So I just came back from Sydney and New Zealand...hopefully I can write down my experiences while there when everything is fresh in my mind. I'll post the pictures and videos on facebook, but try to pick out some especially good ones for this blog. The general timeline was:

7/11, leave SFO/LAX

7/13, arrive SYD (Sydney)

7/17, arrive AKL (Auckland)

7/26, return LAX/SFO

I don't have any pictures of the trip there -- I was more concerned about getting there with all my stuff and Patricia to have my camera out taking pictures of various airports. First, we got dropped off at the international terminal at SFO, when we really wanted to be at the domestic terminal, so we had to lug our baggage all the way to the other terminal.

The flight to L.A. was a little weird. There was a man who didn't seem quite aware of things, although he seemed to be having a normal conversation with his wife. He reached up and pushed the attendant button when the plane was descending and all the attendants were strapped in their seats. Other shenanigans included someone with their electronic device still on while landing, and I thought I saw someone sleeping sideways across two chairs while we were landing, too.

We had several hours before our next flight left L.A., so we sat around watching a few TV shows. Then we went through security (they told us that all the food places were closed next to the gates due to construction). When we got to the gate, there were a lot of people there and the one electrical outlet in a decent place was taken. I wanted to recharge the PSP a little so that it would survive the entire flight -- my last experience was that the PSP could last just about the length to drive up to Oregon. Now that I think of it though, I think it was just that my music on the PSP could only last up to Oregon. Anyways, I ended up standing next to an outlet that was about waist high to recharge my PSP a bit. Pretty soon, all four outlets where I was standing were being used by others with their laptops.

The scary part was when the alarms went off. An airport security guy on a Segway came to where I was and very gruffly told this one guy that was walking by, "You. Come." Then he turned around and rolled back to the security lines (the gate we were at was right next to the exit of the security lines). The Segway guy (he looked Chinese) didn't even really check to see if the guy would actually comply or not. But there were no problems, and the guy went back and then proceeded to get questioned by Mr. Segway. In public. I was about 100ft. away. There were questions like, "Why did you leave when the alarms went off?", "Where's your luggage?", and most disturbing to me, "What's in the lunch bag?". I realized at that point that if this guy HAD been dangerous, then I had just been standing ~10ft away from him when he got accosted by security. Maybe he would have panicked and set off a bomb in his lunch bag. You got to admit, it is pretty suspicious -- single guy, no luggage, only a paper bag (he had a cup with a straw too, so he probably just got some dinner at the food court). Anyways, it was probably pretty embarrassing for the guy, and they kept the alarm going for quite a while (maybe 10 minutes or more) before letting him go to wherever he was going.

The flight was looong...besides sleeping, I also watched a BUNCH of TV shows I needed to catch up on. Well, maybe not that much, but a few hours worth. At the end I explored the on demand entertainment and ended up watching a little bit of Borat. I liked the part about the "Not" jokes. But when it got to the part where he was having dinner with the socialites, I couldn't watch anymore because it made me too uncomfortable. So I switched it off.

We got off and got our bags through customs OK, and then it was off to take the train to the hotel, since it seemed doable and cheaper than getting a taxi. We tried to figure out if one of the passes would help save us money during the rest of the trip, but it became too complicated and it didn't seem like most of the bus/trains we would be taking would be covered by the passes, so we just bought regular one-way tickets out to the harbor next to the hotel. It was like $15/person -- pretty expensive. I didn't think that the tickets would be that expensive, and I wondered how much the other train tickets would cost, since we would be travelling maybe ten times as far.

The train was crowded. No seats to sit down on until a couple people left. We were pretty much the only ones with luggage, so I guess most people were taking the train to go to work. We left SFO on Saturday around 3pm, and arrived in Sydney on Monday at 7am. Since out hotel was in the Central Business District (CBD), I guessed most people were business/financial types who go to work early.

We got to the hotel just fine, only a five minute walk from the train station along the harbor. It was a nice day. Yay!