YOU CAN CHECK OUT ANY TIME YOU LIKE

There are many ways in which you can be made to feel tiny, powerless, frustrated, anxious, guilty, and utterly alone and homesick.

My flight was due to leave at 9:45am from LA and arrive in Vancouver at about 12:40. My aim was to check in at 7:45am, so the night before I packed everything neatly into my bags, and made sure everything was in order – passport, e-ticket, address in Vancouver, departure form for the USA, toiletries in a clear plastic bag, sharp stuff in check-in luggage, etc. We went to bed early, but I woke up in the middle of the night and stayed awake for at least an hour. I woke up again just before 6am and turned off the alarm (set for 6:30) before it had a chance to go off. Showered, dressed, ate a bagel. Said goodbye to the hospitable Rohan at about 6:50, and schlepped my bags over to the corner of Rose and Lincoln to catch the bus. The walk took me longer than expected – probably about 25 minutes. I caught the bus at 7:20-ish, and all ran smoothly. Talked a bit to a guy who lives in LA but grew up in Montreal, and was nice in that friendly American way. Hopped off at the LAX shuttle bus, and had the following amusing exchange:

“Hi. Excuse me, does this shuttle go to Terminal 7?”
“Oh no, it goes to New Jersey.”
“. . .”
“It goes first to New Jersey, and then to Terminal 7.”
“. . . Ha! Stop shitting me!”
“Oh, I ain’t shitting you. . . Naw, it goes to all the terminals.”

Got off at Terminal 7 at about 8:10am, to find that it only services United Airlines. My ticket was for Air Canada. Asked one of the few customer service people, and he confirmed that it was Air Canada operated by United, and I could do self check-in with an Australian passport. Got to self check-in, and tried to do so. Couldn’t. Talked to another person on the phone next to the check-in bit, and eventually got a confirmation number from her (it was so loud in the airport I could barely hear myself think, let alone understand someone talking 60 miles an hour on the phone), did all the check-in business, and a guy came over to put my bags through. At which point he looked at my Australian passport with its visa waiver thingy and told me I had to wait for someone higher up on the chain. Waited. Waited. Felt a headache coming on. About 15 minutes later someone came, took a look at my passport, pressed something like 4 keys on the computer and sent me on my way.

At about 8:40, already frustrated at the stupid “Easy check-in” system of ineptitude, I made my way to security. First up someone examined my passport with all manner of little torches – presumably to detect forgery – and asked me how old I was. When I said 26 (which, you know, I am, as it says on my passport) she exclaimed how young I looked “with yo’ baby face!” She was nice, though (and rather amusingly said, “Atta boy”, when I handed her my passport), so I was happy again. Until I got to the scanning section, where I had to take off pretty much all my clothes (OK, shoes, socks, belt, keys, coins, jacket or jumper) and put things in separate trays. So caught up was I with making sure I was OK to get through, I forgot to take my laptop out of my bag. It got put through again after took the laptop out, asked about the camera, put it back on the conveyor belt. Walked through the metal detector and was asked to once again produce my passport and boarding information. Oh, the dreaded words. “I’ll just ask you to step aside here, sir. You’ve been selected by the airline for further security screening.” I waited in the little pen, surrounded by ropes, until yet another security officer took my bag and shoes and other trays of bits and pieces, and asked for my passport and boarding info. Off to the side I went, where I got the pat down from the guy (I wonder if they do like Australian airports tend to do and use female security to pat down women passengers? I did notice that through my entire time at the airport I got ‘Sir’ three or four times, ‘boy’ and ‘Ma’am’ only once). He then proceeded to swab my computer, shoes, and every pocket of my bag, and threw out the bottle of water I had completely forgotten about. The swabs went into a little machine thing, which told me that no traces of explosives were found on any of my things. I was quite happy about that. Once the last one was done, he handed me my belt, said, “Pack your stuff up”, and wandered away, so I was left in the middle of the security section of LAX with my stuff all over the table putting on my shoes and feeling more alone than I have for ages. If I could have wished for one thing right then it would have been for a friend (preferably Dan) to be waiting for me to give me a hug at the other side.

No such luck. Instead I found myself walking several miles to my departure gate and wondering how the hell I was going to be able to get through all this shit when I flew in from Toronto with only an hour and a half between that flight and the flight out to Auckland/Melbourne. After the disgusting coffee the day before I went for a café latte at Starbucks, which was acceptable after I added 2 sugars and a good few shakes of chocolate and cinnamon. I sat down to relax in the departure lounge for the last 10 minuted before boarding, but immediately got paged to come to the desk. Once there I was required once again to produce my passport and boarding info, was asked if I was coming back through the USA within thirty days, got my visa waiver info reattached to my passport, and then removed, watched the three customer service people try to assign me a seat on two different computers, and started stressing again that I was not ever going to be able to leave the hellhole that is LAX.

Seriously, it’s enough to make me paranoid about travelling as a transperson.

But I did. I made it. I’m now on the (overheated) plane to Vancouver with a huge group of middle-aged American couples who are all heading to the same thing in Canada (no idea what). The current temperature in Vancouver is allegedly 8 degrees. Given that I’ve spent the last 4 days sun(burn)ning myself in temperatures between about 25 and 32 degrees, I am not looking forward to the cold. Out the dirty window I can just see the west coast of the USA scribbling its way into the ocean, pressing against lines of hills, looking sleepy and yellow-dry under the haze.


Me on the plane today

I’m looking forward to seeing friends, and I am really excited about the conference, but at the moment I am tired and feel like crying and I want nothing more than to crawl into my own bed with my own Dan and sleep for a year.

ETA: HOLY FUCK! A MOUNTAIN! Um, sorry. It’s just huge and has snow all over it. I wonder what mountain it is. Wow.

ETA2: Oh, and they also cut the lock off my checked through luggage and went through it to check out if that was explosive, too.

ETA3: VANCOUVER. IS. GORGEOUS. And not cold, but refreshingly cool. Holy moly. It’s beautiful. Stunning. Mountains with snow when you look down the street. Clichés of awesome. And our condo is, one might say, premium. Very civilised. Az scored on this one!

ETA4: I’ll try to get my photos up soon. Some are already on flickr.


Planewing at sunrise over the Pacific

TUESDAY (I'LL TELL YOU ABOUT MONDAY LATER)

Tuesday was an awesome day! Here it is in point form with a bit of elaboration.

• UCLA
Took the bus in with Rohan and checked out where he works, wandered around the campus a bit, etc. That area of town is a lot nicer to my eyes, mainly because there are trees. YES, trees. Also, so much UCLA clothing – it’s weird. Why would you wear such dorky, ugly, boring clothes?

• Squirrels
I saw some squirrels! And took bad pictures of them! They are cute, but I think English squirrels are cuter. As I was standing on the edge of the footpath taking a picture of them, this enormously tall jock boy wearing white shorts and a white singlet (oh yeah, he was . . . special) skate boarded past and yelled “Dayum toorists!” Later, when we were checking Rohan’s Mac at the campus computer store, we saw him again, and Rohan said “Dayum toorists” back at him. He was a dickhead.

• Coffee
After I left Rohan at work, I went to find me a coffee. I didn’t want to go to Starbucks, so I had the choice of Peets or the Coffee Bean, two other chains. I chose Coffee Bean, where I was treated to one of the worst cappuccinos I have ever consumed. It tasted like coffee grounds and was weak despite me getting a double shot. Also the froth was . . . kind of solid. It wasn’t pleasant, but I sat in the shade outside and planned some things to do. I didn’t really follow the plan, but that’s OK.

• Decongestant
I bought some Demazin on my doctor’s orders before I left, and it’s been good to me so far – I haven’t got an ear infection after flying, and it’s helped with (though not stopped) my ridiculously runny nose and LA inspired sneezes. I went to a pharmacy and found something similar among the aisles of pills and suchlike. I took the card up to the desk (where they keep the actual tablets for this medication), and the sales assistant there reminded me of Woody Allen – not so much in looks, but in kind of apologetically fussy, neurotic behaviour. Lucky he was so adorkable, or I would have found the hassle that followed a lot worse. First he asked for my licence. I said I was Australian, is that OK? He said yes, I gave him the licence. Something was not working on his computer, and he asked for other photo ID. I gave him my passport, but not until I asked why he needed it. Apparently, like Grace told me, “In California, this medication is controlled by the state.” I asked why, and it’s because people can make druuuuugs out of it. In went all my passport details, and he asked for a zip code. A what? A zip code. Oh! I told him my postcode at home, and he tried to enter it with no success. Even if you live in Australia your postcode has to be at least 5 digits long. He got his boss. His boss wanted ID with my home address on it. I handed back my licence. They tried again. Wouldn’t work. They suggested I get a different medication. I laughed at them, nicely. Eventually they gave up and wrote the pharmacy address as my address, and I was on my way with TEN WHOLE TABLETS containing pseudoephedrine – I am going to make a fortune.

• Cemetery
I went to look at the war cemetery with all the little white crosses, and walked half way around it, but there’s only one entrance, so in the end I just stuck my camera through the fence and took pics of the ground plaques instead. Then I headed back to look at an exhibition Rohan had mentioned at the Hammer.

• Hammer Museum
The exhibition in question was called “My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love” by Kara Walker, and WOW. IT. WAS. AMAZING. It was one of the best exhibitions I have been to for a long time – extensive, well thought out, lots of information on the walls and in the free pamphlet, and fantastic artwork. It was so good I bought the catalogue – even though it was $50, I thought hard about it and knew that I would regret *not* buying it. And since I’d offloaded the Milo I had some space and weight spare in my bag. I spent about three hours just in that exhibition, and if you ever have the chance to see it or any of her work, YOU MUST! I came out feeling nourished and thinky and political and engaged and just, wow. In fact, the cloakroom guy noticed I’d been in there for ages, and then proceeded to tell me about his life – how he’d lived in New York but had moved here twenty years ago, how the pace of life was more relaxed and he liked walking on the beach. He also recommended I go to the Getty Center [note American spelling!], and gave me very detailed instructions, pointing out the bus stop and offering to write down the number for me. I was a bit iffy, as I’d planned to go to see the Tar Pits, but I thought, “I’ll just go and see what time the bus leaves and if I can be bothered”, and when I got to the bus stop the bus was just pulling in. So on I hopped, and gawked at the big houses on the trip there (it was much greener than most of the other places I went in LA).

• Getty Center
The Getty Center itself is AMAZING. It sits at the top of a hill, an imposing piece of architecture that reflects the sun’s glare from every stone. You take the free tram up the hill, getting a sneak preview of the views of LA afforded from the top, as well as being able to see both ways along the San Diego Freeway, with its eight lanes of traffic speeding along. The centre is bright (too bright on a sunny day without sunnies) and big and bold and enjoyable to walk around. If you go, take the free 1 hour architecture tour (I didn’t really have time) – I bet it’d be worthwhile. With such a view (on a clear day I imagine it would be truly amazing), and such awesomely huge architecture, I am not at all surprised that I found the collection itself a bit underwhelming. There’s a room of drawings, a few of artefacts, quite a lot of paintings (in comparison to the rest) and a couple of rooms of photography. I missed the video section, and I’m spitting chips because there was a Harry Dodge/Stanya Kahn thing there. I guess it’s to be expected that such a new gallery wouldn’t have a very impressive collection, but the information beside every artwork was so keen to point out how important it was and how it enhanced the collection that I couldn’t help but notice how little there actually was on display. The one section I really wanted to go to – the manuscripts – was closed, and the Medieval and Renaissance tour was going to focus only on the Renaissance (which, frankly, I know quite enough about already), so I handed back my earpiece and went and ate an overpriced sandwich, looking out over the city. I really missed Dan – or even having a friend around – then. It would be such a nice place to sit on the lawn and have a bit of a picnic.

• Rohan, Michael, guitars, dinner
I bused back to meet Rohan, and we went to meet a friend of a friend – Michael of Fretboard Journal – at Westwood Music. Oh my lord, the guitars. I was drooling. We went out for dinner at Jax Vegan Café, where I had delicious BBQ “Chicken” with ranch dressing. NOM NOM NOM. Michael drove us home, I packed my bags, and we hit the sack – both tired out after a long and fabulous (at least for me!) day.


But first we took the opportunity to mug for the camera.

LA LA LAND: 2

Imagine if you can, Melbournians (or Melburnians, as it were), what Ringwood would be like if all the roads were forced into a grid, and if the suburb stretched out to the horizon in a sea of car dealerships and lacklustre architecture. Throw in an occasional ostentatious place of worship that somewhat resembles a toilet block, and there you have the vast part of LA. It is big, and grey, and concrete.

There are, however, some places that, if not hugely different, are at least less the same as other parts. Venice Beach is pumping in a touristy way on weekends (unless you’re up and walking at 8:30am, as we were, on a mission to find and photograph a large wall-painting of topless Jim Morrison), but two blocks in you’ve hit a suburb which is not dissimilar to, say, Merimbula. Rohan has compared the area to a cross between St Kilda and a seaside town such as Port Campbell. I think these descriptions are fairly compatible. [ETA: On my walk up the beach this morning, I felt almost at home - the sea doesn't actually smell like sea, which is odd, but it was warm and HUMID (so humid here) and relaxing.] The canals and canal-side houses are quite lovely in Venice, and I can understand why the rich people who also have taste/a brain would choose to live there rather than Hollywood.

Speaking of Hollywood, we hiked up the hill at Runyan Canyon today. In fact, we hiked almost everywhere today, walking somewhere upwards of 15km. But Runyan Canyon was one of the highlights, despite my whining – “I forgot sunscreen, I’m thirsty, can we walk slower, I’m jetlagged, it’s so hot, this is so steep, I’m going to die here, I’m scared of heights”, and from the top of the hill we got some shots of the Hollywood sign, and saw Uber-Ringwood in its full haze of glory. We also did the walk of fame, and I took photos of the following footpath stars. I do not see any logic or order to this list.

Judge Judy Sheindlin
David Bowie
Nicolas Cage
Liberace
John Howard
Johnny Cash

I also had a proper coffee this morning, for the first time since leaving Australia (the aeroplane coffee looked fairly dodgy, and Az confirmed this). I found an Australian to make my soy flat white for me (one of Rohan’s friends). [ETA: Went there again this morning, I'll post pics eventually.] I felt so much better afterwards, apart from that bit where I tried to pay with a $1 note – all the notes looks the same! The coffee love was somewhat diminished when I later had an iced coffee at Borders (embrace chain stores and the native way of life, I say), which was dishwater coffee and, er, ice cubes. But I certainly got enough caffeine at the diner where we met the AWESOME queergeektheorist herself and consumed burgers and fries and BOTTOMLESS GLASSES OF CHERRY COKE OMG I CANNOT SIT STILL HOURS LATER.

Speeking of speed, many Americans seem to speak quickly (I now understand how people might think Australians talk slowly), and most residents of the city like to complain loudly to their mobile phones and dogwalking partners about gridlocked traffic and he said/she said affairs. I just wonder why they don’t move to Ringwood, really. At least they have supermarkets in Ringwood. Admittedly, one thing Ringwood doesn’t have to my knowledge is THREE people dressed as Cpt Jack Sparrow along the street for you to have your photo taken with. Wow, that sentence kind of sucked.

The long and the short of the day is – big, sore feet, good views, excellent company, tired now. Rohan has gone to his beau’s place for the night, which is AOK by me, because I can sleep across the whole bed and not worry about snoring (I think I am allergic to L.A., and if my nose had run any more today it would be back in Australia by now). However, it’s the first time I’ve been by myself since I’ve left, so now the missing of people is really starting to sink in. I have found a few tacky postcards to send (though not as many as I expected), and I’ve written a couple, but it’s no substitute for having a chat or reading all your blogs or something. It’s been hectic – too hectic to do internetty things. Hopefully I will be able to take this on a USB to an internet café (maybe the good coffee place?!) and post it then. Photos can wait for another time.


Me after a long day in the sun with a runny nose!

Despite predictions, I'm kind of liking L.A. Possibly because unlike every other city I've ever visited, every second person isn't a bloody Australian!

AUCKLAND AND LA: 1

Sitting in Auckland airport, have 2 hours before we leave, 1 hour to check in. Flight from Melbourne arrived slightly earlier, so we have longer to wait. We’ve found a business desk in the terminal where you can use wireless . . . FOR MONEY. But I’m too stingy for that.


Az and me.

Instead I can tell you about the clouds that looked like flocks of sheep, the wing bouncing in the mild turbulence on the way into Auckland, the flight attendant who busied himself getting me a vegetarian meal because (surprise, sur-frikking-prise) they didn’t have one for me. Apparently Air New Zealand only do meaty and vegan meals from Melbs to Auckland, and if you’re not vegan you supposedly must eat meat. Bizarre. Have checked to make sure I’ll get vegetarian meals on the way to LAX. I plan to sleep a lot on this next flight.

I was dropped off at the airport by Saj and Es, and got lots of hugs from them and Dan before going through the chompy gates of doom. Met Az at the airport and also got to meet his brother and mum, yay! Have not yet been harassed for gender variance, but have been misread all over the place. The man at check-in had to “go and check something with the passports”, the boarding staff checked my pass and called me “Jonathan” when most other people were “Sir” and “Ma’am”, and the meal-hunting flight attendant (who produced a very nice meal in the end) called me “Miss Williams”. I’ve decided to use the men’s toilets for this whole trip – just suck it up and get used to it.

I watched “The Golden Compass” during the flight. Wow, it’s packed with awesome actors, isn’t it? It was quite fun, but obviously not as rich as the book, and I still feel like there’s something missing, something that makes it all a little . . . flat. I found with the books, too, that they felt a bit “and then, and then, and then” – that is to say, saga-iffic. I suppose, though, that it’s not a whole story, so you have to take it in the context of the trilogy. Of which I’ve only read 2, because the death of my favourite character just made me stop caring. *Sigh*

OK, enough rambling. I’ll write more from LA and post it when I arrive. Ciao.


lights below the clouds
swimming ghostly in the night
I see atlantis

slow, a rim of light
dawn slips across the planewing
we sink through our dreams



Rohan and me

Arrived safe and sound. Was picked up by Rohan, Trav and Tasha, and waved goodbye to Az at LA. The 12 hours from Auckland to LA could have been worse – they could have been slightly better with more sleep, too. Strangely, I’m not feeling too jetlagged, just very tired as I might be on any night if I only got 5 hours sleep.

As soon as I arrived at Rohan’s I felt I was really in America – Venice beach was in full weekend mode, with the footpath market pulsing. Mats gridded with handpainted, bejewelled skulls, a different band every twenty metres, photos, paintings, beggars, people on bikes (all with enormous curved handlebars – seems to be the thing over here). Rohan pointed out the landmarks – the place Romy and Michelle live in High School Reunion, the basketball courts, the outdoor gym where one might linger to admire/gape unbelievingly at the enormously muscled, sweaty and oiled men. The fake boobs. I had strawberry lemonade (lemons, sugar, real strawberries), then we went to the drug store (actually called a pharmacy) and got A GALLON of milk and some bagels and BUTTER IN STICKS. AHAHAHA!

Then I had a powernap and we caught the bus to Rohan’s beau’s house in and played boardgames and drank wine and OMG RAW BROCCOLI WITH RANCH DRESSING! And now I’m nicking their wireless and eating VEGETARIAN HOT DOG WITH TOMATO SAUCE AND MUSTARD. YUM! And Rohan made bean curry!

I can’t wait to go to sleep.

I hope you're all well.

FIVE DAYS

i leave for canada in 5 days. ok, well, technically for l.a. via auckland, but then to canada.

i have yet to redraft my paper, but i *will* get it done!

i have written a large list of things to pack, and am trying to cut back on things. how did i manage 5 months out of a backpack in 2005? ok, i do know how. i didn't really need 'nice' clothes, and i didn't take my hiking boots. i also didn't bring bulky gifts (tins of milo for homesick friends, etc). i'll have to do a test pack today or tomorrow to see how it'll all go.

to make matters worse, IT SNOWED IN VANCOUVER just recently, so i am thinking i might have to take my extra warm winter coat. but since it is warmer than melbourne in l.a. i am also going to have to pack warm-weather gear. argh!

*worries*

it's going to be exciting, but i am going to miss dan lots.

MARCH (NOT APRIL!) WALK

in mid march, dan, sajee and myself walked along the yarra from heidelberg to templestowe and back. all up it was about 12km. we were once again hit with the curse of the uk08 preparation walks in terms of weather. it was a scorcher. we started at 9am, walked to the manor for lunch, and by the time we had walked back down the hill to the river it was in the high 30s. *sweats* but we made it back, and felt quite pleased with ourselves.



there are a few pictures here, where you can see how enamoured we were with one particular playground! we'll probably do the walk again with es later in the year, and will start a little further down the river and do the whole 17km as outlined in our guidebook (where it's a medium difficulty walk - it's mostly flat, only one big hill up to the manor, and a few bits of incline/decline but it's upgraded to medium for length).

PASS THE PORT, COLLECT $266

finally got my passport. *sighs of relief*

MINI UPDATE

Oh, poor neglected blog!

We both have yearly travel insurance now - it was the cheapest one to get, and it also covers us for any little side trips we might have. And it covers my laptop! Yay!

Still having shennanigans trying to get a new passport. I realise it's just pure bureaucratic incompetence, but because some of it is WRT the name change, I am getting quite rage-ful with the powers that be. Shit, I have to LEAVE in 6 weeks. They'd better have it to me by then.

On Sunday we have our next scheduled walk with Saj and Es. We were planning on an 18km one, fairly flat. However, the weather keeps conspiring against us. After a few weeks of mild-ish weather, slightly appropriate for walking, we find ourselves in the middle of summer once again. Today is forecast to be 40 degrees. Tomorrow is "only" meant to be 30. Sunday is going to be mid-30s. Erk! Maybe we'll just do a little walk - 3 hours or so.

FLIGHT CHANGE

My flight times have been changed, and Friday 16th is now:

Depart Toronto 18:30 (6:30pm), arrive LA 20:45 (8:45pm). Depart LA for Australia 22:30 (10:30pm).

This is better than hanging around LA airport for 9 hours, but it's cutting my check-in really fine. The travel agent says it will be OK, but I like to worry about these things.

LINKITY LINK

I'm updating the side bar to the right with links. Do you have any particularly good travel-related websites that you use? Let me know!

FRUSTRATION

I had travel anxiety dreams last night – trying to book accommodation has clearly addled my mind! It was one of those dreams where people’s flights were delayed, and I had to start walking without them, and then the accommodation hadn’t been booked properly and we ended up having to walk half a day, then walk back to the place we’d stayed the night before and it was ALL SO FRUSTRATING.

Partly this is due to the fact that of the three places I emailed last Sunday to enquire about accommodation for the UK walk, only one wrote back (to say they weren’t around that week). I emailed another place last Thursday as an alternative to that one, but haven’t heard back from them, either. I think that 9 days is a bit crap, don’t you? I mean, if people don’t have an email address, that’s something I can work around, but if they do have an email address, they should bloody well use it. If you don’t check it, don’t offer it as a service. Sheesh!

Luckily, Dan’s mum is a legend and has agreed to ring these places and check things with them. It’s great having a lovely UK contact to do that so we’re not spending hundreds of dollars on phone bills.

FLITINERARY

Last tickets for the Canada trip have been booked.

Depart Melbourne 26th April (12:00)
(via Auckland)
Arrive LA 26th April (12:30)
Air New Zealand

Depart LA 30th April (09:45)
Arrive Vancouver 30th April (12:40)
Air Canada

Depart Vancouver 6th May (16:30)
Arrive Toronto 6th May (23:55)
West Jet

Depart Toronto 16th May (10:45)
Arrive LA 16th May (13:05)
American Airlines

Depart LA 16th May (22:30)
(via Auckland)
Arrive Melbourne 18th May (09:30)
Air New Zealand


We’ve also booked tickets to London.

Depart Melbourne 11th September (15:50)
(via Singapore)
Arrive London 12th September (05:55)
Singapore Airlines

Depart London 9th October (11:55)
(via Singapore)
Arrive Melbourne 10th October (20:15)
Singapore Airlines


I realise this is a boring post for most people, but it’s good to have a record of all this handy! And look! I can post to this blog using my other account, now. Brill.

WE'RE GOING TO THE UK!

Yay! We have tix to the UK, leaving here Thursday 11th September (ha!) and arriving 5:55am Friday 12th. Leaving the UK on the 9th of October, arriving Melbourne on the 10th at 8:15pm. Dan also has insurance, and I’m going to sign and send my forms tomorrow. Tickets were about $2500 each including taxes. Ouch!

I also have tickets from LA to Vancouver, and Toronto to LA. Now I just have to book Vancouver to Toronto, which my lovely Flight Centre person said I could probably get cheaper on the internet (and suggested an airline).

I am getting to be so broke! But I will be broke and TRAVELLING, which is so much more exciting than being broke at home!

INSURANCE AND MAPS

Today I got quote for travel insurance. I'm just going to go through my credit union (who use Allianz) for ease and convenience and because they're generally pretty awesome. It turns out that the best insurance for me is a Frequent Traveller one, which covers me for 12 months, worldwide. They're sending a quote out to me - it's a bit under $500 and there's no excess on things. And fabulously, they pay the excess on any rental vehicle insurance (up to $3000, which is . . . more than excess generally is anyway on these things).

Anyway! WE GOT WALKING BOOKS YESTERDAY! A speedy turnaround from amazon.co.uk



. . . and then I procrastinated for over an hour mapping our route on google maps. I LOVE GOOGLE MAPS! So why not take a peek?!


View Larger Map

FLIGHTS TO LA

I have booked a return to LA - leaving at 12 midday from Melbourne on 26th April. Arriving 12:30 in the afternoon in LA . . . ON THE 26TH OF APRIL! Only takes half an hour, apparently! On the way back I leave LA on the 16th and arrive in Melbs on the 18th of May.

There will be a few days in LA before I fly to Vancouver - staying with Rohan, and meeting up with an internet friend. Yay for meeting people! I am going to be so social!

I'll keep people updated as travel plans are made and finalised. I must get my travel insurance sorted. I check with my doc yesterday and he said I didn't need any immunisations. . . though . . . rabies? Can you get shots for that? Do they have rabid bears in Canada? I think that if I would be more worried about the bear than about the rabies in that case.

OMG CANADA FLIGHTS

Why are flights to Canada SO DAMN EXPENSIVE?! The cheapest way I can do this trip is to get a return to LA, then separate flights LA to Vancouver, Vancouver to Toronto, Toronto to LA. And even then it's going to be over $3000 including taxes.

If I fly direct, it's going to be $3500+.

Sheesh. Uni better pay for some of this.

UK08 Preparation Walk 2

Last Wednesday, Sajee, Es, Dan and I headed to the Dandenongs for a walk through national park and the arboretum. There were lots of trees:



We have been doing a walk every month in preparation for our trip to the UK in September, when we are going to walk half of the Ridgeway (some of us with packs). We were pretty exhausted after 10 kms, so we obviously need the training (we’ll be walking 15 kms / 10 miles a day, approximately).



Actually, we were doing pretty well until the last 2 km, which was all uphill. And up a slope like this:



No wonder we had to help each other out:



But the view was worth it:



Pictorial evidence can be found at the other end of the rainbow. See also Essie’s pics.

LOOK AT THAT!

finally! we've got around to changing the name of the blog - only 9 months or so after i officially changed my name to jonathan. but having my old name on it was deterring me from using and updating the blog, so i thought i should fix it up.

anyway, our travel plans for 2008 are as follows:

canada: jonathan has been accepted into transsomatechnics, a conference to be held in vancouver in early may. he is planning to spend 5 days or so in vancouver, then head to toronto for a week or two to meet some friends.

uk: after the loveliness of the thames walk, we decided to do some more! our friends sajee and es are coming with us, and we're planning to walk the ridgeway north of the thames. jonathan and dan will be in the uk for about 4 weeks, and we plan to catch up with stacks of friends, and also do a bit of walking in cheshire/north wales.

walking: in the lead-up to this walk, we'll be doing some shorter walks with sajee and es around melbourne to get into the swing of things (and because we like walking!) we're planning on walking in the dandenongs, wilsons prom, and other locations.

holland: this is sneaking in, though it might not be until january 2009 that we're there, but my grandfather has offered to pay for the family to fly to holland (ameland) for a reunion-type thing! i am thrilled by this, though a little concerned about the COLDNESS!

so, let's hope you hear more from us in 2008 than you did in 2007. please let people know that the address for this blog has changed, too!

PIXPIXPIX! just uploaded pictures from the last leg of our walk along the thames - bablock hythe to oxford.





for more photos click here.

LONG TIME COMING

more pics from out thames walk are up at flickr. enjoy! hopefully dan will post some more when he gets back from his april-may 07 visit for his dad's 60th.