Phone alarm went off 4am. I turned it off and rolled over. Harv got up. OMG it’s happening. Guess I’d better get up, but after a very restless night… I just got to sleep. Made it to the kitchen after a nice shower and proceeded to be picked on for getting up after him, even today.
Boys gowned up, slippers on. “Where’s Dino? I want to take him too but when we get to the station, next week, he can stay in the car so he doesn’t get lost”. Good idea, Callum. It’s today though, sweetie.
Bye-bye home, see you on Christmas day… eventually.
Uneventful drive marked by outbursts from the back seat, “it’s froggy!” & “I can see the sun coming over the Earth.”
Fassifern station, 6am, platform 1. Mandatory selfie with Pete and Cal. I’m still thinking they were more excited about the trains coming and going than Mummy going. No tears from them – or Daddy. Just Mummy. Big hugs from Pete. Cal said “dat’s enough hugging Mummy” but he’s just so snuggly and kissable. Backpack up, struggle on board, empty train pretty much. Gotta love the purple interior of those busted-ass inter-urbans. Didn’t stay empty for long, ho hum, perfect timing for the commuter run to Syd.
Cruising through the Hawkesbury, always beautiful, except for the scum on the water in places and rubbish along the line. Background music selected by the phone shuffle… 2nd Law: Unsustainable by Muse. Topical. Then Eurythmics ‘Angel’ haha. What a mixture – coming in to Woy Woy.
A bit of shut-eye, but not completely sleeping. Kaleidoscope veins in my eyelids were quite trippy during the Chemical Brothers – on the sunny side of the train.
And finally, Central. Platform 23 for the airport. How heavy is this freaking backpack? And how awkward is it to handle in the crowd? Sqeeeeeze through the opal card exits/entries.
Sitting in the airport, watching, waiting. Waiting… for check-in time, for Lindsay to pop in for a coffee. Surfing bookface then look up to see a single suitcase left in front of me and Mr. Security talking on his radio about it. Umm, “there was a group standing there just before ” I said. He picked it up and shook it, looked at me and said “I think they’ve rationalised their luggage then and just left it.” Okey dokey – no need to panic, or move seats.
Checked in on an online station and did the bag drop – very weird in International. 16.7 kg bag, oh good. Didn’t weigh my carry-on, I’m sure that’s more than 7.
Back to waiting… for Lindsay to show. “Hey kid” from both parties. He’d trained it in and we had a catch up over macca’s coffees. Short but good.
Time to head through passport control and security. Again, no real contact with actual people. Scan passport, look into the eyes of the camera, walk through. Nothing dodgy in the bags and no explosive test. Off to gate 8.
So I have an unused complimentary Q club lounge card. I wonder if LAN will let me use it for their lounge on the way home? Sorry, that’s LATAN, now.
Time for boarding – not happening. Met Helen and Murray from Cairns – they’re going to Antarctica too, but not till Christmas Day. Driving down from Santiago to Punta Arenas. Haha, they’ve got seats right next to me in the last aisle of the plane.
Hang-on, those look like H Bounders wandering around, better go and meet them. Sandi, Kate and Ghislaine. Oh and Eleanor from Canberra too. Spread throughout the plane. “OK, so you’re the geologist that works in coal mines,” says Kate, “you’re very brave coming along on this trip.” “I’m not mentioning the “C” word,” I say. Keeping mouth shut walking through aero bridge listening to discussions about it being difficult to justify all the air travel they all seem to do with respect to CO2 emissions. Hmm it’s started.
Helen and Murray know how to travel. They picked their seats with one empty one in between them, so we now have 4 seats between the three of us – awesome, more space. Plane eventually left at 1335 instead of 1250. Bugger.
Pollo a la cazadora con polenta y chauchas for lunch. Actually that wasn’t polenta… it was mashed papas! Oh and did I ever tell you I love wine? Bunkers Margaret River Lefthanders Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2015. Not bad, just not enough of it. Mental note – I didn’t get to Q Club lounge to sample their selection… maccas coffee instead. Maybe that’s why I’m still buzzing. Don’t expect this much story every day!
Two full entertainment system reboots in 2 hours. Might be time to sleep, unless I can score another wine.
Yo. Catch you later.
It was Mad Fish but a Sauv Blanc Semillon this time.
Cattle class sucks, just quietly. Mind you, I can hear Harv telling me to suck it up sunshine. We’re about half way, sigh. Entertainment system is crap. Only one ear of my headset works and the choice of movies is really quite boring. Do I sound grumpy? Allens’ party mix is helping me keep a bit sane. Even though there’s a bit of space next to me cos of the extra seat, I don’t feel right using it to curl up on. Oh and did I mention that being up the very back is particularly noisy from all the people constantly wandering around ‘exercising’ or trying to get their babies to sleep or kids simply playing with cups and the water fountain. I guess it’s worse because the entertainment system is not working properly. Sleep has not been good, so far. 1830 ish NSW time.
I might move onto the family Christmas newsletter draft. I’m running out of inspiration here.
Ok, so it’s almost 2300 in Aus and I’m having breakfast. More coffee, oh dear. Since I completed the family newsletter I’ve had no sleep. I’ve watched a really great (not) movie called Morgan. Probably based on a story by the chick who wrote the Girl With All the Gifts, can’t remember who that was but there were definitely similarities. Then for something a little more-light hearted, the Ab Fab movie. Yeah, was ok, I guess. Watching movies on tiny screens without decent sound just doesn’t do it for me.
No, thankyou, but NO MORE coffee. Believe it or not the coffee is ok, I guess because it’s come from Sydney, not Santiago… it’s Grinders, not Nescafe Blend 43. Seriously, how much longer???? I am going to be smashed (tiredness-wise, not alcohol-wise) by the time I make it to the hotel in BA.