I've arrived!

I finally made it to the destination! The flights were pretty adorous. I managed to sleep a fair amount on the plane from Auckland to LA. LAX is such a crappy airport. The building was pretty bad to begin with but really is not coping with all the new security regulations. I would have imagined that such an important gate to the outside wolrd would have been given a bit more consideration by the Americans. Impression of LA were pretty limited as I only managed to spend a few hours in the airport and we had a bit of cloud cover on departure. The foodcourt was disappointing to say the least, however the sunset was pretty fantastic – one of those sunsets that you can only witness from high in the air, where the horizon is incredibly rounded over the sea and the the sun has just disappeared from view. A strip of bright red set off against the dark blue ocean, gradually fading into orange, yellow and then into the blue sky with blackness over the plane. It felt a bit strange to see the sun going down only a few hours after awaking and having breakfast! We flew over Vegas in the dark. It looks quite small comparatively. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't make out any flashing lights, but you could definitely pick out the great glow of the strip. I had a couple of hours in Denver. Fronier airlines has just built a new terminal there. Nothing really exciting about it. I think the outside was a bit flasher, but I only caught a glimpse of it as we taxied in in the dark. There was only one “restaurant” in the food court open so I was forced against my will to experience true American fast food: McDonalds. I did have a salad, however I'm sure the nutritional value would not have been too dis-similar from a burger. On my fourth leg I tried again to sleep however was placed akwardly in the row of seating directly in front of the emergency exit where the seats did not recline. If you've ever tried sleeping bolt upright you'll realise that it's virtually impossible, even with a neck pillow. So after three hours of snoozing broken by the ding of the seatbelt light, the explanation of the ding over the loud speaker and the incessant sniffing of the man sitting next to me I arrived in Orlando to see the sun rise at about 5:30am. Rachel was there to collect me. She is 7 months pregnant. We drove back to her in-laws' house in Deltona, about an hours drive. We waited for the day to commence and then went for an American breakfast. The name of the restaurant escapes me, but for a mere $7 I was presented with not one but two rather huge plates of food plus a big dish of condiments, which included: bacon, ham, meat pattie, eggs, hash brown casserole, fried apples, a couple of biscuits (scones), grits, and some weird gravy stuff. Bits and pieces were quite nice. I do think that Rachel and I could have shared. We then went on a bit of a drive around and saw the local lake, and landscape. We stopped in at Blue Springs National Park and went seeking Manatees. Unfortunately they were all hiding from us, but we did see an alligator sunning itself on the opposite bank of the river. It was a very pretty walk. If I'd had my wetsuit I probably would have jumped in, but it's 21 degrees so I thought I'd pass at that moment in time, especially after seeing the alligator... We went back to the in-laws'. I couldn't keep my eyes open for the drive back. All three of us, Mikey included had an afternoon nap for a few hours, which I really needed. We then went out to “Bahama Breeze” restaurant for ribs. They were all a bit surprised when I easily polished off my plate full – they had already considered who would get to eat my left-overs the following day after I'd left. No such luck I'm sorry. Rachel and I partook in some virgin cocktails with a true desire to pop a little something more in them. Oh well, they tasted pretty good. I slept pretty well despite the nap and we got up at 6am for another early start back at the airport.
But all went pretty well with my flights until today. I got charged quite a lot as my fin bag was oversized, then they cut my padlocks off my bag. The next airline charged me for being over weight and made me check in my hand luggage, which they also charged me for. I missed a flight, but lucky managed to get on another, but of course had to pay for it again – hopefully my insurance will cover it. Then they forgot to put my fin bag in the aeroplane as had put it aside very conscientiously due to the fragile stickers all over it. Thankfully that was the last flight of the day so I don't have to really co-ordinate anything as they'll bring it through on the first flight tomorrow and I just have to pick it up. I also have all my gear here to do no-fins dives, so it shouldn't affect anything. Now I've arrived and everything is closed as it's still Good Friday so I have to bludge food and water off the other divers. No biggie though. At least I had a good, big local lunch in Nassau. Anyway, I'm off to parler francais with the French boys next door. I have the whole apartment for four to myself for another week until everyone arrives, so I figure I should get lots of work done. Evidently they've had pretty poor weather here and the blue hole is currently more like a black hole with a bit of swell on it, but it should still be warmer than at home! Hopefully it'll clear up in the next few days as the particles settle.