So I arrived in this country exactly 11 days ago after a surprisingly pleasant 20ish hours of flying. This could be due to the fact that Air New Zealand has significantly more leg room than your standard United Air Lines flight from, say, Chicago to Detroit. They also provide each passenger with a personal video screen and a controller for "gaming." However, having been spoiled by "next generation" consoles like XBOX 360, shooting asteroids or playing the surprisingly difficult Australian version of Who Wants to Be A Millionaire just doesn't quite cut it. All things considered, it is likely that my small dosage of ambien allowed for a pleasant flight.
I was worried when I got on the flight because I knew I was going to be out like a light and I was sitting on the aisle. Upon arriving to my seat, I anxiously waited to see who would be sitting next to me:
Oh God, please don't sit next to me 350 lb behemoth... Phew, you got an exit row. A seasoned voluptuous voyager.
Uh oh, tired woman with crying baby is coming down the aisle looking at the middle section...Phew, not sitting here.
You. Sit down here now. Please, miss average looking college aged girl? Rats, sitting next to hipster homeboy.
Hello there sir, you and your wife look decidedly average and New Zealand-ish (?). And you are sitting next to me! Ehhhhh, alright.
So I was sitting next to some middle aged Kiwi's. Couldn't complain. I was just hoping that he didn't have some sort of "growing problem" that had not been properly addressed by Flomax. So next I got comfortable and put on a movie (The Hangover, which I had not yet seen. Dece.) Within 5 minutes, he was watching the same thing. After that movie, I put on an episode of the office. After the kiwi was finished with The Hangover, he put on the exact same episode of the office. Coincidence? Possibly. However, any skepticism was gone when I played the aforementioned asteroid game and he left his office episode EARLY to play the same game. He must not get out much, but then again the best part of the flight was that he doesn't get up much either. Which may upset Ms. Kiwi, but that's neither here nor there.
Throughout the entire flight, the man did not move. Not even to recline his seat. Unless in my self-induced daze, I forgot he woke me up. Many peaceful hours later, we arrived in Melbourne (pronounced Melbin).
The first few days we stayed at the home of THE Gregg Mollison (a renowned lacrosse icon of western melbourne...sweet?). He boasts that he taught Gary Gait (possibly the greatest lacrosse player ever) to use two hands. Could be lying, but who cares. Within the first five minutes he had me looking up at Eucalyptus trees for Koalas. Turns out that was a sick joke and Koalas are not like our squirrels. Jokester.
It was nice to see our team clubhouse and meet some of the players. The clubhouse has a bar attached to it. Count it.
After a few days there, Riley and I ventured into the actual downtown area and rented two beds in a hostel. The place was really nice, but not in a great location so we moved to our home for the last week: Base at St. Kilda. This hostel rules. It is right on the beach. It has a great social scene that is highlighted by nightly competitions (trivia, pool, ping pong, etc) with $100 bar tabs to be won. Anyone who knows me well knows that I love competitions, especially bar games and trivia, more than most, so I have been in heaven. I made it pretty far in the ping pong competition, but I met my match with some dude who I did not properly scout and realized way too late that he was a lefty.
We have 4 bunk beds in our room. Depending on my position in the bed, up 80% of my calves are hanging off the end. We share the room with 4 other english "blokes" who are absolutely hilarious. 3 lads and 1 lassie. We got past the point where we can ask for their names because we forgot them right away and its way too late now. Oh well. "Mate" seems to suffice.
The nightlife has been interesting. Lots of awesome techno music. On a related note, Riley and I want to start a DJ Company called SickWax, in which I will be named Trance Armstrong and he will be Beat Sampras.
There will be many more posts to come, but I have to go take advantage of a free all you can eat BBQ at the hostel.
-Trance Armstrong, out.
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