Holiday: Day Fifteen

How good does it feel to have slept! Oh joy!

I was still pumped from all I learnt yesterday and was salivating for more. Jim Rohn is just such a good communicator that you want to hear more. He has a unique way of speaking and delivering his message that it cannot be described.

Breakfast was the Marriott’s awesome breakfast buffet so I loaded up on a big plate of bacon and hashbrown and followed it with waffles, OJ and coffee.

When I went to get my morning coffee provided by the conference, there was a woman there by the name of Kathy who was on hold on her cell phone but obviously waiting to get her coffee. Unable to do it with one hand I offered to get it for her. She was very grateful and at the first break we got talking about her business which is selling a vitamin-loaded fruit-based beverage.

I’m always wary of MLM-based products but I’m not going to pass judgement until I’ve looked into it significantly.

Finishing off the conference was the goal-setting. Even if this was the only thing the conference was on, it would be worth going. It really opened my eyes to the benefits of goal setting. I made about 45 goals for the next 10 years but the thing is, it isn’t a static list. It can be added to, updated, progressed at any time.

Some of the more interesting goals I have listed are: (and the timeframe in which I will achieve it)

- Learn to speak Mandarin, Spanish, French and Italian (5 years)

- Read one personal development or motivational book every month (immediate)

- Achieve a net worth of over $1,000,000 (10 years)

- Work overseas for at least 3 months (3 years)

- Learn a martial art (1 year)

We were asked to summerise how we are going to achieve our goals in one sentence or paragraph, mine reads:

No longer addicted to TV and superfluous internet pastimes, I am continuously improving my body, my spirit and my mind with activities that complement my goals rather than delaying their achievement.

This has been one of the most fantastic experiences of my life. Thanks dad.

Finishing my time in Texas cannot be complete without having a Texas T-Bone steak so my sister, brother-in-law and I went to the steak-house in the hotel and got 24oz (600g) T-Bones. Awesome.

I’m not sure how the conversation got onto the topic but when Adam (my brother-in-law) found out I’d never had vodka, he took me to the sports bar next-door after our meal and shouted me a shot.

I don’t know what the big deal people make out with straight spirits, I quite liked it but totally acknowledge it has some kick to it. It won’t be a regular beverage for me but when I do have it, I will enjoy it, but only one shot per sitting.

Holiday: Day Fourteen

The boarding call for the first flight to Dallas was called just after midnight already being 2:00am at my destination, I was fighting to stay awake after being up since 5:00 am.

The attendant taking enquiries at the desk was good humoured despite being obviously frustrated by the numerous standby people continually coming up and asking about their chances.

Eventually, he piped up and said “I’m only going to read this once, the following standby passengers can come forward and board the plane…” … I prayed.

“…John Filtch… Peter Blevenstein… David Beaumont…” I certainly was surprised.

On the plane, it was surreal. I was almost expecting to start hearing the voice over from that reality TV program “Airport USA”… “David managed to get on the plane, but back at the gate, things were starting to get heated” (insert frustrated woman threatening to sue and screaming, security approaching) “While back on the plane attendant Gary had his own problems”

Our good natured attendant Gary did have his own problems. First two boarding passes for the same seat, only to turn out it was for the next flight, how are they even able to get on the plane if it isn’t their flight? Second problem was actually two boarding passes for this flight with the same seat allocation. Third problem was that the computer allocated a passenger a non-existent seat.

We eventually got off the ground after all those had been sorted. The chief attendant was a real character and full of energy, hardly what you expect at 12:45am. He started by giving the pilot and co-pilot nicknames of “Maverick” and “Iceman” and then proceeded to refer to our destination as “The Big D”. Good though, someone offer that man a job as a trainer or manager!

The night lights of LA were pretty spectacular, I only vaguely remembered it from 1989. The city stretches to the horizon and beyond, a massive place beyond description.

Los Angeles at night
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

I don’t know how much I slept on the plane but I don’t think it helped. I dragged my sorry self off the plane, waited for my bag to appear then tried to find a taxi. Got to the hotel and it was 6:20am. No sleep for me, just enough time to shower and change before breakfast.

I’m still furious at American Airlines for their stuff-ups, if I’d been able to get on the right flight, I could have got some sleep at the airport and probably not been so wound up that I didn’t sleep much at all on the plane. (Not to mention the $50+ of phonecalls to them and back to Australia trying to get it all sorted out)

I had several coffees and a plate of bacon for breakfast which helped get me alert enough for the seminar.

The Jim Rohn Weekend Seminar is something special. My father did one of these about 28 years ago and says it changed his life. One of the major focuses is goal-setting and he set himself a goal to be able to send my sister and I on one as well if the opportunity arose. Goal achieved 31^st March 2007… thanks Dad!

Jim Rohn
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

We learnt great lessons in personal development, leadership, communication and financial independence. I’ve got far too much to digest, organise, and plan to put it here other than to say that everyone can get a benefit from Jim Rohn.

Holiday: Day Thirteen

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I hate the journey, love the destination.

Today’s trials began when I had to get up at 5:00am so I could get everything packed and ready to wait for the bus at 7:00. Due to the fiasco of having to buy snowboard boots, not everything fit in my bag which was incredible because it’s one of the biggest suitcases I’d ever seen. I ended up packing my best shoes as carry on, what a pain.

I had planned on going to McDonalds for breakfast but can you believe, they’re not open until 7am. I’ve never seen a McDonalds that opens so late, so searched around and managed to find somewhere that had an entirely unappetising croissant.

So I’m tired, hungry and frustrated. Not good when travelling. But the view on the way back to Vancouver was fantastic. Such a pretty place, I’m really keen to come back sometime and bring some friends/family with me.

Sea to Sky Highway
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Get to the airport and then the rebate people (getting the Canadian GST back) want to see my snowboarding jacket to prove I actually bought it. Of course, it’s packed on in my over-stuffed suitcase.

Next, I was ultra careful this time to ensure that I had no reason to be stopped after last time with the lack of information regarding having to remove my laptop from my bag. Again they pulled me aside and swabbed my things for drugs. Obviously to compensate for the lack of any issue, they confiscated my toothpaste. I couldn’t believe it! The rules are no more than 100g of any individual liquid item and my 130g tube of toothpaste was 1/3 used.

I really didn’t want to create a scene as they guy had made his mind up and could make my life very unpleasant if I did challenge it so I let it pass. Walking out of customs I think they only thing they could have done to make me more furious was to strip search me.

The flight was fairly uneventful and finding the right terminal wasn’t too hard. The first issue was they changed the gate on me, fortunately I noticed and continued to wait. At 5:05pm, I checked the board to see my flight had been cancelled.

I immediately went down to the ticket counter and stood in line waiting to reschedule… about 20 minutes later someone pulled all of us who were cancelled out of the line and took us to another booking counter. Then some lady who was obviously higher up the food chain started handing out these pink leaflets which stated:

“Today’s events have been unusually disruptive, and we want to express our sincere apology for any inconvenience you may have been caused.

To assist you with changes to your reservations, please contact the American Airlines re-accommodation desk at:”

So I called immediately, waited 5 minutes and got cut off. The lady who handed out the pink leaflets said call the number and go home, there is nothing more we can do today.

Frustration
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

So I take the advice, sit down, get out my laptop and try and get another flight with another carrier while waiting on hold… for 50 minutes before being cut off.

I’m despairing at this point. Not knowing what to do, I get back in the 2^nd line again and wait for another 30 minutes till getting to the front. I decide to lay on the Aussie charm to the max and explain my predicament. The guy was sympathetic and noticed that I’m an international traveller and used that to justify putting me on the highest priority for standby.

So, now I wait. It’s 8:30 pm, I’m eating a crappy Whopper Value Meal (because that’s pretty much the limit of cuisine here at the LA Airport), and waiting until after midnight to find out if I’m actually going to get to Texas in the next 12 hours.

Holiday: Day Twelve

Blueberry waffles again made my morning shine. My left arm is still killing me after my fall yesterday but I shall endure.

Blueberry Waffles
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Went up to the alpine areas of Whistler mountain today as planned but my feet were killing me again. I pushed through it and did some runs between the Roundhouse Lodge and Emerald chair.

Once my body was giving up I went down to mid-mountain to do some runs on the Olympic chair and then take the trail back down to the village. But before I did, I needed to investigate these “Beaver Tails”. I was most disappointed to find 0% beaver in mine, but it was yummy.

Beavertail: 100% Beaver free!
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

My body is having stern words with me right now and is refusing to cooperate, however I’m rather satisfied with what I have achieved over the last 9 days.

Off to Texas tomorrow for the Jim Rohn course.

Holiday: Day Eleven

My leg felt no better when I woke up so I left it until after lunch to start boarding again.

It was bloody awesome. I’m really getting the hang of it now, the issue was fear. Leaning downhill feels dangerous and so natural tendency says to lean back up the hill except that is exactly what was causing me to fall down. I have overcome that fear and really am picking up speed. Tomorrow back to the alpine area for my last day.

Holiday: Day Ten

It seems to be a bit of a consistent theme here, waking up to find my body screaming at me. Oh well, learning to push through it.

Went up to the "alpine" area of Whistler mountain this morning, feeling confident enough to try the harder of the "green" runs. The weather was amazing, crystal clear skies, sunny and relatively warm.

Taking a breather
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

I think I'm finally getting the hang of these boots and my skill is increasing but unfortunately I found that it hasn't improved enough yet the hard way. On one of the steeper slopes I caught the heel edge while turning and went heels over head over heels, in the process twisting my right hip quite badly.

So I'm off my feet for the rest of today but still got in a few hours of good board time. Tomorrow I'll head back to the newbie slopes to work on my technique.

Holiday: Day Nine

I caught a glimpse of something yesterday morning that made my mouth water: Waffles with fresh berries and cream. So I followed my stomach and man were they good!

I wasn’t feeling the best after a disrupted sleep so I didn’t go out to the mountain until after lunch. Wow it was beautiful. Sunny with the occasional light snowfalls, the snow was a bit mushy but good for my level of confidence. I was sure enough with my skills at the moment to actually take some pictures while boarding!

Confidence
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

I spent most of the afternoon on the “yellow brick road” run which is pretty easy but mainly to work on my technique. This is serviced by the lift call the “Magic Chair”… the only thing magic about it seems to be the way so many people can magically end up on their arse when getting off.

Magic Chair
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Sitting on the chairlift, you see some really cool things like these 4 and 5 year olds zooming around learning to ski and snowboard. I'm certain I've seen kids with ski's shorter than my boots!

Mini-Skiers
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

My new snowboard boots worked pretty well, 100% better than the hire ones but I was still getting some cramps. Adjusting how tight the laces were helped a fair bit but by the time I got to whistler village, they were pretty bad so I went back to Comor.

Rick helped me again this time and sold me (at significant discount) a set of better footbeds with more arch support. He also had the liner heat moulded to my foot again. Even walking back to my room it felt loads better. I’m so stoked for tomorrow. Its going to be awesome weather and I’m not going to have any issues below my knees, I’m sure!

Once again, the call of steak was too great and I found myself ordering another large cut of meat from “The Keg”. Tonight I had a Baseball Sirloin… and I’m told it is called that because its of a similar size. Personally, I think it’s a little larger and more like a squashed baseball shape but whatever, it was yummy.

Baseball Sirloin
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

As I was about to locate a wheelbarrow to get my stomach and me back to my room, I spotted that the local cinema was showing the TMNT movie. I decided what a better what to round off the evening. Pretty good, very enjoyable and excellent animation.

Holiday: Day Eight

I fully intended on going snowboarding today but on my way to the mountain I stopped to confirm my snowmobiling tour for tomorrow. Unfortunately they need a minimum of 2 people for the Backcountry X tour I selected so I had to change my booking to this afternoon.

Not a good day to be on the mountain
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Probably a good thing, everyone coming down off the mountain looked like drowned rats and it was evident by the lack of queues for the gondola that they were staying away in droves.

Initially it was quite challenging, trying to manoeuvre something like a jet ski stuck in molasses, but I got the hang of it quite quickly. The second steep descent we did I lost control and badly jarred my right arm. They shouldn’t have been sending us down such a steep slope (approx 3 stories drop down) so soon in the tour.

Snowmobiling
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

My right arm was very sore for the rest of the tour but I was quite comfortable. My new snowboard boots kept my toes very warm and I kept going with much gusto.

At the fastest speed, I hit about 95km/h but I’m unsure because I was more concentrating on the conditions and the snow than the tacho.

Tomorrow I’m getting up early and going onto the mountain as snow is predicted for tonight. I’m really looking forward to how well these new boots do as they are so comfortable.

Holiday: Day Seven

Oh the agony of my limbs!

I really pushed it very hard yesterday but don’t regret it much. I went to bed early (about 9:30) and slept till about 9am.

I have decided to buy some snowboard boots as I just can’t justifying wasting the remaining 6 days I have on the mountain.

While I was out and about trying to find a good-fitting pair of snowboard boots, I also popped into the chocolate store to pick up something for afternoon tea.

Chocolate dipped strawberries, perfect accessory to my afternoon Starbucks three-shot Latté.

Strawberrylattelicious
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

In addition, I found something which must be cultural here. 2L bottles of Apple Cider, no not the carbonated apple juice but the full on 7% alcohol beverage and only about AU$9 a bottle.

TWO litres of cider?
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

After going to 4 different shops which stock snowboard boots, I went back to the one that my instructor from yesterday (Graham) recommended. Comor had both the best informed staff and the best fitting boot. In fact, one store didn’t even have ANY models in my size at all.


New Snowboard Boots
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

I ended up with the Burton Gail boot in a rather garish Brown/Green/Gold colour. (not to mention is was almost $200 off rec retail. :) Colour was very much secondary to me as fit was my primary concern. I saw numerous boots that I loved the look of, but the best fit won out.

At Comor, first Rick helped me out with the initial fit and then Renee when I came back to make my purchase. Both had been working in skate and snowboard shops for almost 20 years so it’s no wonder they knew what they were doing.

The boots have what they call a “heat mouldable liner” which means that they heat the boot/liner up for about 10 mins, then I put them on and let them cool for about 15 minutes. Over that time the liner sets to a perfect shape for my foot. The comparison between the other boots I tried and these ones, especially after the heat moulding, was like chalk and cheese. So comfortable.

Holiday: Day Six

Again I shunned the “two scoops” in favour of a cooked breakfast. Bacon, hashbrowns and two freshly squeezed orange juices. (The hashbrowns are more spicy than I tend to like)

Waiting for my lesson
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

I was very keen about today as I had done so well yesterday. Not only that, I also was confident enough to bring my new Canon IXUS 900Ti with me. I got it because it was 10 megapixels and has a titanium body so I'll find it pretty hard to break. :)

Today I had a Japanese instructor and despite the fact her English wasn’t perfect, she was excellent. We went up to the same run I had so much trouble with on the second day of lessons and I coped well.

Unfortunately, my boots started to give me trouble again. This should not be happening. Everyone I talked to prior to this holiday emphasised the importance of well-fitting boots.

Once the boots caused my feet to start cramping, it meant that I was favouring muscles that I shouldn’t be, making my legs weak. The instructor was very patient and she told me I should go back to the hire shop and get both the boots and bindings swapped.

Long ride on the Whistler Gondola
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

So back to the village on the Whistler Gondola. It’s a really nice ride with spectacular views of the mountains even on days with low visibility.

The people at the hire shop really didn’t know what to do with me. I had now had both kinds of boots they generally stock and tried giving me a very soft “freestyle” boot designed more for terrain park and half-pipe or so I’m told.

The instructor from this morning told me to meet up with the “half day” lesson groups and go from there. All of this turned into a mixed blessing as Graham from yesterday ended up being my instructor and I was the only one in the group. Normally a half-day one-on-one is like $300 and here I am getting it for free. Awesome.

Graham my instructor and I
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Graham helped me progress quite quickly but it was rapidly apparent that my unusual-shaped feet were still causing me issues. He said that the Burton brand that they hire out are quite a wide boot and with narrow feet I’m unlikely to get a good fit.

I noticed that with the final pair of boots they had more give in them and made it harder to control the board.

Despite this, Graham helped me refine my technique to the point that I’m confident to be on the slopes for the next 6 days without an instructor.

So my dilemma is this. I’ve been advised by several instructors and basically told by the people at the hire shop that the only way I’m going to get a well-fitting boot is to buy my own. I’m going to have to think about it overnight as without them my holiday is going to take a bit of a turn for the worse, with them, I’ll be running short on money for the rest of my time away.

Ice... in my pants
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

When I got back to my room, I found that somehow a large quantity of snow had invaded my pants and turned into ice. I did have some pretty big spills today so it’s no wonder. I’ll have to work out a way to prevent that in future.

Very sore, going to bed early, contemplating new boots first thing tomorrow.

Holiday: Day Five

Apparently today is the first day of Spring here in Canada. I gave up on the “two scoops” and headed to the “Beet Root Café” in the marketplace. A double-serve of bacon plus the Canadian version of hash browns provided me with the best breakfast I’ve had here so far. Their hash browns are more what I would describe as seasoned roast potato pieces. A bit spicier than what I’m accustomed to but nothing two large glasses of fresh orange juice couldn’t fix.

Today I had a further different instructor. Graham is from Scotland was the best of the instructors that I’ve had. He was very understanding about the unfortunate situation from yesterday and gave me a little extra time. By lunch I was really getting the hang of it. After lunch we moved to a much longer and a little steeper section. Wow, this was getting to be lots of fun. The only times I was falling down was trying to avoid the bloody skiers who just zip past with no care, often within inches.

By the end of the day I was even getting good at anticipating the seemingly random movements of skiers and could almost get to the bottom without falling on my arse. None of the falls today were bad at all.

I’ve booked a snowmobile tour for Sunday morning so I’m hoping that it will have been snowing more.

I decided that given how good today was that I’d top it off with another steak from The Keg. This time I had the beautiful Mandy serving me and I chose a Medium Rare Chicago-cooked New York 10oz steak with baked potato. Two thumbs up for both the service and food.

Holiday: Day Four

Slept a little better last night, ended up leaving the window open despite the sub-zero temperatures.

Once again, I tried the Kellogg’s “Two Scoops” (equivalent of “Sultana Bran” in Australia) and I’ve decided I can’t eat it any more. Its just got too much sugar.

Wet Gear
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

I tried to get my snow clothes a bit better put on today than yesterday, trying to minimise the amount of cold air that can get in. I think I did ok.

On my way to meet up for the snowboard lesson, I saw a squirrel bounding across the path, savaging food that didn’t quite make it into the nearby trashcan. Very cute and quite fascinating.

At the recommendation of my instructor from yesterday, they put me in the “high level 2” group. I was quite excited because I was linking my turns and going well.

By the time we got to the top of the mountain, I finally got to see real falling snow, not ice/hail/semi-frozen-water. Walking on this real fresh snow was a lot different to the “shaved ice” that I experienced yesterday. It would be like comparing walking on course beach sand to walking on central-Australian red bull-dust.

My glee quickly turned to apprehension as the first slope we were going to go down was at least twice as steep as anything from yesterday. These guys all had a much better level of experience than me and not only could I not keep up, I was falling down lots.

Add to this that despite following the instructions of the rental place and having my snowboard boots so I can just touch the end of my toes to the end of the boot, any heel-side work I was doing resulted in my toes being crushed up against the end of the boot and within 20 minutes, my feet were numb, after an hour I couldn’t feel them.

Some of the bits I had to come down were at least at a 45 degree angle and quite scary. I was being very careful and the instructor (Bruce) gave me some additional one-on-one to try and help me catch up.

By the time I got to the bottom, I couldn’t remember how many times I had falling down including one major spill that resulted in me falling backwards down the hill onto my coccyx, straining my right hip and knocking the wind out of me. Combined with the torture I gave my arms on the way down from all the times I fell, I couldn’t continue for the day. I could barely move.

I thanked my instructor and the others in my group for their patience and headed back to Whistler Villiage. I decided to try my luck getting another day of lessons seeing as I barely got through a third of today. I spoke to Daphney who I’m told is the coordinator for all the lessons. She was very sympathetic and authorised me to get another day. Awesome.

Next stop was to get new boots, a half-size bigger than my current ones. Had an Aussie from Newcastle help me and she was very helpful. Not only did I get the right size but they fit better, were a newer boot and had a better lacing system.

The view from my room
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Back at my apartment, I’m so sore and my arms are still shaking like they were yesterday and the parts of my body I fell on all hurt. So I decide to get a massage.

Now, I’ve never had a massage before, so I didn’t really know what to expect and I certainly thought an hour wouldn’t go by so quickly. I went to Blue Highways massage and Jason was my masseuse. Despite being painful at times, it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Walked around the village in search of something for dinner which wasn’t pizza, McDonalds or KFC while also not breaking the budget. Ended up getting a burger from a nice flame-grilled joint. Their bacon is… weird. Sliced circles about 4cm across.

I had been a bit reticent to use the hot tub because I don’t like showing off my moobs but I decided it was needed tonight to take maximum benefit of the massage. Even though there were quite a few people in there earlier, it was dead empty when I went. Oh well, maybe soon I’ll start meeting people. I’m determined to go to the Longhorn bar after boarding tomorrow. (provided I’m not too sore)

Holiday: Day Three

My Board
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Up early to begin my 3 days of snowboarding lessons. I failed to get as much sleep as I was planning to, my body clock is still a bit haywire.

So I break open my North American equivalent of “Sultana Bran” called “Two Scoops” and I’m gobsmacked to find that the raisins/sultanas are sugar coated. What is this fascination with sugary breakfast foods?

Dressing in my snow gear, I realised how warm it actually was in my room. I was sweating until I actually got out in the cold alpine air.

I have realised that one of my greatest advantages (and why I think some people look at me strangely for dressing so lightly) is that I’m used to this level of cold thanks to years of camping with my parents as I was growing up and with my church’s “Ruff-it” camp. First thing in the morning, it was pretty common to be just above freezing and here it’s varying between -2°C and 7°C. Thanks Mum, Dad and Sam Thomson!

Anyway, first stop was Starbucks to get a triple-venti-latté kick-start for the morning then lugging my snowboard all the way to Whistler Base where I was to meet my instructor.

My instructor was Jimmy, a guy originally from New Zealand but his accent had traces of so many cultures it was confusing to listen to him at first. He’s spent quite a bit of time in the UK, Canada and the US so he’s got traits of all of them in his accent.

Anyway, we got in the gondola to head to mid-mountain where the newbie runs are. When we arrived Jimmy went through the basics of strapping yourself to your board, “skating” with one foot strapped in and control. From there we progressed to both feet strapped in and how to go straight down the hill on the heel-side and then the toe-side of the board.

By this point my feet were beginning to go cold and get numb because it had been raining so much. Believe it or not, snow gear is designed to keep the snow out but rain tends to get in more easily. With just 20 minutes before lunch, we headed up to the larger “carpet” area for one try going down the longer slope. It was really good but I still had issues getting up from a sitting position. So I decided from now on I’d flip over and get up from a kneeling position with my back facing down-hill.

Off to the Garibaldi Lift Co for lunch. Finally found somewhere that served pineapple on a pizza so I took the opportunity. I was still totally cold, wet and uncomfortable but my stomach was full and I was content.

Back up in the Gondola to the larger “carpet” newbie run and we began trying turns. I don’t know if it was that I was in a “slow” group or if I was natural at it but I was linking turns even before I knew what it meant, let alone Jimmy explaining it.

By the end of the day, I was only falling over because of Skiers not giving way (you are supposed to give way to people below you on the mountain) and ended up getting 2 runs in the last go where everyone else got 1.

Boy am I sore! I ambled back to my room, totally exhausted but very pleased with my progress today. I have 2 more days of lessons so I’m looking forward to see how quickly I progress from here.

Just back from my first day
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Holiday: Day Two

Today was a very quiet day for me. I fortunately had decided not to start snowboarding on my first day in Whistler. Yesterday’s extremely long and disrupted day took its toll on my body and I needed to rest.

I went and picked up my vouchers for my 3 days of lessons as well as the ones for my gear hire. Off to buy my snowboarding gear. I decided, after serious discussions with some great people on the Snowboarding UK forums, that it would be a much better idea to buy all my gear except boots, bindings and board if I intended on snowboarding more than once.

They recommended the Showcase Snowboarding shop and a lovely girl by the name of Kim was very patient and helpful to me. Suffering a fashion handicap, I explained the situation, that I need to buy most of my gear and had no clue. Kim was a champion and helped me choose jacket, pants, fleece, gloves, helmet and goggles. As it is “end of season” everything was on sale and I reckon overall I got about 50% off.

Back to my room again with all my purchases and then off again to organise my board and boots. The people at the Whistler equipment hire place were really good. I had no trouble getting the right size of boot and then the board.

I’m holding off having an extravagant dinner until tomorrow night, I’m sure I’ll be absolutely famished and am planning on finding the biggest prime rib or porterhouse steak in the village.

Holiday: Day One

My day started quite early as I had been adjusting my body clock to reduce the effect of jet lag. Waking at 4:30 in the morning is never easy, despite going to bed at 9pm the previous night.

I had got pretty much all of my packing done last night but I was still left with some minor things. Then I checked my list… and checked it again... and again. In fact, on my way out I stopped the car, got out and checked that my wallet was where I thought I put it.

My sister was kind enough to drop me to the airport by 7:30 am allowing plenty of time to grab a Cibo Alto Latté (600mL frothed milk with 2 shots of espresso) and the delicious Cibo orange cupcake.

Internode is very generous in providing free WiFi access at Adelaide airport and so I sat down and had a little bit of a read of my technology news sites and chatted to some friends on the EYErc.net chat network.

While waiting in the Adelaide terminal, I noted with great amusement (and a little annoyance) a mother with a child on a leash… who subsequently got away from his parent and ended up being chased half-way down the airport.

The flight to Sydney was shorter than I remembered but I did have a good book to read. I snaffled Black Wind by Clive and Dirk Cussler from dad before I left. Got through about 85 pages on the 2 hour flight.

Once in Sydney, it was the usual extended wait for bags and such and then off from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1. I was a tad frustrated that I wasn’t warned that the 5 minute shuttle bus cost $5 for such a short ride. What a rip off.

Following the initial search of where to check in and the terribly confusing the way the check in counters were located, I found the United counter and checked in. Some poor guy was about to miss his flight so I let him cut in front of me.

By now it was midday and 7 hours since breakfast so I was starving. Rather limited choices for food. I got half a chicken, safe choice.

On my way into the terminal, I noticed a shop which called to me, beckoned me closer but I resisted until now… Starbucks time. Oooh yeah. Triple-venti latté. 700mL of frothed milk with 3 shots of espresso and a convenient power point to plug in my laptop. Unfortunately, no free WiFi at Sydney airport so spent $5 on Telstra’s access point.

From what I’ve read, Internode have been trying to put free WiFi into Sydney airport but they won’t let them. Sometimes I really hate capitalism despite being a capitalist.

One of the things that causes me stress is the unknown. Not knowing where to go, what I’m supposed to do or being uncertain about happenings. This is where I started to get stressed. There was no information, nor briefing I had been giving about customs, security etc so I was getting a little paranoid that I might inadvertently have something in my baggage or carry-on which would cause me to be stopped.

Proceeding through customs, I filled in my departure form and the nice man processed my exit. Then onto security. Having to remove my laptop yet again from its protective pocket in my carry-on and then almost forgetting my mobile phone on my belt. Arg, stress.

Onto my gate… oh, of course I can’t get to the gate where the sign is, because they’re doing even more security checks. So get my passport and boarding pass out again and then a grumpy security guy wants to go through my bag manually. I mean, honestly is this just inconveniencing the people who mean no harm? Surely if someone wants to get something dangerous or illicit onto a plane they can. At least they didn’t ask to check my shoes.

Arrived perfectly timed, or so I thought, 5 minutes before boarding was scheduled. And I wait. And wait. Incoming plane was delayed, wonderful. And then I find out that the gate I’m waiting at isn’t actually the gate I’m meant to be boarding from. Only the toffies with Business/First class can board through the gate listed on my boarding pass. Get in line again.

Finally on board 45 minutes late and we wait. Apparently there was a failure of the entire baggage system in Melbourne delaying flights which connect to this one. I think the plane left about 90-120 minutes late in the end.

Stuck in seat F
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Now, a couple of days ago, I called United to confirm my flights and get pre-allocated seating so that I can actually sleep. I find it nearly impossible to sleep if I can’t lean my head against something so I asked for a window seat as far forward as possible and was told that I had been allocated exactly that. When I get on the plane, I’m in a seat as far away from a window as possible. ARG!

I managed to get a couple of hours sleep after taking a tablet but still feeling buggered. Thank goodness I got this extended battery for my laptop. I’ve been able to be watching some of my TV shows for over 5 hours.

Going through customs was a near pointless waste of time. I’m just flying straight through to Vancouver. A total lack of information and instructions caused me frustration, no information on where to go, what to do after I went through.

So I get to the front of the line for customs and they take my picture, scan off all the data on my RFID-enabled passport and scan both my left and right index fingers. Great, now every allie of the USA is probably going to have my details on record. On to get my bags and surprisingly it was the easiest part of the trip. Eventually some guy said to recheck my bags and then head down towards a set of gates.

It didn’t sound right because I know that my next flight is being operated by air Canada and that is a totally different set of gates. So I go through yet another security check while blaring in the background that they are on “orange” alert and to take off my shoes.

So by this point, after going through security at Adelaide and Sydney I feel this one is going to be fine… except that they didn’t say anywhere I had to take my laptop out of my bag. Big mistake.

So the dude shouts out “Whose bag is this?”. I own up and he beckons me over to another section. Thoughts of rubber gloves and unpleasant experiences fill my head.

They guy pulls out my laptop and goes through my stuff, swabbing it for drugs. I kinda got nervous because I’ve read about the possibility of false positives. Eventually he handed me my laptop and scanned my bag again and away I go.

So.. I’m here in San Francisco… what now. Found my flight and gate. Now for food.

I haven’t been to the USA since 1989 (that’s 18 years), so I’m a little fuzzy on this whole tipping thing.. isn’t that a city in China? Fortunately I had the forethought to get some greenbacks when I was waiting in Sydney so I could actually get stuff without having to stress about AUD/USD etc.

A good thing I found in San Francisco airport was that there was a relative abundance of power points to charge my laptop. I’m also wondering how long it is going to take to stop noticing everyone’s accents… and start picking them up myself as I have found I tend to.

The flight from San Francisco to Vancouver was quick and quite enjoyable. I met a girl by the name of Casey who was quite helpful and friendly. Kept running into her throughout the journey through customs.

Speaking of which, the Canadian customs delivered a worse service than Australia or the USA. Firstly, the walk from the plane to customs was about 10 minutes, the wait was no better or worse than Australia or USA but the customs dude obviously had been trained to ask difficult questions rather than endeavour to show good customer service. Asking things like “Why did I choose specifically Whistler?” “How much currency are you carrying?” “How do you expect to get by on $400 for 12 days in Whistler”.

Then the baggage… oh the travesty! 10 carousels in the international area, all very large and I walked around for about 10 mins not finding where my baggage was to be deposited, waiting in line for 10 minutes to find out the correct one.

Let me summarise… I find air travel a generally unpleasant experience.

Vancouver!
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Now, getting to Whistler. I had my holiday package include coach transfer but do you think there was anything at all which showed me where/how to catch it? Nope. Eventually got to the information desk and asked to which the terse lady said “I’ll call them for you”… shoving a phone at me. The guy on the other end wasn’t much help either, “wait in bay 5 at 4:15”. Where was by 5? How do I get there? *sigh*

ZOMGSNOW
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Finally got the bus to Whistler. The 2 hour drive was quite spectacular and by the 90 minute mark, snow was all around us.

While the bus was meant to drop each person off at their accommodation, only half was true in my case. My accommodation was there, but check-in was several hundred metres away through colder weather than I really wanted to be out in this late in the day. Oh well, all sorted now.

What a joyous discovery! A Starbucks within a stone’s throw of my accommodation! I had a really nice Lasagne for dinner and am going to get an early night seeing as I’ve slept only 9.5 hours in the last 48.

On Holiday

Not so loud! I've been up since 4am.
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Off I go to Canada.

Got everything, checked my lists 3 or more times, got to the airport on time, got a good seat on the flight to Sydney... everything is going good. (except for the kid who keeps screaming all through the airport, I just hope he's not on my flight)

This is going to be awesome. For those of you who don't know, I'm going to Whistler in British Columbia, Canada to learn to snowboard for 10 days.

Clipsal 500: Sunday

Clipsal 500: Sunday (Sami and I)
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Today the spare ticket went to my great mate SamiJ. He'd never been to the clipsal before and had a blast.

Clipsal 500: Sunday (Dad pigs out)
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Contrary to his current diet, he has decided to lash out and feast upon a pancake with strawberries, strawberry puree, cream and ice cream. (Of course, I did just that yesterday!)

On the third-to-last lap, a safety car period just finished meaning the top 5 runners were fighting it out right to the end. Awesome.

Clipsal 500: Saturday

Clipsal 500: Saturday (Nige and I)
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

As I had a spare ticket this year, I invited my mate Nige to use it. He hadn't been to the clipsal before and subsequently had a blast.

Clipsal 500: Saturday (JAAL Ute)
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

The "Jesus, All About Life" sponsored V8 Ute which came 7th in today's race.

Clipsal 500: Saturday (JAAL F430)
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

The "Jesus, All About Life" sponsored Ferrari F430.

Clipsal 500: Saturday (Crowd)
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

Wow, about 100,000 people today. Certainly a lot more interesting than those races where cars just go round-and-round a big oval circuit.

Clipsal 500: Friday

Clipsal 500: Thursday
Originally uploaded by TheScream.

I'm a little disappointed that they dropped the "Top 10 Shootout" but the V8 qualifying was good and the Posches and Utes rocked out.

Terribly hot with a track temp near 40°C