A Quick Way Down

So, a typical Monday: dealing with secure data issues, high profile problems and then the email pops in the inbox with a simple subject "Australia" and an almost even equally brief body: "Call me when you get a chance."  Hmmm.  Intrigued to say the least, I sign out of the secure area I'm in as I get no phone communication capabilities when working what I was doing at the time and extricate myself from the NORAD-esque concrete structure and go see if there's daylight still in the real world and get cell coverage again outside.

My cell phone call was, to say the least, very informative.  "They" (I will use "they" to protect the innocent or whomever I deem I want thank you very much).  Anyway, this pronoun of "they" want me in Australia and apparently want me on that plane now, now, now.  Why am I still here?  Umm... Can... can I do laundry first before I go please?  Yes, apparently I can.  So with a little conversation I'm given some details I've asked politely for.  "Where in Australia?" being one of them as I believe it is a large CONTINENT with most of it being classified as outback.

A day later I have all I need, the exactly where (sort of), the exactly when (sort of), and how long (sort of).  I book flights, apply for visas (oh right, Kari's joining me down under at some point), and a service apartment for the month-ish that I should be there.  Apparently last minute flights half-way around the world book up quickly and I wasn't able to get anything until Sunday afternoon.  Actually there were flights earlier, but since they'll let me fly business and the only thing available was economy, I put my foot down and said "there wasn't anything reasonable available flying out on Friday or Saturday."  They said, "OK, come out Sunday and we'll see you on the ground here on Tuesday morning."  Crikey.  So, while you all get to enjoy gaining your hour of Daylight Saving Time, I get to enjoy my losing a day of sitting in an airplane.  Well, it will be in business class, paid by work so I probably will garner no sympathy from anyone here.

As for how long I will be gone and where?  That's the real question. You see, I *should* be in Brisbane until April 10, but that all depends on how things go over the next few weeks there and what the team sees when part of it goes to Canberra on Tuesday.  I could be going down there for some time.  In short, I could be in one place for a month or in several over several weeks.

I do plan to update this space with my sojourns but I have been told that what I am going into is a veritable maelstrom of crap meeting a deadline of monumental stature so my free time may be very limited resource.  However, I have told them that I am flying my wife down to meet me when the work is finalized to enjoy a vacation and they're all fine with that.  I just need to find out when "work is finalized" and where I will be so I can fly and meet Kari somewhere down under.

An edit from the airport:
Just a word of caution to my friends and family who may be reading this: if you'd like to avoid any issues checking in for an international flight to Australia, a) make sure you have completed the visa process online like I did and b) however, not like I did, make sure that the line for your "given name" on the form is indeed your first AND  middle names. This way your granted visa matches your passport and your check-in process will be more of a breeze.  It was not a huge deal here at the commuter terminal at 3:15pm on a Sunday and a matter of a simple code a supervisor needed to supply ("SXA", consider yourselves empowered) and I was on to TSA check. No Pre-check for me this time (why did I get Global Entry anyway?).  No matter, I was the only one in line and they were all joking with me and each other. Very lax.  Much better start than my September 18 trip to Japan if you all may recall started with it being canceled as I was 20 minutes from the airport.

Well, thus starts my meteoric wait for a commuter plane to LAX kicking off a stellar layover until my 10:30pm flight to Sydney. At least I will be able to get into the United Club and be a bit more comfortable there.