Travel with MC to Australia - WebLog

[Joefnh]

Thanks Gloria, I am really working on not letting myself get stressed out. Just letting the trip unfold as it will. I have done my best to plan and prepare, the rest is fate


--Joe

[Joefnh]

Well after a 24 hour pause, this journey is about to resume. The next leg will be from LA to Sydney, and then Sydney to Brisbane where I can finally catch up with my vacationing luggage...

During my pause here in LA I did rent a car and was able to have lunch with a friend and re-stock some of my foods at a local health food store.

Thanks again to all for your kind notes and helpful suggestions.

Talk to you again in Brisbane

--Joe

[Linda in BC]

Alright , Joe... You are on your way! I hope it is a good flight with no more "hiccups". Glad to hear the pain is less than in the past.. how many hours is this flight to Sydney? I have been away on a trip into the mountains with our horses for the last three days, so missed responding to the start of your trip. Re: my trip: all I can say is... thank goodness for immodium and pepto!
Catch you later; I will be thinking of you....
Linda

[Joefnh]

Linda the trip to the mountains with the horses sounds great! I finally made it to the hotel in Brisbane. The trip from LA to Sydney is 15 hours. Although our flight needed to stop unexpectedly for fuel in Brisbane due to high fuel consumption on the trip across. So we ended up in Brisbane for 3 hours at 5:30 AM and could not get off, then to Sydney for another 2 hour wait. Finally another 1 hour flight back to Brisbane and I'm here...

All told 51 hour transit time, including the delay in LA.


I'll post more later, I need a shower and need to make some dinner. All told things went pretty well except the delays.

--Joe

[tex]

So we ended up in Brisbane for 3 hours at 5:30 AM and could not get off, then to Sydney for another 2 hour wait. Finally another 1 hour flight back to Brisbane and I'm here...

Are the airlines stupid, or what?

Glad you finally made it to camp, though. I'll bet things will go a lot more smoothly, now that you're there.

Tex

[Gabes-Apg]

JOe - hope the supplies lasted the duration.

TEx- if only it was the airlines. The situation is a consequence of international aviation laws and australian customs and security border control laws.....
i think i would rather the plane refuels than have an issue when landing in sydney......

[tex]

i think i would rather the plane refuels than have an issue when landing in sydney......

Definitely, but it would have been nice if they had just let him off in Brisbane the first time around. I assume that Brisbane is not an international, airport, though.

Tex

[Joefnh]

Hey Tex, Brisbane has both an international and domestice terminals. Unfortunately Gabes is right, it really has to de with immigration rules etc... I was booked to Sydney and thats where the immigration files were waiting. It probably turned out best anyway as my luggage was moved backed to Sydney from Brisbane as that's were the customs inspection was performed.


Overall your right Tex it does not make sense though... Just let me off the plane; there were at least 8 others in the same situation. We were all a bit anxious to actually get to Brisbane. When we did arrive, one of the more comical ones of that bunch got down and kissed the ground stating "So this is what Brisbane looks like outside of the airplane"

Gabes I got to see where you work 3 times in one day - right next to Boeing - given that you are so related to Airbus I had a chuckle at that.

Well I am having breakfast and getting ready for my talk. I will do a more thorough write up later detailing how the food worked out.

Thanks for all of the notes

--Joe

[Gabes-Apg]

Post 9-11 the rules about international flights and embarking and customs changed alot.
Customs in australia was and still is pretty strict, add to that the international aviation laws and you have those situations.

When i was departing Marignane in France, the plane was 5 minutes late loading passengers, as a consequence it then lost its take off allocation for the runway, we had to sit for 45 mins until an available spot for take off became available.
it is the 'fact of life' of airports and travel.

There was some pretty wild weather on the east coast of Australia yesterday, Brisbane had huge rainfall (the most in 24hr period in August in over 100 years) and there were some serious wild weather incidents all the way up and down the east coast. there is no way to plan or predict that when the plane is fueling when it is in the States.

Joe - shame it was public holiday and our hanger was closed up, it looks way better when the helicopters are out on the taxi way or are doing their pre flight hovers. When i was on a plane last year taking off, i got to see one of our helicopters doing its pre-flight hovers.
they should be out the day you fly out.

[Joefnh]

Your right Gabes a lot of the rules have been tightened up after 9/11 and I certainly remember the Aussies taking security quite seriously before 9/11, more so than the US. I did notice surprisingly that the Aussie immigration folks are still using the passport authentication system I designed in 1997. The software has been upgraded but the hardware is still the same (it was a system ahead of its time).

We flew into some of that storm you had earlier this week and certainly the turbulence was incredible as we approached Australia. I look forward to seeing any of your aircraft when I fly out next week, hopefully there are some outside then.

I survived the the talk today, the topic was well received. I have to say Australian universities have some of the best campuses I have ever seen, very nice grounds and facilities. The professors were great to work with today. It was certainly worth the trip.

I do owe this post a more detailed write-up but that will have to wait until after some rest.

Its interesting that my flag is showing the Netherlands. I am using my smart phone with Vodofone for internet, hooked into my laptop, it must somehow report or route through the Netherlands... Either that or I really got onto the wrong flight...LOL Harma must be nearby

Thanks again for all of the support.

--Joe

[tex]

Joe,

Glad to hear that the talk went so well.

FWIW, I noticed that yesterday, your avatar was displaying a Canadian flag when you logged on. Apparently the internet connection arrangement you're using is confusing the algorithm used by this board's software to assign a flag that correlates to the IP address of your connection.

Now you can unwind and enjoy the rest of your visit.

Tex

[harma]

interesting Joe that Dutch flag and I understand from tex yesterday you were in Canada. And we have to believe you are actually in Australia?

Amazing how that portable internet connection stuff works.

[Rosie]

Joe, it sounds like you must have used up your allotment of bad luck with all the plane delays and "incredible turbulence". Hopefully that means that the rest of your trip will be unusually pleasant......

Rosie

[Joefnh]

Well I have one appointment this morning, then its off to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary to start being a tourist

http://www.koala.net/index.php

I do hope the bad luck part is over, but I'm not going to hold me breath.

Harma do they have Koalas in the Netherlands?? Tex I noticed that when I log into Google from here it maps me to goole.nl and when I look at the screen on the Blackberry phone it states

Vodofone AU / Vodofone NL

With the jet lag, seeing a Canadian then NL flag seems about right

Thanks for all the responses

--Joe

[Linda in BC]

Joe, so glad you made it through the lengthy trip and hope it was not too much of an ordeal. Good thing that you bought along "too much" food!
Our trip in the mountains was beautiful despite the fact that it rained for over half the time. We just holed up and got some much needed R & R and reading in while it rained. The sun came out each afternoon long enough to go for a good ride and we managed to do the reconnaissance that we went there to do for my DH's fall hunting trip ( sheep and mountain goat.) For any animals lovers, please know that it is highly unlikely that they will get anything! These animals literally live at the tops of the mountains and to hunt them requires going to them, and they have a lot of time to see them coming and run off! A hunter has to be very lucky, very tough and very persisitant to get one.

I so hope you really enjoy the rest of your trip, Joe. You can tell us al about the food when you get back and you have more time...
Linda