Leaving & Landing

It’s the day of leaving and I’ve been putting off writing something for a while. Not because I didn’t want to, or I’m lazy (maybe a little), but life has just come at me really fast in the last few weeks.

Apart from the additional planning, I had to have numerous coffee’s / beers with friends & family, as well as some restructuring with my resignation at work (spoiler – foodora have offered me an awesome role for when I return, stoked!).

Now that it’s all out of the way, I’m ready to hit the road, although did have some of the pre-trip anxiety (of which I haven’t had in years).

Fast forward this blog post (which I didn’t post as intended), and I am now in Los Angeles at my mate Trevor’s house by his pool. It’s 8:30am (2:30am Sydney time), and it is somewhat overcast as I type this.

The flight wasn’t as bad as anticipated as I got seated in an exit row and binged on “It’s always sunny in Philadelphia”. The pre flight however – well that was another story.

I woke up at 5:45am, had all my shit together ready to go and alas, could NOT find my wallet. Mum was kind enough to offer me money and arrange for new credit cards to be shipped over (TY TY), but then it dawned on me that the real issue would be the driver’s license. How the hell was I going to purchase a car without one?

I immediately went blank and thought of options. Do I delay my flights a day, hit the RTA and bank and sort it all out ASAP? Do I just go as scheduled and wing it? I honestly thought I’d fucked the entire thing up, even going so far as calling my friends I was with the night before and also the bar (at 6:15am) to see whether they had my wallet!

Just before I completely went off the rails and allowed my panic to burst out, Mum looks at me, says “George, just go, it’ll be fine” and throws my wallet at me.

Crises averted!

Whilst it might sound trivial, let me tell you that amount of planning etc. that had gone into the entire trip was so great, that it being undone by me being an idiot and misplacing a wallet would probably send me into cardiac arrest.

With that done, I called my UBER and headed for Sydney Airport. Upon arrival I was looking forward to quickly checking in, hitting the American Express Lounge (Diamond Rewards baby) and posting this blog post before take off.

Again, another small speed bump with not only the check-in line taking an hour (due to internal errors), but as soon as I got near the lounge I was put on a waiting list as it was full. A WAITING LIST FOR THE LOUNGE?!?

By the time I got in and grabbed some food (which was ok I guess), I had about 20 minutes to get to my gate and board the flight – hence why my loyal readers were not gifted this until now.

I suppose the early lesson is here that things are likely to and will go wrong, and that’s ok! The whole journey is one to savour and enjoy, and if I sweat the small stuff I’ll lose sight of what I’m trying to achieve here.

So with that, I’ll leave you guys as I’m off to T-Mobile to sort out my SIM card and buy Trevor some food to thank him for picking me up. Tonight I’ll be hitting my old rugby club’s end of season dinner (shout out Santa Monica Dolphins), which is usually a tame affair.

Expect more content both here and on the gram (that’s instagram which I’m now a god at) in the coming days!

P.S good luck to the Mosman Whales back home who today celebrate their annual ladies day. Give us a Whale Wash boys!

P.P.S my “hetero life partner” Nick is being auctioned off at said Ladies Day. Please be good to him whoever is lucky enough to win 🙂