Australia is far away

And made even further with 14 hour delays in San Francisco!

Indeed, Avid Reader, I arrived in San Francisco to change planes after what was supposed to be a 2.5 hour layover at SFO. To my surprise, the flight was postponed from 10:40PM to 8:30AM Tuesday morning. But, Todd, you ask, that doesn’t add up to 14 hours! I agree!

Qantas gracefully put passengers on New Zealand Air or United flights as they checked in at SFO. Sadly, I didn’t get there in time to secure an empty seat so instead was put up in a nearby hotel for the night. My alarm went off at 5:30AM this morning such as to make the shuttle back to the airport and endure International Security. As I got up to shower, I noticed a note under my hotel room door. It was my friends from Qantas again, regretfully notifying me that my 8:30AM flight was now scheduled to depart at 12:45PM.

So, a couple more hours sleep, a courtesy breakfast at the hotel and I was off to the airport to brave security and wait again. Turns out the flight didn't BOARD until 1PM and we took off sometime close to 2PM.

It's nearly 11PM here in Sydney on Wednesday night... just before 6AM in Seattle Wednesday morning. Sydney is 15 hours ahead during summer hours and I've seemingly lost two full days with the delays and 13.5 hour flight here. But adventures to come starting tomorrow with my first day in the DRIVE Australia office and in Sydney!