Well, here we are 40 days after leaving home, back again! We sat on the tarmac in Honolulu for an hour while Jetstar unloaded a pallet of freight - apparently the plane was too heavy - but our flight was good with the aircraft being a newish Airbus A330-200 which was very comfortable and had reasonable leg room.
And surprise, surprise!!!! After being told we would have to take any food etc on with us, passengers who booked through Qantas were given full inflight service and so we wasted our money on food which we eventually had to put in the bin because it couldn't be brought into Autralia.
Communication between Jetstar and Qantas is obviously non-existant.
By the time we had cleared customs and quarantine and collected our luggage in Sydney we were too late for our connecting flight to Perth (Jetset Travel made a boo-boo there) and so we had to wait another two hours for the next flight, also having to ring home to alert those picking us up that we would be late.
The flight home was uneventful and we duly lobbed in Perth at 10.50pm, very tired after being on the go for nearly 26 hours.

TRIP SUMMARY

Our trip was tremendous success, we crammed so much into the time we had, but we really only scratched the surface of America. I guess if I am to do some sort of summary of the trip the first thing I would mention would be that travel throughout the world has been made so much more difficult because of 9/11. So much time is wasted going through security and it is important that you allow plenty of time between connecting flights - we can attest to that!
America itself was a real revelation to me! I have never been a big fan of all things American, but I went with an open mind and was rapt to find Americans warm, friendly and so helpful. People in the southern states were just amazing - ready to stop and talk and were genuinely interested in Australia and what our country is like even though they know very little about us. They are very religious and the number of churches in each and every town and all along the roads was amazing.
The things that hit me most in the USA were:
1) The sheer number of people and infrastructure that has been built to cope with so many people. The road system is simply enormous with the Interstates being 2 or 3 lanes each way and they are built straight and with a big buffer zone each side and speed limited at 65 or 70 miles per hour. There are no intersections - all other roads and railways are bridged - and all the exits are number by distance from a city so that it easy to read off maps. Secondary roads are usually 2 lanes each way and mirror the Interstates but don't have as much traffic and then there is a whole network of minor roads which are the most picturesque to travel. Most freight goes by road and the number of trucks is overwhelming! They are nearly all single trailer units with a much longer trailer than here and they fly along at way over the speed limit in all weather conditions! Initially we were a bit overawed by the amount of traffic but it did not take long to get the hang of driving on the right and before long we were sailing along at 80 or 90 mph just like all the others.
There is an extensive rail network which copes with minerals and large bulk transport and of course the large rivers such as the Mississipi have huge barge traffic.
The country consumes energy at a frightening rate and there are power stations everywhere including over a hundred nuclear reactors. No one seems to be worried about them and they are clean and very efficient - maybe Australia could have a closer look!!!!!!
Communications are superb with the whole country having high speed internet access, which is carried by fibre optic cables strung along power lines. They reach everybody and for the Australian Government and Telstra to say it cannot be done here is simply a joke! Distances in the USA are just as big as here and yet their network has been up and running for years. The cables also carry cable TV and telephone and you can get a package of high speed internet, 100 cahnnels of cable TV and your home telephone for less than US$100 per month. Every hotel or motel we stayed at provided free wireless access to the internet at speeds about 6 times faster than mine at home!
There are large modern schools everywhere and schooling up until 17 years of age is totally free, including books and everything. College is quite expensive but you need to go there to access any of the decent jobs.
The hospital system is huge but privately run and beyond the reach of many. We spoke to many ordinary workers who simply could not afford to go to the doctor!!!! Health insurance is for the well off only.
2) America has a very definitive class structure with there being a very wealthy (and I mean RICH!) upper class, lots of pretty well off middle class and a huge lower class that remain poorly educated, badly paid and generally they do all the menial work. Most of these poor b*****s are either Hispanic or Negro and they work in the service industries for less than US$3 per hour and rely totally on tips to live. They live in ghetto like conditions and have no chance of bettering themselves. Working hours are very long and they work 6 or 7 days a week with maybe a weeks holiday a year - there doesn't seem to be any unions to fight for them. They have to work until they are well into their seventies and we saw many examples of this throughout the country. Social security is available, but is not enough to survive on, which means everyone needs a job of some sort (one benefit perhaps?) even if it is sweeping streets or cleaning toilets.
3) Americans are immensely proud of their nation and we were astonished to see how clean and tidy the roads and streets are, with no graffiti and no vandalism anywhere. Penalties for throwing rubbish out of a car window range from a US$5,000 fine to jail so no wonder it is clean. Police and firemen are treated with great respect - we were told to call any police "Sir" and not to speak unless you were spoken to! Maybe this is another area Australians could have a good look at! In many areas we saw prison inmates working on the road verges doing clean up and other work and when we asked about were told that all minimum security prisoners have to earn their keep!
4) On the 4th of July America was 232 years old and we were just so impressed with the history of the place - not only the Civil war but pre and post that era. In cities like Savannah and Charlston we were very impressed by the way the old buildings have been kept in the original state and apparently any building that was built before a certain date must have the facade left as it was, although the interior can be modernised.
There are so many monuments and memorials and the population places great importance on keeping them in top notch condition.
So overall we were much impressed with the whole country - the only real annoying thing is the tipping, which is totally foreign to us but we didn't mind it so much when we discovered just how little they are paid.
There were so many highlights it is hard to single out a few but for me the Wing-Ding was amazing with so many Goldwing riders (over 12,000) present and just how friendly they all were, was probably the best with Niagara Falls a close second followed by our tour over the BMW plant at Spartanburg which to me was awesome!
So for someone who has never been a real fan of all things American, I can honestly say that I was won over by them well and truly, and I would thoroughly recommend the USA as a travel destintation.