I think the worst part was waiting in airports, the time actually spent flying was pleasant enough. Our flight from Auckland was a little delayed, although we were secretly (loudly) pleased that it meant less time in Sydney airport. And so.....
The Little Bear Waits.
One convenient coincidence of our altered travel plans was that we ended up trying to leave Sydney for LA simultaneously with hoards of American Catholics who came to Oz to see the Pope-wizard. So when they decided they just wanted to go home, or clicked their red slippers together (or whatever it is catholics do en masse), they swamped the airline and we were bumped up to business class, which is pretty ideal for a 12-and-a-half-hour flight. Awesome for us, and probably the only reason I haven't (yet) fallen asleep face-first into the laptop.
Manfred also appreciated the finer points of business class on a Boeing 747.
We were so out of our depth in business class, when they came around with pre-take-off hot towels, we had to watch to see what other people did with them. Hot towels are awesome, by the way. Other than the hot towels, pre-take-off service included drinks, looking at the lunch menu, pre-ordering from the breakfast menu, and receiving piles of freebies, including night-shirts and sleep/toiletry bags.
The menus were ridiculously posh, and although "salad of smoked salmon and green peas with mint dressing" is very tasty, I'm not sure my stomach liked it much as a lunch entreé. We had "slow cooked lamb in rosemary and garlic with potato pureé and broccoli" accompanied by "green leaf salad with herb vinaigrette" and followed by "Nice cream espresso and praline ice cream with créme anglaise". After all that rich food, I didn't want breakfast when it came around.
Oh, and in business class, the stewards learn your name and call you "Mr. and Mrs. Piripi". Very hard to get used to.
At least we were thoroughly brought down to earth (no pun intended) with our last flight on an Embraer, with the bung seat and the sticky door that the pilot had to come out and shut for the stewardess.
The shuttle driver from Eugene to Corvallis was a good character, he asked all the standard questions (are you from Australia? Don't you have a lot of sheep?) and was happy to talk about the area.
On arrival, the Cauthorn Hall people actually met us outside the building and were very sweet and helpful. We distributed our gear about the room in a randomly strategic manner, then went for a walk around campus in the sun, which was pretty awesome after all that travelling. Our first taste of Corvallis was warm, green and spinning gently (possibly a sign we need sleep). I saw a squirrel but Mort doesn't believe me. It was grey. We both saw a pointy bird winkling bugs out of a tree. Pictures of the place will follow at some point.
So tomorrow I've got an appointment for my official "check-in" with the university, and will try to find a bank to open an account with (assuming I wake up in the morning). Wednesday morning I'm going to Necro rounds, Histo rounds, then out to morning tea with the pathologists - that'll be a great way to meet everyone and have a chat.
For now, however, there is nothing left to do but....
Yeah, he'll be pretty pissed when he sees this.
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