Australian Open 2008 - Day 19

Day 19 is travel day.  That means I will get up, catch a cab to the airport, then spend a good portion of the next 26 or 27 total clock hours in an airport waiting on a plane or in a plane.  There's no easy way to prep for it, and I hate to fly enough as it is.

I called Colleen to surprise her.  I found out that I was going to have to carry our phone back to the US anyway, so I had cell access the entire time until I left the country.

Waiting in the airport for Business Class International is always good.  Free food to nibble.  Free wireless.  I chose to try to work on blog postings, but in the end just tried to catch up on the 1000 email messages I had.  Besides, I was a bit nervous about the flight.  Colleen suggested I have a drink, so I chose a beer to help settle my nerves.  It seemed to work reasonably well.

Getting onto the plane, the line in front of us was tied up by a rock band, Airbourne.  They were trying to load up all their music gear as well as luggage and sleeping bags, etc. for an extended US tour of some sort.  They'll be here in Raleigh in a couple of weeks, I may just have to try to see the show.  I thought it was interesting to watch them try to pull it all together.  They definitely did not appear to be rock stars even though they looked the part.

For some odd reason, I don't sleep well on the flight home.  I think I had a one hour catnap, but I know it wasn't much longer than that and I definitely felt very odd once we arrived in LAX.  It is now 4 hours before I took off and the time shift is surreal.  I did take advantage of the shower in the Business Class lounge again, though, which was very nice.  It did help shake off some of the odd feeling, but of course I know better that I'll take a couple of days to catch up.

I called Colleen from LAX.  It was nice to be able to use my phone again and to feel more connected.  It meant I was closer to home than not.

Got home around 10PM Eastern.  That means it was 2PM on Wednesday in Australia, and it was now 29 hours from when I had started the trip leaving for the airport in Melbourne.  I was exhausted, but still fairly tightly strung.  I needed a little bit of time to unwind before I collapsed.  I took the opportunity to try out Guitar Hero III, which Colleen had purchased while I was gone.  Too much fun, though I am a lousy virtual guitarist as well. ;-)

Once I discovered I was unable to adequately negotiate the buttons on the universal remote, I knew it was time to wander off to bed.  My own bed, with my own pillows and Colleen in the same room.  I only wish it was the weekend, or that she had some time off as we'll really not be able to spend a ton of time together until this weekend.

Still, another safe and relatively sane trip to a venue and a foreign country.  Next stop, the babymoon in Mexico!

Cheers!