August 1, 2010 - Somewhere out there....

The current time is 10:30 AM, August 1, 2010 San Francisco time (4:30 AM, August 2, 2010, Sydney time). We are flying at 38,000 feet, 505 mph, and are still out from Sydney by 2 hours and 7 minutes with 970 odd miles to go. We are somewhere over the Pacific slightly north of Brisbane, 6715 miles out of SF. I do not know when we passed the International date line, but I suspect I saw all of about 5-8 hours of August 1^st. They used to throw overboard into the Pacific those who were crossing the equator for the first time. I am glad they no longer do that.

Barbara and Alyssa saw me off at SF security at 8:45 PM. Saying 'Goodbye" for an uncertain time into the future to those one cares most about, has to be one of the hardest things to do. I cried.

The CountryLink leaves Sydney at 12:30 and arrives at the Canberra train station at 4:30. They say I should see kangaroo along the way.

The flight is nominally 14 hours, counting tarmac time, an ungodly amount of time to sit still in a close cabin with 360 some other people, whom you hope will be nice people. But this flight has gone quite smoothly; very little turbulence, quiet engines, dark cabin (it is night time). Turbulence is expected below 10,000 feet on the way to landing. It is, after all, winter in the Southern Hemisphere. The inconveniences stem from little room to stretch in economy class and from the always-on TVs overhead, flashing dark, then bright, as the scenes change.

I bought into the extra 5 inches for 50 bucks and the investment was well worth it. I look at the other seats and see cramped quarters; seats reclining into people's laps. As it was, I slept for a good 8 hours, and didn't notice the passage of time. Mentally the rest seemed like snatched power rests more than deep sleep, but I felt like only a few hours had passed. I awoke amazed at the real passage of time.

Now at 5:30 AM, I know I will need early bed tonight, or some short power rests on the train ride down to Canberra.