Bike box

Wed, 10 am - My bike appears to be ok, aside from my front wheel,
which is a bit out of true. But the box that I shipped it in looks
like the Sri Lankan cricket team's bus!

Fuji and I are all assembled and ready to head to the ferry! I'm going
to try to pick up some groceries, a fuel cannister, and pehaps get my
wheel tried if I can find a bike shop. It's a gorgeous day - I can't
wait to start!

Six hours in Sydney

It is a beautiful day here in Sydney. I'm on top of one of the pylons
of the harbor bridge and have also taken a nice walk through the
botanical gardens. Anyone want to move to Sydney with me? As far as I
can tell, this place is paradise!

If you ever have a long layover in Sydney, I'd definitely recommend an excursion to the harbor.  I suppose it depends on 
how busy the airport is on the day in question, but I feel like today it would 
have worked fine with a layover of 4 hours or more.  

Highlights of my excursion included a walk through the Royal Botanical Gardens,
checking out the exterior of the Sydney Opera House, taking a ferry across the
harbor to the zoo (but opting out of entering the zoo when I realized it cost $39),
visiting the Museum of Contemporary Art (free!), and walking up to the top of
one of the pylons of the Harbor Bridge and checking out the museum there ($9 AUS).

I really enjoyed the Yayoi Kusama exhibit there.  Gary, if you're reading this, you
should check her out, especially because of your Japan trip!  Josh, she did some work
that are ripoffs of your doodles... but on a much larger scale.  

Of course I managed to also sneak some ice cream in there.  :)

And one of the highlights of the day is the free shower and free internet at the airport!

Speaking of which, gotta go catch my flight!

How to survive a 15-hour flight in 3 easy steps

1)  As soon as you get on board, set your watch to the local time of your destination.
2)  Bring Nyquil.  When your watch says that it is night time, take 2.
3)  Wear your lucky socks.  In my case, my lucky sock monkey socks get me a whole row (4 seats) to myself.

Your mileage may vary; I was lucky enough to have a flight that took off at 10:30 p.m. PST.  I was awake for the first 3 or 4 hours, then slept soundly for 4, then dozed for another 4 until breakfast was served. More dozing followed until we landed.

This (plus some I'm-on-a-new-continent adrenaline) was enough sleep to get me through a day in Sydney pretty well.  Although I must say that now (5:45 p.m. Sydney time) I'm ready for a serious nap.

And for those who keep track of these things, we were served a good-sized dinner and breakfast and a nice "snack bag" on our flight.

For Doug B: Salty Peanuts

"This artwork, consisting of approximately 120 used saxophones, is a
tribute to the role of jazz in San Francisco culture. The saxophone
collage is flanked above and below by the opening bars of Dizzy
Gillespie's famous composition "Salt Peanuts"."

Incidentally, I just got frisked when going through security at the
international terminal here; I didn't receive this honor in Seattle.
From this one might conclude that the average traveler at Seatac
looks more like a terrorist than the average traveler at the
international terminal at SFO. I would tend to agree, actually. The
cats here are pretty well-dressed. And then there's me in my hiking
pants...

Reflection at Seatac

At Seatac, ready to fly

Kelly took this picture of me when he dropped me off at the airport.
Thanks for the ride, Kelly! My car hit 100,000 miles on the way there
(we couldn't
fit the bike box in his civic)!

The woman who helped me at the Alaska airlines counter was very
friendly and patient with my situation (I don't think they see too
many people travelling internationally with a bike). The best news of
the day is that they didn't charge me a cent to take my bike!
Hopefully I'll be as lucky when I fly to Australia and again when I
fly back to the states. :). Just an hour now until my first flight (to
San Fran)!

It's all about weight

Like any good weight weenie, I weighed every item that I was planning on carrying with me on the trip. I would have pasted my spreadsheet here, but the formatting was completely horked. So instead, you can see it here.

I could have opted to travel much lighter on this trip, but opted to bring camping gear (tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag, stove which amounts to about 8 pounds). If I end up regretting this (as I did during my UK trip), I can always ship it home (expensive though that may be). I'm thinking that the extra freedom this will afford me will be worth it. Since there are huts along the treks that I plan on doing, camping gear isn't strictly necessary to do a lot of stuff. However, I am planning on taking advantage of New Zealand's "camp anywhere for free, except in National Parks" policy. That sounds pretty cool to me.

One funny thing about the weight spreadsheet is that it makes you realize just how heavy water is. The two water bottles together are heavier than my tent!

Another 2-pound weight that isn't strictly necessary is the SLR camera. I am reasoning, however, that the extra weight will force me to ride slower... which will motivate me to take more pictures... which is a good thing.

Long story short, this is a significantly larger load than I've ever carried before. It will certainly be an exercise in patience for Susan to bike so slowly!

Well, I take off for the airport in a few short minutes, so this will be my last post from home!