Forty Hour Journey to Australia

Getting to Australia from the GTA is an extraordinary challenge. This third time around (following Christmas 1994/New Years 1995 & May 2004) the journey took a remarkable 40 hours. Or thereabouts. The 14 hour time difference makes calculating precisely a bit difficult. Let's see. We left the house at 5:30 am on May 15 and arrived at our destination in Canberra at 10:30 pm on May 16 (12:30 noon May 17 Australia time) which is, um, 24 + 12 + 5, actually 41 hours in total. I think. Anyway, here we go..

Erin spent the night with us so that we could drive to Pearson airport and she could use the car while we are away. That means that she or her sister will pick us up on our return. Bonus! After months of rising after 8, it was no fun getting up at 4:45 am. But showered and fed, coffee to go, we were in the car and off by 5:30 am to arrive at Terminal 1 around 6:15. We had tried to check-in on-line the previous day, but had to wait until we were within 24 hours of the leg out of Vancouver. So we tried again before leaving the house, but no go. Some crazy glitch sent a message saying we owed over $1400 for baggage. An attendant tried to assist us at a check-in kiosk to no avail. She sent us around to a desk agent and bingo - our bags were checked through to Sydney and we had our boarding passes. We were through security in no time and found ourselves at the gate more than two hours before our 9:00 am departure.

The flight to Vancouver went smoothly. I love the Classic Film choice and watched The King and I for part of the time. I also made inroads on the first of three e-books that Meghan gave me for Christmas, namely Young Miles, part of the Vorkosigan saga. When we landed at Vancouver we took the Skytrain to the Olympic Village station where we met our friend, David. We went to Grenville Island for a delicious lunch at a waterside pub. It was wonderful to see David who had his sixth and final chemotherapy treatment a couple of days later. He may have lost his hair but not his glorious smile nor his indomitable spirit. What a lovely time we had. After lunch, we went for a walk through the market, shops and galleries.






We wandered down to a pond where we sat on a bench and chatted while we watched a pair of mallards with three ducklings and some geese and goslings. There were also a number of turtles sunning themselves on the rocks.

Later on we drove over to False Creek and sat on a bench by English Bay, talking for hours. We stopped at a Timmy's for tea before David drove us back to the airport. As a wonderful post-script, we learned a few days later that the cancer treatment has been successful.

By the time the plane for Australia left the gate it was almost midnight in Vancouver. By the time they had us settled in, safety trained and fed, we had been awake for about 24 hours. Lesson learned - taking a night flight to Australia is a very good idea. We slept oblivious to the discomforts of economy seating. Another lesson - instead of sitting side by side, we sat across the aisle from one another so that both of us could easily get up and walk around or go to the washroom without disturbing anyone. Final lesson - take a sleeping pill. He slept for hours. I didn't need one and was glad to take walks to relieve my legs but am likely to need a sleeping pill on the trip back east. In between bouts of sleep, I watched Hugo (amazing even on that small screen) and A Dangerous Method. I also did a bit of transcribing of some of my Mom's words. By the time we landed in Sydney at 8:15 am, we had had enough sleep and were reasonably well-fed.

At Sydney airport, we had to claim our bags and go through customs and immigration. I suddenly realized that the walking stick I brought along may not make it into the country - it is carved wood. Low and behold, they said, "It looks like you have had that for awhile." "For year's," I said, "like fifteen or so." Whew! We were waved on through. Since we had more than an hour to wait, we went for coffee and, of all things, Krispy Kreme donuts.

The only delay we ran into on the entire trip was aboard the hour-long flight from Sydney to Canberra. That plane sat on the tarmac for a good half hour before taking off. Up and down again and at long last we had arrived. Brother and Sister met us as we stepped off the escalator to the baggage claim. Hugs and kisses all around, lunch at K's on the way - delicious soup, breads, cheeses and apple slices - and there we were. Our home away from home.