Well, I'm back in Brisbane after a gruelling, marathon-ish trip from London which lasted almost 31 hours. Some things I might mention, in no particular order:
* I may be the first Bridgeman to have circumnavigated the globe (not just going to the other side of the world and back, I mean actually going AROUND the world, Magellan style). In April I went from Brisbane to Tokyo to London. Earlier this week I went from London to Los Angeles to Auckland to Brisbane. The world seems like a very small place now!
* I spent 2 hours in LA, and I didn't get shot. Granted, I stayed in the airport, but still...
* Saw a security guard at Heathrow with a huge muthatrucka of a gun. Quite intimidating.
* From LA to Auckland I had 3 seats to myself, which meant I could lay down and get some sleep. Unfortunately, whenever I decided to try and sleep the plane would experience turbulence... lots of turbulence. I got about 1 hour of sleep. I was hoping "A Beautiful Mind" would put me to sleep for the full 12 hours, but it was the third movie shown, so it wasn't really worth it. God, I hate that movie.
* Bought a large fries and large Coke at Burger King in LA International Airport (where the big jet engines rooooaaaaar) and it cost me about $US4.50. That's about $8 in real money. How do these companies sleep at night?? In beds covered in $100 bills, probably.
* Flying to LA, I had the theme tune to the classic 90s sitcom "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" in my head ("So I rolled up to the house 'round 7 or 8 an' I said to the cabbie, 'Yo homes, smell ya later!'..." that line was repeating over and over).
I've wondered if this trip can be deemed a failure, and then I had a wee think about it. I've travelled all around the world. I flew over Greenland, which I never thought I'd do (lots of snow and ice and mountains, if you're wondering). I flew over mountains, deserts, oceans, icebergs, forests and cities in a matter of hours. If doing stuff like that constitutes a failed trip, then I'll take ten!
* I may be the first Bridgeman to have circumnavigated the globe (not just going to the other side of the world and back, I mean actually going AROUND the world, Magellan style). In April I went from Brisbane to Tokyo to London. Earlier this week I went from London to Los Angeles to Auckland to Brisbane. The world seems like a very small place now!
* I spent 2 hours in LA, and I didn't get shot. Granted, I stayed in the airport, but still...
* Saw a security guard at Heathrow with a huge muthatrucka of a gun. Quite intimidating.
* From LA to Auckland I had 3 seats to myself, which meant I could lay down and get some sleep. Unfortunately, whenever I decided to try and sleep the plane would experience turbulence... lots of turbulence. I got about 1 hour of sleep. I was hoping "A Beautiful Mind" would put me to sleep for the full 12 hours, but it was the third movie shown, so it wasn't really worth it. God, I hate that movie.
* Bought a large fries and large Coke at Burger King in LA International Airport (where the big jet engines rooooaaaaar) and it cost me about $US4.50. That's about $8 in real money. How do these companies sleep at night?? In beds covered in $100 bills, probably.
* Flying to LA, I had the theme tune to the classic 90s sitcom "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" in my head ("So I rolled up to the house 'round 7 or 8 an' I said to the cabbie, 'Yo homes, smell ya later!'..." that line was repeating over and over).
I've wondered if this trip can be deemed a failure, and then I had a wee think about it. I've travelled all around the world. I flew over Greenland, which I never thought I'd do (lots of snow and ice and mountains, if you're wondering). I flew over mountains, deserts, oceans, icebergs, forests and cities in a matter of hours. If doing stuff like that constitutes a failed trip, then I'll take ten!
