australia begins

i'm not sure how i thought that drinking tequila instead of packing was such a good idea.  i snoozed my alarm 3 times before i realized that i had a plane to catch.  luckily packing is as easy as stuffing everything i own into my giant backpack and done.

as i sat waiting on oahu for my connecting flight to brisbane i realized all of the things that i spent the past 3 weeks not doing.  i have no real plan for any of the places i am going.  find a place to sleep in a place that seems cool is about what i accomplished.  my travel guide never showed up but did i ever look through the online versions?  not so much.

i never sewed the button back on the one pair of pants that i have.

i found an entire pocket in my backpack of stuff i smuggled back from cuba.  so now i have to worry about that when i fly home again?

pretty minor, yes, but annoying.

the flight was pretty nice.  the plane was maybe half full so everyone had at least a couple seats to sleep in.  food and drinks were nonstop, and the only disappointment were the movies.  taxi and the watch.  forget to download more movies on my computer, too.

australia has the most involved quarantine of anywhere i've been so far.  after we landed we had to sit in our seats while people sprayed the overhead luggage compartments and disinfected the plane itself (or that's what it sounded like outside).  then the longest immigration line i've been in since its a holiday and there were only 3 people working.  the guy stamped my passport right across france, belize and honduras.  like i don't have 10 blank pages, thanks.

i'm staying at an apartment outside the city and its almost like i'm in portland.  cute tree lined streets with sidewalks and cars parked on the side of the road.  flowers blooming and cute corner stores.  i almost got mashed walking to the store, jet lag and driving on the wrong side of the road don't mix.

one thing i was curious about was whether a toilet will actually flush opposite of home.  first thing i did was try.  maybe its modern plumbing but the water just all went straight down, faintly disappointing.  perhaps its an urban myth.

i still can't get my head around what day it is, i left christmas morning and now its the evening of the day after.  maybe it'll make more sense tomorrow after i get some sleep.