Doing Down Under - May, 2018

The hero awakes, 11 hours into a 15-hour flight, over the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. Disoriented, he reaches for the window shade to get a sense of where he is but the scene outside compounds the wretched state of mind that has enveloped him. You see, the plane left Vancouver as the west coast of Canada was getting dark. And now, the 777 flight crew had the pedal to the medal and were racing across the Pacific on a vector that would take them north of Oahu and then southwest across the equator, headed for New Caledonia and the Tasman Sea.  Our hero's mind slowly realizes that the sky had been dark the whole 11 hours. The marvel that Air Canada's Flight No. AC33 had successfully and literally kept us in the dark the whole time, slowly dawns on him. (This is a great flight for the senior crew who could simply go to their secret resting area, above the passenger cabin, knowing full well that that passengers could be fooled into being less demanding because the plane's lights were turned down low and it was still dark outside).

Shortly, as his mind positioned itself correctly in time and space, Gym (our hero) began to realize that he and his lovely sidekick had done it again. They had successfully escaped the drudgery of the work-a-day world and were on another wonderful adventure.

But they had waited too long! They stayed home and were brutalized by one of the coldest, snowiest and most insufferable winters in recent memory. And now, as the grass was greening in Cowtown, the intrepid couple had finally gotten away, away Down Under, just as winter approaches in the Southern Hemisphere. Not too smart are they, travelling from the lengthening days in the north to the shorter days of Fall, in the other hemisphere?  But, it could still snow in Calgary and Sydney always has a beautiful climate as they would shortly see.

This is Gym's first trip Down Under. His sidekick however has been to Australia and New Zealand several times. No, Mrs. Gym hasn't been travelling solo. She did these trips before she and Gym became travel partners and much before they produced the two millennials that joined them on their last trip.

Gym and Mrs. Gym arrived in Sydney at about 8:30 AM local time, on Saturday, May 5, 2018. They were ushered off the plane by a cheerful and well-rested crew. Setting foot on Aussie soil, they breezed through customs. picked up the luggage and shortly found themselves standing in the taxi queue. In minutes, they were off to the Sydney Four Seasons Hotel, their home for the next 4 nights.

Stay tuned for more from Sydney.

Hey, that's Rick, the pilot of AC33

This lady is first in line to board AC33

What! This is the same lady that was first off AC33 in Sydney,
isn't that Mrs. Gym?

Yes, Mrs. Gym made it back to Sydney to visit her old friend No. 39.

Here is proof positive that the intrepid couple made it to Sydney.