G'Day America
|
G'Day America |
|
We left Australia at 12:20pm and arrived in Cleveland at 1pm Australian time the next day or 9pm Cleveland time. The trip here was smooth sailing with the longest part enjoyed by watching "Inspector Gadget: the movie". We also had "Micky Blue Eyes" which was a poor movie and an arty movie "Dog of Flanders" which I didn't even listen to but sort of watched. Also was a Mr. Bean Christmas and a season 5 episode of FRIENDS. Apart from trying to get some sleep which was impossible in that cramped economy class. But all was worth it when we were just of the coast of LA as the sun rose with the pinkest of skies that was just awesome to watch. I only wish I had video taped it now instead of trying not to throw up as we were finally descending. Shall remain a memory of the 16 hrs of flying time to LA, where upon arrival we stood in customs line for 1 1/2 hours. The people who claim to be the most efficient only had 3 people working at 7:30am, how stupid is that when 7 international flights arrive at the same time.
Now we had a few hours to wander aimlessly around LAX terminals to find the American Airlines terminal which was next door and finally get some real food into me, since I never eat plane food, yuk! Butter's however got my meal, his own and half of the guy sitting beside us as well so he wasn't that hungry. Word of warning to those who travel, airport food is expensive and non various. 1 shop only and $8.99 for a Pepsi 600ml and a deli sandwich.
We boarded our next plane bound for DFW which took 2 1/2hours to get to. Thankfully I managed at last to sleep on the plane and sleep I did, once in the air straight out like a light and slept all the way till landing. DFW was busy as, and we had 30mins to change terminal and locate our last flight. Changing terminals was done on an automatic train which ran on tracks similar to that you would find in Adelaide. Around now I was really hanging out to finally meet my relatives now, wondering what they would look like, be like, how will they react to myself and Butters? After again sleeping on the plane which the flight was another 2 1/2hours long, that made a total of 27 hours in transit. Coming into Cleveland as falling through the cloud cover we began guessing whether it was raining or snowing. As we got closer to the ground we decided either everything was concrete or it was snow falling. Great introduction to the trip, go from blue skies in LA and Dallas to a white powered city in Cleveland. We got off the plane with my camera in hand but not turned on and right at the gate was the R-C's waiting for us. Emma, Mark and Andrew (the father) smiling a warm welcome into a 22F or -6C environment. Our trek of around 17,000km, was finally over, it felt great to be on solid ground.
We drove across town to reach our house for the next few days and really began to get to know the relatives well. Meeting James the final of the children members of the family. After my camera got acquainted with the house and it's occupants which wasn't that bad I guess considering it was my first attempt at camera use with that camera. We said good-night to the Andrew (the father) and progressed to Emma's computer to give her music, send an arrival mail to each of our parents and hand out my first of presents to Emma and her family.... TIM TAMS! After chatting for a while as I was wide awake since back home in Australia I should have been. We let Emma and James get some sleep at around 2am since they looked tired but happy we had finally arrived.
Our trip has begun!
