There and back again

I think I've used that as a title before. Meh.

Carol & Zac drove us down to the City last night (which was actually about 36 hours ago, now), we stopped at Kim & Shaun's place, had our Fish & Chip dinner, and after a tearful farewell Carol & Zac drove us on to the Formule 1 Hotel located a short walk from Tullamarine. We checked in and got two rooms on the third floor, and after discovering the F1 had no elevator were fortunate to be able to relocate to two first floor rooms, considering we had about 8 pieces of luggage between us all (including the in-laws). The in-laws and JE took one room and Liz & I and the bunny took the other. The rooms were very basic but cheap, and given that we really were walking distance from Tullamarine it wasn't a bad choice of hotel, just we had far too much luggage. It's probably an excellent choice for the economically-minded businessman traveling light. After getting settled in to our room I headed over to the airport and "borrowed" a couple of luggage carts, which I parked in our room ready for the next morning. Breakfast was a cheap $6 Continental provided by the F1, but given that breakfast at the nearby McD's would have cost the same (if not more) but with less food, it was the more economical choice. Then we hoofed it over to Tulla.

We checked in about 2 hours before departure time, smooth as silk (unlike LAX) and still got 4 seats together. The in-laws asked about switching to our flight (theirs was going via Aukland) but it would have required spending a few extra (hundred) dollars, so they got to visit New Zealand (Intl. Airport) for a couple of hours. Although they left just 30 minutes later than us, they touched down at LAX over 3 hours later, due to their NZ stopover.

At the wedding reception the previous Saturday, a cousin-in-law mentioned Emirates Airlines as being an extremely comfortable (pampering) airline to fly. Given that a lot of Big Oil probably flies Emirates, that's completely understandable, and from a fatalistic point of view, I honestly can't see Muslim terrorists targeting Emirates Airlines and daring to incur the wrath of their megarich brothers, so it's possibly one of the safest airlines to fly, as well. The CIL said Emirates allegedly provided even better service than Qantas, and he's probably right, I think Qantas' service, while still among the best in the industry, has slipped somewhat during the past few years.

We caught a shuttle home from LAX, a remarkably painless affair. $70 to be delivered to our door, and in a very quick time as traffic was the lightest I've ever seen it. In fact it was downright spooky to see just a handful of cars on the freeways at 8:30am on a Monday morning. Sure, it's Labor Day, an almost nationwide Public Holiday, but still. "It's quiet. Too quiet."

Finally home it still wasn't time to rest. Our bathroom looks awesome with the new shower stall in place of the old bathtub. It's a lot more open now, for a small bathroom. I would have liked the toilet moved into the corner but the plumber said it would have violated a building code by not having enough space between the toilet seat and the walls. Liz freaked out because all the items left on the bathroom counter were covered in dust, but given that the Plumber was a family friend and we barely paid him for the work (we paid for the materials, new toilet, floor tiles, shower stall, etc, but I don't think we paid him) I said we could hardly complain. Liz complained anyway. She likes to complain. Sometimes I don't think she's happy unless she's complaining. Weird, really, coz she's not really happy then, either. Or maybe she is.

While Liz cleaned house I went and cleaned out our Post Office box of two weeks of mail then picked up Anzac, and was happy to hear the girls apparently bring him out for a bit of a walk every day. In fact one of the girls said she usually gives him the run of the office during the day on weekends. It's a good boarding kennel because it's also his vet, and they do grooming as well so we get him bathed before I pick him up.

After dropping Anzac back home I still hadn't finished my errands. The weather report on the plane as we were landing said temperatures of 40C+ and it sure felt like it as I headed back out to get some milk and lunch. I don't like to run the A/C in my car if I can avoid it so I was sweating like a pig by the time I finally got back home.

After lunch we all took a nap (except for JE), and when I got up I emptied the suitcases of my comics and trading cards (watch this space for eBay auctions ;) Over the years I've accumulated more than 6 photocopy boxes full of comics. I have easily 1000+ comics, including quite a few Capt. America comics, which may be worth a small bit now that the Captain has been assassinated...unless "they" bring him back. Did I mention the 1.5 hour nap is all the sleep I've had in the last 24 hours? On the plane trip back I watched FF4:Silver Surfer, The Flying Scotsman, Borat, Ocean's Thirteen, and Blades of Glory. I'm only linking The Flying Scotsman because you should know of the others, but if you like bios (or Billy Boyd ;) it's worth checking out.

So, now we're home and somewhat unpacked, and fighting the ants which have still come in looking for food & water (even though we've been gone for two weeks), and for some reason with just the four of us here...the house seems strangely quiet. Even when we were down in Munro at Keith's place with just the six of us there (Mum & Keith and the four of us), the peace & quiet of slow life in a tiny country town (village, even) didn't seem as quiet as this quiet of our house right now.

It would be nice to move back to Australia, even to settle somewhere in Melbourne, but I can't see that happening unless we win the Lotto, because I'm doing too well here in L.A. to start all over again in Melbourne.

Did I mention it was my birthday while we were there? Being a Rowan Atkinson fan my family got me Mr. Bean's Holiday. No, we never went to the movies. Bean's Holiday was released pretty much everywhere but the U.S. many months ago, so it was already available on DVD in Australia. So while everyone else is watching Bean in the theatres here, I watched it in Australia on DVD, and I have it on the TV here, right now, because the kids love the physical comedy of Mr. Bean as well. In fact The Whole Bean (the complete set of the TV series) always accompanies us and the portable DVD player on long car rides.

Anyway, it's now gone 7pm, so it's time to get the kids some dinner and get them into bed, even though it really doesn't feel that late. That's Jet Lag for you.