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So I wound up doing my first solo flight yesterday, to and from Sydney. This was the first time I'd travelled on a plane SOLO. Here are some of the highlights and oddities I've encountered both on/off the plane and fun facts I've discovered since:
-My mother was ALWAYS the person who was randomly pulled aside to get swabbed for bomb residue. This started with the flight to/from the Gold Coast years ago and continued right up to yesterday. SHE didn't get swabbed when she was going in/out of security at the airport at home. I joked to my SO on the way back that it would be hilarious if the family "trait" was passed onto me. The second I say it however, guess who gets pulled over for a bomb swab?
(Mum found it hilarious)
-Both my dad and my partner managed to set off the metal detector. My dad had his keys in his pocket, while my partner had to take his belt off and forgot to take his belt clip off. He was actually more concerned about his shoes!
-For some bizarre reason, I didn't get the ear popping issue as bad during take off (on both accounts), but rather I got hit with it when we were descending for landing. I was yawning SO much.
-Looking at flights for the other carrier I'm using for my eventual move over to Sydney, I discover that under the "dangerous goods", you are not allowed to take MREs or coconut oil on board. Can anyone explain these two to me? (The other "Dangerous goods" were obvious) Oh and these were for the checked AND carry-on.
-Somehow my partner and I managed to get LOST at Sydney airport. What had happened was that I'd gone the wrong way and gone out the exit that was meant to be used by visitors (ie those who'd come to see someone off). My partner however (Who's a native Sydneysider), had gone the right way and wound up in baggage claim. I wound up having to ask for directions from one of the desk ladies for the carrier I was using. She seemed amused.
What I was VERY happy to find in Sydney though was the presence of a DAISO Japan store. Basically, it's a Japanese version of a Dollar Tree. My partner did a slight sucky moment when he asked one of the girls "Does everything cost $2.80" (there was a sign RIGHT in front of him which said this), but it's somewhere I'll return to in the future. There was also a whole floor in this shopping centre which was used as a mini art-gallery and artist space. They also had a whole bunch of art installations and chalkboards that the public could draw and play with. The installations consisted of:
-A styrofoam head where the public could stick pins into it and create patterns. It was already full of pins by the time I got there though
-An old-fashioned birdcage full of a couple of artist mannequins and a whole bunch of messages tat people could write and stick in the cage. I write "Hello from Adelaide! I'm trapped with a bunch of phillistines, SAVE ME!" and stuck it in the cage
-A "rainbow" made out of post-it notes and the idea was to define "love" to you. Next to one of the chalkboards with the question "What is love?" someone had written on a post-it "Baby don't hurt me"
-The final installation was interesting. The idea was to take a card, write an emotion on it and pose these two one-armed mannequins according to whatever feeling/emotion it was. I may have written "horny" on mine and set it up so that one of the mannequins was spanking the other
(and yes, I have a photo of it)
-The chalkboards all had questions like "What is under our fair city" "When I was 5 I thought I would be..." "Draw your life in 4 frames" and so on.
The "When I was 5" question had a bunch of HILARIOUS answers, including "Tony Abbott (our current PM who nobody likes)", "better than this", "Iron Man", "taller", "flying" "a policewoman dragon slayer", "marry[ing] a rich man" and so on. Unfortunately there wasn't enough space for me to write "A big comedian on late night TV." (I misread the question and stuck that answer on the "What is under our city" question, which in hindsight, made it MORE hilarious)
I also discovered that Sydney trains are double-decker! O_o. There's the "entry" level which has a small scattering of seats for the disabled or similar, then there's an "upper" tier and a "Lower" tier. I wonder if the buses are like this....
-My mother was ALWAYS the person who was randomly pulled aside to get swabbed for bomb residue. This started with the flight to/from the Gold Coast years ago and continued right up to yesterday. SHE didn't get swabbed when she was going in/out of security at the airport at home. I joked to my SO on the way back that it would be hilarious if the family "trait" was passed onto me. The second I say it however, guess who gets pulled over for a bomb swab?
(Mum found it hilarious)-Both my dad and my partner managed to set off the metal detector. My dad had his keys in his pocket, while my partner had to take his belt off and forgot to take his belt clip off. He was actually more concerned about his shoes!
-For some bizarre reason, I didn't get the ear popping issue as bad during take off (on both accounts), but rather I got hit with it when we were descending for landing. I was yawning SO much.
-Looking at flights for the other carrier I'm using for my eventual move over to Sydney, I discover that under the "dangerous goods", you are not allowed to take MREs or coconut oil on board. Can anyone explain these two to me? (The other "Dangerous goods" were obvious) Oh and these were for the checked AND carry-on.
-Somehow my partner and I managed to get LOST at Sydney airport. What had happened was that I'd gone the wrong way and gone out the exit that was meant to be used by visitors (ie those who'd come to see someone off). My partner however (Who's a native Sydneysider), had gone the right way and wound up in baggage claim. I wound up having to ask for directions from one of the desk ladies for the carrier I was using. She seemed amused.
What I was VERY happy to find in Sydney though was the presence of a DAISO Japan store. Basically, it's a Japanese version of a Dollar Tree. My partner did a slight sucky moment when he asked one of the girls "Does everything cost $2.80" (there was a sign RIGHT in front of him which said this), but it's somewhere I'll return to in the future. There was also a whole floor in this shopping centre which was used as a mini art-gallery and artist space. They also had a whole bunch of art installations and chalkboards that the public could draw and play with. The installations consisted of:
-A styrofoam head where the public could stick pins into it and create patterns. It was already full of pins by the time I got there though
-An old-fashioned birdcage full of a couple of artist mannequins and a whole bunch of messages tat people could write and stick in the cage. I write "Hello from Adelaide! I'm trapped with a bunch of phillistines, SAVE ME!" and stuck it in the cage
-A "rainbow" made out of post-it notes and the idea was to define "love" to you. Next to one of the chalkboards with the question "What is love?" someone had written on a post-it "Baby don't hurt me"
-The final installation was interesting. The idea was to take a card, write an emotion on it and pose these two one-armed mannequins according to whatever feeling/emotion it was. I may have written "horny" on mine and set it up so that one of the mannequins was spanking the other
(and yes, I have a photo of it)-The chalkboards all had questions like "What is under our fair city" "When I was 5 I thought I would be..." "Draw your life in 4 frames" and so on.
The "When I was 5" question had a bunch of HILARIOUS answers, including "Tony Abbott (our current PM who nobody likes)", "better than this", "Iron Man", "taller", "flying" "a policewoman dragon slayer", "marry[ing] a rich man" and so on. Unfortunately there wasn't enough space for me to write "A big comedian on late night TV."
(I misread the question and stuck that answer on the "What is under our city" question, which in hindsight, made it MORE hilarious)I also discovered that Sydney trains are double-decker! O_o. There's the "entry" level which has a small scattering of seats for the disabled or similar, then there's an "upper" tier and a "Lower" tier. I wonder if the buses are like this....
Seriously though, their heaters can boil water for 25 min and give off hydrogen gas (you can also make a 'tear gas grenade' if it has hotsause 
it to security to help with training. She explained the reason about the cargo compartment not being pressurized, and I understood. Also, was threatened with a stern letter from the FAA. 
My contract was almost up, as was both of theirs, their give-a-dames (tm) were busted. 
no, no, no, that is understating his anger. 
That is more accurate.
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