America Day 1

Hey!

Alrighty, so I know that I told a lot of people that I was planning on blogging every day. Obviously that didn't happen, and I while I apologise for that, I think that just putting the first half of my week in America in one post will actually be a bit more interesting to read. Not that it's been dull here by any means. There's just not that much to put into writing.

For those of you who don't know I'm currently residing with my friend Alexi in Maricopa, Arizona. It's a small town about an hour out of Phoenix, It's population is about 40,000 (or so wikipedia says), so about half the size of Toowoomba city. It's got a Walmart and a Taco Bell though, so that's really all that matters for an American town, right?

I'll try and remember this in days even though I've been here since Friday (It's now Thursday here) and post them separately so they don't seem so long.

So.

Day 1 – Friday

Friday starts in Australia, it was basically just a travelling day. I left Canberra at 8:00am, arrived at Sydney International Airport at 11:15 and then boarded my plane for my 13 hour flight to Los Angeles. The flight was thoroughly uninteresting, but a far better experience than my flight last year. Australian airlines over Fijian any day, man. Any. Day. I'd stayed up the night before in preparation for the flight so that I would hopefully sleep. Unfortunately the plan didn't work very well because planes are flipping uncomfortable. The safety video warning people to drink water, keep moving their feet and walk around the cabin didn't help either. I have heard far too much about DVT to not be worried about it. My mind was constantly like “NO IF YOU SLEEP FOR TOO LONG THEN YOU WILL PROBABLY DIE FROM LACK OF MOVEMENT AND BLOOD CLOTS”. (See mum, I told you that you didn't have to worry irrationally for me, I do it enough myself)

After the long flight and the pain of getting into LA without someone suspecting that you're a terrorist, I was in for very long wait. Make sure you pay more attention than I did when your travel agent is booking things, guys. 10 hours. 10 flippin' hours I had to wait in LAX. And man do I hate airports. Especially that one. It's the most complicated airport that I've ever been in, had to ask about everything and it is not signed well at all.

I went to check in my bag but of course 8 hours before the flight was the minimum you could check your bags in before the flight. So here I has with a 22kg bag plus a laptop and a very large hand bag that was practically bursting with another two hour before I could go through customs. It was lunch time and after a very confusing elevator where it took me to the same floor about five times before finally taking me down to the ground level, I found an alien themed restaurant called “Encounter”.

I had an amazing burger there and the staff were friendly. I had a funny “encounter” (see what I did there) with a man who didn't speak very good English and for the life of him could not understand when I was asking for a glass of water. Despite repeating it at least five times and even trying to say it in American accent a few times, he had to call one of the other waitresses, who thankfully understood my straight away. She told him once and then he basically literally face palmed and apologised profusely.

I was extremely tired so I stayed at “Encounter” for a while and read “Looking for Alaska” for a while. I stopped at “The day before” because, as those of you who have read it, and also know my well, will know that I would have definitely cried had I read any further. By then enough time had passed that I could check my bags in, so after doing that and going through customs I found my gate and basically just slept. I was exhausted, so I just clutched my bags and used them as a sort of pillow for sitting up. I don't really know how to explain it but I slept for a good three hours. I needed that.

After I finally boarded my plan to Phoenix, it was thankfully only about an hour flight so I read for a bit more (made my way through more of “Looking for Alaska” without freaking out the guy next to me with my tears. My eyes watered but once. Be proud, my friends, be proud.

Once I landed in Phoenix it wasn't long before Alexi found me at baggage claim and went for the ol' run and hug technique that is common among internet friends. We drove for an hour while I managed to keep my eyes open and chat to Alexi's “Mom” in an attempt to make a good first impression. We arrived in Alexi's town, Maricopa, I got a quick tour of the house and then slept forever.