Australia 2014

Australia 2014: Part 6

/ Dav / Leave a comment

<Sydney, New South Wales>

Sydney Day 3: After eating breakfast, it was time to get my hair done. The last time I dyed my hair, I was in Aberdeen, Scotland. I’m trying to make this a “thing” that happens whenever I travel. It’s a blast! I found a little Salon and an empty chair. A boy named Ollie who is an immigrant from Poland gave me a haircut and did the color. I told him afterward that since I was on vacation, he needed to pose for a picture with me. He came from Poland last year and is living with his girlfriend, who is originally from Lithuania. Very nice boy. Feel free to ignore my facial hair because when I got back to the hostel that night, I shaved it all off. I now look blonde… and younger…. ish… but I still have the same amount of wrinkles.

I was looking at the map, deciding where I wanted to go on day 4, and what jumped out at me was a place called Watsons Bay (why on earth would that catch my eye?). Not sure the history of Watsons Bay, but I knew this was going to be my goal for the day. Rather than wait for a bus, I opted to walk… and walk… and walk… and walk.  I put in the miles! It was 7.1 miles one way, to be exact!

The walk was incredibly beautiful and when I got to Watsons Bay, I needed some rest and relaxation. I thought I would walk around the park where I was told there was a historic lighthouse. The area was so great- looking to the left, you could see the mouth of the Sydney Bay. Looking to the right, you could see the Tasman Sea. It was incredible!

Now for the fun part: I never thought I’d have the guts to do what I did next. First of all, I knew that if I thought about it for too long then I’d “wuss-out”. After doing it, I sort of struggled with the decision of whether or not I should share this part of my journey. My first thought is that my friends and family don’t need to know EVERYTHING that happens on this vacation.

This is, however, something that I feel is such a milestone in someone’s life that I just needed to share. Before you throw your unrighteous judgment in my direction- understand that I had just walked over 7.1 miles and needed to relax. Nude beach time! I figure that “haters gonna hate”.

The beach was occupied by me and two others. No big deal, right? This goes against my American squeamishness, but it’s not like they’re ever going to see me again. So screw it! Let’s get naked and wet! 

I decided that I was going to walk all the way home, rather than try to find public transportation. With all this walking around, I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that I walked about 17 miles by the time I got back to the hostel. I needed to get off my feet bad! I felt a massage was in order.

Near my hostel, I remembered seeing a building that said they offered Thai Massages. Up to this point, I’d only ever had a Swedish massages so I figured this would be a new experience. The massage parlor was located upstairs so when I walked through the glass doors, there was a long narrow stairway leading up to the next level.

I made my way up top and this lady was sitting at a desk. I asked her if any of the therapists were available. She said they were and I wanted a remedial massage- she said this was the closest thing to a Swedish massage. I paid her the money and she called one of the therapists over. The girl smiles and bows her head. Now, do you remember the scene from Big Trouble in Little China where the guy goes in to find a Chinese prostitute with green eyes? This is the vibe I’m getting by this point.

The therapist tells me her name but I’m kind of freaking out so I don’t remember it. She says, “Follow me, please.” Only she says it in a very thick Asian accent and I have to ask her to repeat herself so that I can understand. She bows and motions with her hand for me to follower her down a dark hallway to a room. 

We enter the room and she tells me to take off all my clothes but leave on my underwear. I’m laughing to myself wondering what the hell I’m getting myself into. I always leave my underwear on when I’m getting a massage because if something happens (fire drill or whatever) and I have to exit the building fast, at least I have underwear on. So she motions to the table and tells me she’ll be right back.

Ok here’s one key difference with a massage in the states (at least with the massages I’ve had up to this point): They always ask you to cover up under the top sheet and wait (usually on your stomach). Then the therapist comes in and starts. Here’s the problem I’m faced with. There is no top sheet. So I strip down to my underwear and am laying there on my stomach, stressing out that I might be doing this wrong.

She comes back into the room and asks me if I’m relaxed. I tell her I am, even though I’m just trying to convince myself that I am. She then proceeds to pull down the back of my underwear and I’m thinking “ok it’s just my butt crack- everyone has a butt crack. No big deal.” She slathered this oil all over my back (and upper-hiney) and starts the massage.

Ok, this feels amazing and in no time I’m feeling relaxed. I was hurting so bad that I really needed this work done. The slight uneasiness I had when I first got here has now melted away.

Next, she climbs up onto the table  (I’m not even kidding) and I’m wondering what’s about to happen. I am also wondering how many steps it will take me to be out of the door if needed. She kneels on my feet and is moving up the back of my legs slowly.  The back of my calves are killing me, but she’s working them deeply! It was horribly painful, and when I told her to back off a bit, she laughed and kept working them.

She gets to my gluteus maximus. I can feel her feet on the back of my knees now. This sounds weird but it felt really incredible. She kept working up my back until her knees are on my shoulder blades. She hops off and re-oils my back and goes to work on my neck and shoulders, more of Swedish style.

I just reread this entire story and I am laughing at myself. Some of the other people in the hostel are wondering what’s so funny. I just read them the story. I’m pretty sure they think I’m a moron. They laughed though- so at least I’m a funny moron.

Australia 2014: Part 5

/ Dav / Leave a comment

<Sydney, New South Wales|16:09>

Sydney has been a blast! Yes, I do miss Arron and Brendan. I wish they were here. How dare they continue to live their lives without me! Arron dropped me off at the airport early enough that they were able to put me on an earlier flight. I didn’t know they’d do this free of charge- one point for Virgin Australia! This was my first experience flying with them. I’ll be sticking with them for the rest of my domestic flights, while I’m here.

Sydney seems to be a lot more spread out than Brisbane was. It seems to have more foreigners than locals- at least downtown. This didn’t seem like the case in Brisbane, however. I’ve met some nice locals outside of downtown however. I spent my first afternoon here just getting familiar with the city. If I had a dollar for every Thai restaurant in this city- I could die a very wealthy man. There are so many! I’ve eaten at a few and I think I’m over Thai… at least I am over it until I get hungry again. That curry seems to just drag me in. 

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to see the Sydney opera house- in fact, the only thing that would be better than seeing it would be to sing in it… one dream at a time. I’ll focus on the easy goals first. On my second day here, I grabbed a street map from the front desk and they pointed out where there was a great place to see it and take some pictures.

https://youtu.be/nXj8Ixq5j-I

After dark, I went to a pub to sing karaoke but there weren’t very many good songs to choose from. Still, it was fun to watch people pretend to be singers. Nothing is better than karaoke!

Australia 2014: Part 4

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<Ferny Grove, Queensland>

I failed to mention dinner last night. This was the perfect end to a perfect day! I can now officially say I’ve had an Australian meat pie! When I ate at Pie Face the other day, that was technically official, but that’s something that I could find at my local grocery store, in the states. No offense to Pie Face, but it wasn’t anything special- in fact, it wasn’t the best tasting meat pie I’ve had.

Arron, Brendan and I walked to a nearby tavern to order some dinner. My dinner was extremely delicious! Not only did this one taste much better than my last experience, but it was topped with mushy peas! I’m pretty sure this came from the United Kingdom because I remember eating mushy peas there. All I can say is that it was a great dinner!

The next morning (4.5) we went to some sort of nature preserve called Walkabout Creek. This was a nice spot that had a little bird enclosure, a couple kangaroos and pademelons, which is like a mini-kangaroo of sorts. I would have loved to pick one of them up, but they weren’t accessible. I don’t think they would have appreciated my jumping into their pen to grab one.

After this, we headed up the mountain to take a look at the D’Aguilar National Park. I took a short video of the singing Bell Birds. At first I thought something was squeaking in the trees, but Brendan told me about these birds. The birds down here are so different. Even the birds at the house have the most interesting calls.

We drove to the nearby Mt. Glorious (I think that’s what it is called) and walked down this long trail that led us to a scenic (but small) waterfall. This was one of my favorite hikes that I’ve been on in a long time! I don’t think Arron or Brendan could even comprehend how much I love being outside and how much I love hiking! There’s a lot of hiking I’d like to do in the future, and this was just what I needed!

We were hiking and all-of-a-sudden, Brendan stops and looks into the thick growth near the boardwalk. He said he caught it moving out of the corner of his eye. Brendan is a regular Man vs. Wild type.

Later that evening we made it back to the house and it started pouring down rain. It didn’t rain for very long, and thank goodness we weren’t still hiking. They had some friends over for dinner. A great group of guys! This was the first time (or at least the first time I can remember) that I’d ever eaten a kangaroo. It tasted like beef, but gamier. Not too gamey, mind you- just a tad. It was very good! One of their friends made a delicious dessert from scratch. I need to learn to cook… or bake… or whatever it was.

The next morning I went for a walk by myself. The guys had to work, even though I asked several times if they’d just quit their jobs- they wouldn’t. On my walk, I decided that I would go see a matinee at the cinema but first needed to find some grub. I found a diner called Denim Co. and ordered waffles. First off- they were so small that there was hardly any waffle to eat- I’m so trained to eat like an American (i.e. gluttony)… secondly, they were served with ice cream! I guess that makes up for the small size. Small but worth it!

While I dined, the birds finished up the food that was left on the table next to me. It was cute, but it dawned on me that they may be about as clean as a rodent. It was gross but cool.

I later grabbed lunch at Vapiano again. This is the Italian restaurant where Arron had brought me on my first day. I ordered the exact same thing as before. It was a great pasta dish called chicken spinaci and I was craving. Arron gave me a hard time for not venturing out and trying something new. 

I met Arron in front of the city hall and we walked back to the plaza so I could try one of the brownies at Pie Face. He told me that most “American” brownies here are more “cakie” and less like an actual brownie. After knocking the Pie Face meat pie, I feel that I need to let you know that they totally redeemed themselves on the brownie side of things. Not as good as my mom’s recipe, but a good treat still.

We went to see historical Ft. Lytton, which is a fort that is near where the Brisbane River empties into the Moreton Bay. We walked around but I have to admit that Arron and I weren’t as into it as my dad would have been if he were visiting. My dad is a history buff and would have no doubt imparted tons of random facts about Ft. Lytton, I’m sure.

We met Brendan and one of their friends for some laser tag and I kinda suck at it. It was a fun game, however, and we all got a great workout. This is funny because one of the activities that Arron and I did on one of our “Dav Night’s” in Baltimore was laser tag. This is how I’ve managed to not work out over the last week or so- how I justify or rationalize or whichever of those words I’m talking about.

Brendan and one of their friends joined us for dinner and we went to Bird’s Nest Yakitori and Bar. This is a Japanese restaurant where we all ordered 6 rounds of skewered,  charcoal-cooked chicken. I didn’t know you could have chicken so many different ways. But the meal was good and the company was great!

The next morning, Arron took me out to a late breakfast at a great restaurant atop a cliff that overlooked downtown. I had some french toast and Arron had some kind of pea-fritter with sausage… if that’s what it was. It looked disgusting, but I’m guessing that it was good. We had a good walk along the cliff top afterward and a really great chat. Even though I would have liked to stay longer, I knew that he had to get to work and I had to go catch a plane to Sydney.

Trust me, I don’t want to.

Australia 2014: Part 3

/ Dav / Leave a comment

<Ferny Grove, Australia | 06:04>

I started my day with Vegemite on toast. I’m not quite sure why Aussies love this stuff so much. It wasn’t bad- but definitely an acquired taste. I’ve learned that I’ll willingly try most things once. It mostly tasted like salt. Perhaps I need to give it another go. Arron made some eggs with cheese and some fresh green herbs… not sure what the herbs were, but it was a delicious breakfast!

We knew we’d be spending quite a bit of time outdoors so next came the all-important decision of what hat I was going to wear. Since Australia is so far south, and there’s still a hole in the ozone layer, it’s very important to cover up when you’re out and about. I had gotten a little bit of sun the previous day and didn’t want to start worrying about a bad sunburn. Arron told me that Brendan is a skin cancer survivor. I can only imagine that this came from the strong down-under sun. Here were the options available to me, and I chose #3.

The Winner

The first one looks too much like “Driving Miss Daisy” and I’m not a fan of the brand name on the front of the second one. The third one was just right! Now I was wearing the perfect outfit for a day spent at The Australia Zoo!

Aussies are obsessed with big things. Arron made sure we made one stop so that I could get my picture in front of a big mower. I was moderately impressed. A few minutes later we would come across a big chainsaw and later I was able to get a picture with a very big pineapple, but you’ll have to wait for that exciting picture.

The Australian Zoo was operated, for the most part by the late Steve Irwin. I learned that his fame and popularity was so much bigger in the states, thanks to his show, The Crocodile Hunter. He was known in Australia but seems like he hadn’t really been upped to a celebrity status until after his death, a few years back. Brendan told me that when he was young and they’d drive to the beach, there was a smaller roadside attraction that had crocodiles that later would become the location for the Australia Zoo. It wasn’t all the impressive but was more to draw in money from tourists.  

https://youtu.be/shkWQlpIavE
April the Koala
https://youtu.be/McAQFP0eJTY
Holding April
“A Dingo Ate My Baby!”

https://youtu.be/MdKfuhcKhcc
https://youtu.be/Q59HjSGBk2k

After spending a few hours at the zoo, Arron and Brendan took me to a very beautiful and old forest called Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve, on our way home. This forest here has never been cut down and so it was very, very dense. This looked as though you could easily hide a body and totally get away with it! Note: I’m really not looking for places to hide bodies.

This is a picture of Brendan leaving the trail and climbing on a tree after he decided to ignore the carefully placed sign that asked him not to leave the trail. I thought I’d keep it in case I am ever asked to testify against him in an Australian court of law.
Behold, the Pineapple

Australia 2014: Part 2

/ Dav / Leave a comment

This morning I woke up at precisely 04:08 and laid in bed for about half an hour, waiting to see if I was actually going to sleep some more. Thankfully, I fell asleep and didn’t wake up again until just before 07:00. Does this mean my body is adjusting to the new time zone? Not sure, but I’ll keep setting my alarm in case.

This morning I woke up at precisely 04:08 and laid in bed for about half an hour, waiting to see if I was actually going to sleep some more. Thankfully, I fell asleep and didn’t wake up again until just before 07:00. Does this mean my body is adjusting to the new time zone? Not sure, but I’ll keep setting my alarm in case.

Yesterday was an incredible day. Arron had to go to work for another half-day, and Brendan felt that he needed to catch up on some rest. After a late start, I ventured out on my own, back into the city, as I had the previous day. The rail system here, like most cities, is straightforward to understand and use.

I went back to Brisbane central and stopped at the Apple store once again. I wanted to price some things to see how much more expensive they’d be to purchase here than they are in the states. I looked at some excellent Bose QC15 headphones and discovered that it would cost me considerably less to buy them in the states. If I lived in or frequently visited Australia, I could start a side business of flying back to the United States, buying tons of electronics, shipping them back, and selling them. This is probably not legal, but I remember that the customs officials in the Brisbane airport didn’t ask about electronics. Just food and drugs. I didn’t end up buying anything but did convince myself to look into getting an Apple T.V. someday.

I explored some of the city by walking in a massive circle around the train station. By doing this, I figured I couldn’t get too lost. The problem with Brisbane is that the streets are at a diagonal. I’ve grown so used to using north, south, east, and west to understand directions, and Arron told me that I needed to totally change that way of thinking. They rarely give or even understand given directions in that manner. Instead, Australians will say something like, “Go toward (insert the name of a nearby town or landmark) or walk toward (some kind of known landmark).” As a tourist, however, I don’t really know where these towns and places are located.

After walking around the city for a few minutes (I may have been lost most of this time), I saw a small restaurant called Pie Face. I remembered that Wes, one of my crashpad roommates from Australia, told me that I needed to make sure I ate a meat pie before I came back to the states.

They are very delicious, and it was one of the things he missed about his home country. I remembered that Arron had told me that Pie Face had the best brownies, and I figured I’d try them out. My eyes were bigger than my stomach, and I shouldn’t have ordered two. They were pretty good, however- only slightly larger than a Marie Calender’s pot pie back in the states.

I wanted to get out of the city and see a bit of nature. Arron mentioned going to some kind of park later in the day, so I thought I’d stick with a nature theme from here on out. There are a lovely botanical garden and a walking area near Brendan’s work on the Brisbane River. I notice that all the active runners were very, very good looking. I wondered if there was some sort of audition that you had to look so good to work out there. I’m sure I fit right in, what with my high levels of sexiness and all.

Arron and I had arranged to meet for a late lunch at 13:30. I ventured back into the city to see if I could find our chosen rendezvous point. I soon found the city hall clock tower and camped out for about an hour, just watching people come ago across the square. I’ve always loved people-watching, and the fact that I was in Australia made it all that much more intriguing. I love to size people up and try to figure out what their personal stories are. Who are they? What is their relationship to the person who is with them? Where are they going? Fascinating stuff!

Arron soon showed up, and we walked to a nearby restaurant called the Melange Cafe. The setting was absolutely beautiful! It was on the edge of a huge garden/ park called Roma Street Parkland. The cafe was more like a vast open space with a permanent roof… an outdoor/indoor thingy (sorry, I don’t really know the words to describe it) with massive chandeliers overhead. Arron ordered a very posh-looking salmon dish, and I opted for a Thai salad. The food was very delicious!

After lunch (I only made it through about half of my salad), we walked around the park and gardens. The land was teeming with dozens of giant, wild lizards called water dragons. They were cold but scary. They tended to scurry away when we got closer, but one of them stood his ground long enough for me to get a cool shot. They ranged in size from my middle finger’s length to ones that were longer and thicker than my arm. I want one. I would name it Jubjub.

The gardens were beautiful, and part of the park was dedicated to some guy from New Zealand who had been a very popular gardener on Australian television. I don’t remember his name, but he died in 2012. It was a garden of Eden.

When I saw this kangaroo statue, the first thing I thought was that Arron needed to spoon it. This is one of my favorite qualities about Arron- he’s very suggestible to random madness! He’s a great travel buddy! It reminds me of our “Dav Nights” we would have back in Baltimore. Any excuse to head out a play in Baltimore, really.

We next met up with Brendan and went for a drive up to Mt Coot-tha, and I ate an Australian desert called lamington. It was chocolate on the outside and had a lighter inside (maybe it was vanilla, but I don’t really know), and it had coconut on the chocolate. I do remember that it was very delicious!

In a way, I feel kinda bad that Arron and Brendan have been so kind to me. I didn’t want them to have to change their days around, and since I’ve arrived, they indeed have. I thought they’d just give me suggestions of things I should see and do during the day, and then I’d possibly meet up with them for dinner or something like that. Arron has been paying for most of my meals, and whenever I object, his response has been that I’ll have plenty of time to spend money when I travel beyond Brisbane.

Later in the evening, Brendan went to a birthday dinner for his sister. I again felt terrible that Arron was obviously changing his plans for my benefit, but instead of the birthday dinner, he took me on the City Cat, which is a Brisbane River cruise. It was a perfect night, not too cold, with a slight wind, but not enough to make you miserable. The boat took us downstream, and it was fantastic to watch the sunset.

https://youtu.be/Bcj9XfKThj0
https://youtu.be/-uhYOhJ9bC0
https://youtu.be/7agD9nyCHbo
https://youtu.be/2ZqeWIhrASc

We ended up at what I can only describe as the swap meet version of a food court. The place is called Eat Street Markets (www.eatstreetmarkets.com), and it was much like the atmosphere of a carnival or a county fair. There were food tents and booths everywhere! There was also live music, and instead of tables and chairs, they set out a bunch of crates in the middle of the walkways, and we just planted ourselves there and ate. Even with all of the different kinds of food, I opted for a spicy sausage with mustard and sour kraut. For dessert, Arron made me try my first gluten-free donut. It was pretty good- definitely not bad like I was expecting.

Later, Brendan rejoined us for bingo and karaoke. We had a fabulous time, and I would go every night if I only had the strength. I sang Evergreen by Will Young. Great song that reaches my upper range, and the locals told me I did a good job.

Australia 2014: Part 1

/ Dav / Leave a comment

<Ferny Grove, Australia | 04:57>

It took me about an hour to get through the international customs line. I was approached twice by a drug-sniffing dog and had to fight the urge to pet the thing. I had to nothing to declare, but several people asked in that hour. Truth: I wasn’t bringing any firearms, drugs, fruits or vegetables into Australia. Each time I answered these questions, I thought about the Hostess fruit pies in my checked luggage. I don’t think the fruit in those little pies count as actual fruit because of all the sugar that they’ve added- I’m going by nutritional value here.  

When I finally rounded the corner,  Arron was sitting in the lobby, and he immediately snapped my picture. Pretty sure I looked like I’d just been on a plane for 14 hours. It was so good to see him and give him a hug. As we approached his car in the parking garage, I automatically crossed over to the left side. He stopped to ask me if I was planning on driving. I told him no and then realized what I had done. We both got a chuckle. Yes, I know that they drive on the left side of the street here, but in my defense- I had just flown a very long flight with minimal sleep and at this point, I was mostly operating in zombie-mode.

It’s so good to see my friend!

We drove to his house in Ferny Grove, which isn’t very far from downtown Brisbane. On the way, we stopped by the side of the road so that I could get a picture of the city. I’ve decided that Ferny Grove reminds me of a cross between rural Maryland and San Diego. It was a perfect day!

We got to the house and I met Brendan. Brendan has been my friend for a few years now, but he didn’t really know this because we actually hadn’t met yet… or talked… or interacted in any way, shape or form. Arron brought him to the states a few years ago, and I saw a few pictures that our friend Monica posted on Facebook. It’s true that I assume everybody is my friend until they prove to me that they don’t want to be. This makes for some amusing stories, for sure.

Arron and Brendan both had to go to work for awhile, and knew that I wanted to rest. They gave me directions to the local lightrail station and Arron and I planned to meet for lunch downtown. I tried to get a nap, but just couldn’t nod off. This was my first day in Australia and I really wanted to look around. I had envisioned riding a kangaroo, wrestling a wild dingo and making out with a koala and none of these things were going to happen if I was at the house taking a nap.

I hit the internet for few minutes, then I headed to the lightrail. On the train, I sat near the only other person in the car. I told her I was heading into the city, and asked her if I was on the right train. She told me I was, and asked me where I was from. We talked and talked and talked. She told me her name is Mariea (not ‘Maria’, but pronounced the same). She has lived in the Brisbane area for more than 40 years and one of her granddaughters has recently been hired as a flight attendant for Emirates. She was incredibly sweet!  

For lunch, Arron took me to a little Italian restaurant and taught me an important lesson-  even fast food is quite different than fast food in the states, in that it’s not really fast at all. We stood in line for almost a half an hour, just waiting for our turn to order.  When it was finally our turn, the meal was prepared right in front of us like a less-flashy Benihana style. The cook prepared the entire meal from scratch, other than having to kill the chicken or make the pasta by hand. It still took us about fifteen more minutes to get our plates. Fresh-made pesto is one of my new favorites!  

After lunch, we walked off our meals by going to three different museums. The first was a Douglas MacArthur museum. The timeline was post WWI, through WWII and in MacArthur’s office they still had his original desk and some of his original furniture.  

Next was the museum of Brisbane, which was (or maybe is) the city hall. This is a beautiful building that had a clock tower and was, from 1930 to 1964, the tallest building in Brisbane. We rode up in a very old elevator, that happens to be the only manually operated cage lift that is still working in all of Australia! The tour of the clock tower was free, and provided some remarkable views of the city! I learned that the tower was build in the 1920s, and the bells are still operated by the same electric motors that were installed when it was first erected.

We crossed the Brisbane river and headed over to the place of Brendan’s work. It is my understanding that Brendan is one of the guys who’s in charge of a huge drama festival for children that will be happening this summer. So far, I don’t quite understand what it is, but Brendan does and that’s what’s important. I had to snap a picture of the banner that was hanging on the performing arts center since Brendan is now “my people” and I’m always hoping for the best for my people.

We decided to go to one more museum while we were waiting for Brendan to be finished with work. This museum had three exhibits. The first was a bunch of animals that were all standing in white sand that surrounded some water. It was pretty cool. The second exhibit was a huge tree on its side. We figure they would have had to take out one of the nearby windows in order to get this massive tree into the room. It was huge and it’s branches touched both opposing walls.  

The third exhibit was my favorite. It was basically a bunch of wolves (or maybe they were coyotes?) that were jumping, flying and smashing into a clear wall. Art to me is either really, really stupid, or really, really cool. I’ll admit that I don’t understand a lot of art, but this was cool! The time it most likely took the artist to pose and suspend all these wolves in the air must have been months, at least.

Arron and I headed back over to the performing arts center and took a seat in an outdoor bistro and had a good chat. The best way I can describe this conversation is that we talked a lot about being happy. That’s really what I want in this life is to be truly happy. I’ve never had a tough time making the best of whatever my situation or circumstance has been, but I am a happy and positive person, for the most part. It was a good heart-to-heart. Arron has become a great friend! 

When Brendan finally finished up, we headed back to the house and ordered some Thai food for dinner. It was only about 19:00 and I felt that I really needed to get some sleep.

Australia 2014: PreTrip 4

/ Dav / Leave a comment

<LAX – BNE |  02:21>

An interesting thing happened at L.A.X., about an hour before I boarded the plane. I was sitting on the floor, near the only electrical outlet by my gate, charging my devices when this older man who looked like he was from India, turban and all, glanced down at my hand and asked me if he could read my palm. I told him I didn’t mind- I figure that he wasn’t going to try anything weird since there were a lot of other people around. He took my palm and told me that he’d been professionally reading palms for the past 50+ years and that today was his 78th birthday.

Here’s what he told me he read in my palm: 

  1. My spirit has been on this earth for about 3,800 years, reincarnated over and over.
  2. There’s a good possibility that I will start to lose my memory at around 70 years old, but I’ll continue to live on to be very old.
  3. I will never be rich, but will always be slightly comfortable and able to make ends meet.
  4. I will have two more great loves in my life. One will stay with me, and the other will part ways with me.
  5. I need to take up some sort of martial art to become more focused and become a better singer.
  6. In my last life, I was an Italian woman who happened to be a lesbian.
  7. About 300 years ago, I was in the body of a black man who lived in western Africa.

Do I believe everything this man told me? Absolutely not! Was it cool to have my first palm reading? Absolutely! One thing that did stick out to me was the fact that when I got my genetic testing done with 23andMe.com a few months ago, there was a very small portion of my DNA that came from western Africa. This man then went on to bash all forms of Christianity, that Jesus was only on earth to perform small miracles and wasn’t really the son of God. He told me that the only reason that my pastor taught me about heaven and hell was to control me. This man claimed to be psychic and there are quite a few things he got wrong about me. Still, it was cool to have my palm read. I just nodded my head, pretending to agree with him, and I smiled a lot. Harmless airport fun!

As I boarded the plane, I handed the chocolates to the lead flight attendant and told her she had to share them with her coworkers. I then told her that I was a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines and let her know that I’d be sitting in seat 61-A. She was very appreciative and several times during the flight, the other crew members came back to thank me. They were extremely kind and this move scored me a nice pair of noise-canceling headphones.

You want to know what makes a 13 hour and 55 minute flight seem even longer? This is when the guy who is two seats over from you decides to take his shoes off. He had no socks on and by the smell of things, he’d had to walk a lot that day in the California heat. It was not pleasant. Other than that, the flight was great! I tried to get some sleep on the way and think I may have managed to get about 2 hours in. For me, this is an amazing accomplishment.

Something very significant and awe-inspiring just happened. There’s a place over the Pacific where two invisible lines cross each other. This is where the equator crosses the international date line. Prior to a few minutes ago, I had never crossed either of these lines. I just crossed both of these lines… at the same time. In my opinion, this is very, very cool and I think it was worth powering up the laptop to record this event. Does this make me more of a man or a better person? I think so. Also, this is one step closer to considering myself a world traveler. Very cool!

Australia 2014: PreTrip 3

/ Dav / Leave a comment

<Home | 05:41>

I can’t sleep. My body woke up somewhere around 04:30 even though I was up until almost midnight getting things together- there is no sleep left in me. Megan isn’t going to come to pick me up for another six hours but I’m done sleeping. Maybe this is a good thing since my flight doesn’t leave Los Angeles until 23:45 tonight. Maybe that means I’ll actually sleep on the plane. I should drug myself.

<Los Angeles, California | 17:53>

Megan showed up right at 09:30 and I grabbed my two bags (one to check and one to carry-on) and threw them in the trunk of her car. We had to make a stop at Walmart so I could grab a few things. Arron commanded me to bring Hostess pies and butterscotch pudding for him. What I really mean is that he asked me if I’d bring some for him- I knew that if I did, they would get smashed in my checked bag, and he’d need to eat his treats with a fork or a spoon. I guess these are some things that they just don’t have in Australia. I ran into Walmart and found a little plastic box to put them in. I hope this keeps the treats uncrushed until I see Arron in about twenty-two hours.

My Happy Chauffeur
Flying Over Las Vegas

Since I still had about 10 hours until I could check in for my flight, I walked down to get some lunch at In-N-Out Burger, near LAX.

Always A Good Decision

After ordering my #1, animal style, a gal who was also waiting for her order started chatting with me. Her name is Roxie and she just so happens to be one of my coworkers, based in Baltimore. After being an operations agent in Raleigh for I-don’t-remember-how-many years (close to thirty years, if I recall) she finally decided a couple years ago that she was going to transfer to inflight and start to see the country. We had a great chat!

We talked about our experiences in flight attendant training and the fact that her 30-year-old son is going through the exact same training in Dallas at this very moment. We remembered all the stress and head games that we had to live through to earn our wings. Those memories came flooding back! I think I had tried to block most of them out. It was quite common in training for you to get close to someone, thinking they’d become a life-long friend and coworker, only to find out the next day that they’d been sent home for failing a test or for one of a million other reasons. I remember that our training class started with 136, and I think only 84 made it to graduation. Roxie told me that from one test alone (passing of the P.A.s) they lost about 11. Mind games. Stress. Tears. Sleepless nights, pacing the hotel hallways studying because you really, really wanted to be a flight attendant.

I remembered there was a boy named Edwin in my training class. The day before our graduation, Edwin went out to celebrate his twenty-first birthday. The next morning, we all showed up to the shuttle and were very excited because this was our big day. We were getting our class picture taken and going over some last-minute career training and then we were going to “get pinned” (receive our wings) in a ceremony later in the afternoon. Edwin never showed up that day because he partied too hard and slept through his alarm or wakeup call. Instead of allowing him to join us later in the day (he had already passed all of his exams), they put him on a flight home. They told us from our very first day in training that we always had to be on-time to class, because they had to trust us to show up to the plane when we were supposed to be there. Edwin would have made a great flight attendant. I wonder what he’s doing now.

After a quick visit to the CVS so that I could pick up some generic Zzzquil and some generic Gas-x, just in case, we walked back together until it came time for me to turn right, heading to the terminal and Roxie turned left, heading back to her layover hotel. She’s a very cool gal and we exchanged our info so that we will hopefully keep in touch.

I grabbed my bags and lugged them all the way to the L.A.X. international terminal. Up to this point, I’ve only experienced terminal 1 because this is the only terminal that we fly out of for work. The international terminal or terminal 4 is a long hike, especially carrying a bag the size of the one I packed for this trip. Next time I’ll fork out the $5 to rent one of those easy cart thingies. I felt like I was going to pass out, lugging it the whole way.

<18:39>

I stepped up to the Qantas ticket counter, wondering if it was too early for me to check in for a plane that wasn’t supposed to leave for hours. The agent told me that it was indeed possible and that many other passengers had already checked in. She took my passport and told me that she wouldn’t even need my confirmation number. She scanned it through the groove on her keyboard, checked the screen and asked me if I had any bags to check to Charlotte this evening. “Okay, first of all, I didn’t even know that Qantas flew to Charlotte. Secondly,” I told her, “I am actually going the opposite direction and flying to Brisbane tonight.” She scratched her head and I pulled my confirmation number out of my bag. She scanned my passport again and this time it had me going to Brisbane. Much better! Although Charlotte, North Carolina is lovely!

Once I was through the security line (which was basically nonexistent for me since I happened to be in a flight attendant uniform- awesome benefit!) and a pitstop to the men’s room, I set out to find some chocolate. It is a well-known fact that you should always bring chocolate for the flight crew. Now that you know this, never fly without bringing some! Please don’t get the cheap, waxy kind of chocolate either. I was glad to find a See’s Candies shop in the terminal and grabbed a couple boxes of truffles. I hope the crew is grateful for the gesture.

Australia 2014: PreTrip 2

/ Dav / Leave a comment

I called up my cousin Megan to find out what her schedule is like this week. I don’t want to park my truck in a public parking lot for an entire month so I was hoping to park at her house in Kaysville and get a ride to the airport. She told me that she probably didn’t have the room to park my big truck, but said that she was off of work for spring break and she’d come out to the house to pick me up. This is so helpful! I was going to have to get an expensive taxi. Megan will be my driving service.

Australia 2014: PreTrip

/ Dav / 2 Comments

I just got the most amusing email from Virgin Australia since I’ve booked my flights around Australia on them. I think they are desperate to fill those first class or business class seats because they’re open to the highest bidder! I checked the site out and it looks like the starting bid is AU$150, and even with that bid, the site told me that there was a very low probability that my bid would be chosen. I think I’m going to stick with my original plan of bringing chocolate and flirting with the flight attendants. We’ll see how far that gets me to the front of the plane.