Day One

Ok, So I have finally got time to write the first post for my much anticipated and hyped travel blog. I will jump right too it after goodbyes at the airport.

We boarded the Brisbane to Sydney flight 10 min late, which would turn out to be only the beginning of the delays. These delays were nothing however compared to the meeting we/i had with the lovley Shelly Craft, of funniest home video fame. turns out she was sitting two seats across from me, so we pretty much spent the morning together, well at least we had some pretty good conversations, well at least the guy who was next to her was doing pretty well, and i was the one eaves dropping their conversation. There was a number/email exchange also.  While we were on the flying down to Sydney every ten min the captian would tell us the flight was further delayed due to bad weather and a number of failed landing attempts in Sydney. The others started to panic when the arrival time came within 50 min of the scheduled departure time of our connecting flight. We still had to get to the international terminal and find the gate. I however, as usual remained cool, calm and collected and i think i overheard a few of the other guys saying how glad they were that i stayed calm and steered us to the gate. It turned out the flight was also delayed although the neglected to mention this on the board. It ended up leaving over one hour late.

Also, while on the bus heading to the international terminal we saw two of the Qantas A380's both with engine cowls open being engineered i assume. Also we saw QF12 to LA depart, which was running a 747 rather than the A380, but hopefully they will be back in service by the 8th Jan.

As i was originally writing this on a notepad on the plane, sitting in seat 66G for those playing at home, i am constantly being disrupted by slightly old, but still young enough flight attendants offering me food/drinks/backrubs it occurs to me that really this flying thing isnt too bad. It turns out being waited on hand and foot, having moderatly attractive women bring you gin and tonic, weis bars, pretzels and fruit is pretty damn good. Also, having a choice of tv shows/movies/music or lame games no more than three inches from your face is far better than the crap forced apon you on United Airlines. It also occurs to me however that could i somehow rig up the toliet to the seat i would be in heaven.  While I'm on the topic of toilets, aircraft toilets really are amazing bits of kit. That flush gives me goosebumps every time.

So thats as far as i got while on the plane, because after the first 4 hours which felt like 25 i had the realisation that there were still 10 to go... and that hurt my moral. Despite movies on tap, it turns out im really not a fan of flying, or movies for that matter.. I did watch Toy Story 3, and unlike Rach i was able to hold back tears. The rest of the plane trip sucked..i was starving because i was to nervous/excited to eat breakfast and had no time for lunch. In 24 hours i ate only two plane meals, 1 apple some cookies and novelty sized back of pretzels.

We Finally arrived in SF, i had my hat and my glasses ready and started to disembark the plane. I checked my shirt neck where i had my glasses hanging as i was stepping of the plane and found they had gone! I just spend a fair amount of money on these glasses and almost cried. I turned back and in a slight panic searched for the glasses. Luckly, with the help of one of the staff i found them and joined the others on US soil.

We got to the BART (bay area rapid transport system) station and boarded the train. on a side note it was doing about 50mph which was fast. we got our first glimpse of San Francisco and it really was quite beautuful.  It was that golden time of morning i dont often see and there was a crisp haze in the air, i was also impressed with the distinct lack that normal urine smell you often get on big city public transport systems.

This is getting very long in the tooth so i will wrap it up and add photos which you no doubt skipped to anyway. In a nutshell we got to our accommodation, its not bad for what it is, great location, dumped our bags and went out to explore. I didnt take my camera because i didnt want ot look like a tourist but i went out after and took some quick snaps.

There is a massive Christmas tree just down the road and an ice skating rink, pretty cool place so far and haven't even seen the headline acts of the city yet. Anyway on to the pics.

Sitting on the ground at Sydney

Finally!

This is for you Brad.. saw it on Post st.. which is the same st as Fatlace and my hostel.

 Went for a little walk in the afternoon sunlight took these few 

The further i walked the worse the people got as it started to thin our i decided to head back and cross to the other side of the road from the man talking to a potplant... no joke.

Made it home This is the hall of our hotel. 

Dont worry, these posts will reduce in text and increase in pics, just didnt take many today. Im tired, had next to no sleep in about 30 hours now....

Stay tuned will try and have some good pics soon!!

Michael.