to just put the broken bag into the plastic luggage bag. Easy.

This trip has been great, but I am totally ready to go home. I have no doubt I’m going back to Australia for a visit; there’s so much still to see. Next time, though, I’m going to go in cooler weather =P

If you’ve made it all the way to the end, thanks for reading!