The man seated next to me on my first flight was a grossly overweight, middle aged slob. Besides encroaching on half my seat space, he alternated between humming loudly and picking his nose and flicking the boogers onto the floor. The other flights were otherwise fine and in my last leg I got chatting to a friendly and well traversed up and coming Australian filmmaker returning from Tokyo. It was a good distraction and consolation from the gruelling 32hours of travel.
***
Back at Brisbane airport now. The guy at customs called me darlin’. There is something about the Australian demeanor (and I think it’s partly the lazy drawn accent) that instantly disarms and renders you helpless to the charms of this country. Two people have already approached me for customer feedback and been disappointed when I answer in Aussie. They apparently need to fill their Asian resident quota and I’m just not good enough for them.
