News from Marco...

Day 1 : Saturday November 10th, 2007

The journey is looming:

West Palm Beach to Ft-Lauderdale by car, Ft-Lauderdale to Las Vegas to Vancouver to Honolulu to Sydney to have mercy, the hotel ;) so all together, about 27 hours in the air) My main concerns: will I be able to sleep on the plane, will I be able to get 2-3 seats to myself, will I catch something, will I make my flights? I've got a 44 minute connection time in Vegas for the flight to BC, how far will be the departure gate from the arrival gate, will I need to go to the bathroom on the flight, will I be probably hydrated, will… U get it!

Got to bed at 3:30am after packing, working and taking care of loose ends (watched TV also, Scarface was on and some sports stuff). Fell asleep around 3:45 I guess and woke up at 5:15 to get on my way to Ft-Lauderdale airport for an 8:15 flight to Vegas.

Got to the airport at around 6:25am, got someone to put my bags on my lap (Garett’s 3 wheels + my own bag), couldn’t get up the little ramp, asked someone else to help, then down the ramp but another little climb was waiting for me but a cop asked if I needed help, couldn’t refuse and he pushed me a couple of meters to the elevator and from there I was good to go, ah flat surfaces although they were carpeted but was old hard carpet so it was ok and the counter was close by.

Got my seat assignment which of course I changed twice at the gate. Went from 4D (bulkhead which I despise even though U have more leg room but the armrests don’t lift). They switched me to another aisle seat, which I hate also 'cause you've got people fumbling and tumbling over U in their quest to reach the lavatories. So I got a window seat but couldn’t get 2-3 seats to myself because the flight was fully booked.

Waited for the skycaps to help me to my seat and sat;). Who’s gonna be sitting next to me? Turned out to be some real estate agents going to a convention in Vegas, used the opportunity to do a little business and lined up a few places to go see with them when I get back to FLA. For U see I need some apartments for the rugby boys and girl that are coming down to ball for the winter. This search is not that easy, we need to find barrier free homes 3 or 4 with 1 step or less for the entrance, 60cm wide doorways with enough room to turn our wheelchairs, the price has to be right (USD $1500-2000 a month excluding utilities and other necessary thingy’s), lease period of 3 months and a few other minor things).

B****** from hell! 4 of the loudest most obnoxious, stupidest, needy (felt so bad for the flight attendants, Gucci carrying, silicone pumped, sun glass wearing, look at me I’m so beautiful or at least my pimp says so, make up by the ton plastered on, oh my god we’re gonna tear it up in Vegas, when brains were dispensed were nowhere to be found people I've ever seen. For the 5:30 hour flight they had their make up kits out for 3 hours and used the kits for 6 hours ;) did the 2 by 2 bathroom relays to undoubtedly make sure they looked ok at for the other half hour brush their Jennifer Anniston wannabe hair. People’s opinions varied on what these people did: party girls that don’t know when to quit (they were around 29-33 years old), prostitutes, models for girls gone ugly, silicone convention attendees, did very bad things to get their trip paid for, behavior research analysts studying people’s attitude towards 4 non-blondes who act like morons or aliens from the planet Superficialis from the 4th quadrant. It was all quite entertaining in a nauseous way ;)

Got to Vegas 20 minutes early, connection gate was mere metres away, went to the desk, got a new seat with an entire 3 seat row to myself, slept like a baby, got to Vancouver, picked up the luggage, got something to eat set up my office, bugged a few people to push me up this and push me up that, set up my temporary office got someone to plug in my 'puter and cell phone (they were on the ground people, not so easy to reach and at an awkward angle OK! Waited for Adam and G, looked around for Ben but he was already at the gate. Adam and G showed up, left the wheelbag with Garett, unplugged my s*** well I got someone to do that! Met up with Adam at the counter where they were gonna levy a 225$ charge to Adam for his luggage, fixed that and we were on our way to the gate where I was looking forward to talk to the gate agents to see if we could get better seat assignments but before I did, had to set up another temporary office (hope U know what that means) ;), figured out the equipment needs of Steph and relayed the info to Trevor who got the necessary tools out of the equipment box that Bobby (other equipment guy for the National Team and Go To Guy) used to go to the low pointers tournament in the Netherlands where Canada swept through the competition.

Got to the gate, couldn’t do anything about the seats, it was a full flight. Got the sleep study kit, got the travel pouch, good job Thomas (Thomas is our Physiologist, hydration/cooling/over heating/pipi collecting/freezer getting/equipment toteing expert). Travel pouch includes ear plugs, mask, hand sanitizer, cliff bars, neck pillow, saline solution and other goodies although the earplugs are a little hard ;)

Sat next to Assistant-Coach Frost, talked rugby and life, slept a little, did the alertness test after sleep, ate some chicken (choices were U guessed it chicken or beef) it was ok. Landed after 5:30 hours for a quick stop in Honolulu, temp was 22° but we just deplaned and got back on (refueling, letting people out and such), went to the gate desk and 50 seats became available and was able to get 3 seats (middle) for both myself and Adam, tried to get 1st class for coach Labrecque but he did get 2 seats along the window.

Plane configuration of this 767 was 2-3-2 and it was the older model so no USB port or power outlet. U know that I prefer having 3 seats to having first class although I hear the newer planes have cocoon type seats but if I am not horizontal, I cannot sleep so the 3 seats allow U to do. So its great to have 3 seats but getting back to a sitting position is quite difficult, at least for me, so I push the little flight attendant button and eventually somebody comes with a tow truck and lift me back up. If U don’t ask for nothing, U get nothing. People are helpful. All together on the Sydney flight (11 hours) I slept about 4:30-5:00 which is fantastic, the rest of the time U listen to music, watch some videos (today it was Harry Potter … Phoenix and Chicago) I worked a little, wrote this and…

Arriving in Sydney PA is babbling on about spraying us with a mild insecticide (harmless to humans but kill insects and bacteria). About to be warned to shut off my 'puter, when the PA goes on about “please declare all food items as if U don’t U will be fined and food sniffing dogs will help prosecute U if U do not comply.

Flights were good, not too sleepy. Did all the sleep alertness tests (3 of them in total) wrote up my sleep times in the SLEEP diary and up next upon arrival, collecting our luggage, going to the Thrifty desk to set up our truck rental on Wednesday (final details), will have to wake up early on the Wednesday to do this, that will suck, life is tough. Got to shut off the 'puter, see U tomorrow!

Marco