Chapter 2018 begins

Well, hello there.

It looks like I left off in Boston in 2016. Well, after Boston I went to Sacramento, California, to visit my uncle before heading back home to Australia.

It's two years later, but I'm once again in Sacramento, CA. I flew in yesterday, but had family obligations after the long trip, so I've just sat down to open this new chapter of the blog.

This trip will consist of a 10-day stop in Sacramento for a birthday celebration and family visit, then -- guess what? A week in Vancouver, BC, Canada! Yes, Donzerly Light now includes bonus Canada! 2 for the price of one! Get yours now at...

The 13-hour flight was smooth. Ordinarily I would read a book, or get out my laptop and write, but owing to some significant sleep deprivation I mainly watched movies.

The recommended list:

Frozen (five years late to the party; I'm sure you've all seen this one)

Murder on the Orient Express

Year Million (Nat Geo documentary series on the future of the world thanks to science/tech)

The not-recommended list:

StarTalk (hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson)

Puppy Dog Pals from Disney Jr. 

I got stopped by security at SFO and had to have a quick pat-down and the 10-sec explosive-testing because I left my Opal transport smartcard in my back pocket, oops!

Sniffer beagles are just as cute as normal beagles but probably just as evil inside. 

The animal relief area at the domestic terminal looked tiny to me, but it's good they've got one. I notice these things now that I'm in the dog training field.

When we reach the US the major cities will be labelled and I will wish I could visit all of them

Whenever I see the flight map over the US, I wish I actually planned for my trips and not just tagged-along or jabbed a finger at a random city that I've heard of. Don't get me wrong, I love every place I've been to so far in the US, but I could probably make better use of my time by choosing carefully.

An already long (planned) stopover at SFO turned into a 10-hour one thanks to delays (the captain was AWOL, apparently... Dammit, Jim!). Ordinarily not an issue, but I was unable to contact my uncle, who had offered to pick us up. It was a comedy of errors -- my SIM card hadn't activated as requested, so I didn't have mobile service, only airport WiFi. For a lot of people data is enough to get in touch... but my uncle doesn't have a mobile phone. Never mind, that's what the courtesy phone at the airport is for, right? ... Except when you get a disconnected tone on dialing his landline!

10 hrs at SFO: Desperate times call for desperate measures

I later found out that the night before, his landline and internet (which are connected) had suddenly stopped working. They did, of course, resume normal service once we contacted a bunch of other family members who finally got a message across so we were eventually picked us up from the airport. Hah!

Anyway, with that all done -- time to get onto the visiting and seeing part!