Coming in for a Landing

First impressions are deceiving. As we pulled up to the airport to unload, people were rushing out of the airport. It turned out the fire alarm had gone off. But it was not an omen. Our trek--while grueling--was quite uneventful. All delays were minimal. Unlike the last time we flew into Detroit (back in February, on our way to Fort Lauderdale), we had a leisurely layover and enjoyed a calm lunch at Chili's. And to prove once again how small the world is, Nancy ran into Dr. Wagner's (our optometrist) wife Mary in the bathroom. She was on her way to Charlotte. The plane from Detroit to LA was roomier than most, so that five hour jaunt went well. At the LA airport we passed numerous interesting possibilities for dinner but we wanted to make sure we got to the correct terminal in plenty of time, where our choice was limited to Burger King. It was just about midnight on our bodies' clock by the time we were in the air on our way to Sydney to begin that fourteen hour jump over the Pacific. We had delayed a bit because Australian airports have curfews where no one is working. All we really wanted to do was sleep but they were serving a meal an hour into the flight. I probably slept better than Nancy did. We chatted with our seat companion who was a young man named Jonty, coincidentally from Adelaide, who had been in American working at a summer camp in the Poconos near Tannersville. He had been a surfboard maker but had lost his job because of the economic downturn. The delay proved to be timed perfectly because we were the first plane into Sydney. Getting through customs was amazingly easy and fast and before long we were on still another plane, this time the final jaunt to Adelaide, and sure as anything our faithful friends were waiting for us as we walked up the ramp.