I'm in my third airport in 24 hours and will shortly begin my journey to number four. I've been on vacation a little over a day now and all I've seen are airports; although the Sydney airport is quite nice and has free wifi, score! It hasn't been the easiest journey here, but i think I'm in good shape right now. My flight to San Fran was delayed an hour, which resulted in my running to my international terminal to catch my next lag. As I trotted through SFO I noticed a redhead to my right who asked if I was catching the flight to Sydney as well...oh thank god I'm not the only idiot racing through the airport. As we walked to our gate, we began to talk about our journeys. Her husband lives in Canberra and she was going to visit him for a week. She gave me some ideas as to what I could do when I went to visit. She also gave me some tips about driving on the other side of the road. Fun Fact: she said learning where the left side of you car is was the most difficult because sitting on the right throws off your depth perception of the car....I did not think of that. As we parted ways at the gate, I thanked her for her suggestions and reassurance that I wasn't going to totally mess up driving overseas. I went to board the plane and guess who my seat mate was? You guessed it, the same redheaded lady; which I was stoked about because I was worried I'd get the 500+ lbs. smelly dude next to me. No one sat in the middle seat between us and we rejoiced and divided up our new found space. Cut to 15 hours later, 3 movies, and 2 meals, I made it to Sydney. As I turned to head toward the international gates, I bid my new American friend goodbye...never did get her name, whoops! Then the boarding pass fiasco began. We had to go through security again which resulted in me chugging 2 full water bottles and then get randomly spot checked and patted down for bombs...because apparently my Midwest is Best and red pants screamed LOOK AT ME, I'M TOTALLY SHADY. -___- Once through security I had to go to the international transfer desk, 3 times. The first time the woman said we were fine to go straight to our gate. Got up to the gate and said no, you need to have your passports checked in, go back. Throughout all of this I had befriended 2 couples from Denver getting the same runaround as me. They were headed to the South Island for a bike trip, and were pretty funny about the whole situation. Once I got to the desk, the woman informed me that since my flight out of New Zealand was on a different airline and a one way ticket, I needed to prove that I was actually going to leave New Zealand. Cue heading back up stairs to use the free wifi and pull up my Qantas tickets to show I wasn't smuggling myself into New Zealand. Headed back down and got it all settled. Once everything was good, I grabbed a coffee and pastry because the airplane food was TERRIBLE. I mean, highly suspect, now I know to bring my own food. As I peopled watched, I spotted a store with some boomerrangs and diggeridoos which made me think of Amy and I chuckled. They did have some smaller ones, but I don't know if they'll fit. While waiting at my gate for the final leg of my trip, a woman next to me with an iPhone asked how I had connected to the internet as she was having trouble. Honestly pure luck, I told her as it works when it wants. Turns out she and her husband were returning home...to St. Louis, so we chatted about our midwestern roots while we waited for the plane to board. They had done a very similar trip to mine and had given me a few pointers about places to see, where you can actually hold a koala (Cairns, but not Melbourne) and that people just don't tip. Shortly after this conversation happened, our plane began boarding, and on that note, it's time to sign off and get on my final flight today! I cannot wait to get to my hotel so I can take a much needed shower, I look and feel quite ratchet.
Edit: made it to New Zealand, and first thing I saw leaving the airport was a kiwi fruit sitting on the bench...go figure!
#AnnasAustralianAdventure
