Before I headed over to the US I set up Skype on the laptop and the office computer. I’ve just finished my first video conference with Marianne, Jessica, Sophie and Jo, and it makes a huge difference being able to see and talk to them. It’s not a cure for homesickness, but it makes it ok.  Now, off to see the  Boss!

Here’s me on the plane.

Dear blog,

Let’s see if I can make sense of the past 48 hours for you. I did my seat reservations for the trip on Tuesday, which is when I was told that my flights from Perth and Sydney were full, so no empty seats beside me; no quiet easy flight. I wasn’t thrilled, but you try to roll with these things. I got changed to an aisle seat in row H, which confused the airline person, but meant no entertainment unit in my footwell. I then spent a chunk of Tuesday doing my packing and so on, and not really getting to spend time with the family, which was a little sad.

As I’ve become older, I’ve become a nervous traveler. I’m not worried on aircraft or such, but I get edgy beforehand, can’t sleep well, that kind of thing. I headed to bed at about 8.30pm, woke around 1.00am, and then dozed till 3.30am, when I gave up. It gave me time to deal with email before closing down the home system, to have a shower, to re-check my packing and so on. The noise woke Sophie, which wasn’t fair on her, but she was so sweet and excited. She’d done some artwork for me that was lovely, but having her there was perfect. She wanted to wait for the taxi to come, so we sat and talked and she peeked outside to see if the taxi was there yet. It showed 15 minute late (I was nervous), I got to hug her, say goodbye to Marianne and then go. The last thing I saw, at 4.45am, was her and Jessie standing at the door waving. It was sweet.

I don’t think I was tracking time properly, though. We got the airport at about 5.00am, and instead of the usual smooth automated check-in, the automated check-in machines were down and there were huge lines. No problem. I lined up, got my seating checked and then went through security. Normally when I’ve done that I go through the airport shops and then sit down for coffee. I was kind of thrown to find the plane was already boarding, so I grabbed a bottle of water and a music magazine. The flight was…fine. Not quite enough legroom, but such is life. The movie on the flight was Catherine Zeta-Jones’s No Reservations, which is dumb Hollywood fodder, but passed the time. For some reason or other the plane left late and arrived later, so we touched down 45 minutes late, cutting down two hours for changing terminals, but such is life.

As you know, I’m headed for Saratoga and World Fantasy, and a bunch of my friends are going too. One of them, Trevor Stafford, was booked on the same flights out from Australia. He’d flown in from Canberra and was waiting when I disembarked. We then headed over to the bus for the International Terminal. It’s kind of fun, because it drives through the back end of the airport. While we were on the bus, Trevor told me he’d been able to get the window seat on the same aisle as my seat, and they’d told him there’d probably be an empty seat between us. I was surprised, but thought that would be fine.

We grabbed a moment in the Qantas Club, before boarding for the 1.50pm departure. It quickly became clear that the back end of the plane was about 30% empty, and we got the extra seat, which made the next 13 hrs go much more smoothly. There’s little to report about the flight itself. Trevor and I chatted, I watched two movies (Knocked Up and the Fantastic Four/Silver Surfer movie). I’d recommend one, but not the other. All in all, the flight was ok. We arrived at San Francisco International at around 10.15am, cleared Customs, grabbed the shuttle into the city and checked into our respective hotels. I called Jason over at Night Shade, who I was supposed to be hanging out with. Turned out he was studying for an exam, so we agreed to hook up around 6pm.

I was a little tired, not having slept on the plane, but agreed to head out for lunch and to Borderlands Book Store with Trevor. Borderlands is a great store, and it was nice to spend some time chatting with Jude & co (though Alan wasn’t around). I don’t think I was making much sense at this point, but you know how it goes with jetlag. Ellen Klages came down for coffee, and we got to have a really nice chat for a couple hours. (Go buy her collection, by the way. You need it more than you realise). Ellen and Trevor then headed off for dinner and I met up with Jason. We chatted, had dinner, and so on. It was good to see him, and hopefully we’ll spend time when I’m coming back through Oakland next month. Jeremy from the Shade then dropped me back at the hotel around 10.00pm.

And after that, dear blog, I slept.

Today is breakfast with Jeremy, getting a new phone, and Springsteen with Cheryl and Kevin. I’m still a little tired, but it should be fun.

Dear blog, I made it. The flight was ok. Comfortable, with good movies. Chatted with Trevor for a good part of the flight. Way too jetlagged to think. More soon…

Yesterday was Sophie’s big sixth birthday party, which was a huge success thanks to all of Marianne’s hard work and planning, and the help of Nanny Wendy and Aunts Barbara and Bec. Now it’s all about the travelling. In less than 48 hours I’ll be enjoying the hospitality of Qantas Airways. Sydney first, where I hook up with Trevor, then on to San Francisco. It’s only a very short visit – two days – and I’ll be spending as much time as I can with my wonderful publisher Jason, before heading off to see Springsteen with Cheryl and Kevin. And on Friday I fly on to Manhattan for the beginning of the grand Aussie Processional. It really should be fun. I’m actually happy I’ve got time in Oakland on the way home. I can spend a lot of time with CHARLES, and hopefully also get to see Ellen, Karen & Bob, and the Night Shade gang.

The reason I’m mentioning this now, other than because I need to get everything planned and it’s on my mind, is that I am a lousy travel blogger. I mean to record what I do, who I see, and where I go, but I never do. I hereby do not promise to do it this time. I will try, though. I’d like to. I’m also not promising to blog about what will effectively be my holiday reading.  I’ve got eighteen days that I’m not including in my official ‘reading time’, so I’m going to read whatever suits. As soon as I get home, it’s on to 2008 stuff, so I’m looking forward to some self-indulgence.

This actually touches on something which I’m trying to puzzle out. I’d like to blog a lot more about what I read. I’d like to try to use blogging as a kind of tool to keep me self-disciplined and talking about what I read. The problem is it’s public and that causes problems. Without an audience, I won’t do it. With an audience, too much  can be read into a simple comment. Hmm. I have to think on it, because I want to blog the 2008 reading year, or find some way to keep a record of it that I’ll actually follow through on.