OZ '06, DAY 1: Trip down under kicks off
Sydney welcomes travelers
— after 19 hours in planes
SYDNEY, New South Wales, Saturday, Dec. 9 — It took almost exactly 24 hours for Debbie and me to leave our house in Windermere and arrive in Australia.
We left home at 4 p.m. for a 5:55 p.m. flight to Los Angeles (two hours total). The flight from Orlando to L.A. was just over five hours, then we had a two-hour layover (nine and a half hours total). Then the flight to Sydney was just under 14-1/2 hours.
Wow … was that long!
We were in business class on the Delta flight to L.A., but endured coach on the long leg. (Many thanks to Margaret Hartmann, who was able to upgrade us from "Economy" to "Economy Plus" on the United flight … that got us a little more leg room.)
Deb was able to sleep a lot, but I struggle to get more than a few winks. I watched three movies — "Lady in the Water" (which was awful!), "The Night Listener" (not too bad), and "The Illusionist" (pretty good).
Once on the ground, we rented a car and bought a cell phone — a "mo-bile" in Aussie speak — and drove straight to Oatlands Golf Club to watch our host, Sarah Kenyon, play in the New South Wales Women's Open.
While there, we also saw Sarah Kemp, Katy Jarochowicz and Tamara Beckett, who have all stayed with us over the years.
• Shocker: I've driven on the "wrong" side of the road before, in Scotland and Ireland, and I can handle it pretty well. But over here the turn-signal stalk is on the right side of the steering column — I've been turning on the windshield wipers every time I try to signal!
• Aussie oddities: We left on Dec. 7 and arrived on Dec. 9. So, where exactly did Dec. 8 go? … Since it's summer in Australia, they are on Daylight Savings time in New South Wales, but standard time in Queensland. While in Sydney we're 16 hours ahead of Orlando time; once we get to Queensland on Wednesday, Dec. 13, it'll be 15 hours ahead.
— after 19 hours in planes
SYDNEY, New South Wales, Saturday, Dec. 9 — It took almost exactly 24 hours for Debbie and me to leave our house in Windermere and arrive in Australia.
We left home at 4 p.m. for a 5:55 p.m. flight to Los Angeles (two hours total). The flight from Orlando to L.A. was just over five hours, then we had a two-hour layover (nine and a half hours total). Then the flight to Sydney was just under 14-1/2 hours.
Wow … was that long!
We were in business class on the Delta flight to L.A., but endured coach on the long leg. (Many thanks to Margaret Hartmann, who was able to upgrade us from "Economy" to "Economy Plus" on the United flight … that got us a little more leg room.)
Deb was able to sleep a lot, but I struggle to get more than a few winks. I watched three movies — "Lady in the Water" (which was awful!), "The Night Listener" (not too bad), and "The Illusionist" (pretty good).
Once on the ground, we rented a car and bought a cell phone — a "mo-bile" in Aussie speak — and drove straight to Oatlands Golf Club to watch our host, Sarah Kenyon, play in the New South Wales Women's Open.
While there, we also saw Sarah Kemp, Katy Jarochowicz and Tamara Beckett, who have all stayed with us over the years.
• Shocker: I've driven on the "wrong" side of the road before, in Scotland and Ireland, and I can handle it pretty well. But over here the turn-signal stalk is on the right side of the steering column — I've been turning on the windshield wipers every time I try to signal!
• Aussie oddities: We left on Dec. 7 and arrived on Dec. 9. So, where exactly did Dec. 8 go? … Since it's summer in Australia, they are on Daylight Savings time in New South Wales, but standard time in Queensland. While in Sydney we're 16 hours ahead of Orlando time; once we get to Queensland on Wednesday, Dec. 13, it'll be 15 hours ahead.
posted by Ken Carpenter at 4:56 AM
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