Well we made it. The pilot hotfooted it across the Pacific and we made it to San Francisco in under thirteen hours. Even so, the only one of us to sleep was Sophie. Jess ended up pretty much staggered with jetlag. We arrived at 6.15pm, rented a car and got to Kirsten and AAron’s welcoming home at about 9pm. We were utterly spent. Today’s been fun. Up to Locus, see friends and icecream for the kids at Fenton’s. More soon

Well, we set off bright and early on a wet and windy morning. Jessica, Sophie, Marianne and I piled into a big taxi and rode out to the airport. The girls were very excited because it was their first ride in a taxi. We spent a short time at the airport and then jumped onto an enormous plane for the ride to Sydney. The flight was exciting and lots of fun. We had a window seat so the girls could look down on the clouds and the fields. Sophie asked if it was a map she was seeing, and was really excited to find out it was real! We arrived in Sydney and drove out to Garth and Anna’s house while rain, lightning and hail poured down. Their home was cozy and warm, the perfect place to end the day. After dinner and bath for the girls – who had a great time playing with Thomas and Edward (Jess LOVED their drums) – we sent them all off to bed so we could have grownups dinner. It was Jess and Sophie’s first night sleeping away from home, so they had some trouble sleeping. In the end  – after a great evening – the girls ended up sleeping with me. In the morning we had breakfast, and then strolled down through Bronte towards the beach. Not long after we took a taxi out to the airport, to find out that the plane was delayed by ten hours. We’ve spent today in and around a hotel. In about four hours we head back to the airport and on to the plane for the big trip. Sophie’s fast asleep right now.

Well, here we go. In about two and a half hours a taxi will pull up in front of the house and we will begin the big trip of 2006. I’m going to start here by confessing that I don’t want to go (I doan wanna, I doan wanna, I doan wanna!!). This is mostly because what I think I really need is a week or two of isolation, or maybe going somewhere quiet down South near the beach where I can do nothing much for a while. Every trip for the past six years or so has been terrific, but they’ve all been busy, busy, busy. I’d like to relax.

That extended whine out of the way, I think this should be a great trip. We’re visiting a lot of friends, some we haven’t seen in two long, and there’ll be CHARLES, Locus, WorldCon and a lot, lot more. It should be terrific fun. I’m also excited to be taking the girls to see something new and exciting when they’re at an age when everything’s new and exciting. If I can exert any self-discipline at all, I’ll be posting photographs from the trip here to the blog, and will be added blog comments etc etc from Jessie and Sophie. We’re hoping that the girls classes will be able to check in here and see what they’re friends are up to (hi kids!).

To keep track of the trip report stuff, you can either read the main page of the blog or check out the ‘Hola America‘ category. It’s named that because when I went to the US in 1993 with some friends we made up tour t-shirts listing where we were going etc, just like for a rock band. We named the tour the ‘Evil Empire’ tour. No one, and I mean no one, we met in the US guessed who the Evil Empire was. I considered going with Evil Empire 2006 for this trip, but then reconsidered when I realised that everyone on this trip would know who it referred to. So, in honor of the girls watching Dora the Explorer, we get ‘Hola America‘. More soon.