Modem Noise

« Trip Report Part 3: The 1001 Program Items | Main | Mixed Nuts »

October 18, 2006

Trip Report Part 4: The Best Part of Travel

[This is another epic post; read at your own risk]

When we were in the weeks and months leading up to this trip, we spent a lot of time thinking about events and such at the convention (and nearby) that would be great to attend or visit.

Top of the list, obviously, was the Hugo Awards Ceremony. After attending the Hugos at the 2004 Worldcon, and thoroughly enjoying it, we thought the Hugos this time were a must-go thing. And yet, hmm, when the time came, we were knackered, still not fully caught up on jetlag, and weary from a hard day congoing. So we skipped it.

Right next to the Anaheim Convention Centre is Disneyland. In fact there's no way you can spend any time in the entire Anaheim region without being reminded often that Disneyland is here. One giant clue is the fact that the whole region is lousy with hotels: big ones, little ones, motels and inns, you name it. You go for a walk in the immediate area around the convention centre, and all you see is hotels and businesses supporting tourists. Inside the Anaheim Hilton there are constant reminders about Disneyland's existence, and even a special desk set aside where you can book tickets and travel to and fro. Before we set out for the convention we learned that the LA Con committee had arranged with Disneyland for discount tickets, of which the cheapest would have been $US38 each, which wasn't bad. All the same, once actually at the convention, feeling tired and a bit overwhelmed, we both realised neither of us were that much interested in going along: in fact, for the $76 it would cost us just to get in the gate (let alone transport there, and eating, etc, inside), we would much rather buy more books. Mass-market paperback books, starting around $7.99 each, were just too tempting, and the many book sellers in the convention Dealers' Room had thousands of titles from which to choose. Mmmmm, cheap books... So we skipped Disneyland.

People asked us what we were planning to do once the convention was over? Were we going straight home, or hanging around to do some touristy things? We booked about ten nights at the hotel, to give us a few days before the con, and a few days after the con. In these post-convention days, the initial plan was that yes, we would indeed be heading into LA itself to do all manner of touristy stuff. Then we looked at a map, and saw that all the stuff we were interested in seeing was in the western part of LA, while Anaheim was way to the east. This meant it would take at least an hour or more, driving on freeways, to get there, and back. The prospect of really long bus or van journeys over rough freeways gave me the horrors. I could really do without getting sick again. Yes, Michelle had found me some Dramamine, but we didn't yet know if the stuff was effective, and in the end I decided I didn't want to chance it--even though this meant we'd be hanging around the hotel a lot more than we'd planned.

This is perhaps the thing people who never get motion sickness never appreciate: it makes you scared to travel. It colours everything you think about when it comes to even quite short journeys. Once, a couple of years ago, I had to take a taxi from here to a nearby shopping centre. Not a long way, and the roads are nice and smooth. Nonetheless, the motion sickness kicked in almost as soon as the taxi got underway. We had to pull over twice on the way. There's no way to tell when it's going to happen, and when it does happen it's the worst feeling in the world. So we skipped being tourists in LA, too.

All the same, the convention itself was brilliant. The various panels I was scheduled for went off really well. The moderators were effective in leading and guiding the discussion, and the other panellists were informative and funny. A standout was the "SF in Australia" panel on Friday afternoon. Two of the panellists (including Sean Williams, the legendarily prolific Australian sf/fantasy author) had withdrawn, leaving Sean McMullen, David Cake and myself. Publisher Brian had brought along a very big Australian flag for me as a gift, and suggested we use it at the SF in Australia panel. In the end, we did, and managed to drape it over the front of the desk in front of us. In the course of the panel, most of the discussion was with Sean and Dave, who clearly knew way more than I did about the history of sf/fantasy in Oz; I learned a lot. Sean was very generous in showing off my own books, too.

Michelle spent a lot of time either buying books or going along to panels. Among her highlights were a panel featuring several writers from the new incarnation of Doctor Who, and another featuring most of the key writing staff from the new Battlestar Galactica (including Ron Moore). I'm pretty sure the Galactica panel was opposite one of my panels and felt torn about which to attend. I shook my head and told her to get along to the Galactica panel, pronto; I would be all right.

Otherwise we just basked in the buzz of the thing, meeting all manner of fascinating people. One real highlight was at long last meeting River Selkie--and her sister "Evil Lyn" (real names omitted). I've been reading River Selkie's blog for, it seems to me, about five years (!), but of course we'd never met. Selkie and Evil Lyn turned up on the final day and we hung out, caught up, signed books, and then they came along to my reading. This reading slot was memorable in that people actually came to see me reading! I say this with some shock because, at our two previous Worldcons, the room was either full of people waiting for the next guy, or just plain empty. Seeing people waiting to hear me read was wonderful. Wound up reading the first three chapters of HYDROGEN STEEL, which seemed to go over well.

Another highlight was a group get-together with folks from the Robert J. Sawyer mailing list, which I read. Rob is the classiest author I've ever met, and one of the very best (have just recently finished reading his novel CALCULATING GOD, which was tremendous), and it was fun to meet up with other folks from the mailing list who have only been names in my mail programme to me.

At length, though, it was time to say goodbye to everyone. Before Publisher Brian and Anita left he first gave me a chunk of royalty money (yay!) and a whacking great big box of copies of HYDROGEN STEEL and ECLIPSE--well over 30 books in all. We'd planned to ship all our book purchases home rather than lug them in our bags, but in the end we decided it would be better to ship home the big box of HS and E. And, as it happened, the cost of FedExing such a big heavy box back to Australia was just shy of the money Brian just gave me--but it saved us from what otherwise would have been either a very expensive exercise, or a very awkward and unpleasant exercise taking them home with us on the plane/s. As it happened, the big box turned up the day after we got home. Sweet!

The two days we wound up hanging around the hotel were pretty dull. We hung out in Starbucks a lot, and watched a lot of local telly. I suffered mightily with homesickness, and just wanting to go home. Then, finally, it was time to go. I swallowed a bunch of Dramamine and we got a taxi from the front of the hotel. It's actually a crazy thing to do, getting a taxi from Anaheim to LAX. Much more economical to get one of the shuttle-buses. I didn't fancy my chances, even with Dramamine fizzing through my blood. So a taxi it was, and that worked out to $100 (!), but the trip was absolutely fine. Not a single twinge, qualm, iffy moment, or other bad vibe.

Then it was a long, long wait at the airport--about 8 hours. Unsure what state I'd be in once we got here, we thought it best to allow for the worst possible scenarios. I didn't mind in the least.

In the gate lounge, waiting to board, I watched loads of planes go by. There were gigantic picture windows providing magnificent views of taxiing aircraft, so close I kept expecting their wingtip fins to bump against the glass. For a plane geek like me, this was very cool indeed. Michelle, I'm quite sure, got tired of me saying, "Look! Look! It's an A345!" etc. I was fairly bouncing in my seat, I was so excited, not just at the sight of all these planes, but just at the thought that we were going home, hoooooome, at long last! I knew I was really in trouble when I spotted a few gum trees across the other side of the runway, and felt huge "I want to be in Australia NOW!" pangs.

When we got to Singapore after 17 hours of flight (I got some sleep), I was nearly bouncing with excitement. Not long now! Not long now! The 4.5-hour flight to Perth, I was grinning like an idiot all the way. When we reached Shark Bay (way up north), and actual Australian land, I couldn't take my eyes off the view out the window. Look! Actual Australian bushland! Look!

And then there was Perth over there, and we were banking in to land at the airport. So exciting! Even Michelle, who was merely exhausted, was pleased. Finally, on the ground, through Customs, with our bags, standing in a line somewhere, I heard one of the Immigration guys telling someone cheerfully to get themselves in there, mate. The accent, the whole "mate" thing. I nearly cried I was so happy to be home.

Then the taxi home. Sitting in the left front seat of the car, where taxi passengers are supposed to sit. In the US it was weird sitting in the right front seat. You feel like there should be a steering wheel in front of you, but there isn't, and it's just wrong. Anyway, familiar landscapes, smells, clear air, bright sunshine.

It's true what they say: the best part of travelling is coming home.

Posted by adrian at October 18, 2006 07:36 PM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.kabedford.com/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/61

Comments

Posted by: Cheyenne at October 21, 2006 08:02 AM

Posted by: dshan at October 19, 2006 06:05 PM

Posted by: river selkie at October 19, 2006 02:12 PM

Posted by: Terry at October 19, 2006 06:55 AM

Posted by: Charlie at October 18, 2006 11:42 PM

Post a comment