Sparrow's Flight

Tuesday the 21st, 10:35 PM Pacific time

I sit here at the boarding gate in California, tired of waiting already. The flight’s been delayed an hour. Then of course, is more sitting--14 hours of it. I feel like I ought to be doing jumping jacks or something now, while I have the chance. ;-)

The waiting area is filled with a lovely mix of accents, strong Australian, a faint hint of Australian, Pacific non-accent, or various other countries. A few rows over, a mother with a lovely Aussie accent is reading aloud to her daughter. I’m tempted to move where I can hear better, to help polish up my poor attempt at the accent. LOL.

I can’t get internet access at this airport except by paying for it, so I’ll probably add to this a few times before I actually post it.

Oh, they just said they are beginning boarding. Maybe it won’t be that late leaving after all!

Wednesday the 22nd, 10:55 AM Pacific Time

We crossed the Date Line some time back, so it’s really Thursday the 23rd, 3:55 AM where I am. This plane has three lines of two seats. I’m in a small area with only three rows, and one little TV for each row. The larger section behind me has one large-screen TV for the whole area. Even with my food allergies, I was able to eat at least a little of what was served so far for all the meals, so thanks to those who prayed for that.

We’re blessed because the plane is almost empty. The flight attendants encouraged everyone to spread out, so almost every person has a whole three-chair section to himself. It’s not as comfortable as one might think to lay down across them, as they are rather lumpy and the folded-away armrests are rather hard against the back.

Every seat has a pillow and blanket, so that means I have three little pillows (plus my own wrap-around-the-neck one) and three blankets to help make things a little more comfy. Of course, every time we hit turbulence and the fasten seatbelt sign comes on, those of us who are laying down have to sit up and buckle in and try to fall back asleep in some other position. But I did manage to sleep off and on for about five hours.

I think we have about two and a half hours left of flight (and only a few minutes left on my laptop battery). We have yet to catch up to the sun, and it’s hard to even spot the stars. Somehow, no matter what seat I pick online, I always manage to be right over the wings, hehe. It seems to be my fate. For a while I thought we were passing through a lightning storm. I felt rather foolish when I realized that the flashes were only the wing light reflecting off a think bank of clouds. All I can see out my window at the moment is the pale white of the wing, illuminated by the steady flashing of the white wing light, and an occasional cloud drifting by. Perhaps we’ll catch up to the sun in time for me to get a glimpse of Sydney as we land.

Thursday the 23rd, 2:20 PM Sydney Time

I’ve arrived in Sydney! It took me a while to go through customs because of the long line, but I didn’t have any trouble. They took away a trail mix because it had dried fruit in it, but they let me keep my other food and the wooden and shell gifts I had.

Norm met me at the airport with balloons, and took me the scenic route home so I could see the harbor and a couple of Sydney bridges. It's so funny--my avatar is a picture of me looking down, so Norm said he looked for a girl in a pink shirt who was looking down. Sure enough, I was! I got a kick out of that story, because both Deb and Scott from FW thought I was shy because of my avatar. LOL!

Today we’ve just chatted and had a lovely quiet day. Chrissy is in quite a lot of pain today--aggravated from traveling to the doctor appointments yesterday, probably. But good news! The surgery has finally been scheduled for her back, and they’ll only do one surgery, instead of two like they’ve talked about. The surgery isn’t until October, but at least a date is firm.