FRIDAY, MAY 30

A very long day – we were up really early at the hotel in Sydney. The bed was one of the most comfortable we’ve had on the trip but the hotel was very noisy – we kind of expected that as it’s close to the airport – people were coming and going at all hours and while most tried to be quiet there were a few people who decided to hold conversations in the hallway – and they echoed. Oh well – we got to the airport before 7 a.m. and checked in easily. After that we wandered around doing some last minute shopping and finishing our coffees and then water before going through security. A little more shopping and then we went to the gate area. Prices in the international departures area were definitely better than ones outside that anyone could access. However, the best prices were in Alice Springs and Cairns (both at the airport and in the towns).

Boarding the plane went smoothly and then…. the pilot announced a “glitch” with the auxillary power – which would be ok once the plane had the engines running. After that, we had to sit at the end of the taxiway and burn off some fuel as the plane was overweight. We left Sydney an hour late, which had a lot of the passengers frantic because they had a short window to catch connecting flights in Los Angeles. We figured we’d be fine as there was a 3 1/2 hour window before our flight left for Phoenix.

The flight back was really rough. Apparently, there was “weather” that hadn’t shown up on the radar systems and we kept running into it. We had 4 Australian nurses sitting near us who were heading to Las Vegas – they were quite entertaining as was the male flight attendant who was giving them a hard time. After lunch (or dinner) was served, the lights were turned out to encourage people to sleep. (And yes, they got the food right for me again – I am so impressed!) I dozed for a couple of hours – not sound sleep but somewhat restful. John had a harder time napping – probably only about an hour. We got to LAX at 7 a.m. and the auxillary power failed again. This meant that the luggage had to be unloaded by hand instead of the conveyer belts so we had to wait for a long time to get our bags to take them through customs. By this time, another 747 (from Brisbane) had also arrived so there were a lot of people in line. There was a security official who was trying to speed things up – she was actually laughing and joking with people and a lady behind me said “Oh they must have given lessons in being nice to the staff at LAX” – this got a bunch of us laughing. Once we got through the line, we were supposed to put our bags on the transfer conveyer but, because our flight was just over an hour away, we were told to take our luggage and walk to Terminal 1 where we would need to recheck the bags and get our boarding passes before passing through security again. Terminal 1 was a long way from the Terminal we were in – when we finally got there, we checked the bags and got our boarding passes. Once in line to go through security, I went to hand John his boarding pass and noticed that both passes were in my name with my seat number!

I left John in the lineup (he was letting people go past him) and raced back to the airline counter – I got another client rep who quickly fixed the problem then I ducked back under the barrier and we started through security. There were 3 lineups to go through the checkpoint: one for casual travellers, one for people who needed extra assistance and one for experienced travellers. We started out in the casual traveller lineup and then decided that after all the airports we’ve been through on this trip, we could classify ourselves as experienced travellers. That lineup was moving quickly as everyone knew that liquids/gels had to be in a plastic bag, shoes had to be removed and laptops taken out of bags. It worked – we whipped through the line and got to the gate for the flight with about 15 minutes to spare.

The Phoenix flight wasn’t very full and we made good time – we actually got in a half hour early so we had collected our bags and were waiting when Lizz called to say her flight had arrived. The terminals were a distance apart so we decided to catch the shuttle bus (one shuttle for all the various car rental places) from our respective terminals and meet at the Dollar car rental desk. It takes about 10 minutes for the shuttle to get to the rental centre and John went to arrange the car and I watched the suitcases and waited for Lizz. Of course it was a tearful reunion when she walked in a few minutes later *s* (BTW – Thanks, Arke, for taking her to the airport so damned early in the morning).

Our rental vehicle is a Jeep Patriot – we had a choice between that and a PT Cruiser and John figured that we could fit more luggage into the Jeep. Lizz only brought a backpack (so she didn’t have to worry about checked luggage when she changed planes in Seattle) but we have 4 suitcases and we had to stop for some groceries. We all needed something to eat so we found a Macdonald’s and had a quick bite and then headed out to the condo in Oro Valley. By the time we got here (and stopped at Safeway for groceries) we were exhausted. We put the groceries away and chatted for a few minutes and then it was naptime. I set the alarm for 2 hours later so that we wouldn’t sleep too long – we really need to get back on track with the time (and Arizona was a great choice as they don’t have daylight savings time so the time here is the same as at home). After dinner, we talked a while longer and then headed for the hot tub. There are two on the property and we went to the one closest to our condo. It was wonderful – there was no one else there and one of the lights wasn’t working so we could sit in the tub and watch the stars. The hot tub helped take the travel kinks out and then it was off to bed.

Temperature: 40 C – sunny

SATURDAY, MAY 31

After a 9 hour sleep, we were feeling pretty good. We decided to drive to Tombstone to see the historic western town. It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive down to the town – our first stop was Boothill Graveyard. Admission was free and we wandered through the sites, reading the markers

and marvelling at the cacti which were flowering. After that, we went into the town. I think we were expecting a town like Barkerville but it’s not like that. It’s very commercialized and touristy (but not in a good way). We didn’t stay in the town long – just enough to take a quick walk down the main street and look in a couple of shops. We were only out of the vehicle about 20 minutes and it was sweltering when we got back in. We started back toward Tucson and stopped at a Jack in the Box for lunch (Lizz has been wanting to go to Jack’s since we stopped going to Tacoma for hockey games).

Another stop at the Safeway for more groceries (steak to bar-b-q since we have a bar-b-q on our deck) and then back to the condo to watch the hockey game. Erik called to say that he has Wednesday off so he can pick us up and to see how our flight(s) were. It was good to hear from him – and I was impressed to hear that he had used his computer phone program to call – it was clear and not much delay.

After the hockey game ended, we headed to the hot tub – and had it to ourselves again. Now it’s bed time – if we get up early enough, we’re going to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum – we hope to get out and see a lot of it before the temperature gets really hot in the afternoon.

Temperature: 40 C – sunny