The first plane trip
My great year of adventures began with a long, two-legged flight from Sydney to Mexico City, via Los Angeles. Farewells at Sydney Airport were said, with many 'a-tear shed, and then I was off.
Liam and Sam at the airport to see me off.
The Qantas flight from Sydney to LA went very smoothly:
Flight time: 12.5 hours.
Date line weirdness: left on Mon afternoon, arrived Mon morning.
Slept: yes — about 2 hours.
People that I met:
- Elderly Jewish couple returning home to Denver, Colorado.
- Aussie businessmen.
- American backpacker dude coming home.
Food: great — more than I could eat!
Movies that I watched:
- The Last King of Scotland (4 out of 5 stars).
- Jindabyne (2.5 out of 5 stars).
Also, by the way, security at Sydney Airport has increased big-time since my last overseas trip (3 years ago). The world's airports are in the grip of liquid-gel-gas-o-phobia. For some reason, when I got to LAX, they made me take my shoes off, and put them through the x-ray machine.
LA Airport was uneventful: the place is a hole. Glad I didn't bother to hang around.
The United flight from LA to Mexico City was more spartan:
Flight time: 3.5 hours.
Slept: no.
People that I met:
- 2 American businessmen.
- Mexican family with 2 kids.
Food: peanuts (yes, literally).
When the plane landed in Mexico City, airport, it didn't take long for the Mexican adventure ride to begin. We landed in the most remote corner of the whole airport, and then had to wait 10 minutes for a bus to come and pick us up.