We're Almost Off !

The Call of Asia Once More: Austral Asia

SIA A380 all the way around the world* (well now it is *mostly* A380 around the world, due to a schedule change) and then a wee bit more for good measure... south east from Singapore to Sydney for 81/2 hours - then round and round in circles - and back. Intra-Planetary travel has been a common feature on my 28 years*** on Earth, and yet there's still lots more to see before I return home. So this trip covers the Coral Sea mainly, the exotic Vanuatu Island chain and the Great Barrier Reef as highlights. This is the most expensive trip ever (in my human history at least), and I haven't even left yet. Oddly, the round world ticket was one of the cheapest items. But the Coral Sea I have to go into, snakes, jellies, sharks and all. Despite the threat - it's a must.

As anyone who knows me will tell you, I have this deep seated love/hate with aeroplanes. Especially big ones that look like they should not fly...

Yet I keep on doing this to myself again and again! It's as if the morbid fascination has me consumed... This trip is 22 flights, 121.6 hours actual flying time and 38,671 miles (62,235 km) according to my iPad app. 

It's over 5 days with my arse being catapulted through the air, not including the wait to board at the airport. It's a lot of fuel and complimentary peanuts.

A380 - first time landing in the Swiss Confederation, my adopted chocolatey home on your Earth...

The tail fin alone is 24m high. That is just over seven stories on a building. See the tiny humanoid below... He too is in Zürich, one of the finer places to visit on your planet. He's just a bit bigger than a tire.

 The only thing keeping it up in the air is gas! Good Lord - a mere fart keeps us aloft!

Oh how nerdy this is! HOW AWESOMELY NERDY! Oh I know! I know.... But it's so fascinating. Tons of metal and bodies zooming through the air nearing the speed of sound and wishing for dinner service to come that much sooner... on my planet we do the same thing of course, but we banned children on board (they go cargo) and the food is better.
The real meat and potatoes of this trip however is kangaroos, koalas and great barrier reef! No spiders, no snakes & no assasin jellyfish thanks very much, this is Dave's version of Austral Asia. It's all sunshine and lollipops, no laden and fragrant diapers sought. That of course is the point of all the jet engines and metal tubes darting right, left and centre through the atmosphere - I have to see as much as I can.

A380 v. A321:

The way I go on you would think I single handedly get that tin can in the air...

And I do! I work harder than the pilots wishing the thing aloft! Up! Up! You can do it! 560 tonnes... I should have gone to the toilet before take off to help with that.

Dave is by the Singapore flag awaiting his Singapore Sling, because tranquilizers work so much better washed down with a cocktail... Pills'n'Liquor is what I would name an airline. Either that, or Titanic. It was "unsinkable" you know...

And into the tropical sunset for a carefree snooze around the peculiar little planet you call home... pass me a pillow... it's going to be a long flight...

FEBRUARY 6th 2013 DEPARTING CANADA FOR JFK. COME BACK THEN!

*Exception: TransAmerica (Air Canada), TransAustralia & Vanuatu (Virgin/Qantas/Air Vanuatu) routes. SIA changed their winter schedule JFK-FRA-SIN so now it will be a 777 instead of an A380, poopy, so it's no longer A380 all the way around the planet :( Just A380 most of the way around the planet. Dang, the punchy headline is no more...

**Easy Enrichment: I am sure I am an heir to a fortune somewhere and The Huntley Hotel,  a Santa Monica landmark, is my next attempt to find it - after having failed miserably at cash stuffed banks in Switzerland.

***Numeracy: On my home planet we don't have numbers above 28 so we stop counting at that.

Location:GETTING READY FOR FEBRUARY 2013