En Route Part 1: Aboard Virgin America

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to my blog! This is my first blog but seeing as I will be spending the next four and a half months in Australia, it seems like a pretty good time to start one. I am currently underway. My Transcontinental flight from Boston to Los Angeles has wireless internet and an outlet for my laptop cord. The WiFi cost me $12.95 but seeing as I will be on this plane for 6 hours and I can ensure that my computer will not die after an hour and a half, I consider it worth it for internet access at approximately $2.16 an hour. I've decided Virgin definitely the "cool" airline.

LIVE TIME UPDATE: Not so cool. My outlet decided to stop working. I'm not entertained.
UPDATE: Moved Seats. Think I'm in another one with a broken outlet.
UPDATE: The really nice kid next me isn't using his and is letting me use his outlet. Power Crisis avoided.

Traveling at 533mph, with 1852 Miles to go (as of 6:28EST) Currently somewhere between Cincinnati and Columbus. Google Maps lets you track exactly where you are, your progress, the altitude and temperature (-41 degrees F this high up!!!). Technology is amazing, isn't it?

Where was I? Oh, right, the "cool airline." Well, the cabin feels like the cross between some modern nightclub and the inside of an ipod. Each seat has a touchscreen tv through which you can order food and drinks, watch tv and movies, play games, and soon you will be able to surf the internet and chat with other passengers. The staff is very helpful , friendly and kind (they let me switch seats just so I could plug in my laptop!) Assuming the rest of the flight is as great as it is right now, I will definitely be flying Virgin again.

When I get to LAX I'll have about 3 hours to kill before I get on my Qantas flight to Melbourne. I met some Australians at Logan at the bag-weighing station and they said that Qantas is the best and that I will love flying with them. Since they are Australians who apparently travel a good amount, I'm sure they know what they're talking about. Hopefully it will be good because regardless I'll be stuck on that plane for 12 hours. Luckily, the plane leaves at 11:30pm LA time, which will feel like 2:30am Boston time so I suspect I'll be able to sleep through a good portion of the flight. I'm hoping I will be able to sleep for at least 8 hours, ultimately aiming for 10-12 hours. Wouldn't that just be wonderful? Fall asleep in LA and wake up in Australia. Like a dream.

I guess it hasn't really hit me yet that I won't be able to go home whenever I want. I almost started crying when Mum started crying at the airport, but I'm not sad. I'm nervous and excited. Plus, with the connectivity of modern society, the fam is only a Skype away. By the way, if you're reading this and you feel like Skyping, my username is chelsea_long. Hit me up. And for up-to-the-minute updates on my life, you can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/starsforyoursky. I'm really getting into Twitter these days, and I'd appreciate it!

Across the aisle from me are these two guys and their 5-month old baby. The baby is unbelievably adorable. Probably in the Top 10 cutest babies I've ever seen. Definitely in the Top 25. I want to cuddle him, but I doubt his parents would approve. They really seem like a wonderful little family: that baby seems so loved and cared for and happy. It drives me crazy and makes me very sad that there are people in this world that disapprove of them. That there are people who would want to keep these parents from having a child at all.

Okay, Okay, I probably shouldn't delve into social issues on my first entry. I don't want to scare everyone away right off the bat. Its like being on a first date and talking about why you and your ex husband got married in Vegas and the circumstances leading to the messy divorce. Too much too, too soon.

I'm very much looking forward to this trip. Its completely unlike anything I've ever done before. I've never been abroad anywhere, less the 4 day, 10th grade music department trip to Montreal, Canada. The longest flight I've ever been on is the 2.5 hour flight from Boston to Orlando. And since I've been going to college 40 minutes from home, I think the longest I've ever stayed away from home is like 3 weeks. Usually I end up going home for one thing or another every 2 weeks. That will not be an option from Tasmania.

UPDATE: Have passed Saint Louis, MO. 1564 miles to go. This is also my first time West of the Mississippi River!

Speaking of Tasmania, a lot of people have been asking how I came to pick the University of Tasmania as my Study Abroad Destination. Well, to be perfectly honest I didn't know anything at all about Tasmania before all this started. I thought I wanted to go to England or Scotland. But when I went to the Study Abroad office the lovely Adrianne Van Gils told me about the new program being offered in Tasmania. When I found out that Tasmania was an island state of Australia I was very intrigued. When I found out that I would be the first and only Clark student going to the Launceston campus of UTas, I was even more intrigued. When I was told that UTas had the best theatre department out of all of the schools offered through Clark I was thrilled. And when I realized that I probably will never have another chance to go to Australia again in my life, I was sold. I mean, its almost impossible to take a vacation to Australia. The airfare itself is greater than most people pay for the entire week away. It takes over a day to get there, and because they are 14 hours in time difference, the jet lag is awful. If you go for a week, or even 2, by the time you get there and get over your jet lag, it's time to turn around and come home. Which takes another couple days for travel and readjusting. Alternatively, taking a vacation to Europe is much easier and more realistic. There is a far greater chance that I will be able to travel to Europe in the course of the rest of my life than it is that I will get to go to Australia. So that's how I chose UTas. And with everything new that I learn about it I love it more. I absolutely cannot wait to get there.

UPDATE: 1,436 Miles to go. Definitely more than halfway there. Approaching upon Kansas City.

Amazing the power of Technology in action: I use the touch screen tv to select the beverage I want (soda, juice, coffee and tea are complimentary but I could order something else if I preferred and I wanted to pay) and not five minutes later a flight attendant brings me my hot tea with sugar and lemon and my cranberry-apple juice. No human interaction required except for saying "thank you" to the pleasant young man who delivered the drinks. Unfortunately I'm sure a lot of Americans forget to even say that much. Meanwhile, I am able to surf the internet, blog, watch tv shows on Hulu, Twitter, listen to Pandora. And on my touchscreen tv I am able to monitor the plane's progress via Google maps. I can't believe there was a day not too long ago when the only thing to do on a plane was sleep or read. Well I can believe it. But I'm glad that's no longer the case.

Well, this just about concludes my first blog entry. More to come! Soon! I Promise.