Following the Sun west, Catalina Island near LA, heading out into the Pacific Ocean.
Good first day! I am writing this in my hotel room near the Honolulu Airport on Thursday morning. I gained six hours of time I think flying from Jacksonville, Florida to Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas and then the 8-hour flight into the vastness of the Pacific Ocean finding the Hawaiian island of Oahu (which always makes me laugh to think it or say it out loud, kind of like Yahoo!) and safely and thankfully the landing runway of the Honolulu airport around 4 pm local time yesterday.
It was a day following the sun, sitting in my window seat simply amazed at how much an airplane can keep up with the earth’s rotation. I think I calculated about 18 hours of sunshine for me yesterday. I think I like breaking up the trip to Sydney this way as I stayed up to 10 pm yesterday and slept pretty much to 5:30 am this morning, completely refreshed and ready to go! Much different than ‘piercing into the darkness’ and the short night on trips east across the pond to Scotland or Europe. Following the Sun with thoughts of Ben Hogan. I am following the long days of summer and sunshine too with this second consecutive winter trip to the southern hemisphere.
I have much to be thankful for on the ‘Golf Journey to Australia & New Zealand’ that I made a list on the plane. This odyssey has been in my mind since the ‘Journey to Olympic Golf’ a year ago. Getting to know a few Aussies in the golf business over the last seven years on tour helped put definition to the trip. Meeting a lively bunch of them at the Masters this year sealed the deal for sure. About a month ago I sent out a few emails to test the waters. The GO decision was made a week ago Monday on October 20th and this airplane ticket that brought me to Honolulu yesterday and will take me to Sydney today was purchased. So much has happened as far as planning in the nine days before I left So very thankful to so many people both back home and ahead in my new home for the next 2-1/2 months!
Upon arrival in Sydney I will secure the rental car, find a SIM card for my LG phone (never knew it meant Subscriber Identity Module but now I do) and hopefully it will work and give me internet & GPS and a way to text back to the States. I will drive 6.1 km to my room off campus near the University of New South Wales (UNSW), meet some new friends and stay awake as long as I can.
Well it’s time to leave for the airport and hop aboard a Hawaiian Airlines flight to Sydney and thankfully and happily follow the sun ‘Down Under’ for another day!
(-:
Andy
Aloha, Mahalo. Aloha… made it to Honolulu, heading to Sydney to day on the 2nd day of the ‘Journey to Australia & New Zealand’ Hello to new friends Down Under, so long but see you soon to old friends in the USA! (-: (Facebook Link, Andy Reistetter, 10/30/14)
