10,000 Miles

Well, folks, here I am blogging from 10,000 miles away.  It’s hard to believe that I’m actually here.  After months and months of preparation, with a lot done by my wonderful parents, I landed in Sydney.

When the whole idea of me going abroad started, I didn’t think much would come of it.  I figured I’d soon give up the idea and move on with my life.  But then I seriously started considering the possibility of me going abroad.  It had always been something I wanted to do, I just didn’t know if I could actually do it.

But here I am, actually doing it.  I’m hoping that the hardest part is behind me, leaving.  I knew leaving wouldn’t be easy since I’d be leaving behind my friends, my family, and of course my girlfriend. 

My parents and my girlfriend drove me down to LaGuardia.  My flight left from there and went to Toronto.  In Toronto I got on a big plane that flew first to Vancouver, and then to Sydney.

  When I landed in Toronto I had to get my bags, go through customs, and then get them checked again.  And then in Vancouver they had to check everyone’s passports again!  Apparently Canada is very strict on who is in their country.  So about an hour after landing in Vancouver, after the plane was refueled, we could reboard.

Between Toronto and Sydney there were no meals on the plane for us.  First class got a meal, but we would’ve had to pay for our food.  By the way, first class, or Executive First Class, as they call it looks amazing!  Wouldn’t want to know how much those tickets cost though.

Pretty soon after we got into the air from Vancouver they served us dinner.  I had a choice between chicken and pasta, and I decided to go with the pasta.  It was alright, nothing special.  You know what they say about airline food.  I had some white wine with my meal and then decided to go to sleep.  I woke up several hours later and apparently missed the cold meal, which I think was sandwiches.  I tried to sleep a little bit more and then eventually they served breakfast.

In case you didn’t know, I really am not a breakfast fan.  I don’t know why, but breakfast is just not my thing.  The choice was pancakes or eggs, but the pancakes already had this weird looking fruit spread on them.  It was probably just jam or jelly, but it looked a little odd so I went with the eggs.  Not the best choice, but hey, what are you going to do.

Overall the flight wasn’t too bad.  Other than the fact that it is SO LONG!  I was planning to write a blog post while I was flying, but my bag was too big to keep under the seat, so I didn’t want to keep getting up and getting my bag out of the overhead compartment.  Also, for some reason, I was one of the few people on the plane to not have an outlet in their seat.  It seemed like almost everyone else had one except for me!  Good thing there were TV screens on each of the seats or else I would’ve been super bored without a laptop.

I read a little bit on my kindle and did some sleeping.  I got to watch a few movies which was good.  I watched Hall Pass, The Limey, and True Grit.  Hall Pass was about what you’d expect from it.  The Limey came out in 1999.  One of my professors showed us a clip of this film in one of my writing classes so I figured I’d watch the whole thing.  I really liked True Grit.  I am a big fan of the Cohen Brothers and I love their director of photography, Roger Deakins and everything he does.

Anyway, I was relieved when I finally landed because I knew that my time on that plane was finally up.  Although, it was a little bittersweet when we touched down.  I was sad when I left LaGuardia, but by the time we were in the air for Sydney, I felt better about it.  That was of course until we touched down in Sydney and then I realized that this was all real.  I was actually there, and there’s not a thing I could do about it.

I have now flown on probably two of the longest flights you can take on this planet, from Newark to Kuala Lumpur, and Vancouver to Sydney.  I can’t say that either one has been great, but they haven’t been bad.  I feel bad for the stewardesses that have to stay awake and actually have a job to do the whole time.

Speaking of long flights, the woman next to me on the plane was in Philadelphia and flew to Toronto.  From there she was going to Sydney as well.  BUT, after Sydney, she had to fly to Darwin, and then from there she had to drive TEN HOURS to where she lives.  She lives and teaches on an Aboriginal community.  That made my trip seem a little less hectic than hers.

That’s about all for the flight.  In the next entry I’ll talk about what I did when I landed and what I’ve done since then.  Thanks for reading!