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The trip is just one 12 days away now. Its starting to become reality to me, its hitting me hard. I have so much to do and such little time. I’ve got all my documents and everything is paid off and ready to go. Just waiting on a few things to be emailed to me so i have back up copies while im away. But other than that its all done. Now its just a matter of trying not to panic and staying calm (panic that im forgetting something).

A lot of the people I am on contiki with are leaving over the next week. Someone left last night, a few days and another couple go, and then the big lot going around the same time I am. It will be good once I hit new york to get to meet everyone and finally get to meet people in real life. We have been chatting on facebook for some time now.

So with all the plans done, I finally can give you all the finalised trip (which now has a little sidetrip at the end.. you’ll see).

September 9th – Last Day at Work
September 10th – Pack & Panic
September 11th (hehehe) – It begins
5am: Pick up at home by Murrays Coaches (freebie from work) in a 9 seat executive Van (whatever that is).
QF389 – Brisbane to Tokyo (Narita) 0845/1705 – Boeing 767-300/ER – Operated by JAL
Overnight – Hotel Nikko Narita
September 12th – Moring to Explore Narita (do some plane spotting)
NW20 – Tokyo (Narita) to Minneapolis-St Paul 1625/1320 – Boeing 747-400 – Operated by Northwest/Delta
NW5665 – Minneapolis-St Paul to Washington DC Dulles 1500/1828 – Embraer 175 – Operated by Compass Airlines
September 12-15th – Washington DC – Hotel: Liason Hotel Capitol Hill
September 13th – Explore
September 14th – Explore (Pentagon Tour Booked, Capitol Hill Tour Booked).
September 15th
Amtrak Acela Express – 0900/1145 – Washington DC Union Station to New York City Penn Station
September 15th – 18th – New York City – Hotel: Milford Plaza Hotel
September 16th: Explore (possibly Yankees Game)
September 17th: Explore (USS Intrepid Museum)
September 18th: Contiki Grand Northern Tour: Itinerary
October 12-17th – Anaheim – Hotel: Hilton Anaheim (nothing yet planned playing all these days by ear)
October 17th
VX781 – Los Angeles to Seattle 0915/1155 – Airbus A319 – Operated by Virgin America
October 17-21 – Seattle – Hotel: Executive Pacific Hotel
October 18th: Morning Pikes Place Market Tour, Afternoon – Seattle Seahawks vs Arizona Cardinals
October 19th: Morning Boeing Factory Tour
October 20th: Car Hire Booked with Budget – Plane Spotting Day
October 21st
NW219 – Seattle to Honolulu 0820/1116 – Boeing 757-300 – Operated by Northwest/Delta
October 21-25th – Honolulu Hawaii – Hotel: Aqua Waikiki Wave
October 22nd: Explore
October 23rd: Morning – USS Arizona, Missouri & Punchbowl Tour
October 24th: Explore
October 25th
NW21 – Honolulu to Tokyo (Narita) 1235/1630+1 – Airbus A330-300 – Operated by Northwest/Delta
October 26th
QF390 – Tokyo (Narita) to Brisbane 2110/0705+1 – Boeing 767-300/ER – Operated by JAL
October 27th – Home… but not for long
October 28th – Rest & Re Pack
October 29th
QF782 – Brisbane to Cairns 0955/1215 – Boeing 737-400 – Operated by Qantas
Retrieve Hire Car Booked with Avis
October 29th-31st – Cape Tribulation – Hotel: Cape Tribulation Resort & Spa
October 31st-November 2nd – Cairns – Hotel: Palm Royale Cairns
November 2nd
QF649 – Cairns to Brisbane 1255/1505 – Boeing 737-800 – Operated by Qantas
November 3rd: Home – Rest
November 4th: Back to work

Its gonna be AWESOME

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omg things are getting so close now. its only 20 days left at time of posting. My god i cant wait. I need to calm down and start thinking straight about what i need to get done before i go. I have all my US Dollars all on my new lovely green ANZ travel visa (they rock had one last time) and should be able to get my Shiny Canadian Red Travel Visa on friday. Picking up all my documents on Friday to.

I have bought the tickets to the Football in seattle (which they moved the game time from 4pm to 1pm bastards so its cutting it fine with the end of the tour i am on that morning). All the day tours that i wanted to pre book are all done. Soon it will be go time and I can just wing it off to the US and forget about what a shitty life i have had lately.

Ive had to change around a few things in Seattle as the transfers no longer dropped off at hotels but ive been recommended a transfer company that will do private transfers for $40USD What a bargain! So we shall see how that goes. Ive booked one way at the moment with a cash payment and if it goes well. I will just book the return that afternoon.

Things are going good at work at the moment to. Unreal deals is almost over which may mean some form of normalcy will return…. hopefully!

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well its been quite a while since the last update. Life has been pretty busy and i have been really slack. It’s down to like 6 weeks till i go.

a few more problems have arisen. My travel agent quit without telling me. So a few problems have arisen since then with transfers and refunds etc but the new manager of the store is fixing that up.

things are getting closer. Need to get my $$$ exchanged soon. Life has been a bit all over the place with a lot of changes here and there, but life moves forward… can’t live in the past!

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Well im sure you all know about twitter… well ive been tempted for a while to join, but i have been interested before it all came in fashion. And i don’t like being called a sheep… i mean i just could not stand it!

I was on facebook before it became cool, myspace before it became cool (now myspace is crap and everyone left so i have to admit i dont really check it). I had a blog before it was cool (you see a trend here right). But the thing is for a long time i have seen the smart thing behind twitter, but now i feel like if i sign up i will become “another sheep” and i dont think i could handle that.

I know it will come in handy while im OS as i could just twitter from my phone with a quick message to let everyone know where I am etc. How cool would that be. But alas.. Do i commit to becoming a twit?

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the 4 month till i go mark is fast approaching and with everything already fully paid I am starting to get majorly excited. The first half of the tour is now sold out which is awesome and means that it will be a full tour to start with anyway.

I have booked a few different day tours in seattle and get to visit not only the Boeing Factory in Everett but also Pikes Place market for a guided food tour. should be awesome awesome time (hopefully i get to catch a fish!). Im planning some plane spotting around the time and it should be good (looking at hiring a car in Seattle and doing the rounds of Boeing field etc). Not sure what to do in Hawaii yet, cause all I have booked is a tour that takes me to the Arizona Memorial, Punchbowl Memorial (big WW2 grave site) and also the USS Missouri Museum. I dunno what else to do over there so if you have any ideas please feel free to email me.

Also its starting to come into the time when the Sports schedules are going to be released. Looks like I will be at the football in Seattle with the Seahawks playing the Cardinals the first day i am in seattle so that will be awesome. Also gonna try and hit up a ice hockey game but still waiting for the schedule to be released.

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Ok from where I left off so urgently….

So after the March and the quick Train trip back to the starting point, I joined the Unit for Lunch at the Menzies Hotel for the annual luncheon. It was a good lunch (although service was appallingly slow). With lunch completed I caught up with a friend for a few beers and ended up winning $10 on Two Up.

With the day winding to a close I passed out around 930pm after two nights of little sleep.

Sunday 26th April

Awoke early again and headed to breakfast. Unfortunately this time the Pancake machine was broken but I did manage to get a photo of this glorious machine. After checking out it was a day of spending time with the family before jumping on the train back to the airport about 3:15pm.

Arrived at the airport with no effort and after the short walk from the Station to T3, I used one of the quick check terminals to grab my boarding pass. As I was heading home in whY I had to join the rather large Bag Drop Queue and waited around 15 mins.

After dropping my bags and being told it was a ž full flight (this turned out to be false) I headed for security. Not wanting to repeat the incident regarding belt and watch I decided to dump everything I had into my carry on and let it go through that way. Walked through the metal detector… no beep… Thank god. Then it happened. A security guard says “Can I see the contents of your bag please; we suspect you have a knife in there.” If this was the US, I’d probably have like a million TSA guys all over me right now. I advised them I didn’t have any knives but I am more than willing to show them what it is. Opened my bags, pulled out my keys and gave it to them.
They had seen a metal key ring that is a Night Club membership and assumed it was a knife. Idiots! So during this process I also got swabbed for Explosives! More embarrassment!! After finally being able to leave the screening point I moved away and found some internet located conveniently near my gate!

QF540 SYD>BNE
Scheduled 1705>1835
Boeing 737-400 – Seat 22F
VH-TJR – “Cockatiel”

This time we boarded early actually as the boarding announcement was a surprise to me. This time no staggered boarding like in previous flights just a free for all… which doesn’t help. This plane also had the new Domestic Interior, apart from the Business class seats. These were the old ones but maybe that had something to do with this aircraft having convertible seats not proper J class. I had not been on a 400 in 3 or 4 years so forgot about the TV’s that hang low in the middle of the cabin and almost smacked into one.

Boarding was completed and it was a full flight, safety demonstration was played again but as there are no side monitors I couldn’t really see it as the overhead bins cut off half the screen. It was a full flight and I was seated next to two very different seat mates. Both quite annoying! Making fun of anything they could. Luckily the Earplanes I have to wear cut out a lot of their noise

Long Taxi through to 34R and then a very quick and spirited departure. As we climbed out we headed out over the ocean first, saw the Pacific Dawn as it departed Sydney Harbour and we crossed land at Stockton Beach near Newcastle. That was about all I could tell as the sun was setting on the Port side of the aircraft.

After a quick snack service of Chips, Salsa and drinks (I only got a Bundaberg Ginger Beer because I wasn’t hungry) It was a very slow decent into Brisbane. The Bogans kept me annoyed the whole way down and even managed to trap me in my seat for as long as possible… Bastards. We landed on 01 with a very big bounce and was wondering if the Captain and First Officer were experienced, as they sounded quite young. Being that I was right up the back of the Aircraft had to wait a very long time to get off the aircraft and make my way to baggage. Once I had managed to get off made a quick call to my friend Jeremy who I had conned into picking me up with the promise of a 6 pack. Quickly made my way down to Baggage and grab my bag, stepped out to the ring road and waited for Jeremy to make his way up from the Memorial stopping point. Quick side trip on the way home to the Bottleshop (picked up a 6 pack of Big Head the new No Carb beer, tasted pretty good) and was home shortly there after.

A painless weekend…. lots of sleep needed to catch up. Next holiday… USA!