Thursday, August 18, 2011

heading west: part 1 of...


...umm... a few?

at least I know it's going to be a multi-part journey.

Yesterday started in Halifax; I said my goodbyes, and handed over to the boom op who's nice enough to take over Mr D's last 2 weeks.

packed up my apartment, took one last look at the Atlantic, and caught a lift to the airport.

checked in, and paid the excess baggage (subtly reduced = my boom poles are now "sporting goods")

attempted to pass through security.

uh oh - there's a BIG line...

...You need to stand on a pressure-pad, henceforth known as the randomiser3000(TM). which is hooked-up to a flashing arrow. Left = normal screening, Right = "selective" screening, and a full body scan

guess which one I got?

no real issues; aside from the removal of my belt causing my jeans to spontaneously fall to the floor...

while my whole body is getting a healthy dose of vitamin X, my gear is also being X-rayed, and the water flask had some liquid in it = BAD!

not allowed to drink or dispose of it in the security area; so I need to exit, dump the liquid, and re-line-up... no worries, I'll play ball... ok where's my boarding pass gone?

Why, it's mysteriously disappeared from under my wallet in the plastic scanning tray (I normally hold on to it for this exact reason).

did I mention that my flight is supposed to be boarding now?

we discover the boarding pass sitting under someone else's bag, and I'm escorted out (wasn't even allowed to carry my own bag...)

Drink the liquid and line up for...

...Round 2

Randomiser3000(TM). tells me to go and line up with the ridiculously large group that's building up at the regular screening point...

remove the belt again...

empty the bag again...

Hold onto the boarding pass this time, along with my jeans (and my modesty).

scramble to get the belt on, re-pack my bag, and race to the gate...

..."sorry sir, we haven't started boarding yet, please wait over there"

umm, ok - cool.

flight boards; I sit next to some nice people and cycle between: having a chat, reading, taking photos, and sleeping my way to Toronto.

get off one plane, buy some banana bread, and get back onto another.

This time, my row-mates aren't in a chatty mood, so it's: reading, taking photos, sleeping, and listening to music for the remaining 5 hrs to Vancouver.

disembark and wait with the other 160 passengers for our baggage to arrive...

1/2 hr goes by, still waiting...

almost an hour...

other flights have come and gone by now...

finally... now I just have to wait for my "sporting gear"... which isn't too far behind.

Taxi home, and accidentally set-off the alarm (Forgot the correct ending to the code)

panic...

re-enter the code and wait for the alarm company to check just what the heck is going on.

flatmate/landlord arrive home, and hasn't heard from the alarm co.; so we get to chatting over some pasta.

my car arrives. The irish girls have been nice enough to baby-sit the Golf for a bit; so I drop them home, and am pleased to discover that even though it's now 0330 halifax-time, I'm not instinctively pulling to the wrong side of the road...

Figures; just as I'm fully comfortable with my driving here... I'm going back to Australia...


Photos


Lauren and Zan show-off correct transmitter placement during my last day on D.

(in my defence, she's sitting on a couch for the entire scene, and instead of frigging around with thigh-straps/waist belts, was going to place the transmitter somewhere out of the way. This is just somewhere to store it while hangin' around off-set)





B-cam dino-head





my window in seat 4F





...the grid... (flying over the northern US)





Wind Farm





I'm guessing it's in the US (Nuclear plants in Canada?)





coming in for a landing...





Toronto (and that damned CN tower walk I never managed to take...)





another angle on "the centre of the universe"






pretty clouds





I'm guessing these are the mountains on the border of Alberta and British Columbia... as one side was flat as a pancake, and the other was, shall we say... majestic





more pretty clouds





another jet-liner flies by





now these look more like it... BC mountains





I'm home...





lining up YVR





landing





waiting



ok... enough procrastinating. Time to continue the pack...

I still need to ship my sound gear back to Oz, and sort out exactly what I can leave in storage...

see y'all soon

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