I’ve been to just about every state in the country of my birth (and I have my eye on you, Delaware), so I know on an intellectual level that even though I was traveling to Australia and New Zealand… two countries where English is the primary language, most of what I would be experiencing would be well out of my comfort zone. Traveling to Australia and then traveling to New Zealand for the documentary, and squaring that circle with actual boots-on-the-ground experience was a never ceasing jolt, and a mostly pleasurable one at that.
I would recommend Australia to any first-time international traveler because the experience provided both a soft landing as well as almost two weeks of surprises. Those surprises actually began in Los Angeles, while still on the tarmac at LAX, with the complimentary tim-tams. Tim-tams are little chocolate biscuits – an Australian favorite, apparently – and my sweet tooth took every opportunity to assert itself whenever I encountered these treats. I just love the idea that even snacks are different somewhere else… although we may have a permanent gulf when it comes to vegemite, marmite and other —mite related spreads. However, for the flight to Adelaide via Melbourne, it was a fifteen hour introductory course in culture assimilation.
This must be said. While I know that airlines like RyanAir and the like exist… airlines that seem to have adopted the Baron von Sacher-Masoch theory of travel and the Gordon Gecko theory of cost cutting… the Qantas flight was simply a revelation for me. I’ve flown every U.S. domestic carrier that exists, and quite a few that don’t exist any longer (oh, People’s Express, we hardly knew ye), mostly in economy class. Much like the tale of the man who accidentally kills himself in the bath because he increased the water temperature in such small increments that he didn’t realize how hot it was getting, airlines have successfully implemented this strategy at 35,000 feet with regard to our expectations. From reducing meals… first to sandwich packs and then to snack packs and then nothing at all, from removing magazines in favor of paid internet access (if you’re lucky), to charging for pillows, the strategy of turning an airplane into a bus with wings has long since been a success.
So it was a surprise to find that the good folks at Qantas economy not only provided seats that allowed us to sleep with a degree of comfit I was completely unfamiliar with in economy class, each seat had a pillow and blanket on it when we sat down.Tthey further astounded me by… feeding us. Yes, for the love of all hat is good and holy, they fed us. Often. Osso Bucco and grilled baramundi… in economy? Food at all? Snacks on demand? We had escaped the surly bonds of earth and touched the face of God… in tim-tam form.
It’s not even that they fed us on the long haul segment. This was perhaps somewhat expected. although the frequency and generosity surprised me. It was that they even fed us… twice (!) on the flight from Melbourne to Adelaide. Domestic flights serving food. I never got over that.
The surprises kept coming from there. I’m a baseball fan. I have been since almost as far back as I can remember, and rather than wax rhapsodic, I would simply refer you to anything anyone says in any episode of the Ken Burns documentary… I can’t top that. It, like football, is the background soundtrack of my life. So, wandering to the departure in Melbourne for the connecting flight to Adelaide and hearing excited voices talking about the world cricket finals was an absolutely new experience. I don’t know how cricket is played, even after almost a month of hearing about it on every radio and television station in Australia and New Zealand, but I love that there is a different and pervasive way of loving sport that contrasts with everything Iv’e ever known.
Of course, the driving on the left… I was the passenger for this journey, but I kept leaning forward in my seat expecting to hit the steering wheel. After all, I was sitting on the left side of the car. There should be a steerage wheel there.. Looking out the window and seeing cars driving opposite us on the right was thrilling, just for the novelty of it to an American eye.
And this was just the first three hours.
Those first few hours on the ground in a new and unexplored… to me… country are just a feast for all the senses. You hear words you don’t hear every day, even in English. The lift, the petrol station, the bonnet and the boot, and the phrase “no worries” repeated over and over in the actual Australian accent. Wandering in Veale Gardens near our hotel, you’re not just seeing flowers and plants you’ve never seen before, your’e smelling fragrances that are completely new to this particular nose, and while I now know that spinifex is just the plague of agriculture in the outback and everywhere else it manages to take root, the feel of these little silica tipped grasses from something that looks completely harmless was something I’ll never forge… even if it was kind of painful.
There is, of course a long discussion that needs to be had when it comes to ice, or the lack thereof, but I believe I’ll save that for another day, because this post is about optimism and adventure. It’s also about finding adventure in the ordinary. In the park that is built around a statue of Queen Victoria or Captain Cook. About the idea that your hiking shoes, and the microbes they might contain, are of far more concern to the customs official than the thousands of dollars of camera gear you’re importing into the country. Of the use of words you know well, like dollar, that still make you do math in your head all day to figure out what that cup of coffee is actually costs, or what 250ml actually gets you.
It’s a feast of revelations that you don’t need 20/20 vision to see, and as the first stop on our filming journey, Adelaide did not disappoint.
Don’t forge hat Monday will have more practical travel tips! Plus, next Thursday – Adelaide in a hurry, and why you should go there.
