Category: Uncategorized

USA bound…So many flights

16/052014
USA 2014

Sitting at Melbourne airport, waiting for a flight to Sydney then on to San Francisco.

Bit of an odd arrangement where United actually fly you to Sydney, then you re-board and continue to SFO. Most airlines would use a local airline to feed their international flights. Ah well. At least it means not having to deal with the Sydney domestic – international transfer.
Why fly to the USA? Well you see I have a friend who’s there working for a couple of weeks. He sounded a bit lonely. So what the hell, pop over to North Carolina to say ‘Hi’ and have a beer with him. My lovely wife pretty much made me do it. Best wife ever!
Hoping for an empty seat or a ‘nice’ person next to me on all the flights.

Number one. MEL-SYD
Not too many people in the gate area for this flight. I boarded pretty quickly and settled into my seat. No one else appeared so I was happily alone for the 1 hour 10 minute flight to Sydney.

I had a quick wander around Sydney’s international terminal and settled down next to a window to wait for my next flight to be called.

Plenty of legroom at the front of the cabin

Number two. SYD-SFO

Well, this one was looking a bit busier. I walked the down isle hoping that the seat next to me would be vacant for the long flight. Alas it wasn’t to be. I settled into the same seat as the first flight.
Shortly after take off I started watching The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Somewhere in the middle we got lunch. I followed up with the Lego movie and then Taken 2. I checked the time after the third movie. Only halfway through the flight. What the hell am I going to do? I don’t want to watch any more as I’ll probably have the same choices to watch on the way back. I attempted to sleep for a while, but ended up just reading. Didn’t say a word to my neighbour throughout the flight.

It was a beautiful day in San Francisco. It took 45 minutes to get through customs/immigration. By the time I got to the baggage carousel the bags had been removed and were sitting in lines.
With a couple of hours left to kill I wandered around for a while before heading back through security (easy, quick and painless!!) to find my gate. I sat at the reading and making use of the free wifi when I got a text message from the airline saying the gate had changed. Turns out that the old and new gates are pretty much at opposite ends of the terminal. Ah well, I needed the exercise after the previous 14 hour flight.

SFO-RDU
This flight was packed. I was sitting in an isle seat at the front of the cabin, so I had plenty of leg room. A nice North Carolina couple were sitting in the other two seats. We boarded on time and it was looking good for an on time departure, but it didn’t happen, due congestion behind us we sat at the gate for 30 minutes.
Pretty amazing that you can get 100+ live TV channels on the flight for $7.50. A bit sad that if you don’t take it you watch the same 1 minute loop for 5 hours!
I was so tired by this stage I was struggling to do anything. I alternated reading and resting throughout the flight.

It was such a relief to disembark in Raleigh, made even better by being met by Jeff.

We headed for the hotel in his rental car. I kept trying to use the non existent brake. I’ve driven left hand drive cars a number of times, but I’d never been a front seat passenger before. I also keep trying to use the non existent steering wheel when I’m getting out.

Weekend in Sydney

06/112011
Another lovely Sydney day dawned. We enjoyed the included buffet breakfast before heading for a drive. Thinking that as we wanted to go for a nice drive out of the city, but not wanting to be too far away from the airport we headed for the Royal National Park south of Sydney.

Once in the park M had a drive of the Mini. I think she liked it. Quite a bit in fact. Unfortunately about half way along the road the police had it closed off for some reason. So we did a bit of back and forth driving in the twisty bits and then stopped at a parking spot for a bit of a break.

If only she’d get out of the car!

Sadly it was time to head back towards the airport.

It was a great two day getaway. Nice car, nice hotel, nice company.

Weekend in Sydney – Day 1

05/112011
The day of my long planned trip had arrived. M knew we were going somewhere, but where and how we were going to get there was still a mystery. She had asked what to pack, I suggested for nice weather as that’s what the forecast was showing.

We headed off, as it turns out towards Melbourne airport. After parking and getting dropped at the terminal M was asking where we were going. Of course I’d checked in online, and we only had carry on luggage so we didn’t have to queue up anywhere. We headed through security and lurked around the gates until the flight was called. Sydney! But why?

After a short and uneventful flight we arrived in sunny Sydney. Heading for Hertz (my second surprise) I signed my life away for a Mini Cooper S.

M was very excited! She’d always wanted one, had never driven one, never even been in one, and now we had one for all of 36 hours.

Getting mildly lost on the way to the Harbour bridge we got familiar with the zoomy Mini. I lived in Sydney for three years back in the 90s, but my knowledge of anything past Haymarket was severely lacking. We found and crossed the bridge and headed towards the hotel in North Sydney to collect the tickets to the next surprise. We then continued towards Mosman. I’d told M about a great deli (Avenue Road Providores) that used to be there.

They had the best meat pies I’d ever tasted and according to Google they still existed. We arrived, purchased said pies. Yes! They were still the same, and the same staff/owners. Delicious.

We hopped back in the car and headed for surprise number three. As we rounded the corner and the Taronga Zoo sign came into view, M let out a squeal that probably damaged my hearing and startled dogs for miles around.

We parked and spent a great afternoon exploring the zoo.

Sydney CBD in the background.
After the zoo we decided another pie was called for. Still delicious.
We then headed to the hotel to drop off our bags and freshen up a bit. Then M suggested heading for May Gibbs house in Neutral bay.
Unfortunately it was just closing as we arrived. So we had a very quick look around the gardens before 
heading for a quick couple of geocaches, just to log some caches in Sydney. Then we a bit of a look around the North Sydney area to see what had changed.
Opera house from North Sydney
Later in the afternoon we drove down to Balmoral beach for a nice walk. Quite a busy afternoon for a breezy spring day.
Heading back towards Crows Nest we began the search for dinner. I had a memory of a tiny little restaurant tucked away off the main roads. A bit of hunting around to get my bearings and I found where it had been, damn. Having failed at that we wandered around until we found a nice looking Thai restaurant to eat at.  

Euro Day 13 – Austria

24/042011
Today I headed north for Austria via Switzerland. It was only a short drive back down to the main road and a 30min drive to cross the border back into Switzerland.

The road was winding its way through some quite mountainous areas, lots of snow around the edges as I it climbed. Perfect weather, clear and sunny with a dry road. I then rounded three or four corners in quick succession. The view got better each time.

Truly stunning views. Absolutely quiet except for the running water. I could see hikers off the distance heading towards the mountains. It was a chilly 5 degrees celsius, but a quick walk across the snow and I was too warm with just a jumper on. This explained why the hikers were wearing t-shirts.
Continuing on towards Austria I stopped a few more times to appreciate the fantastic views.
  
Crossing the border into Austria I began the hunt for a public toilet. I got of the main road and headed into Stams to continue the search. I found a sign that appeared to indicate the presence of the facility I required so I parked and attempted to follow the signs. It was a very pretty place to be searching.
Eventually I was relieved and continued towards Innsbruck. I was staying just out of Innsbruck on the side of the hill overlooking the city. 
Great view from my guest house
Looking the other way.
I spent the afternoon and evening sitting outside drinking local beers and much later on chatting with a friend back home.

Euro Day 12 – Italy

23/042011
After a bit of a video chat with my best friend back home, I packed up the car and headed down the mountain. Lucky there was a lot less traffic on the way down than there was on the way up. Mind you once I hit the city it was jammed.  I followed the lake for a bit, before having to turn inland and back track a little bit to head the right direction.
 
 
I them came across Maggie’s nemesis. Tunnels, one after the other after the other, I’m guessing 20km of tunnels with a gap of 100m to 500m between each one. They varied from 250m to 3 or 4km in length. 
The drive towards Valmalenco followed the valley floor through numerous towns. Most of which had traffic jams. But not too bad. Eventually I turned off and headed up one of the hills about 8km.
 
It’s a picturesque ski town. Surrounded by snow topped mountains. Unfortunately much like the rest of southern Europe it has a heavy haze which makes getting a good photo pretty much impossible. But that’s okay, I have seen it. I kind of hoped the cable car would be operating, it would have been nice to pop up another 500m, even if there was no view.
It was then time for lunch and a relaxing afternoon reading my book.

Euro Day 11 – Switzerland – Italy

22/042011

Heading through Switzerland for Italy it was amazing when you crossed the border, yes they had a border, with a guard looking at number plates, that was it. But everyone pretty much stuck to the speed limit, and fair enough too, the police had a radar/laser trap 5km up the road. My plan was to go over the St Gotthard pass, but alas it’s still too early in the year and is closed to traffic due to snow. So the next best option (probably the only one) was the 16km St Gotthard tunnel. Well, that had a 7km traffic jam to get into it. 



I guess that’s to be expected being the Easter long weekend.  The tunnel was completed in 1980, and is one lane in each direction. Hence the big jam.  It was like any other tunnel, except it kept going. Perfect mobile reception of course. Popping out on the other side, still in Switzerland, but not for long. I soon passed into Italy.


Everything was different in Italy. Travelling through the Netherlands, German & Switzerland the look of the roads and infrastructure was pretty much the same. Instantly in Italy it all just looked older and tattier. This didn’t change much once I got off the freeway and headed into Como. The other countries have old buildings, but somehow they look nice and old. Como reminded me more of Bangkok with that feel of a filthy but vibrant city. Oh and the traffic! The GPS was telling me to turn left, I couldn’t as the police had it closed off, same at the next one, and the next. So I tried to circle around, no luck, still closed off. I was getting to the point of heading off and finding another place along the way. The traffic was gridlocked. Italians drive more like Thai’s too. But with more flair of course.

It was then I realised I had Armani jocks on, but they were fake ones, from Thailand. Could they tell that I was a fake? An Aussie (kinda) driving a German car in Italy wearing fake Italian underwear made in Thailand. I expected something to drop on me and any second.

After circling for over an hour, and as I said, about ready to run away the police suddenly opened up everything. So the GPS and I high fived and off we went. Wow, what a road to get there. Climbed to 975m. Super narrow in spots. Which isn’t good when you’re in a strange car on the wrong side of the road. Judging the distance on the other side was a skill I didn’t have. Being a Mercedes it told you off if you got too close to anything (that also went off when scooters passed in traffic, surprised I was) but I figured it would be too late for a beep to stop the wall from hitting the car. But I made it. What a spot. High above the city. So quiet. Just a perfect place for a couple to spend a day or two, chilling out, going for walks. . . .



I had a lovely dinner in their restaurant, with a glass of Italian red wine of some sort (the waitress didn’t speak English, I speak less Italian than I speak German). I then settled down to read and send the occasional email to my best friend.

Euro Day 10 – Germany

21/042011

Up early again, packed up and headed off to get to the other (Speyer) museum nice and early. I got there just before 9am, and was the second person through the door. I headed straight for the U-boat, figuring a crowd there would be a pain later on. 



I was the only one there, perfect. After climbing down through the forward hatch (no stairs, no warnings..)  I had a good look around. Talk about tiny. You start in the torpedo room, but take one step and there are beds and a galley. Another couple of steps and you’re on the bridge (is it even called a bridge in a sub?). Amazingly the toilet is more spacious than on most aircraft.  I then had a look around the 747, nothing new there really, I’ve flown on the things enough times. But I haven’t stood under one that is sitting on poles 30m above the ground. 



They had the floor removed in part of the cabin so you could see into the cargo area. Always interesting to see what’s under your feet when flying.
Heading back inside I made a beeline for the space shuttle. Very similar looking to the American one. But for whatever reason it never flew (could google it I guess) in to space. Still a fantastic machine.



I couldn’t hang around very long unfortunately; I had a bit of driving to do.
I continued south, heading for Friedrichshafen on the shores of Lake Constance. At last the Germany countryside started to get interesting. The undulations became hills. There were forests all around. Very pretty. The lake itself has the meeting point of Germany, Austria and Switzerland in it. I dropped my stuff at the hotel and drove into town to find some food. 


It was a perfect evening, warm, with just a tiny breeze. 



Lots of restaurants on the waterfront. I had Italian. A perfect evening. I watched the sun set for a while (takes a while around here) and headed back for the night.


Euro Day 9 – Germany

20/042011

Up bright and early and off to the museum. I got there just after opening, perfect. It’s a huge place. So much stuff, too much to take in. Outside they have a number of aircraft on display, some of which you can enter. Like an Air France Concorde and the Russian version, the TU-144.


On the inside of the two giant sheds there are cars, bikes, trucks, trains, tanks, organs (the large pipe sort, with built in drums and saxophones!) and so many variations of each (http://www.flickr.com/photos/zippet/sets/72157626539614436/) The Concorde is tiny inside, two rows of two seats. Not luxury either. You might have got there very fast, but the seats are nothing special. But then again, it was the journey, not the seats that got you on board. The Russian version is very similar. It actually felt a tiny bit more spacious on the inside, but I could be imagining it. I spent quite a few hours wandering around. Definitely worth the visit.

Then I noticed the sign for their sister museum, only 40km away. It has the same sort of thing, but includes a U-boat that you can walk though and a 747 that you can walk out on the wing of, and the Russian space shuttle (Buran) that never actually went into space. The next morning’s plan was set.
I headed back to my hotel to relax for the afternoon. 

Euro Day 8 – Germany

19/042011

I awoke just after 7am. Wow, over 12 hours sleep. Feeling quite a bit better, I decided on breakfast. One piece of toast, one small yoghurt and a coffee. That got things rumbling. I ventured out to have a look around Daun so I would at least have some memory of the place. Lovely little town. 



I then hunted down my first successful overseas geocache. Feeling very proud of myself I purchased some new sunglasses from a shop in town. They desperately tried to fix my old ones, did an okay job considering I didn’t ask them to and they didn’t charge me.

I quickly packed up and departed, only stopping for fuel (first fill since picking up the car, it only took 53.81l of diesel, at $80 euros which is about $112, still that’s cheaper than petrol and less of it used) and headed south for Sinsheim. I set the GPS to avoid all autobahns, so I would hopefully get to see a bit more of the country side. This mostly worked, except for going through some major cities when I’m sure there was an autobahn only kilometres away that could have got me past in minutes. 

I stopped in Worms since I was driving through the middle of town and grabbed a Vodafone top up. I also had a very quick wander around Worms cathedral that was next to where I parked. 



Then back into traffic to keep heading towards Sinsheim. I stopped at a keep/castle that caught my eye on the way past.



I arrived at the hotel just after 4pm, unpacked and sat down for a bit of a rest and to catch up on the interwebs that had been missing for the past 4 days.

A quick check showed no geocaches within walking distance so I headed down for a light dinner of fish and a few chips. Boy did that get the stomach rumbling. Now I think it’s time for bed. Big day tomorrow at the Sinsheim Auto & Technik museum.


Euro Day 7 – Germany

19/042011

OMG.  The Mexicans have poisoned me! Up and down all night answering the very urgent call of nature. Then the nausea kicked in. Oh dear. Not the best night’s sleep. Probably about 2 hours of restless sleep. I got up in the morning, still feeling terrible. I did a bit more packing before having a huge spew and finishing up. Feeling a tiny bit better, and it being 10:45 with checkout being 11am I headed out of the hotel to find my way back to the car. That included two tram rides of which I spent chanting, ‘do not spew on the tram, do not spew on the tram.’ I didn’t, phew! But it was touch and go for a bit there on the nice warm tram, swaying gently.

Waiting for the tram
Got into the car and headed for Daun. No stuffing around today. I would have liked to have taken the scenic route, but not trusting my innards to remain there I decided on the most direct route. Only two rather urgent stops required for relief, a couple more as I was so tired from the lack of sleep I could feel my concentration going, which is a scary thing on an autobahn. I passed the Nurburgring track on my way. I had intended on doing a lap or two as it was an open evening. But with how I was feeling I decided not to and headed the last 20km to my hotel. I arrived in Daun at about 4pm. It seemed very nice. The nice man offered me the larger single room for only 4 more euros, I declined. I laughed when I opened the door to my ‘smaller’ room as it was still 3 times the size of the single room in Amsterdam for nearly 1/3 of the cost. I unpacked the necessary stuff, put things on charge, had a shower and was in bed by 6pm, and asleep by moments later.