Journey beginnings - part 1

My travels started on July 4 at 1:30am. Not really an ideal time to start a long trip, but that's when flight's leave Darwin. I think I managed to sleep for part of the flight to Sydney. I had a 3 hour layover in Sydney - too long to be comfortable, but not bad - then started the 12 1/2 hour flight to LA. Somehow, I managed to get on a flight that had exactly zero good movies to watch.

At first, it looked like I would have an entire row of seats to myself, which was surprising because the flight was actually pretty full. Then a flight attendant moved someone into my row. So much for that. Actually this turned out okay, the woman sitting next to me was friendly and interesting, and seemed to fall asleep at about the same time I did, which wasn't much or often enough. Turns out she is from Mexico City and had been in Australia doing missionary work though a group called CharacterFirst. My understanding is that the group emphasizes 'strength of character' building workshops (integrity, honesty, self-image building, etc.). Anyway, we had a good conversation, and exchanged business cards at the end of the flight.

Surprisingly, there were no real delays going through customs in LA, which meant that I had a full 6 hours to enjoy the hospitality of LAX. That's about 5 1/2 hours longer than LAX hospitality is designed for. I was asleep before my flight to Denver had left the gate, and didn't wake up until the plane made a rather bumpy landing.

I made it to Fort Collins by around 6:00pm on July 4, approximately 36 hours after leaving Darwin on July 4. Strangely, I didn't feel any younger for getting an extra day back when I crossed the international date line.